My reasonably functional and unembarassing Timex Farbometer finally died on me -- the winding stem broke.  It cost about $40 new and lasted five or six years with one battery replacement, during which I also fixed the watch face with a less obvious name brand.  Now I'm casting around for a replacement.

Authentic originals (from the 1880s anyway) can be found at reasonable prices, but I'm nervous about them for a couple of reasons.  First, I want something I can use in the field and, after having read some period literature on care of same, think that I'd be risking the destruction of an antique.  Plus, reading same literature, it looks like they really need to be taken apart and cleaned every few years by an expert with access to spare parts, at a cost approaching that of the watch itself.

This leaves me looking at modern pocket watches.  Timex no longer makes the model I got and, frankly, I'd like something a bit better for everyday use.  I've scouted out (online) Avalon, Colibri, Charles Hubert, and some other brands and it looks like everything not made in Switzerland and running $500 is a cheap piece of junk from China.

I'm perfectly willing to do without when I play private, but occasionally I'm at an event where it's my job to wake the bugler.  

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations, such as experience with period or modern pocket watches?  Thanks!

Here is a repro watch from Blockade Runner. It looks pretty good.

http://www.blockaderunner.com/Catalog/catpg28a.html

Looks good to me with Roman numerals etc....just so you know what time it is should work well. Over the years I have been Sgt Maj at a few events and I used a small battery powered travel alarm clock, not period but it did the job. Usually I was up before the alarm anyways. I have always wanted an orginal just to have and for the cicilian impression and maybe living histories, but to use at a reenactment I would never carry an orginal unless I was (it will not happen)the commanding general or colonel.  

Those watches from Blockade Runner have no second hand (which just about every watch made had back then), and they are about a size 12, which would have been considered a "ladies' watch" at the time.

I have an full-size (size 18) 1883 Elgin KW/KS which looks identical to watches made 20 years earlier, for a fraction of the cost. It keeps time to less than five seconds per day (not too shabby for only a 7-jewel movement). I take it everywhere, including reenactments. It's built like a brick ****-house and I could probably knock someone cold with it if I ever decided to swing it as a weapon.

Get a watch that ticks!

I broke down and got a really really cheap farbometer while I try to make a decision.  I'm grateful for the suggestion about Blockade Runner, but something about it made me think I could get the same for less elsewhere.

For a long term solution I'm leaning toward a modern mechanical pocketwatch, which would be really expensive but something I could use every day.  

On the other hand, Rob, you've got me re-interested in originals now.  Some reasonably period watches are out there in the $150-300 range.  How often do you need to get yours serviced (I've heard you should do this every few years), and how hard is it to find a watch repair place?

BTW, some interesting sites out there, including this one:  http://www.antique-watch.com/txt/cat52i.html  Among the things I noticed and wouldn't have suspected were the presence of second hands along with the hour and minute hands (rather than second hands on a subdial) and the use of arabic numerals in the 19th century.

Michael,

Check out the following site.  It may not be what you are looking for but it will illustrate a few pocket watches for comparison purposes.

http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/store/watches.php?from=leftnav

The Elgin came from eBay, and was supposedly "recently serviced", so I haven't done anything with it. I paid $155 for it. It was a typical working-man's watch at the time.

Getting it regulated was a bit of a pain, because my house can get extremely cold in the winter and the regulator is really touchy. When I got it to within +5 seconds per day, I left it there. You simply cannot get the accuracy of a 21-jewel movement with only seven jewels.

Finding a good watchmaker can be tough, because it's a dying art. I managed to find a local jeweler who works with an old-time watchmaker, and from whom he is learning the art. There are some on the Web. Google "pocket watch repair" and see what comes up. Do the research before you need the service.

To tell you the truth, if I ever got to the point where I needed a complete COA (clean, oil, & adjust), I might just get another watch. On the other hand, if I had a rare CW-vintage Waltham costing over $500, it would be worth spending $100-$200 to keep it going.

Just thought I'd update everyone on what I ended up buying.

First, while I decided how much money I really wanted to part with, I got an "Antonio" farbometer from Amazon -- the functional equivalent of the Blockade Runner piece, except that it only set me back $21, including postage and handling.  We'll see how long it lasts -- if it makes it through the next week, it will have been a good deal.

Second, I broke down and spent $400 for a Tissot Lepines:  http://www.watchzone.com/cgi-bin/watchzone.storefront/485f954803f8c0f627440a8012520690/Export/products/T82445013?ystore

This is more than many originals cost, but there are several jewelers in the immediate area who service Tissots.  The only evident difference between this and an original is a Deco-style logo embossed on the back.  It's stem-wind instead of key-wind but, much to my surprise, stem-winding was invented in the 1840's by Jean Adrien Philippe of Patek-Philippe (Tiffany began importing their watches in the 1850s).

I learned a few other things from looking around, particularly at this site, which handles antique watches from the 17th century through the early 20th:  http://www.antique-watch.com/txt/cat52i.html

For example, though perhaps not PEC, one does see second hands on the same axis as the minute and hour hand, as well as arabic numerals, in watches of our period.

Oh, and the Tissot is my present to myself for paying off the mortgage -- not sure if I'll ever bring myself to taking it into the field!

Thanks all for your comments and advice.

Stem-winds were available, if you had the greenbacks for it. Most soldiers probably did not.

For $400 you could have had an 1870s vintage Waltham, warranted for a year. (I am seriously thinking of selling my musket to get one of these - the watch would definitely be much more useful.)

As Humphrey Bogart said, "You pays your money and you takes your choice."

Yes, I could have bought an 1870s Waltham, but that still wouldn't have been from the Civil War, but I'd be just as nervous about taking it anywhere.  Plus I don't know enough to know if any of the parts are original, plus I don't know anyone who cleans and repairs them (though someone told me they thought a fellow out in Strasburg might still work on antique watches).  So I decided to go with a "repro" that meets my criteria for authenticity, that I can use every day, and that has dealers all around the area.  For me, it was a good choice all round.

I'll leave the collecting of antique watches to folks who know what they're doing.  I read just enough about the subject to realize that I don't.

What a soldier could afford varied from time to time and place to place.  In an extreme case, a volunteer from New York state signing up at the beginning of 1864 might get more than $1,000 in Federal, state, and local bounty money.  While the $400 Federal bounty was paid in installments, the state and local amounts were paid either as lump sums or in a couple of payments.  

So I might get me a nice watch, a private purchase sack coat, several cravats, a couple steel collars, and the weekend of a lifetime in Washington City...

At least it looks period. And it ticks, rather than hums.