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Swiss HallmarksNo Hallmarks
Sponsor's and maker's marks
Assay process
Plate or Plated?
Hallmarks on Watch Cases
Many watch cases are made from precious metals such as silver or gold, and if they were retailed in the UK, they should by law have been subject to assay to determine the purity of the metal, and carry four hallmarks showing five things:
- Whether the case was made in the UK or imported from abroad.
- Who submitted the article to the Assay Office for assay.
- The Standard Mark - the guaranteed fineness of the metal.
- The Assay Office Mark - showing at which office the article was marked.
- The Date Letter - showing the year the article was marked.
The item of principal interest to the prospective purchaser is usually of course the "fineness" of the metal, i.e. how much gold or silver is actually in the material. In the UK this fineness is guaranteed by the Assay Office, which is why there is such a formal process of submitting, testing and marking the metal, but for researchers the marks can tell us more than just the basic fineness. In this page I will look at all four of marks so that you can understand more about the history of your watch.
The page is getting a bit long now so I have put some shortcuts on the left. I have collected a few sponsor's and maker's marks further down on this page and if you know all about hall marks and just want to look up the sponsor's mark in your watch case, just go straight to Sponsor's and maker's marks.
If you have any questions or information to add to what is here, please email details to me at . You shouldn't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I answer all emails I receive, so if you do write to me and don't get an answer in a few days, please check your junk and spam folders. Even better, when you write, add my email address to your contacts and my emails will not be filtered out. I look forward to hearing from you!
Hallmarks
Silver and gold items have been required for over 700 years by UK law to be hallmarked. The current London Assay Office is part of the Goldsmiths' Company, founded to regulate the craft or trade of silversmiths and goldsmiths, and responsible since 1327 for testing the purity of gold and silver articles. The word 'hallmark' originates from the fifteenth century when London goldsmiths were required to bring their articles to the Goldsmiths' Hall for the metal to be tested for purity ("assayed") and marked with the results. This requirement continues unchanged today.
Assay Office Marks on Native Items
The mark of the London Assay Office since about the year 1300 has been various forms of a Leopard's head. As time went by and trade increased, other assay offices were set up with their own distinctive marks. The Birmigham office adopted a ships anchor. It might be thought strange that Birmingham, set in the middle of the country and about as far from the sea as you can get, would use an anchor for its symbol. This goes back to 1773 when silversmiths from Birmingham and Sheffield petitioned Parliament for their own assay offices so that they wouldn't have to send items to London to be marked. The petitioners held meetings in The Crown and Anchor public house off The Strand in London, and each town adopted one of these signs as its mark; Sheffield got the crown, and Birmingham the anchor. The mark of the Glasgow office was the arms of the city, a tree with a fish, a bird and a bell. There were other offices, but these are the three which occur most on the watches we are interested in.
Note well that these office marks were used only on native items, that is gold and silver items produced in the UK. For imported items, each assay office used a different mark. See the section below about office marks on imported items.
Typical Marks on an Imported Watch
Most of the watches that I am interested in were imported, so I have marked up in the picture to the left what one typically finds in the back of an imported silver watch case.
The case maker's trademark and serial number were applied in the factory in Switzerland. Unfortunately many cases don't have a maker's trademark, just an anonymous serial number. In this case we are lucky and the case has the mark of François Borgel. If the case is made of gold or platinum, then there may be an encrypted mark showing who it was made by. See the section on Swiss hallmarks and Poinçons de Maître below. Unfortunately the Swiss don't consider silver to be a precious metal, so most of the cases we encounter will not be so marked.
Because this case was imported, below the serial number we find the UK sponsor's mark. The sponsor was the British person or firm registered with the assay office to send items for assay. This was usually an import agent or importer, not the manufacturer of the item, although some Swiss manufacturers such as Stauffer did have British branches - but these were branches of watch manufacturers, not watch case makers. The sponsor had to register his mark, usually two or three initials in a surrounding shape, with the assay office concerned before he could submit items for assay. In this case the UK importer and sponsor was AGR - Arthur George Rendell.
