Antique Record Dreadnought Pocket Watch and Chain

Antique Record Dreadnought pocket watch and chain.

The watch has a good quality Swiss 17-jewel (four adjustments) stem winding movement which is working nicely. The movement is signed with the Record Watch Company name.

The watch measures 50mm diameter excluding the winding stem and the loop. The case is gold plated and it is in good condition with just general light surface mark, nothing too serious at all. Screw-on bezel and back, a nice sign of quality.

The inside of the case back has an inscription which reads, ‘To Thomas James Ladbrooke (Tommy), from his Colleagues on the Staff of the Municipal Bank on his retirement’.

Mr Ladbrooke is indeed mentioned in this tale from when the Municipal Bank set up a branch in Handsworth…

“All staff gathered at Edmund Street at 8am. Taxis arrived at 9am to take staff, materials and equipment to the new Branches to be opened at 10am. No general instructions were issued, and staff hardly knew what might happen when they arrived at their Branch, but hoped that common sense plus a few preliminary directions would enable them to do the right thing.

I went with T J Ladbrooke to open the Handsworth Branch in a small ground-floor room of the Council House. We stuck up as many posters as possible and waited for customers to turn up.

Open daily plus Monday and Saturday evenings. Business quickly grew - Saturday evening became quite hectic with queues forming up outside the doors.

The monies were not left in the safe over the weekend but taken by taxi to Head Office by Manager (who carried a revolver).

Thoughts were soon directed at getting better premises with more suitable accommodation. Sparkbrook was the first permanent Branch under management of Mr Carver - a very proud day.”

The glass lens is in lovely condition.

The signed double sunk dial has Breguet style hands with a blued steel finish, a subsidiary seconds dial and an outer minute track. There are a few hairlines but they are faint.

The watch comes with a double albert with each chain measuring approximately 23cm long including the T-bar and the clasp.

The watch and chain come 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.

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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.