21 years: 2005 - 2026

English Watchmaking Companies

Copyright © David Boettcher 2005 - 2026 all rights reserved.

This page has been separated out from the page about English watchmaking history. Over time it is intended to create separate pages for the individual companies currently listed on this page, and to bring the small number of English companies that are now listed under the general heading of Companies into this section. Until that is done, please excuse the slightly confusing mixture.

Watchmaking Centres

English watchmaking began in London but later centres arose in Liverpool and Coventry. In the eighteenth century these were supplied with rough movements for finishing by specialist manufacturers in Prescot in Lancashire. The rough movement included the plates, pillars, fusee, spring barrel and train wheels and other basic components, but they needed to be jewelled, fitted with escapements, engraved, gilded, fitted with dials and hands and put into watch cases before they were ready to be sent to the retailers.

London

Watchmaking in London became centred in Clerkenwell. At the end of the eighteenth century the annual output of watches from London was almost 200,000 pieces, but this declined steadily throughout the nineteenth century as competition from Switzerland and America took increasing market share.

The Clerkenwell watchmakers continued to use time-served skilled workers and traditional handcraft methods, with movements passing through the hands of twenty or more specialist trades, the working parts being hand fitted to each movement, plates engraved and gilded, etc. It was very rare for all these specialists to be brought together "under on roof", that is in a factory. It was more usual for each craftsman to have his own small workshop, often within or as an extension to his house. The part finished movements were sent from one workshop to another for the various stages to be completed. Craftsmen also rarely worked for only one watch finisher, so work from one had to wait its turn while a job for another was completed.

Although the London watchmakers never adopted modern methods of working and gradually died out, there were sporadic attempts to introduce the American system into British watchmaking.

There were many people and companies involved in watchmaking in London and I won't attempt to list and discuss them all here, but I will add notes from time to time of companies that come to my attention for some reason.

Sir John Bennett

John Bennett was horn in Greenwich in 1814, the son of a watchmaker. He took over the family business when his father died in 1830. Several years later he transferred his trading activities to the City of London, firstly in Cornhill and later in Cheapside.

Although trained as a practical watchmaker, Bennett's business at 65 Cheapside was a high street retailer of watches made by English and Swiss watch manufacturers. In The Daily News of 10 December 1859 it was announced that the adjoining house at 64 Cheapside had been acquired for the jewellery department. In 1892 the shop front at number 65 was remodelled and number 64 vacated, being let to Messrs. Eugene Rimmel Limited, the cosmetics company.

A watch with “Bennett 65 & 64 Cheapside” on the dial has been seen with London Assay Office hallmarks for 1864 to 1865 in the case. The sponsor's mark JN incuse was entered at the London Assay Office on 28 April 1862 by James Neale of Ryley Street, Coventry, showing that the watch was made in Coventry.

The business was sold to J. W. Benson in 1889 and that company continued it until 1941.

John Bennett's strong campaigning in the 1850s for Britain to adopt many of the new techniques being used by the Swiss horological industry was not well received and was one of the things which led to the foundation of the British Horological Institute in 1858. Knighted in 1872, Sir John Bennett died in July, 1897.

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J. W. Benson

There is now a page about J. W. Benson at J. W. Benson.

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P & A Guye

There is now a page about P & A Guye at P & A Guye.

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Nicole, Nielsen & Company

There is now a page about this company at Nicole, Nielsen & Co. .

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Kullberg

The house of Kullberg became known in the nineteenth century as the producer of the finest English marine chronometers.

Many of Kullberg's chronometers are stamped "J.P" on the bottom plate for the movement maker Joseph Preston & Sons of Prescot, Lancashire, a company that continued into the early 1950s. Their work was of the highest quality and they supplied many of the top London chronometer makers.

Although Joseph Preston was far and away the largest supplier of rough movements to Kullberg, rough movements from Wycherley were also used.

Kullberg's records survive. The records are held by the London Metropolitan Archives, purchased at auction by the Clockmaker's Company from the library of David Torrens after his death, and deposited in the Guildhall Library in 1973. Each watch or chronometer made has a separate page detailing the cost of each component and processes involved in its production or finishing.