Don't confuse the mark of a sponsor like Rendell, a UK company who imported watches, with that of the maker, someone who actually made the case, in this case in Switzerland. For the purpose of the Assay Office both marks fulfilled the same purpose and therefore are always referred to as the sponsor's mark, but they are quite different in implication. On a UK made case there will only be one sponsor's mark, the makers mark. On a Swiss made case there may well be the maker's mark, which as a Swiss company would not be recognised by the UK assay office, and the UK sponsor's mark, which would be registered with the assay office.
Below the sponsor's mark we find a group of three marks: the guaranteed minimum purity or fineness of the metal, in this case 0.925 or 92.5% pure silver, the standard for Sterling silver, the Assay Office mark, in this case the London office stamp, (upside down, as is often the case) and the year date letter, here "c" for 1918/1919.
Imported Gold and Silver
Gold and silver items imported into the UK must also be hallmarked. The requirement for import marks to be stamped on foreign made silver was introduced in 1867. A letter "F" in an oval cartouche was stamped alongside the regular hallmarks of purity standard, the city mark, and the mark of the British importing firm, called the sponsor's mark. A typical Sterling silver case that was imported into London between 1867 and 1904 would have the usual lion passant (walking) to show the purity, a leopard's head for London, a date letter, and a sponsor's mark, with the addition of the letter F for Foreign.
In 1904 a new marking system was introduced, in which each assay office stamped its own symbol as the import mark instead of the city mark. In London, for example, the leopard's head city mark was replaced by a radiant sun's head in a square cartouche for gold or oval cartouche for silver. This lasted until 1906.
From 1906 a new set of marks for imported items were used. The London Assay Office used the sign of the constellation Leo, which looks like an omega symbol, on a cross in an oval cameo for silver, square for gold. The Glasgow Office used two "F"s lying down facing each other. The Birmingham Office's symbol was an equilateral triangle. These marks can be seen in the table of date letters below.
Year Date Letters
The date letters used by the London Assay Office to indicate the hallmarking year (confusingly not the same as the calendar year) ran in sequences of 20, starting at the letter "a" and running up to "u", omitting the letter "j". Other offices used the full cycle from "a" to "z".
Why was "j" left out? Well, the letter "j" was only invented in the 16th century and didn't make its way into common English usage until the 17th century, and the Goldsmith's Guild, first charged in 1327 with responsibility for testing the quality of gold and silver, weren't going to change their ways for a new fangled thing like that. Even the hallmarking act of 1973, which did away with the cycle ending in "u" and allowed the date letters to run up to "z" didn't introduce the letter "j", it's just too similar to "i".
The year denoted by the date letter can be confusing because until the 1973 act, the hallmarking year did not run from January 1st. Prior to the restoration, the London hallmarking year commenced on May 19th, the Feast Day of Saint Dunstan, patron saint of gold and silversmiths, when the new wardens were elected. From 1660 to 1975 the London hallmarking year commenced on 30th May which is nearly half way through the calendar year! So an item marked with an "a" which Bradbury says is the date letter for 1916, could have been marked at any time from May 19th 1916 to May 18th 1917.
The Glasgow hallmarking year ran from 1st July to 30th June, neatly bisecting the the year. Why? Nobody knows. The Glasgow office closed in 1964. The Birmingham office also changed its date letter with the annual election of the wardens on 1st July.
The table below shows the office marks for imported items, and some date letters which should also give you a stab at a date, but to be quite honest, some of the Glasgow office's letter forms are so outrageous that you need to look in one of the standard refernces to have a chance of reading them. If you want some help, don't hesitate to email me, but do try to send me a clear picture of the mark you need help with.
| Year | London imports | Glasgow imports | Birmingham imports |
 |  |  | |
| 1910/1911 | p | N | l |
| 1911/1912 | q | O | m |
| 1912/1913 | r | P | n |
| 1913/1914 | s | Q | o |
| 1914/1915 | t | R | p |
| 1915/1916 | u | S | q |
| 1916/1917 | a | T | r |
| 1917/1918 | b | U | s |
| 1918/1919 | c | V | t |
| 1919/1920 | d | W | u |
| 1920/1921 | e | X | v |
The purity standard marks, such as the Lion Passant for Sterling silver, was replaced by a numerical denotion of purity, e.g. 0.925 for Sterling silver. So the typical Sterling silver case that we discussed above imported into London after 1906 would have an Omega symbol, supposed to be the sign of the constellation Leo, on a crossed background in an oval cartouche, a 0.925 in an oval cartouche, a date letter, and a sponsor's mark.
