1927 Silver Wristwatch from Sir John Bennett

A 1927 silver cushion cased watch from Sir John Bennett of London.

The watch has a Swiss 15-jewel hand-winding movement which is working nicely.

The watch itself measures 31mm wide excluding the winding crown and 31mm high excluding the fixed lugs. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside the case back for London (import mark), 1927, with an importer’s mark for George Stockwell. From 1 June 1907, Stockwells acted as assay agents, facilitating the import into Britain of foreign gold and silver items, which had to be assayed and hallmarked in a UK assay office before being released for retail. The case has some unevenness to the back and a little scratching but otherwise looks good.

The lens is in good condition.

The white enamel dial has a couple of hairline cracks but not too noticeable to the naked eye. The hands and numbers would originally have had painted infill but this has been removed over the years. The dial is signed with the name Sir John Bennett, London.

John Bennett (1814 – 1897) was one of the most controversial characters in British horology and, in many aspects one of the most advanced. He greatly advocated the Swiss methods of manufacture where parts were interchangeable rather than being made for each individual watch. This put him in conflict with many of his colleagues. It was even said that the establishment of the British Horological Institute was designed to protect decent watchmakers from “new brooms” like Bennett.

As well as manufacturing, there was also a rather grand shop in Cheapside, London. The building was disassembled and moved to Greenfield Village in 1929, just two years after this particular watch was retailed.

A new leather strap has been fitted.

The watch will be sent in a new presentation box.

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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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