Gents Silver Hermetic Wrist Watch, 1930

Gents silver hermetic wrist watch, 1930.

UK POSTAGE ONLY FOR THIS ITEM

The watch has a Swiss 15-jewel hand-winding movement which is working nicely. The movement is signed underneath the dial with the reference FHF3, for Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon, a Swiss watch movement manufacturer. They specialised in producing ébauche movements. These were basic movements that could be purchased by a watchmaker from an external manufacturer, assembled and branded. The movement is protected by an inner cover.

The watch measures 34mm diameter excluding the fixed wire lugs. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside the case back and inside the dust cover for Edinburgh 1930, together with a sponsor’s mark for Arthur Rendell.

In 1907, an act came into force which meant that all imported watches had to be assayed in a UK assay office and marked with British import hallmarks. For this, a sponsor's mark was required. In this particular case, Arthur Rendell was an employee, and probably in charge, of the department that handled imported watches at a company called Pringles, the UK's largest wholesalers of jewellery, silverware, clocks and watches, so it was deemed relevant to use his initials.

There is also a Brevet (patent) number of 89276 inside the case which relates to a 1921 application regarding the case design, ie, “a watch with a protective box”. The watch case is a hermetic case, or double cased, designed by Jean Finger, a case maker of Berne, Switzerland. The same model of case was supplier to various watch makers including IWC and Rolex.

The watch is not waterproof and should be kept away from water and moisture.

The case is in good condition, as is the lens.

The dial has its original hands, the luminous detailing has been removed at some stage in its life. There are cracks to the subsidiary seconds dial.

The watch has a vintage leather strap.

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All of our watches are checked over before listing, and are also checked for accuracy which is usually within around +/- two to three minutes over 24 hours (unless otherwise stated), which is considered respectable for a vintage watch.

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