Benson Watches of 1885

Click any picture for a larger view.

These clippings are from a broadsheet full page advert in the Illustrated London News of the 12th December 1885. It only shows the recently introduced keyset “Ludgate” watch although there are some interesting pointers to the rest of their range. From the snippet below we can see that they were selling watches for between two  guineas (£2 2s or £2.10) and £500, at this time an agricultural labourer’s wage was about £35 a year.

In terms of general buying power, £500 is equivalent to approximately £49,000 today and would have purchased quite a grand house. Unfortunately I don’t know what sort of watch that would have been but it may well have been a gold cased "complicated" watch such as a repeating chronograph.

The Ludgate was shown in 3 sizes, although more were available, and in silver ranged in price from £5.50 (£540 in todays money) for an open faced watch to £9.10 (£900) for a half hunter. Gold watches ranged from £12.60 (£1,200) to £29 (£2,800).

Advertising standards do not seem to have been of much concern. For instance the general description of the Ludgate claims that the watch is “jewelled throughout” when the watch actually has a maximum of 13 jewels. 17 or, arguable at the time, 15 jewels would be required for that, Waltham's 1877 model for example was being made in quantity with 15 jewels well before this date and I have seen a Rotherham Fusee from the 1870's with 15 jewels which would also have been made in some quantity.

They also claim the watch has “maintaining power” to continue the action during winding, this is rather misleading, a "going barrel" movement maintains power during winding without any special features, what they are probably trying to do is to avoid mentioning that the watch is a “going barrel” type rather than the much more expensive Fusee which was still common in the English market and generally (in UK) considered superior and which required an additional mechanism to provide maintaining power. The very cynical might also think that they were trying to imply the watch was a Fusee.

The “True chronometer” balance referred to was a cut compensating balance already in fairly widespread use, particularly in better American watches.

Top left section showing small (top) and medium size (bottom)

Top right section.

Bottom left section showing large sized watches.

Bottom right section.

Watch packaging

It never ceases to amaze me how poorly most people pack the watches I buy in - or how often the watch actually survives, I have a strong suspicion that watches gummed up with old oil are more robust than a newly restored one, which is rather annoying!

The main problem I find is that where people go further than just putting the watch into a jiffy bag (or envelope!) they tend to protect against crushing, against which the watch is actually quite resistant, rather than against shock which is the bigger risk. They also tend to wrap lots of tape all round the watch and / or packing which contributes nothing to its safety and by making it difficult to unpack increases the risk of damage after it has arrived.

I started off packing watches in a small box wrapped in bubble wrap in a padded bag, over time I used more wrap and a bigger bag then replaced the bag with a cardboard box which although more expensive did, with the elimination of sticky tape, turn out to be quicker to pack and I suspect also discourages rough handling.

Here is the latest and hopefully final version of my packaging. The watch goes into a jewellery pouch and the pouch into a sealed plastic bag to protect against condensation particularly if transported in an unpressurised / unheated aircraft hold which frequently happens even on shipments within the UK, although international shipments present the bigger risk.

Then into a small but strong cardboard box with padding top and bottom. Annoyingly the boxes come with just one bit of padding so more has to be added.

Next into a medium sized box with a lot of bubble wrap.

Ready to go except for the address label and packing slip.

Beware the iPad!

A few weeks ago a customer returned a high quality watch because it was running very fast but when it reached me it was keeping time within a few seconds a day, after a prolonged test I sent it back. It then came back again with the same problem.

This time the watch was still running fast when it reach me and I was able to see that the two outer coils of the hairspring where "stuck" together, when freed the watch was again fine, keeping time to better than 5 seconds a day.

The cause of the problem was  the hairspring becoming magnetised, almost certainly putting the watch too close to the customers iPad, hopefully the watch will be OK when degaussed  - a tricky operation with a hairspring as it will vibrate with the degaussing field.

Don't get paranoid about it, but keep your watch away from computers, power-packs or anything else which might have a strong magnetic field.

An interesting watch case

This high end size 16 Waltham has an interesting watch case by the Philadelphia Watch Case Co.

The main body is either filled or rolled gold, the bezel and back are in American "Sterling" silver with the back inlayed with yellow, green and rose gold.

Click on the image for a larger view.

November Market Update:

The first paragraph was published on the web site on October 19th and is repeated here for background:

Following some months with very limited availability of high quality English watches I have managed to find a few really nice ones in the last few weeks but supply of watches generally has been difficult and I am now attacking my rather long back log of medium to good quality Swiss watches and revisiting some watches that previously proved... recalcitrant when I did not then have time to investigate in depth.

November:

It is now the middle of November and the supply situation has gone from bad to worse, there is little on offer and despite more aggressive bidding I am getting in between a quarter and a third the number of watches I would expect at this time of year and prices have increased significantly - a Swiss made watch for Benson and a Waltham have both just sold for 50% more than I would expect and an Omega for double my maximum bid which normally would have stood a reasonable chance of winning.

I had hoped that sellers were holding back for the Christmas market and that might still be the case but if so time is running out. A few (expensive) solid gold watches may become available in a week or two and I still have a backlog but it will not last forever!

