Antique Silver Electa Trench Watch, 1914

Antique silver Electa trench watch, 1914.

The watch has a Swiss 17-jewel hand-winding movement, identified as by Electa, which is working nicely.

The watch measures 35mm 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, 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 not recommend that it is treated as still being waterproof or even water protected.

The case is lovely condition.

The lens has a light scratch but it is difficult to see with the naked eye.

The dial has blued steel hands, a subsidiary seconds dial and outer minute markers. There is a short scratch by number 2 and a couple of faint hairline cracks.

A new leather strap has been fitted.

The watch comes in a new presentation box.

Note: Where we have specified a year of manufacture, this is based on hallmarks or serial numbers with published databases. The 'date of manufacture' given by SellingAntiques will vary slightly as the website only works to decades, not specific years.

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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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