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Dent

Dent was a very well known London manufacturer of high quality clocks and watches. Several other companies used the name Dent in order to trade off this reputation, so one has to be careful of watches carrying the name Dent.

Edward John Dent (1790-1853) began making watches in 1814. He became one of London's greatest and best known chronometer makers.

His grandfather was John Wright Dent, a pastry cook who later became a tallow chandler. When Edward was 14 he was apprenticed to his grandfather. However, he soon became fascinated with watchmaking, and, after serving three years of his apprenticeship, his grandfather agreed to release him and he was accepted as an apprentice by Edward Gaudin, a watchmaker.

The first record of Dent in business on his own was in 1814, when he supplied an astronomical clock to the Admiralty. He might also have supplied two pocket chronometers to the Colonial Office for an African expedition.

In 1826, Dent began to submit chronometers for the premium trials at Greenwich. In 1829, his chronometer No. 114 won the top award of £300. In 1830 Dent went into partnership with John Roger Arnold, son of the chronometer maker John Arnold. Winning the premium would have encouraged Arnold to accept Dent as partner.

Dent and John Roger Arnold were in business together as Arnold & Dent from 1830-1840 at 84 Strand, London. In September 1840 Dent and Arnold separated and Dent continued in business under his own name Edward Dent until his death, when others continued the firm under various names and at various addresses. Charles Frodsham took over Arnold’s business after Arnold’s death in 1843.

Dent experimented with glass balance springs for marine chronometers to overcome the problem of rust. These worked well and were surprisingly robust; in a chronometer that was accidentally dropped to the floor, which broke the balance staff pivots, the glass balance spring was unharmed. However, the glass springs suffered from an acceleration in rate which continued for several years, so were ultimately not satisfactory.

In 1842 Dent published an explanation of the cause of Middle Temperature Error, after which it was often referred to as “Dent's Error”.

The Dent company built the Great Clock for the Palace of Westminster, which strikes the hours on the bell called Big Ben. Edward John Dent was alive when the company was awarded the contract for the clock, but he did not live to see it completed.

Dent's two stepsons each inherited half of the business on his death. Both died within a few years and the two businesses were continued separately under similar names. The one run by Dent's widow Elizabeth was called Dent & Co., the other run by one of the stepson's widow Marianna Frederica was called M F Dent.

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Kendal & Dent

The name Kendal & Dent is often seen on low grade watches, for example key wound and set watches with cylinder escapement movements and no train jewels, inscribed “Makers to the Admiralty, Kendal and Dent London, Swiss made”. This puzzled me until David Penney informed me that the impressive sounding name and byline have nothing to do with any of the great Dent firms, and that the company were London retailers who mostly sold cheap Swiss and English made watches.

The company didn't actually make watches. None of the watches they sold are fakes as such, but many were poor quality and their watches have acquired a poor reputation among watch collectors as a result. However, a small proportion of Kendal & Dent watches are better quality: English made, with jewelled lever escapement movements.

Kendal & Dent was established in 1871 at 106 Cheapside, London, EC.

The Dent of Kendal & Dent was not related to the famous Dent family of watchmakers, although it is rumoured that this was not made this clear and the company might have even encouraged the idea that there was a connection.

On 22 March 1883, James Francis Kendal, trading as Kendal & Dent, Watchmakers & Importers, 106 Cheapside EC, entered a sponsor's mark at the London Assay Office, JK in cameo with a rectangular surround with cut corners.

In the London Daily Chronicle dated 15 September 1884, it was stated, no doubt from a letter sent in by Kendal and Dent, that “A certificate for excellence in watches has been awarded to Kendal and Dent, Cheapside, by the Kew Observatory. The watches were subjected to a 42 days' severe test in extreme temperatures and in all positions.” This was followed two days later by a letter from Mr. G. M. Whipple, the superintendent of the Royal Observatory at Kew, stating that Messrs. Kendal and Dent submitted one watch to be rated, which received a Class B certificate, and that “This certificate alone refers to the particular watch, and is not by any means so comprehensive in its application as your paragraph would lead your readers to infer.”

