Monday 4 September 2017

The last version of the Bank watch by J.W. Benson.



The "Bank" Watch was in production a long time, by 1935 a new version was introduced that was almost certainly the last, it is rare and the one pictured is the only one that I have seen.


Although in general layout it is similar to the previous ones this version was much slimmer and had the dial secured with screws rather than pins but amazingly they stick with the slow train movement that most makers had replaced with the fast train 40 years earlier.


I don’t know if it was made in house or bought in but I suspect it was either the former or they used outworkers making to their specification.


One interesting point is that historically the “Bank” watch was cheaper than the Ludgate but this version of the “Bank” was more expensive as explained in this section of a contemporary Benson sales catalogue.