A very unusual Benson "Keyless Ludgate" 1889.

J.W. Benson "Keyless Ludgate", 11J 1889.

This is a very unusual watch! It is London finished almost certainly from a Prescott ebauché, a Coventry Watch Movement Co ebauché is a slight possibility as they opened in 1889 using a Prescott ebauché as a starting point, but those that I have seen have been rather different. I suspect but can't prove it was finished by quality maker Nicole, Nielson & Co who are known to have supplied Benson.

J.W. Benson "Keyless Ludgate", 11J 1889.



The face 2 piece plate is typical of Prescott ebauché of the period.

The unusual thing is that the Keyless Ludgate of the period, and I have had examples from the previous year and several from later years, are completely different being made in-house and incorporating Benson's patented dust ring construction also used on "The Field" watch and others. Further the engraving on this watch is identical to the "normal" version including having the Patent number believed to be for the dust ring that continued to be used for some years after this watch was made.


J.W. Benson "Keyless Ludgate" 13J 1893
Made in-house with the patented thick dust ring.

J.W. Benson "Keyless Ludgate" 13J half hunter, 1888
Made in-house with the patented thick dust ring.

It can only be assumed that Benson were short of Keyless Ludgate watches and so bought some in but it must have been confusing for customers to see such different watches being sold under the same model name.

More information on the Ludgate can be found in my post Benson "Field", "Ludgate" and "Bank of England" watches. or by selecting "Benson" from the list of tags below right.






A Benson signed for Queen Mary, 1922.

J.W. Benson, "Best London Make",11J, 9 carat gold, 1922.

When I first saw it on the web this watch had me fooled, being engraved “To H.M. The Queen” I initially assumed it was a Victorian movement re-cased by the maker in 1922 or that someone had the case date wrong.

Then when it arrived I realised that the engraving was not the usual “By Special Warrants to H.M. the Queen” (or by Special Warrants to her and the Prince of Wales jointly or to “The Late Queen” etc.). From over a hundred English made Bensons this is the only one I have seen with this engraving or anything similar.

The case was definitely made for this movement as they have the same serial number and it has London assay date marks for 1922/3.

When I opened the movement I found it consistent with one from the 1920s and the movement serial number has an alphabetic serial number which also indicates early 20^th century. As usual the character on the top plate “K” is different to the one on the top plate “C”.

So, for some reason, Benson briefly marked at least one watch for Queen Mary even though they did not have her warrant. Having done a little research I can’t see any particular reason for it, other than perhaps for her 55^th birthday or the marriage of her daughter.

 

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.

J.W. Benson's Alpha-Numeric Serial Numbers.

J.W. Benson "Bank" watch, 11J, 1922
The case has the same numeric serial number as the movement so the date is pretty certain.

Some Benson "Bank" movements and its derivatives after c 1901 have a serial number prefixed with a letter.  About 12% of the 59 Benson "Bank" watches I have seen have this numbering system but the percentage would be somewhat higher if only watches after 1900 were considered.

Serial number L4381 on the top plate of the 1922 movement shown above.

Some have speculated that this is a date code but I have been unable to find a good correlation.

Things get more confusing if you take off the dial because the serial number prefix on the face plate is always different to that on the top plate.

Serial Number C4381 on the face plate of the 1922 movement shown above.

If the Letter was a date code it would imply that the face plate was made 9 years before the top plate or before the watch was finished which appears unlikely.

Unusually for Benson those movements with an Alphabetic prefix to the serial number often have the same serial number on the case as on the movement but without the prefix which makes the dating certain (unless the watches were re-cased by the maker).

The silver case, hallmarked for J.W. Benson 1922 serial No 4381.

So together with the lack of correlation between the letter and dates it appears the letter represented something else.

But I have no idea what.

The watch from the front.

J.W. Benson, 19J, 1904.



J.W. Benson 1904.

This is a very rare, perhaps unique, watch and it perplexes me.



The inside of the Benson 19J movement showing the Geneva stop work
on top of the barrel and the English Lever escapement.

It is a high grade London made size 18 movement with 19 jewels, a Breguet hairspring, gold balance screws and Geneva stop work. And I suspect it is a Half Chronometer (adjusted) movement.

 
But it is branded the "Bank" watch.
 



A Benson "Bank?" from 1904 but with 19 Jewels, a Breguet sprung
cut compensating balance with gold screws and Geneva stop work.

It has the same frame and design as the normal "Bank" watch of the period but I have records for 59 other "Bank" watches in various sizes, in silver and gold and in Hunter and open faced configurations (and I have seen pictures of an awful lot more). None have Geneva stop work and all have 9 or 11 jewels with an over-sprung rather than Breguet sprung balance - which is in accordance with the literature and my Benson catalogue from the 1930s.




