AN EAST Lancashire historian took time out to investigate the history of an antique pocket watch.

But Eric Nolan’s investigations did not go entirely like clockwork.

Collector Derek Marshall had asked Bygones readers for information about a piece he had added to his collection, as it was inscribed with the words ‘J Dickinson and Bacup’.

The serial number puts the year of manufacture as 1881, by the American Waltham Watch Company and Derek asked if anyone knew the history of the watch in its hallmarked silver case.

Eric immediately wondered if those details ticked all the boxes for it to have come from a Lancashire jeweller – Jim Dickinson established a shop in Fleetwood in 1875 and although other branches were later opened, there wasn’t one in Bacup.

He said: “I know that sometimes the owner would have his name and hometown inscribed on the inside of a pocket watch, or it’s a coincidence that there could have been a different Dickinson Watch Shop in Bacup back in 1881.”

“I do know, however, that John Joseph Bamber had a jewellers store in Market Street, Bacup, at that time – his son Thomas Leo was my uncle – and it is possible that a customer called J Dickinson bought his pocket watch from there.”

Eric continued: “I remember an old watch repairer telling me that often with a gold pocket watch, the watch mechanism itself was not really that good a quality, even a Waltham, which would often be sent to England to have top quality good cases added.

“The value lay in the carotage of the gold of the case and the ‘Albert’ , or chain.

“Each link in the chain would be stamped with the hallmark too, in case the owner needed to remove one or more, at some point, to sell to release some equity.”