There may also be additional marks from the country of origin such as the marks "SWISS", the bear rampant, and 0.935 (the Swiss standard for silver purity) which you can see in the case back of my grandfather's Rolex on my Rolex page. However, even though Swiss law required that items made from precious metals should be stamped with the Swiss marks, most imported gold and silver watches have only the British hallmarks.
Assay Process
The assay process is in itself quite interesting, but perhaps a bit of a sidetrack if you are just looking for details of your watch case date and importer, so I have put it in a separate section at the bottom of this page. Click on the link if you want to read details of the Assay process.
Watch Case Makers of England 1720-1920
If you are interested in watch cases and their makers, an invaluable reference is Philip Priestley's Book "Watch Case Makers of England...1720-1920." This book is only available from the author in Europe for £15 plus p&p: in America a friend of the author in North Carolina has some copies. This book contains the results of painstaking research into the case makers of London, Liverpool, Prescot, Chester, Coventry, Birminghman and other provincial towns, and has extensive appendices of hallmarks to enable you to identify the case maker, standard and year that your watch was assayed. At £15 it is an absolute bargain, and every serious collector of watches of the period covered should have a copy of it. You can contact Philip Priestley by email at . He has also written a book on watch case makers covering the earlier period of 1631 - 1720, and has new book on Dennison out now.
Silver Makers Marks Website
If you can't find your silver makers / sponsors mark on this page and you don't have Philip Priestley's Book, then a very useful web site with a large collection of silver marks is SilverMakersMarks.co.uk. If you do find your mark there, please let me know.
Swiss Hallmarks and Collective Responsibility Marks
Silver
Between 1880 and 1933 the Swiss hallmarks on silver cases, equivalent to the British silver import hallmarks, are a either a bear rampant or a grouse. The bear mark indicates that the metal is silver above 0.875 (87.5%) silver copntent, and the grouse that the metal is above 0.800 (80%) silver content. Note that the bear and grouse symbols indicate the minimum, not the actual, purity of the metal.
The actual silver purity is also given in numbers, such as the commonly seen 0.935 for 93.5% silver content. The 0.935 or 93.5% purity is a higher level of purity than the British Sterling Silver standard, which was 92.5% or 0.925, so it is possible to see both the Swiss 0.935 and the British .925 stamped in the same case. There is no conflict here, because the Sterling Silver 92.5% is the guaranteed minimum purity, not the actual purity, which in this case is higher.
In 1933 the Swiss hallmarks for silver changed from a rampant bear to a duck, which showed an increased minimum purity of 0.925 or 92.5% silver, and a grouse, which continued to signify a purity of 0.800 or 80% silver.
Gold
From 1880 to 1933 there were two standards were used for gold, 18 carat signified by the female head of Helvetia, and 14 carat signified by a squirrel. These standards continued after 1933 with the same marks, but the sign of the morning star was added for 9 carat gold.
Platinum
A single standard for platinum of 95% was introduced in 1914, signified by the head of a chamois goat. In 1933 the symbol was changed to an ibex goat. Goodness knows why: perhaps Swiss people found it easier to identify an ibex than a chamois. They both look like goats to me . . .
Swiss imports to the UK
Silver and gold Swiss watches imported into Britian often don't have Swiss hallmarks. I was puzzled as to why this should be, so I asked the Swiss Central Office for Precious Metals Control in Bern. Funnily enough, they didn't know either, although they did refer me to a Swiss law from 1887 stipulating that watch cases in the fineness 0.935 or in sterling silver destined to England must be hallmarked with the "bear" for silver 0.875 or more, which would seem to mean that they should have received Swiss hallmarks but didn't. The Swiss Office did suggest that it may be because hallmarking was compulsory in the UK and therefore items from Switzerland bound for the UK were exempted from Swiss hallmarking.
Collective Responsibility Marks
The Swiss Collective Responsibility act of 1934 required all precious metal (gold, platinum or palladium, but not silver unfortunately) watch cases made or imported into Switzerland carry a Responsibility Mark, or Poinçon de Maître, (literally "punch of the master") to identify the case maker. These are analogous to the UK Sponsor's Mark - the mark (usually initials) of a person registered at an Assay Office in order to send materials for assay.
