Antique 9ct Gold Trench Watch, 1919

Antique 9ct gold trench watch, 1919.

The watch has a Swiss hand-winding movement which is working nicely. The movement is signed with the initials HP for Hippolyte Parrenin, who was based in Villers le Lac, France which is close to the Swiss border. The movement is stamped Swiss made which suggests it was a blank movement, or an ebauche, imported from France to be finished and cased by the Parrenin factory.

The watch measures 32mm diameter excluding the winding crown and the fixed wire lugs, it would suit someone with a slimmer wrist. The case is 9 carat rose gold and there are hallmarks inside the case back for London 1919 with a sponsor’s mark of LA for Louis Arnould of the City Watch Case Company Ltd.

During the First World War, movements manufactured in Switzerland were imported into Britain to be cased, thus avoiding import duties on precious metals. These duties continued to be charged by the British Government even after the War ended in 1918, which encouraged the setting up of precious metal manufacturing factories.

The case has three little “dings” to the hinged case back but otherwise is in good condition.

The acrylic lens is in good condition.

The dial is in good condition and has Breguet style blued steel hands, a subsidiary seconds dial and an outer minute track.

A new leather strap has been fitted.

The watch comes in an antique 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.