I found this absolutely hideous wall art at an antique shop while visiting with my parents recently. They weren’t sure why I liked it, but it was only $15, and I assured them I had a plan for it.



If you want one for yourself, check out EBay for Albert Kolb & Sons, they made a lot of these in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s - in contravention of the Geneva Convention.



My plan as to make a display case for a pocket watch, and the key is to find something with domed glass so it will have room for your watch in it. It was a fun afternoon project

Step one was to remove and burn the included artwork, then paint out the frame with chalk paint



Step 2 was to take the original cardboard insert and cut out a gasket to hold in the glass once the offending artwork has been removed. I actually dropped my cellphone on the glass while taking this photo



Next, stand over your kitchen sink with a dremel and cut out a new back that you can hinge for easy insertion and removal of your watch.



Next up, put in some imagery that you’d actually like to see. Since I was visiting in that part on Ontario, and since I’d be putting a railroad approved watch in it, I used this pic of the St Clair train tunnel that runs between Sarnia, Canada, and Port Huron, USA. More on that is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair_Tunnel



Then, put it all together and you’re done like dinner





OMG, taking photos of bent glass is really really hard. Glare from 1000 angles.

It’s a nice companion for my c1930 gate sign from the London, ON, CNR station, showing the route thru the tunnel to Chicago (in yet another shadow box I made)

 

I'm disappointed in you for not creating a hinged front door around the glass bezel.
That would have been the ideal solution for urgent access to the watch.



The original artwork was indeed hideous, this is a 300% improvement.

 

Excellent result, enjoy!