They are extremely small, and because they are only used on gold and other very high cost cases, seem to be very little known. But if you do find one in your watch case, then it is a simple matter to consult the tables and see who was the maker. I will publish the list of marks and makers here when I get time, in the meantime you are welcome to email me and I will look up details for you.
The marks shown below were registered at the Swiss Central Office for Precious Metals Control in 1934 by the Fédération Suisse des Associations de Fabricants de Boîtes de Montres (Swiss Federation of Associations of Watch Cases Producers, or F.B. for short). These marks were in use prior to 1934, but I have contacted the current record holders, the USH-APIC, (Union Suisse pour l'Habillage de la Montre - Association Patronale Suisse des Industries Microtechniques) in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and unfortunately no records prior to 1934 appear to still exist. So it is possible to find these marks in watch cases that are earlier than 1934 and if the registrant is in the 1934 list, all well and good, but there are gaps in the 1934 list where earlier registrants had gone out of business before the list was compiled.
From left to right the marks are:
No. 1 Hammer-head or hammer without handle
No. 2 Hammer with handle
No. 3 Marquee
No. 4 Crossbow
No. 5 Key of Geneva
No. 6 Shield
When stamped into a watch case, the XXX shown in the marks are replaced with a number that indicates the maker of the case. A list of these can be found on my friend Dean's web site at Tick Talk. This will open in another window or tab
Watches with British Sponsor's Marks but No Hallmarks
Sometimes watches are seen with with British sponsor's marks, but no import marks. The reason for this is that in 1915, with the first World War (WW1) starting to impose a strain on the economy, the British Government imposed an ad valorem duty of 33.?% on imported luxuries including clocks and watches to conserve foreign currency reserves as part of the war effort. This meant that any watches imported into Britain, even if only for checking before subsequent export abroad, would be subject to this high rate of tax. Prior to this, many watches were imported to Britain before being re-exported to the Empire. Britain had large overseas territories at the time, which were a big market.
To avoid paying the tax on watches not destined for the British home market, many companies, including Rolex, George Stockwell, Rotherham and Sons, Rendells, and Baume & Co., either set up Swiss offices, or made arrangements to export watches direct from Switzerland to the British Empire, bypassing Britain and avoiding the high import duty.
A note to eBayers etc.
I don't mind if you want to copy bits of my information for your advert or listing. I am sure you will get a better price for your watch if you provide extra detail about it, so go ahead, please feel free. It would be nice to be acknowledged if you do - you can't put a link to my web site into your listing because eBay doesn't allow external links, but you could put something like "Thanks to David Boettcher for the information on the case marks. Google his name together with with ‘vintage watches’ to find out more." Thanks!
AB Arthur Baume, and B&Co. Baume & Company
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 AB is for Arthur Baume Managing Director of Baume & Co., 21 Hatton Garden, the London branch of Baume, a Swiss watch manufacturer based in the village of Les Bois, in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Arthur Baume was a prominent figure in Europe. A member of the Royal Geographical Society, he also became president of the British Horological Institute. He was made a knight, and later an officer, of the Legion of Honor, and was twice decorated by French President Poincarré. The King of Belgium made him a Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold II. As well as their own watches, Baume & Company were the importer of Longines watches to the UK and all of the British Commonwealth. Otherwise unmarked Logines watches from the early 20th century often bear the mark "B & Co." for Baume & Co. next to the movement calibre number under the balance wheel. The picture left is an interesting Longines Borgel case which bears both the AB and B&Co marks, as well as the FB for François Borgel. The presence of the AB mark indicates that this was the sponsors mark registered at the Assay office, not the B&Co mark. |
AGR Arthur George Rendell
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 The AGR initials, with dots in between as this "A·G·R", are for Arthur George Rendell of 40/42 Clerkenwell Road, London who are recorded as importers of Swiss watches from 1907 The large image to the left is quite interesting because it shows the AGR mark in a 9 carat (.375 purity) gold Borgel case with the Edinburgh import mark for 1925. Why Rendells, who were apparently London based, would use the Edinburgh assay office I have no idea. If you do, then please let me know. This image courtesy of Cary Hurt, Alabama. |
ALD Aaron Dennison
