Gents 1914 Silver Electa Trench Watch

Gents 1914 silver Electa trench watch.

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

The watch measures 34mm diameter excluding the winding crown and the fixed wire lugs. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside the case back for London (import mark), 1914, with an importer's or 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.

The inside of the case back also has the maker's 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 not recommend that it is treated as still being waterproof or even water protected.

The case is in good condition, just light surface marks but nothing serious at all.

The watch glass is in good condition.

The white enamel dial has four hairline cracks. Originally the numbers and hands would have had painted detail but this has been removed over the years, probably because of radium content.

A new leather strap has been fitted.

The watch will be sent in a new presentation box.

ALL PRICES INCLUDE UK POSTAGE (because of GPSR legislation, we no longer post items less than 100 years old to Europe, including 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.

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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.