A Family affair: Two pieces by Harrison

The Harrison family (alas probably not those of the Longitude prize fame) appear to have been in the clock and watch business for close to two hundred years from the early 17 hundreds until at least the late 1800's, they moved about the North East between Hexham, Stockton-On-Tees, Morpeth, Warkworth, Houghton-l-Spring and Chester-Le-Street, some individuals moving several time and are marked "restless" in Loomes.

The long-case clock is a family piece and is a chiming 8 day movement in an oak and mahogany case by W. Harrison of Hexham probably c 1825.

So when I saw the pocket watch signed by W.E. Harrison of Stockton-On-Tees I had to get it although it looked a poor candidate for restoration with a comment in the eBay listing saying "unable to test as I have no key", of course it is a keyless movement - that excuse usually means trouble.

Indeed it is not restorable because some oaf has been inside it with a blunt instrument and the balance staff was trashed, the hairspring largely missing and the cock for the escape wheel had been heavily bent breaking the staff. How someone could achieve that I had no idea.

The watch itself is interesting, signed on the size 16 movement by Harrison it has 11 jewels and a Breguet sprung cut compensating balance. It is a centre seconds movement rather than a chronograph having no stop function and the very dirty but sound case is hallmarked 1882.

If the date for the clock is right then W.E. Harrison appears to have been either the son or the nephew of W. Harrison.

How not to clean a movement

An unsigned Benson "Bank" type
cleaned with metal polish.
(Click for a larger view)

In a previous post I explained in some detail how I clean a watch movement, here we have an example of what can happen if metal polish is used too vigorously.

This movement is a recently restored unsigned J.W. Benson "Bank" type which I believe to have been made by P & A Guye as explained here.

At some time in the past, probably fairly recently, metal polish has been used to clean the top plate, this has removed the gilt finish.

Although it looks rather better than the picture would suggest the top plate no longer matches the balance cock or the bottom plate and the value of the watch has been substantially reduced.

You have been warned!

Watch Identification

Many English and Swiss manufacturers did not mark their products when they were to be sold on by another maker or a re-seller.

I am sometimes asked how the maker can be identified, frequently of course they can't be, particularly when the movement was from a small English maker or from many of the Swiss makers, when, particularly in the late 19th century,  several makers made what was essentially the same movement.

The task is not helped by some makers imitating the cosmetic features of a more famous maker such as Omega or Waltham. Others movements were deliberately made to appear to be a classic English 3/4 plate or a Waltham 1883 model with the normal French markings of A / R for fast / slow removed so as not to give the game away.

On some occasions identification it is down to experience and comparing an unmarked example with a movement that is marked, although perhaps under a different name such as Vertex which was a trade name of Revue Thommen.

Just occasionally a movement marked for a re-seller slips through that does have a trade mark or name on it. This high grade Benson just finish restoration is, I think, only the second example of a Revue for Benson that I have seen which does have a trade mark.

July Market Update & Four Bensons!

July was an odd month with watches in short supply, but, not for the first time, the trend was bucked by unconnected batches of some quality watches, in July it was watches by Rotherham, Omega and these four by Benson. Three open faced watches made by Tavannes and a rare Half Hunter made by Recta. The later sold in about half an hour and could probably have been sold half a dozen times.

June market update

LWC half Hunter, 1910

Its a funny old game. A severe shortage of English watches for months, then an avalanche of them, but almost all by the Lancashire Watch Company with 6 completed and a couple more that did not make it.


It was much the same with Swiss watches with 7 signed by J.W. Benson of which 6 were by Tavannes and another Tavannes for Russells Ltd. So from 22 watches completed in the last 5 weeks or so 13 were either by Tavannes or the LWC, of course  Benson is a brand I specialise in and so buy more aggressively but even so  the proportions are odd.

P & A Guye, 13J, London 1892

It was much the same with Rolled gold chains, very few since November then a bunch of them so that there is finally some stock at Brackley and on the web with one or two more to follow shortly.

The month closed out with a couple of nice English watches not by the LWC and I have some more coming in that hopefully will appear on the web site in a week or so.



A rare Beesley Silver Hunter, 1883, with an interesting engraving and repair.

A 17 Jewel Pinset Hunter by Beesely
for J.W. Carter. English Silver, 1883.

This watch is signed by J.W. Carter of London but under the dial it is signed "R.B" and is almost certainly by one of the Beesley family. The trade list compiled by Coventry Watch Museum shows Beesleys being active from 1850 until at least 1909 as variously movement makers, watch makers, jewellers (in this context craftsman who put the jewels in watches), escapement makers and gilders.

There are a couple of interesting features, an old repair and the case engraving with love symbolism.

May Market update.

There was a sudden rush of good English watches in the second half of the month supplemented by a few watches from one of the big auction houses (the 20% buyers premium  hurts!).

Unfortunately quality did no always match quantity with several being scrapped or put to one side in the probably vain hope that spares will become available. Still 9 English watches, finished in a month (including the just finished 17J Rotherham from 1894 pictured) is probably a record and there are a few more on the way.