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Aaron Lufkin Dennison (1812-1895) had pioneered mass production watch making in the USA, but ran into financial difficulties in a turbulent financial period in 1857. In 1862 he moved to England and set up the Dennison Watch Case Co. of Birmingham. Watch cases were usually stamped "Dennison Watch Case Co" but Dennison also used the case maker mark "ALD" for Aaron Lufkin Dennison. The picture to the left shows a case marked with both ALD and Dennison Watch Case Co. It also has the anchor mark which the Birmingham Assay Office used on native, i.e. not imported, items, the lion passant (walking) used on native items to indicate the purity of the silver as Sterling (92.5%), and the letter "q" for the Birmingham hallmarking year 1915 to 1916. |
C&C Carley & Clemence
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Carley & Clemence were watch and clock makers, and importers of Swiss watches, with a history going back to 1843. In 2010 Christie's sold a an 18 carat gold hunter case minute repeating keyless lever watch signed Carley & Clemence Ltd., 30 Ely Place, London, Makers to the Admiralty, No. 51'484, with London hallmarks and the date letter for 1906. The watch has an off-white enamel dial in the typical manner of Frederick Willis, renowned for high quality dials, and case by Fred Thoms, renowned for exceptional cases, both suppliers to the best English watchmakers. In 1915 the death of Mr Joseph Auguste Clemence, chairman of Carley & Clemence (Limited), watch and clock makers of Ely Place Holborn, and a member of the Court of the Clockmakers' Company, was announced in The Times at age 71. In 1962 Carley & Clemence was part of Time Products, a group of Hatton Garden companies including also Elco Clocks and Watches, Baume & Co, and Hatton Jewellery and Watch Company. Companies in the group were sole importers and distributors in the UK for Longines, Vacheron et Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Movado, Universal, Cetina and Helvetia. In 1964 they advertised Certina wristwatches by Certina Kurth Frères S.A. from Carley & Clemence Ltd, Theba House, 49 Hatton Garden, London EC1. The picture of the Carley & Clemence Limited mark, C&CLD, was provided to me by Ewen Taylor and is in the case back of a hermetic watch owned by him, the 9 carat gold case made by the Geneva company of François Borgel and hallmarked London 1925/26 |
CN Charles Nicolet
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Charles Nicholet was a partner of Stauffer & Co., the London branch of the Swiss firm of Stauffer, Son & Co. of La Chaux-de-Fonds. His sponsor's mark was first recorded with the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London, in 1877 at 12 Old Jewry Chambers. He then registered a sponsor's mark "C.N" in a rectangular lozenge with cut corners 10 Oct 1881 and the same 10 Oct 1885. On 23 Feb 1887, the firm moved to 13 Charterhouse Street, London, and on 26 Mar 1896 reverted back to "CN" within a wide-hexagonal lozenge. On 4 Nov 1904 he went back to the original "CN" sponsor's mark, but on 3 Apr 1905 and 17 Oct 1907 changed yet again to a further format of "CN" in rectangular lozenge with cut corners . Charles Nicholet was also registered with the Chester Goldsmiths Company, 13 Dec 1906, and used his 13 Charterhouse Street, London, address. In this instance he used "CN" within a rectangular lozenge, albeit corners may appear rounded. You can read more about Stauffer and Nicolet on my history page by clicking this link: Stauffer Son & Co. |
CG Charles Guinard
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Charles William Guinard is recorded by Priestley as a case importer. His sponsor's mark was first recorded at the London Assay Office on 21 January 1907 when his address was 52 Myddleton Square, Clerkenwell, London. On 28 September 1909 he is recorded as having moved to 6 Thavies Inn, Holborn Circus. |
FB François Borgel
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François Borgel of Geneva registered his "marque de fabrique", or makers mark (trademark), in Geneva in March 1887. He patented his famous watch case design on 28 October 1891 with the Swiss "Brevet" or Patent number 4001, and in the UK on 24th November 1891 under Patent number 20,422. The Borgel case was an early attempt to make wrist watches resistant to dust and moisture. It has a one piece case with no back opening, where the movement and bezel are mounted on a threaded ring which screws into the case from the front. Manufacture of Borgel cases continued after the death of François Borgel in 1912, initially under the direction of his daughter Louisa Borgel, later Louisa Beauverd-Borgel. The firm was taken over in 1924 by Taubert & Fils. Taubert & Fils, later Taubert Frères, was one of the finest Geneva-based case makers and specialized in water-resistant cases. They worked with many firms, including Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. For further details please refer to my Borgel page. |
GS George Stockwell
George Stockwell's company Stockwell & Co were recorded in June 1907 as importers of silver (e.g. dressing table sets, watches, Georg Jensen silver) and Assay Agents at 16/18 Finsbury Street, London.
