Antique Borgel Cased Silver Trench Watch, 1916

An antique Borgel cased silver trench watch, 1916.

The watch has a good quality hand-winding movement which is working nicely.

The watch itself measures 33mm diameter excluding the winding crown and the fixed wire lugs. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside the case back for London 1916 together with an importer'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.

The inside of the case back also has the mark for François Borgel. He was a very successful inventor and business man, and his company became one of the most important watch case manufacturers of its time. He advertised his screw watch case, such as this example, as "imperméable", which means that he considered his screw case to be waterproof . Early adopters of the Borgel screw case included Longines and IWC. After François Borgel’s death in 1912, the business was carried on by his daughter Louisa. As with any vintage watch, however, we would recommend that it is kept away from water and moisture.

The case is in good condition with just surface marks, nothing too detrimental at all.

The back of the watch has an inscription to Lt N C Neill RNVR from The Officers of the Holyhead Naval Base, March 1917. The inscription is faint where it has worn over the years.

The watch glass is in good condition.

The black dial is in good condition. Over the years, the paint infill has been removed from the hands and the numbers.

A new leather strap has been fitted.

The watch will be sent in a new presentation box.

ALL PRICES INCLUDE UK POSTAGE (excluding Northern Ireland).

Please contact us regarding international shipping.

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.

We are a VAT registered company and all purchases are covered by Consumer Regulations.

Credit / debit card purchases up to £300 can be made over the telephone on 01386 750238 or you can proceed via the 'Purchase Antique' button on each listing page. Alternatively, there is a Paypal payment link if you scroll down the page and we also accept bank transfers.

We are an on-line only business and do not have facilities for callers. Our offices are open from Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

With regards to appraisals / valuations, we receive a huge number of information requests each day and unfortunately do not have the manpower to deal with them all individually. Our advice would be to contact a local auctioneer for a full appraisal.