An interesting thought Dag but first you have to get around the other issues of the watch showing two different times, the possible daylight savings complication and how all of that ties in with timings of the events of that day/evening.

Here’s a good discussion about it on Tom’s board.

http://zodiackiller.fr.yuku.com/topic/2546#.UeuWS_nVB8F

Trav, thats not a bad thread, but it still has the "…it’s a UK watch bought in a PX in …" someplace in England (pick a spot) BS in it. Wrong!
It may have been – but there’s zero proof of that fact. None zilch nada.
Over on ZKF at about the same time (when TF very kindly bought her TImex Marlin and it was researched) there’s a better thread, IMO, which talks about the fact that the watches were made in component form and then assembled later. The components are from aaaaaaall over the place and the marks reflect that, rather than the point of sale. (So there.)

My thruppence: The watch was photographed at the crime scene the day after the murder, and showed the time that the photo was taken.
The watch was then photographed "back at the lab" and (since it hadn’t stopped), showed the time that this second photo was taken. No mystery.
Other opinions on this differ………………..

Why would a killer – 3 years before The Zodiac Killer came into the public view, bother to set his watch to show something? Because he knew it would be torn off his wrist at the crime scene? Because he left it there on purpose to leave some nice juicy evidence? Because he left it on purpose to descise (sic) the true time of the crime as a fake clew (sic), and in reality he really had an enormous wrist on which he wore a……. ZODIAC automatic self-winding Sea Wolf?
Well. I don’t know.

For all we know the 1223 on the watch can be a clue to the killers address.

yea alot of possibilities
he could have been from the central time zone and the watch was set correctly for that zone
he just would subtract 2 hours . cause he was going back soon , those old watches had to be turned forward only which took time and the date would be off.

maybe he was in the military – lets say based Fort Riley. KS

Aaalll RRRiggghty TTthenn

Smithy wrote:-

My thruppence: The watch was photographed at the crime scene the day after the murder, and showed the time that the photo was taken.
The watch was then photographed "back at the lab" and (since it hadn’t stopped), showed the time that this second photo was taken. No mystery.

Clearly the evidence points to this….the photo of the watch with the 9.07 time is a crime scence photo (with the leaf beside it) The timing is also consistent when we would expect the photo would be taken ( a couple of hours after the body was found, even allowing for an hour difference).

The second photo is clearly not a crime scene photo, it’s on a smooth surface ( a desk)and we have the card alongside for measurement.

An odd mystery about the two different times on the watch. If it was evidence, I couldnt see them winding or fixing it,just to get it working again. Maybe it somehow started working again on its own? Dont know enough about watches to say for sure

the escapement main spring wheel wheel is weighted and dropping can and often does break or bend /jam the very slim shaft . It did not take much to do this ,you could drop it on carpet and break it ,when the wheel was reloading
How do we know it did not run out of main spring tension ? Very perplexing

My thruppence: The watch was photographed at the crime scene the day after the murder, and showed the time that the photo was taken.
The watch was then photographed "back at the lab" and (since it hadn’t stopped), showed the time that this second photo was taken. No mystery.
Other opinions on this differ……….

That’s my take too.

An odd mystery about the two different times on the watch. If it was evidence, I couldnt see them winding or fixing it,just to get it working again. Maybe it somehow started working again on its own? Dont know enough about watches to say for sure

Mike, who says it stopped? Not me. I’m saying it didn’t.

I don’t see a big mystery here either, although I do think the most logical explanation is that the watch did probably stop at 12;23….but NOT at the crime scene.

Cheri’s body is discovered at 6.30am, by the time police or rather tech staff arrive and begin to photograph the watch, it’s either 9.07am or most likely 8.07 in real time.
Most peole do not adjust timepieces for the winter hour until going to bed, at the time, or the following morning. It’s unlikely this watch was adjusted for same.

The second photo ( back at headquarters) is either taken at 12:23 with the watch still running or sometime later with the watch having stopped at 12:23. The latter would explain where the confusion stems from….perhaps some detective seeing the watch for the first time, stopped at that time.

In any case the time of 12;23 is totally unreliable for theory purposes. I can’t see any logical reason why the watch would be photographed on the ground at a time of 9.07 later. Would anyone disagree/am I missing something ?

Yes but many sites report that it was stopped at 12:23 cold case files I remember for one .
you may be right Wier ,but why was it ever reported that way ?

Many sites do report the watch stopped at 12:23 Ace but they are probably all quoting from the same (dubious ?) source. There have been many such errors over the years. Perhaps there is a logical explanation that would make that true but until then, I can only judge what I see with my own eyes. How does a photo exist of the watch (on the ground, which we must assume is the crime scene) showing 9.07? . The 12:23 photo is not a crime scene photo.
I don’t know but I can only suggest as above, that some police source seen the watch (for the first time after it was taken into custody, stopped at 12:23) and assumed it came from the crime scene that way. Problem is we do not have any official reports or official confirmation…..other than both photos.

The basic facts get embellished and expanded down the years. Things gets made more exciting!
Which is more exciting, do you think?

1) "The watch was photographed both in situ and then back at the station, just over three hours later.."
2) "The watch stopped during the frenzied attack of the vicious slayer, giving the police a vital clue on which to base their investigations."

I have more….
"The murderer told the police as he left the scene "I saw the guy, he went that way…!"
"Callously, he tore shirt material from his victims body, to use to wipe his fingerprints from the cab…."
"Bryan said ‘Stab me first, I can’t stand to see her being stabbed’, and the attacker said "Well, I’ll do just that…"

Pah!
There’s a lot of this stuff. It’s like varnish….

Could the marvellous TF wind up her Timex and tell us how long it takes to run down again? That would be interesting to know.
Not that it would prove anything, you understand, but if that type of watch runs for three days without winding, then at least it might tell us something about the probability that it choose to stop before the police took their second photograph. (As if it matters!)

PS: Not much paint on it is there? When Graysmith wrote about it didn’t he say "paint sp(l)attered"? Doesn’t look like a housepainter’s watch….

I think option 1 is the more exciting. From my POV anyways.

Good post smithy. Like the varnish analogy. As for the paint, yeah I can’t see any but then i’m wondering – we don’t have the best images so could it be a fine dusting from a roller? The watch strap does look like it’s seen some use from the condition of the leather. Any watches I’ve had with leather straps that worn soon got relegated to being worn in situations where I didn’t mind if they got paint on them or whatever.