The Armchair Detective and the Peculiar Pocket Watch

Researching an article, a puzzling pocket watch comes into Trench's possesion. Why does the pocket watch stop and then mysteriously reset itself? Why does the current owner of the timepiece leave cryptic messages in the Stokeham Herald? And what is the priceless secret behind all the ticking? Old Tom and Trench slowly begin to realise that the pocket watch is trying to tell them more than just the time...