A typical Benson "Bank" with 11 jewels from 1920. This is a later version with 4
plate screws rather than the earlier 3 and a slightly different layout of the train.

From the Benson adverts I have seen it was their normal practice to give names to most of their watches, but only the "Bank", "Ludgate" and "Field" had the name inscribed on the movement, others such as their high end "presentation grades" - the "Heirloom", the "Superlative" etc. are simply marked "Best London Make" or similar and with the Benson name, address etc.

The Benson "Superlative" from c 1903, probably an upgraded "Field" and still
in my Catalogue from c1936 then costing 70 Gns as a Gold Hunter or Half
Hunter in it's standard size and £100 as a large (2.5") Hunter.

I can’t understand why Benson would have branded a very high grade watch with the name of what at the time was their entry level London made watch.
 



A "Bank" type watch but with 15J for Sir John Bennett 1893, almost
certainly by P & A Guye.

My best guess is that this was an expensive mistake by the engraving department at  P & A Guye who made a lot of watches for Benson, including almost certainly the "Bank", but who also made variants of the same movement in various grade for Benson and the trade.
 

The earlier version of the "Bank" watch made into the early 20th Century.
Those from the early 1890s had 9 jewels, later increased to 11. The two
plate designs were probably made in parallel for 10 - 12 years. This design
appears to have been unique to the Benson branded "Bank", those sold into
the trade, and some sold by Benson, having the plate design of the later "Bank".

 

J.W. Benson Inter-war Period Manufacturing.

J.W. Benson "Field" dated from the silver case to 1920.

A good number of sites on the web state that Benson stopped making watches during WWI following a bombing raid which resulted in the loss of 12,000 watches (or some other large number).

Whilst I am told that there was bombing in the Ludgate Hill area during WWI, it did not destroy the factory and they continued to manufacture at least well into the 1930's and probably until they were bombed out in 1941.

Here is some of the collateral for this statement:

• Horological historian Max Cutmore writes: “In 1892 a steam-powered factory was opened at Belle Sauvage Yard (in Ludgate Hill) at which their well-finished, elegant three-quarter plate pocket watches were produced in considerable numbers until 1941 when the factory was destroyed by Bombs.”[i]

• The Horological Journal in April 1935 reports a visit to the factory [which was making watches].[ii]

• The 1941 Bombing report says 12,000 watches were destroyed [in 1941, not in WWI].[iii]

• My Benson Sales Catalogue c1935, referring to the "Field" watch explicitly says  “Manufactured in our London Factory”, other watches are described as “our best London make” which is a bit ambiguous.[iv]

• A Letter from J.W. Benson Ltd, which I have seen a photograph of, dated 1957 clearly states “our Ludgate Hill premises were destroyed by enemy action in 1941”.

I hope that demonstrates that Benson undoubtedly had a factory and made watches after 1917/18!

This is another picture of the "Field" watch from 1920 shown above.

---

[i] “Watches 1850-1980”, M. Cutmore, David & Charles, 2002, p111,

[ii] “High Grade Watches made in London”, HJ,77, April 1935, 254-7 quoted in [i].

[iii] Letters from Garrard & Co Ltd dated October & November 1985 quoted in [i].

[iv] 67^th edition “A” catalogue, J.W. Benson c 1935, and definitely after 1932.

J.W. Benson and P & A Guye two London watchmakers, later effectively one?

J.W. Benson 17J half hunter 1878.

The histories of both J.W. Benson and P & A Guye are incomplete, in the case of Benson this is due to their factory and records being destroyed in the Blitz of 1941, having previously survived an attack during WWI.

In the case of P & A Guye it is largely because they supplied almost entirely to the trade and disappeared from Kelly's guide as a watch maker after 1905, but they are known to have stayed in business, related to the watch trade until at least 1932.

I am rapidly firming up my belief that they ended up as sub contractor to, a partner of or even as a subsidiary of Benson.

An unrestored movement signed by P & A Guye,

But one thing at a  time!

The first thing to do is to establish what Max Cutmore was unable to do in his work [1] and that is to establish if Benson were customers of P & A Guye and if possible to go a bit further.

The watch movement shown to the right is clearly signed by P & A Guye, 13, Northampton Square, London.

It is rare and the first I have seen signed by the company, Max Cutmore [1] stated in his coverage of the company that he had been unable to positively identify any movement by the company, although there were some possibilities.

It is a size 12 hunter movement with 19 jewels, unfortunately I can't date it as it came without a case, here is a view of the face plate:

The face plate of the unrestored P & A Guye movement shown above.

I just restored this 1878 silver half hunter (pictured cased top right) signed by J.W. Benson and described in some detail in my previous post. Here is a picture of the faceplate:

J.W. Benson 17J half hunter, 1878.

