Gents Silver Climax Wrist Watch, 1917

Gents silver Climax wrist watch, 1917.

The watch has a Swiss hand-winding movement by Adolf Schild.

A Schild SA was a watch movement manufacturer based in Grenchen, Solothurn in Switzerland. The company supplied ebauche (blank movements) to watch making companies. They operated very successfully from 1896 right through until the 1970s, when quartz movements became more popular.

The watch measures 34mm diameter excluding the winding crown (later replacement) and the fixed wire lugs. The case is silver and there are hallmarks inside the case back for Birmingham (import mark), 1917, 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 a screw-on bezel and back, a good sign of a quality case.

The case is in good condition, just a very gentle indentation to the back and light surface marks but overall very acceptable for such an early piece.

The glass is in good condition and has a handsome bevelled edge.

The dial is faintly signed Climax, H Samuel, Manchester. H Samuel would have bought the watch in from a watch manufacturer, to be labelled with their name and retailed in one of their shops. There is some damage to the dial but it is stable. Handsome blued steel hands, a subsidiary seconds dial and outer minute markers.

In 1862 when Harriet Samuel took over her father-in-law's clock-making business in Liverpool, she renamed the business H Samuel and moved the business to Manchester's Market Street where she ran the company as a mail order business.

Later on, Harriet’s son concentrated on the retail side of the business, and the first H Samuel retail store opened in Preston in 1890, closely followed by branches in Rochdale and throughout Lancashire. Since then the company has become nationwide with branches in many British High Streets today.

The watch has a vintage brown leather strap.

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.

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.