The following information was very kindly provided to me by Eleni Bide from the Library of the Goldsmiths' Company: John Culme's "The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths, Jewellers & Allied Traders 1838-1914" (Woodbridge, Antique Collector's Club, 1987, 2v) illustrates the mark of George Stockwell, described as an "importer of foreign watches". Culme also provides some details of Stockwell's firm, Stockwell & Co Ltd, who were listed in Birmingham in 1912 as "agents to Messageries Nationales Express and Messageries Anglo-Suisse, continental, foreign and general shipping agents, special tariff for small consignments abroad."
Stockwell did not manufacture watches or cases, and would have imported from a number of different Swiss manufacturers.
The picture below left shows Stockwell's mark on a watch with a London import mark (the inverted Omega on a crossed oval cartouche, the oval signifying silver as opposed to a rectangular cartouche for gold) a .925 mark showing the purity as 92.5% silver, or "Sterling", and 1915 "u" date stamp. The picture below right shows Stockwell's mark on a watch with a Birmingham import mark (the triangle in an oval cartouche, with again the oval cartouche signifying silver) and a 1918 "t"date stamp.
You can see that the block sticking up at the top of the GS cartouche varies considerably in width, from the narrow one on the London mark to the much wider one on the Birmingham mark. The difference between the London and Birmingham marks is of no significance in the light of the number of punches used by Stockwell's firm.
JF Jean Finger
In January 1921 Jean Finger, a watch case maker of Longeau, Berne, Switzerland was granted Swiss patent number CH 89276 for a "Montre à remontoire avec boitier protecteur" literally a watch with a protective box.
Finger's patent overcame the problem of sealing the winding stem by the simple expedient of placing a conventional round watch inside a larger case. The larger case had no opening at the back or hole for a winding stem, just an open front through which the watch was placed into the case. A screw bezel and crystal closed this front opening, forming a hermetic seal and totally protecting the watch within. Once the bezel was unscrewed, the smaller watch case came out on a hinge to allow the hands to be set and the movement wound.
Some hermetic watch cases bear the words "Double Boitier Brevet 89276" (Double Case Patent 89276), a reference to the Jean Finger patent, and some bear the initials JF, these were actually made by Jean Finger's watch case company, Jean Finger, Fabrique de boîes de montres.
R&S Rotherham & Sons Ltd
The firm of Rotherham & Sons, based at 27 Spon Street, Coventry, Warwickshire, UK, could trace its origins back to 1747 to a firm started by Samuel Vale. Richard Kevitt Rotherham joined the firm as an apprentice, and was listed as a partner in Vale and Rotherham in 1790. The firm was listed as Rotherham & Sons from 1850. They made entire watches: movements and cases. In 1858 Charles Dickens visited the factory and was presented with a watch to mark the occasion. By the 1880s Rotherhams were operating on a very large scale by British standards, with over 500 employees active in the production of both movements and cases. In 1932 they became agents for Buren, and later Ulysee Nardin. The company was incorporated into Cornercroft Engineering in 1973.
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Rotherhams obviously imported watches as well as making them, because the two images to the left show Rotherham and Sons assay office registered R&S marks, the top one in a rectangular cartouche with cut corners, the lower one in a diamond or rhomboid shaped cartouche. Although based in Coventry, some time before 1890 the company also opened offices at 1 Holborn Circus, London, and their watches were also signed Rotherhams, London. This was later to become their head office. Priestly lists the rectangular mark as being registered at Birmingham in 1841 and in London between 1907 and 1919, and the second diamond shape mark as being registered in Birmingham between 1912 and 1917. The Birmingham assay office would be the nearest office to mark watches made in Coventry, whereas the London assay office would be a more natural choice for watches imported from Switzerland, which would presumably have come in through the port of London, and a large proportion would then be retailed in London after assaying. |
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I have also seen some Swiss watch movements marked R&S. Cutmore in "Watches 1850-1980" states that British Industry Fair reports show that in 1920 and 1921 they showed at trade exhibitions cases for movements made in their own factory in Switzerland. Cutmore suggests that this could possibly be the Rode Watch Company of La Chaux de Fonds, whose watches they marketed, but I have seen no evidence to back up this suggestion. |
The following information was very kindly provided to me by Eleni Bide from the Library of the Goldsmiths' Company: Culme also provides some useful details pertaining to the mark sent with your last email. He illustrates several very similar marks which could be a match to the one on your watch case. All were registered to Rotherham & Sons Ltd, gold and silver watch case makers and importers (John Culme, The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths, Jewellers & Allied Traders 1838-1914, Woodbridge, Antique Collector's Club, 1987, 2v., v.1, page 260-261, nos.12598, 12657-12668). In the second volume of his work Culme describes the firm of Rotherham and Sons in some detail, including their role as a watchmaker and importer, and the colourful lives of some members of the Rotherham family (ibid, v. 2, page 394).
