This beautifully hand-crafted men’s pocket watch made of 14-karat fold was presented in recognition of the Boston Red Sox’s 1908 American League season. The watch is of exquisite quality throughout, with interior works bearing the Illinois Watch Co. and Ben Landis (trade name) hallmarks on the dial. The back panel is engraved “Compliments of 1908 Boston American Base Ball Team,” and opens to reveal a beautifully engraved panel listing the surnames of 21 Red Sox players, starting with Cy Young alone at the top. The rest appear side-by-side in pairs, including fellow Hall of Famer Tris Speaker, "Smokey" Joe Wood, Eddie Cicotte (future banned Black Sox member), Gavvy Cravath, Bill Carrigan, and Jake Stahl to name a few. The watch remains in excellent condition, showing only the light crazing typical of painted dials and a tiny area of wear along the edge of the player-name panel from years of opening.

Although the precise origins of this watch are unknown, there is a compelling possibility that it was presented to Cy Young on the occasion of his final season with Boston in 1908. Several observations support this theory. The inscription makes clear that the watch was a gift from the Boston team, effectively ruling out the notion that Young presented such watches to his teammates. Because the Red Sox finished fifth that year, the piece cannot have commemorated a championship. Young’s name is also engraved at the top of the back panel, a position of evident prominence. Finally, we have been unable to document the existence of any other example, which may suggest the watch was made for a single recipient.

Whatever its exact provenance, this is an incredibly scarce presentation watch associated with one of the great franchises of the early twentieth century. At a minimum, it stands as a rare and important award tied to the final Boston season of the game’s winningest pitcher of all time.