Kendal and Dent subsequently advertised for sale an 18 carat gold English lever keyless hunter watch, ¾-plate, compensated balance, fully jewelled, heavy cases, finest quality, for 50 guineas. The advert stated that the watch had “gained a certificate from the Kew Royal Observatory after a 44 days' severe test, in extreme temperatures and in all positions.” If the watch was as it was described, then it was no doubt a fine watch, but Kendal and Dent were not above stretching the truth in order to promote it.

In the Greenwich trials of box chronometers that concluded in March 1889, two chronometers entered by Kendal & Dent were placed at 29 and 39 in the results of the unusually large number of 47 entries. The Admiralty usually purchased as many of the highest rated chronometers as were needed, and this year bought the first 13, and also number 18 by Usher and Cole for some special reason that is not recorded.

On 29th January 1889, James Kendal and M. Laval, London, applied for a patent for "A night-light Timepiece".

In April 1889, a deck watch entered by Kendal & Dent came seventeenth in the deck watch trials at Greenwich and was purchased by the Admiralty. After this, Kendal & Dent advertised as “Watchmakers to the Admiralty”. A second watch entered in the same trials came in twenty fifth place and was not purchased.

In the trial of deck watches at Greenwich, from 25 October 1890 to 14 February 1891, two watches entered by Kendal & Dent were numbers 28 and 29 out of 31 entered. The Horological Journal commented that “The tail end of the deck watch trial is shockingly bad ...” A box chronometer entered by Kendal & Dent in the 1890 chronometer trial was number 29 out of 38. The first fifteen were purchased by the Admiralty.

In the Greenwich chronometer trial of 1891-92, two box chronometers entered by Kendal & Dent were placed at 27 and 44 out of 51. The serial numbers of these instruments, 2/6588 and 2/6587, suggest that they were actually made by Usher & Cole, who had chronometers placed at 24 and 42 with numbers 2/6536 and 2/6537.

In 1905, James Francis Kendal and Fritz Goering, both of 106 Cheapside, London, E.C., Watch and Chronometer Makers, were granted patent No. 6577 for “An Improvement in Watches” which consisted of a circular rim with a hinged flat cover plate adapted to surround and cover the movement to protect the movement from dust and damage and also to support the back of the watch case.

On 18 May 1921, three punches with K&D for Kendal & Dent were entered at the London Assay Office. These were followed by a dozen similar punches entered over the years until 1934. James Francis Kendal died in 1911 aged 67. The K&D sponsor's marks were entered by Florence Emma Coad and Boyd Lakeman Langman, who had presumably taken over the business.

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J. B. Dent

Very little is known about this company, even whether or not John Bryant Dent was a real person. A company trading as John Bryant Dent or J. B. Dent appears to have used the name Dent to associate their business with that of the more famous Dent company. Vaudrey Mercer states that Thomas Buckney of the real Dent & Company complained in a letter to J. B. Dent for referring to themselves as "Dent & Co." in a catalogue. They also used an image of the Westminster Great Clock in some of their adverts although the clock was nothing to do with them.

J. B. Dent appears to have been a retailer of clocks and watches, possibly with shops at Blackfriars Road, London, from circa 1883 and 74 Imperial Buildings Ludgate Circus in circa 1885. Specimens of watches carrying their name and logos include English fusee lever watches and Swiss watches with cylinder escapements.

Although J. B. Dent watches often carry "Watch and Chronometer Makers to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and the British Government, London" engraved on the dome, there is no evidence to support this claim. The name J. B. Dent does not appear in any published results of watch trials at Greenwich or Kew and is not mentioned in any issue of the Horological Journal.

An entry in a 1905 trade directory records "J. B. Dent & Sons, British Empire, London and Provincial Watch Manufactory, 189 Blackfriars Road, London" which seems to be just as much puffery as the engraving on the dome. The notice includes "No connection with any other House in the Trade" so Buckney's letter had an effect.

