1930s J W Benson Silver Pocket Watch

A 1930s silver pocket watch from J W Benson.

J W Benson Ltd was the official watchmaker to the Admiralty and the War Department and also held a number of royal warrants, being watchmakers to Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales, the Tsar of Russia and several other royal families.

They were probably London’s most important watch makers and watch retailers of the second half of the 19th and the first half of 20th centuries selling English and Swiss made watches.

This particular watch has a Cyma stem-winding movement, calibre 939a. After the first World War, Cyma became one of Benson's main suppliers of movements. This movement is working nicely, with a good strong tick, and the time keeping is good to within around two minutes over 24 hours. The movement is signed J W Benson and it is protected by an inner hinged dust cover.

The watch measures 50mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside both of the case backs for London 1937, together with the maker’s mark of JWB for J W Benson. The case has some small marks and a couple of shallow indentations to the back but overall is in good order for a 1930s piece.

The plastic lens is a later replacement; it is in good condition.

The white enamel dial has a very faint hairline crack running upwards from the centre, and a little discolouration to the subsidiary seconds dial.

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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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