Particularly annoying were a Benson Ludgate and an Errington 16J (several of those this month!) which both had the impulse jewels replace with a metal pin, this kept the watch running but not well and it causes damage to the roller and frequently to the lever pallet so those have both had to be put away, the Ludgate joining 5 others in the same state - its long impulse jewel being particularly vulnerable.

Strangely the number of mid to good quality watches by Waltham such as the 1908-620 (a favourite of mine) has been in very short supply but hopefully that will change.

Watches as a financial investment? Not recomended!

Rotherham 19J Keyless 1907

I have been asked several times recently for advice on watches as an investment so I thought it might be useful to post one of my replies here:

I do not advise buying functioning, serviced watches as a financial investment. Yes the price of watches is going up and I suspect that the rate of increase will increase, given the current shortage of supply particularly of  good English three-quarter plates and other high grade watches.

Update, October 2016: Watches are now in even shorter supply and prices of unrestored watches have definitely risen very significantly and continue to do so!

 

The problem is if you are buying from me or some other dealers you are buying a serviced  / restored watch with a guarantee, when you come to sell it will be without either. For a cheaper watch the cost of a full (not just an "oil") service will be a significant part of the value of the watch so a dealer will not be able to offer a lot for it and even on a more expensive watch he will have to factor in the cost of a service, a risk premium in case there is a hidden problem with the watch, overheads and a profit margin. 

 

If you sell at auction it will probably sell at well below the current retail selling price for essentially the same reasons and will attract fees and in many cases a buyers premium of 20% which will further depress the price.

 

Buy for utility, to preserve for future generations and to enjoy, not for short term financial gain - but you might be lucky in the long term. 

Wobbling watches

 

If you leave a watch hanging up whilst running, as many watch stands do, do not be surprised if the watch does not keep time or does not run for as long as you expected. Here are two examples of watched developing a swing in sympathy with the balance wheel, this will drain power from the movement.

 

 

The Standard Watch Case

Traditionally watch cases were made specifically for an individual watch and although there was some standardisation in diameter (The Lancashire size later taken up my the Americans and Swiss sizes in Ligne) the winding and setting mechanisms were not standardised and nor were features such as locating pins.

With the American drive to standardisation the "standard" watch case started to became ubiquitous during the 1890's with either a captive winding stem or a standard location for the pendant to support the winding stem.

This was a great help to volume case makers and supported the growth in plated cases as when worn out or damaged they could be replace off the shelf rather than having a specialist make or repair the old one at considerable expense.

It also led to a revolution in how watches could be sold at the wholesale and retail level. Watch movements could be exported and cased locally, often saving import duties, and more importantly watches could be cased at the point of sale.

So for instance an English retail jeweller in 1910 could buy in a range of watch movements from several makers, perhaps a selection by Waltham in different grades, some from Williamson or The Lancashire Watch Company and perhaps a few from Switzerland -where they had been forced to conform to the "Lanchashire" sizing.

They could then buy in a range of cases in Nickel, various grades of Gold Plate, Silver and solid Gold. And immediately you can "pick and mix" your watch, perhaps with a range of dials for the Waltham watches and the style of hands you wanted on any of them.

The watch could be assembled by someone using a few very basic tools and with minimal training, in some cases this would be done "on-demand" at other times to pre-set configurations as stock moved.

A tiny number of these new and unused cases remain and this orphaned movement by Tavannes for  J.W. Benson has now found a home in one such New Old Stock (NOS) rolled gold "STAR" grade case by Dennison.

J.W. Benson "THE BANK" Half Hunter & April Stock Update

English Watches and good Swiss continue to be hard to get hold of so I have continued to import quality American watches and have now build a small stock of very high grade watches by Waltham in size 16 and 18.

The exception has been a remarkable run of 19 Jewel Rotherham watches with hopefully another, this one for Benson, hopefully going onto the web site at the week end.

The second exception is this cracking Half Hunter by J.W. Benson, "THE BANK" in English silver dating from 1908/9. This is only the third example of the half-hunter version I have had in the last 2 years.

Great British Railway Journeys in Coventry

Well, Great British Railway Journeys aired earlier this evening, after a couple of “women in the street interviews” with local residents about Coventry and watches there was 10 or 15 seconds of commentary about Rotherham over pictures of the factory, 5 seconds of pictures of watches from the   Coventry Watch Museum  and 5 seconds of voice over two of my watches illustrating the evil Swiss (the plain face of an Omega) and American (a very nice Waltham 1893 model movement) watch makers that put them out of business before 8 or 9 minutes on how the Coventry watch makers moved on to cycles and automotive related manufacturing.

My pictures looked great, I wish I had the technology and know how to enhance them like that! And I did get a credit at the end under “Archives”.

Such is the fleeting nature of fame

Its a great shame they did not spend the whole of the Coventry segment of the program Coventry Watch Museum although one has to admit the cycle and automotive industries were ultimately important to the city.

Micky Mouse Dollar Watch

I am depressed, on the Antiques Road Show earlier this evening they had on a Dollar watch made in tens of millions - with Micky Mouse on the face.

Valued at £500.

Just think what wonderful antique watches you could get for that.

What a crazy world we live in.