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S. Smith & Son

The business was founded in 1851 by Samuel Smith senior (1826-1875) as a jeweller's shop at 149 Newington Causeway in the Elephant & Castle district of London. The shop at 153 was added to the business in 1867, and then the shop between at 151 around 1870. No 149 was sublet and the Smith's business consolidated in 151 and 153.

By 1872, the business, now trading as S. Smith & Son. opened a shop at 85 Strand. In 1882, a second shop on the Strand was opened at number 9.

S. Smith & Son was incorporated as a limited liability company at the end of March 1899 as S. Smith & Son Ltd.

Allan Gordon Smith (1881), the son of Samuel Junior, joined the business in about 1902 and was appointed manager at 9 Strand. He took a great interest in motor cars, in particular speedometers which were needed to comply with newly introduced speed limits. In 1904, in the basement of 9 Strand, Allan developed a speedometer which was a successS. The business was spun off as Smith & Sons (Motor Accessories), which was converted into a public company in 1913. Samuel Smith was for a number of years chairman and his Allan Gordon Smith managing director.

By the end of the nineteenth century they were recorded as “watchmakers to the Admiralty,” selling high grade and complicated watches, some with certificates from the Royal Observatory, Kew.

S. Smith and Son described themselves as watch and instrument makers. However, Smiths did not actually manufacture any watches before the Second World War. In his book A Long Time in Making; The History of Smiths, Dr James Nye explains

In addition to watches made in Coventry, Smiths no doubt purchased watches from high quality London wholesale manufacturers such as P. & A. Guye, Ltd. and Nicole Nielsen & Company.

Towards the end of the second world war, the British government persuaded Smiths to begin manufacture of watches for strategic reasons. High quality jewelled lever pocket and wristwatches were produced in a factory in Cheltenham, and cheaper pin lever watches from a factory in Wales, but the enterprise was never very profitable and withered, eventually being closed down. The modern Smiths Group is descended from the original company.

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Coventry Watchmakers

In this section I have gathered information about a number of Coventry watchmakers. This is by no means exhaustive, more a collected set of notes and jottings which I add to from time-to-time as I find out more.

Newsome and Yeomans separated in 1878 and Newsome created Newsome & Company at 14/15 The Butts. Newsome was not the first watchmaker in the Butts: The Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith of 5 June 1876 records the liquidation on 28 April of William Thomas Band of Butts Street, Coventry, watch manufacturer.

In 1881 it was recorded that Messrs. Radges & Co., of Argyle Works, Butts, Coventry, and 53, Hatton-Garden, London, E.C. were making going barrel watches (i.e. without a fusee) on the interchangeable system in all sizes, both full and three-quarter plate, in gold and silver cases. Joseph Radges entered a sponsor's mark at the London Assay Office in November 1876 (Culme 9893) as a watchcase maker, address 11 & 14 Summerland House, Butts, Coventry. Radges later relocated their London showrooms to Garfield Buildings, 4 Gray's Inn Road, Holborn, W.C. Radges had started as a watch manufacturer in 1865, and since 1876 been at an address in The Butts. After a downturn in trade in the 1890s, Radges was declared bankrupt in April 1894.

Hearsall Lane was the location of Smith and Sons, Watch Balance Manufacturers. Opposite their premises was the typical “top shop” workshop of Philip Cohen's Watch Factory. Close by was the home and premises of Joseph White and the workshop of the Coventry Cooperative Watch Manufacturing Society. This was a cooperative of traditional watchmakers formed in 1876 to pool capital. The cooperative was initially successful, but refused to adopt machine methods and by 1895 were reported to be making only a few watches. They used Wycherley rough movements.

When the Lancashire Watch Company was founded in 1888, Coventry watchmakers were concerned that the supply of rough movements for finishing from Prescot would cease, so they founded the Coventry Watch Movement Company in the Hillcross area of the city.

Peck’s Circular for 1896-7 lists the following businesses involved in watchmaking in Coventry.

