Gedo's Watch

Many of you have heard the story before. Great grandpa Stefan bought this watch from a traveling salesman from Kansas City(?). At the time, it was fairly common for immigrants to buy an expensive souvenir of some sort to show off when they got back to the Old Country. The inscription was translated for me by Great Aunt Melie (Amelia Russell) before she passed away. It loosely translates as “Souvenir of America”. Fortunately for our branch of the family, great grandpa never got around to going back home. :)

It's an extremely well made watch. The works are considered railroad grade, the finest watch mechanisms made at the time. I brought it in to a jeweler about 15 years ago to have some repairs done. (new front bezel, new crystal, straighten the back cover, clean and check the works) He told me that it was a 9 jewel watch. The jewels were used as pivot points for gears because they provided a stable, long wearing surface with little associated friction.

The case itself shows beautiful workmanship. I understand that the 14 carat gold used was from the Black Hills. The story is that great grandpa spent $100 when he got it. An off the cuff estimate by the jeweler who repaired it for me was that it was worth about $1500 then.

There's some confusion as to when he bought it. The coat of arms on the front cover that is repeated on the fob is dated 1906. I think that represents a date of succession for the principality of Serbia, not the date of purchase.

There's also an interesting coat of arms on the fob with “USA” on the bottom. I assume that represents an American association of Serbs, but I've never been able to verify that one way or the other.

By the way, the watch itself suffered most of the damage received during some rough housing that Grandpa Mitch got tangled up in when he was at college. Neither he nor my father were able to find a watch repairman willing to tackle fixing it. I was very lucky to stumble into such a repairman on my first try. Some days you're good, and some days you're lucky. I'd rather be both, but I'll take either one. :)

The watch has traditionally been passed from father to son about the time the son comes of age. I received it when I was 22 or 23. I'll be passing it on to Joshua some time between his 21^st and 25^th birthday.

Gedo's Watch with the front closed.

Gedo's watch with the front open

Gedo's watch with the back open

James Mitchell Smilanich

The eldest son of the eldest son of the eldest surviving son

watch guardian extraordinaire.