SA The Swiss Agency, George & Jean Bouverat
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You have to be cautious if you see the mark SA in a case back, because in Switzerland SA usually stands for Société Anonyme, the equivalent of a British public limited company or plc., and so it appears in the full formal name of just about every Swiss watch company that you care to mention, from Abra Montres SA to Zurich Manufacture D'Horlogerie SA. However, if the SA is stamped into the case back like the mark shown here, it is a registered sponsor's mark. The following information was provided to a correspondent by the Birmingham Assay Office. "The mark 'SA' was registered at the Birmingham Assay Office by The Swiss Agency, Geo & Jean Bouverat, in 1924, they were registered as Watch Manufacturer in Frederick Street, Birmingham." |
SD Sylvain Dreyfuss
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This mark with a tab at the top of the cameo was registered to Sylvain Dreyfuss of Moise, George & Sylvain Dreyfus trading as M Dreyfus, watch manufacturers, Moorfield, London EC2. Fabriques de Montres Rotary was established at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Moise Dreyfuss in 1895. By the 1920s family members Georges and Sylvain Dreyfuss began importing Rotary watches to Britain, which was to become the company's most successful market. Rotary is still owned by the Dreyfuss family through Dreyfuss Group Holdings and with Robert Dreyfuss, the great grandson of Moise Dreyfuss, its chairman, is now the oldest family-owned and run Swiss watchmaker. |
SFC Schwob Frères & Co, La Chaux-de-Fonds
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Schwob Frères & Co. registered its name in 1881 for watch movements and cases. The company also owned the Tavannes Watch Company of Tavannes. Tavannes was founded in 1891 by Henri Sandoz, but from 1892 on, Tavannes and Schwob Frères shared brand names and trademarks. Between them, the two firms registered a huge number of brand names and trademarks, one of the best known of which is the Cyma brand. A Cyma watch in an interesting case to a design patented by Schwob Frères & Co. and manufactured by Borgel can be seen on my Borgel page by clicking on this link SFC Cyma. This will open in another window or tab, and may take a few moments to load depending on the speed of your connection. |
LW
Louis Weill. First registered 24 November 1879 3 Holborn Circus, London. 24 June 1896 moved to 111 Hatton Gardens, London. Registered L.W 23 Jan 1907 and LW 19 Jan 1914
VWCo.
Vertex Watch Co. Vertex is one of 12 companies that made WWW (Waterproof Wrist Watch, or any other combination of those three words as you prefer) specification watches for the British military in the WW2 era.
Combined Marks
The sponsor's mark and the case makers mark are often seen together. For instance, below left is a picture of a case with the AGR sponsor's mark, and also the FB mark for the case maker François Borgel, and below right is a case with the GS sponsor's mark and the FB mark.
If you like what you see, or have any comments, requests or suggestions, then please feel free to email me at . You shouldn't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I answer all emails I receive, so if you do write to me and don't get an answer in a few days, please check your junk and spam folders. Even better, when you write, add my email address to your contacts and my emails will not be filtered out.
Regards - David
Assay Process
The assay process is quite interesting. Because it is a quantitative process to determine the relative amounts of the precious metal, the gold or silver, relative to the alloying elements mixed with it, a relatively large sample of material needs to be taken, and essentially destroyed by the analysis.
