Trying to track down a family heirloom

Hi, hope this is ok to post here, but I'm looking for some help tracking down a lost family heirloom.

My father was gifted an Omega pocket watch by his great uncle who fought in the first world war. I am not sure of the particular model, but I believe it was a silver pocket watch on a chain with an enamel face. Inside of the cover there was an inscription which said something like:

"Presented to Corporal H.E Huggett" and is dated April 1911. I believe he was a member of the dragoons.

This was a very precious item that my dad treasured. He took it in to a local watch repair shop in Selby, North Yorkshire, England called Herbert Browns around 2011 to be valued for insurance purposes. When the watch came back it was quite badly damaged, the face was all chipped and I think one of the hands had come off. He took it back to the shop to be fixed and subsequently every time he went back to check on the repairs, he was told it wasn't ready yet. I sadly believe that my dad eventually just gave up hope of ever getting the watch back and stopped going to the shop. He is not the confrontational sort, and sadly didn't tell me or my sisters who would have definitely gone back on his behalf.

The shop has subsequently entered into administration in 2013 and we believe that all the stock was taken to the head office in Oxford, England. We have been speaking with former members of staff, a repair guy called Keith, and he remembers the watch, but the trail goes cold here.

This is probably an extremely long shot, but knowing how much this meant to my dad, and how upset he still is for not chasing this up harder at the time, I wanted to reach out to this page to see if by some miracle, it had ended up in the hands of a collector.

Hope that this is OK to post here, and thanks for reading.

Sorry to hear that. I had similar story with one of the watchmakers, but in the end I was able to retrieve damaged watch without him finishing the "repair". It hurts when somebody breaks watch which you cherish and for him it means nothing.

As you don't know specific model and inscription is on the inside - I'm assuming you checked all the family photos if there is not any with that watch? For sure it would help a lot with the search

Thanks for the reply.

I dont think we have any photographs. It was kept in a drawer and I don't even remember seeing it as a child.

I know that the inscription was to a 'Corporal H. E. Huggett' and the date was April 1911. The surname is quite an unusual one so I was hoping that if someone had managed to get hold of it that they would recognise the name.

A sad story, that definately deserves a good end. Good luck!

Ah ok. For sure this topic may help, as there is a chance that somebody will try to google the inscription and this way he will find you.

I was thinking if we can help anyway by actively looking through the offers/online archives, but without more details and with inscription on the inside (often not presented on the main photos of the online offers) it probably won't be possible

You might want to try MWR (Military Watch Resource). Still a longshot but the forum has many UK members and one of them might have picked it up because of the military inscription.

Is there still a head office or closed up and gone?

If there. Maybe a sales slip with buyers address. Closed. Not sure what you can do, but Google search. If already done and nothing showed up. Very slim chance

If MWR member bought it. Unless he kept it hidden (slim). It would have shown up in a Google search

The company should have contacted your father to pick up and were not allowed to sell it until they exhausted all means in returning it to the customer.

It may not have even been sold. If silver case. Could have been scrapped (last thing you want to hear) if never picked up.

Good luck

DON

The head office has now closed. The company was bought over by a Japanese company I think.

We were in talks with one of the members of staff who was really helpful, but they were not able to track it down, and they too felt it might have been destroyed now after it was left for so long and not claimed.

that s a sad but not uncommon story. changes in administration usually derive in the disappearance of emotionally valuable estate. i think you did well posting here, it s first step. now some people are aware of this. it s a start