Clearly these are from the same maker, or at least of the same design, and that is confirmed by other factors such them having the same train layout, the same construction of components and the use of the same type of cap jewel. The real differences are that the Benson movement is a smaller, scaled down, version and that if has 17 rather than 19 jewels.

P & A Guye very rarely sold under their own name and would not have purchased a Benson made watch and branded it as theirs, it therefore follows that P & A Guye made for J.W. Benson in the 1870's.

QED!

Who "owned" the design is not however clear as Guye could have made movements for Benson and under licence to sell on to third parties.

The "Field" & "Ludgate" watches.

Now check out the face plate of this Benson "Field" of 1899:

J.W. Benson "Field" 13J, 1899.

 

 

This movement has the Benson patent dust ring and whilst it is clearly not the same movement as the ones shown above the similarity of the face plate and winding mechanism are obvious and much of the train and component designs are very similar to the earlier watch.

This large Benson signed Champaign watch (without the dust ring) has the same configuration:

J.W. Benson Campaign watch, 19J c1900.

and so does the early "Ludgate"

Benson "Ludgate" movements.

As explained in my previous post on the Benson "Field" and "Ludgate", the design of both watches changed over time, most are not like the movement identified as made by P & A Guye, but there was clearly a close the link between the two companies.

The "Bank" watch.

A previous post of mine  suggested that P & A Guye made early versions of the "Bank" watch for Benson and also sold it unbranded to other retailers. When I wrote that the option had to be left open that it was Benson selling to the third parties, I think that now it can be proved that P & A  Guye made for Benson, that option can be discounted but, as with the watch first mentioned, it is possible, that it was a Benson design which Guye made for Benson and also sold to third parties under licence.

Conclusion.

From numerous adverts and other sources it is known that the "Field" and "Ludgate" were claimed to be made in-house by Benson (although I recently discovered one "Field" made at the Errington" factory), so at the least Benson and  Guye were sharing designs, technology and probably manufacturing capacity. 

P & A Guye were probably, as suggested above, acting as a subordinate partner to Benson either making components or complete movements. I think the former is most likely as assembly by Benson would enable them to claim the watch as made by them.

It is even prossible that Benson had an equity stake in Guye again enabling them to claim that Guye made watches were made in their (Benson's) factory.


[1.] “Watches 1850-1908” M. Cutmore, David & Charles 1989

A silver half hunter signed by J.W. Benson from 1878

This is a very rare find, in fact it is the earliest complete English three-quarter plate, going barrel, keyless I can remember having and certainly the oldest Benson three-quarter plate.

And it is a high grade watch even by Benson's standards of 50 years later.

It has significant implications for the relationship between Benson and P & A Guye  and the history of Guye which is very sparse in the books I have read so I have written that up separately but I am putting the description of the watch here to help keep that post to a manageable size.

The movement was made for Benson by P & A Guye, which is demonstrated in my post J.W. Benson and P & A Guye two London watchmakers, later effectively one?

The pin set, slow train, movement has 17 jewels including cap jewels for the pallet and escape, a true English Lever (variously described as horned, spiked or ratchet) escapement with a Breguet sprung cut compensating "Chronometer" balance with what appear to be gold timing screws, four of them Vernier. There is functional Geneva Stop Gear to control mainspring pressure.

It is about a size 10 but cased up is about the same size as a later size 14 American or Swiss watch. The movement is engraved "J.W. Benson 25, Old Bond St, London".

The English made double backed premium case with gold hinges has London Hallmarks for Sterling Silver, 1878, the mark of the Hurst Brothers of Clerkenwell, London and the same serial number as the movement which authenticates the date of manufacture to 1878/9 (the hallmarking year starts later).

A full set of photos are available on Zenfolio.

A very rare J.W. Benson "FIELD" watch made by Errington.

J.W. Benson "The Field" Watch 16J made by C.H. Errington of Coventry 1898.

A Benson made "Field" c 1899.

This was a big surprise, Benson frequently re-sold, under their own name, smaller high jewelled  watches and full plate keyless Coventry made watches by Rotherham,  but I have never seen one supplied from the Errington Watch Factory (then owned by Williamson but managed by Errington). Not only that but this is branded "The Field", a name had I thought (and so does everyone I have read on the subject) was reserved for two in house designs pervious described here.

The movement itself was almost certainly a special run for Benson and has the best finish I have seen on an Errington, which is in any case is always pretty good, this one appears to have heavier gilding, the banking pins are steel rather than brass and all of the jewels are screw set, top and bottom.

It has Errington's patented spring release mechanism, a fast train, unlike the slow train of the later Benson made Fields, 16 jewels and a true English Lever escapement with a Breguet sprung cut compensating balance.