Gold is assayed by cupellation or "fire assay" where an accurately weighed sample is mixed with silver and lead and placed in a small vessel called a cupel, which is made of absorbent refractory material. This is then heated in a furnace to melt all the contents. All alloying elements and impurities except for gold and silver are absorbed by the cupel. The remaining gold and silver alloy is then treated in nitric acid to remove the silver, and the weight of the pure gold remaining can be compared to that of the original sample to determine the fineness of the sample.
The purity of the gold used to be marked as both carats and as a fraction, although now only fractions are used. Pure gold is 24 carat so, for example, 18 carat gold items were marked with both an "18" and a ".75" with the .75 meaning 18/24 = 0.75 or 75% gold. The carats used in describing the purity of gold are related to the carats used for the weight of gem stones such as diamonds, but are used in a different way. This way of describing gold purity, or fineness, started with a medieval coin called a Mark, which weighed 24 carats. Pure gold was not used to make these coins because it was deemed too soft, so copper, silver or other metals were mixed with gold to produce a harder alloy. The purity of the coin was then expressed by the proportion of its 24 carat weight that was actually gold, so a 22 carat coin contained 22/24 = 91.67% gold.
Diamonds and other gemstones are actually weighed in carats, and their purity is described qualitatively in terms of colour and clarity. A gemstone carat is equal to 0.200 gram, and its subdivision, the point, is 0.01 carat. So just remember that a gold carat tells you what proportion of gold is in the metal, not how much metal you are getting. Whereas a diamond carat tells you exactly how much diamond you are getting, but not how pure it is.
To assay silver, a process of titration is used. The accurately weighed silver sample is dissolved in nitric acid to form silver nitrate. Measured quantities of sodium chloride (salt) are added, reacting with the silver nitrate to form silver chloride, and when the silver nitrate is completely turned to silver chloride, the amount of silver in the original sample can be determined from the quantity of sodium chloride used.
Silver purity is only expressed as a fraction, and only two standards are authorised: Sterling 0.925 and Britannia 0.958. Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. Britannia silver has a slightly higher silver content at 95.8% and was introduced in 1696 instead of the Sterling standard to stop people melting down silver coins to make silverware. Britannia was the minimum standard for silver items until 1720 when Sterling was reintroduced, and both standards are still in use today.
Obviously it would not be practical to perform these assay tests if thousands of items were submitted for assay, because it would require a noticeable amount of metal to be removed from each item, and would take far too much time. When large numbers of items are to hallmarked, a system of batch processing is used. The registered sponsor submits a items to be tested in batches with an accompanying hallnote. The items in the batch are grouped together into lots of the same metal and same purity, and can include some offcuts or scrap pieces of the same purity.
When the assay office receives a batch of items, the individual lots within the batch are first checked for homogeneity by carrying out "touch tests" on the articles. The articles are lightly rubbed onto a "touchstone" leaving a trace of material on the stone. The sampler then checks the colour and reaction to chemicals of the trace on the touchstone, to make sure that all the individual items are of the same purity. Once satisfied that the items in the batch are all the same metal and purity, one of the items in the batch has a small amount of material taken from it for assay. This is where the offcuts or scrap pieces come in; because they have been checked to make sure that they are the same fineness as the rest of the items in the batch, they can be used for the assay without causing any further damage to the finished pieces.
Plate vs Plated: Silver Plate, Sheffield Plate, Electro Plated
Archaically the term "plate" was used to refer to items made of solid silver and gold, because dinner plates used by the wealthy were the firsty items to made of silver and gold, and there was no way to make them other than with the solid metal. But with the introduction of Sheffield plate, and later eletro plating, it became easy confuse the term "plate" between items made of the solid metal and items made of base metal overlaid ("plated") with silver or gold. Because of this I try to avoid the use of the term plate, but the reader should be aware that some older books, Bradbury in particular, when they say "plate" actually mean the solid stuff, not plated items.
Sheffield plate was invented by Thomas Boulsover around 1743. It was made by fusing a sheet of sterling silver to a base of copper. Because a sheet of solid silver was used, the resulting material was termed "plate" rather than "plated", and this seems to be where the confusion started.
If you know different; or have any questions, suggestions, or comments, then please drop me a line at You shouldn't need to copy the email address, just click on it. I answer all emails I receive, so if you do write to me and don't get an answer in a few days, please check your junk and spam folders. Even better, when you write, add my email address to your contacts and my emails will not be filtered out.
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