I am sometimes asked what the meaning is of the small scratched numbers and
letters often found scratched onto the inside of the back or dust cover of
a watch. They are service marks put there by watchmakers.
In America the prefix will usually tell you who last
serviced or sold the watch, IIRC a practice originally a legal requirement to
try and prevent (tax?) fraud but now done on a voluntary basis and organised by
the American Watchmakers – Clockmakers Institute.
In UK we are not so lucky and the marks are normally just a
ledger or job number and some codes only meaningful to the watch repairer who
made them. Just occasionally however you come across something different.
Inside
the back of this watch by Review, signed by Jewellers Sharman D Neil Ltd of
Belfast and in a Swiss silver case assayed in London in 1926 there are 4 “normal” marks that mean little, except perhaps that one
has a prefix NL which could be a contraction of Neill.
But there is also a
block of marks all by the same repairer, shown at the top of the page. Easy to
read with a loupe but very difficult to
photograph, after some serious work with Photoshop we can see that each has a
(ledger?) number, followed by “M” and then what must be the month and year and
what are probably initials of the workman.
Someone clearly looked after the watch as it was serviced in
October 1935, then in 1938, 39, 42, 44, 47, 49 and then in April 1953.