The under-dial of the Errington made "FIELD"
showing the screw set jewels.

The watch dates from 1898/9 - the serial number on the case matching that of the movement and it has the  Benson "makers mark, although it is almost certainly a Coventry made case, probably made in the Errington factory.

It has the "Queen & Prince of Wales" Warrants only used for a brief period but fairly common on early Benson made Field movements, it is probable therefore that this watch was a stop gap measure before the Benson made Field was introduced and implies that production of the Benson Field started in 1898/9.

Updates:

1. John Matthews responding to another post bought to my attention an advert from 1892 showing the "Field" watch, that states the watch was London made so in the late 1890s Benson were selling two completely different watches as the "Field".

2. Further investigation of that source found that both the "Bank" and the "Field" were mentioned in an advert in June 1890,

A rare English Hunter by J.W. Benson

This is the first intact English made hunter I have come across by Benson, it is a later version of  "The Field" watch and was the most expensive of their three "volume" made watches. Other complete "Field", "Keyless Ludgate" and "Bank" watches that I have seen have been open faced or half hunters and most have been in size 12 rather than this size 16.

The "Half Chronometer" (Adjusted) slow train movement has an English Lever escapement with a Breguet sprung cut compensating balance and 15 jewels including a diamond end-stone for the balance. Geneva stop gear was used to control mainspring pressure and thereby improve isochronism.

Part of the full page description of "The world renown "Field" Watch"
in my 1930s Benson sales catalogue, prices ranged from £20 to £36.75
at a time when a 3 bedroomed house cost about £350. 

 

The inscription "By Warrant to the Queen" is rather confusing, I have only seen this with respect to
Queen Victoria (from 1901 to c1907 "to the Late Queen" was used) but this movement is in a case hallmarked for Benson in 1920 and it clearly belongs with the movement as the serial numbers are the same, which in itself is rare with an English Benson.

As far as I am aware Queen Mary never issued a warrant to Benson and they certainly did not claim one on any of the dozens of watches I have seen from the 1920s and 30s or in the sales catalogue I have from the 1930's which does claim warrants for the emperor of Japan and several European monarchs.

J.W. Benson: Swiss Watches of the 1930s

Having done some research and an analysis of my Benson mail order sales catalogue from the mid 1930s, I think I have finally worked out the Benson product line-up of their “standard” size 16 Swiss watches on offer during the period.

Longines half hunter for Benson

Background

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries most “standard sized” Swiss watches offered by J.W. Benson were made by Longines / Frères Baume, in the late 1910s or a bit before, they switched to Revue Thommen and in the very early 1930s they changed again to Tavannes models which are the subject of this post.

Also during this period they sold watches by Record, Zenith and others but these were sold in very small quantities compared to Tavannes.

 

The Watches.

All of these watches had Tavannes 938 or 938a (Hunter), 939 or 939a (Open Faced) calibre movements, this however is not that helpful as it was in production for a long time by both Tavannes and Cyma under numerous brand names (including Admiral, Tacy, Rambler, Stayte, Semloh and lots more) and in a bewildering number of configurations. The Benson variant however stands out as being the best finished of all of the many I have seen.

All of the following were available in Open Faced, Hunting or Half Hunting configurations.

The cases were English made, Benson Bros (no relation) and Dennison, who acquired Benson Bros in1932, probably making most, if not all, of them. By this time all of the Tavannes made movements that I have seen made for Benson used the standard watch case with negative setting.

Prices ranged from £2 10s (£2.50) for an open faced “City” in Nickel, to £14 10s (£14:50) for an “Observatory” half hunter in 9 carat gold.  A 3 letter monogram added 10s 6d (52.5p).

Update March 2017: The following information is correct as at the publication of the sales catalogue, recently I have had two watches from 1938 with the same balance configuration as the City but marked as "Adjusted", it is probable that these were still marked as the "City" but I have no documentary evidence to confirm that.

The “City” & “Triumph” Watches.

 

These watches were the entry level to the range, the cosmetics and finish were the same as the higher grades but they had a rather more basic, but effective, Elinvar over-sprung screwed balance. The “City” grade is advertised in my catalogue as being available in Sterling Silver, Black [gunmetal] Steel or Polished Nickel.  

The “Triumph” grade was the same movement in a single bottomed 9 carat gold case.

These movement also turn up (as do some of the others) in rolled or filled gold cases by Dennison, although some of these have undoubtedly been re-cased they were almost certainly originally available in these cases but, like watches by Record etc, are not shown in this (premium) mail order catalogue.

J.W. Benson "Signal" 1936.

The “Signal” Watch.

These watches were similar to the “City” and “Triumph” grades but were upgraded to have an Elinvar Breguet sprung screwed balance and, like the "Triumph", they were in a single backed 9 carat gold case.