Watchmakers

• Adams, John, 12 Hertford terrace
• Adams, William Henry, Cambrian House, Old Allesley rd
• Adkins & Sons, 29 Fleet street
• Band, Henry & Son, 30 Craven street
• Barber, John & Co. Cruss Cheaping
• Barnacle & Poole, 39 and 40 Raglan street
• Beesley, Edwin, 38 Hertford street
• Bettridge, J. P. 26 Norfolk street
• Beever, J. P. 10 Hill Cross
• Brown Brothers (gold and silver) 39 Starley road
• Brown, James, 16 Craven street, Chapel Fields
• Carter, Thomas, 15 Smithford street
• Cawley, John, 15 York street, Butts
• Chinn, B.S. 2 Oxford terrace, Chapel Fields
• Coates, George, 51 Craven street
• Collins, William, 75 Lower Ford street
• Coventry Lever Co. Norfolk street
• Denny Brothers, 4 Craven terrace, Craven street
• Dufner, B, 3 Paglan street
• Errington, Charles H.
• Flinn, W. & Son, Moor street, Earlsdon
• Flowers, W. 63 King William street
• Fridlander & Co.
• Gee, David, 24 Butts
• Gravenor, Robert, 35 Craven street, Chapel Fields
• Hammon, W,. G. Westwood House, Earlsdon
• Hawley, John & Son, Reliable Works, Cow lane
• Read & Son, 124 to 127 Spon street
• Hawley, William Henry, 13 Hertford terrace, Queen’s rd
• Hegam, William, 9 Little Butcher row
• Hewitt, C. T. & Son, 81 Craven street
• Hewitt, John, Holyhead road
• Hill I. Charles, Russell House, Chapel Fields
• Hill, Thomas & Co. 50 Spon End
• Hoddell, H. & Co. 2 Craven terrace, Chapel Fields
• Hollins, E. J. 4 Oxford terrace, Chapel Fields
• Hollis, George J. Wesley House, Starley road
• Hopkins & Beesley, 4 Florence terrace, Barras lane
• Kinder, Thomas, Richmond terrace, Chapel Fields
• Lewis, George, 76 Craven street, Chapel Fields
• Lines, Joseph, 12 Norfolk street
• Lucas, W. G. 24 York street
• Marlow, C. J. H. English Lever Works, King street
• Masters, Joseph & Son, 65 St. John's street
• Mercer, Thomas J. Hertford place
• Millerchip, D. 18 Butts
• Newsome & Co. 14 Butts
• Oxley Brothers, 51 Spon End
• Perkins, Thomas, 7 Russell terrace
• Player, J. & Son, Butts lane
• Randle, William, The Laurels, Hill street
• Read, A. H. Hill street
• Read, Charles, 28 Lord street, Chapel Fields
• Read, Samuel William, 37 Craven street
• Reid, James, The Limes, Chester street
• Reid, James & Co. Duke street
• Richardson, James, Carlton House, Holyhead road
• Rotherham & Sons, 27 Spon street
• Settle Brothers, Chapel Fields
• Swann, William, 35 Craven street, Chapel Fields
• Tayton, James & Sons, 21 Norfolk street
• Thrasher, Edwin, 13 Norfolk street
• Vickers, Joe, Leicester row
• Waddington, R. Earlsdon
• Watson, R. B. 10 Craven terrace, Craven street
• White, Joseph & Son, Earlsdon
• Williamson, H. Limited, Errington Watch Factory
• Wright, Richard, 14 Mount street, Chapel Fields
• Yeomans, Samuel, 48 Spon street

Watch Materials Suppliers

• Arnott, Thomas Richard (cases) Weederan House
• Band, C. (cases) 2 Portland terrace, Chapel Fields
• Bassnett, EK. (movements) 17 Hertford place, Butts
• Bateman, George (dials) 17 Trafalgar street
• Batting, Thomas (dials) 138 Spon street
• Beesley, & Co. (movements) 5 Craven street
• Beesley, G. A. (movements) 78 Spon End
• Cleaver, T. (cases) 8 York street, Butts
• Coventry Watch Movement Manufacturing Co. Limited, Spon street
• Edwards, Alexander & Co. 17 Spon street
• Evans, Stephen (balances) 20 Norfolk street
• Fleckner, John (cases) Portland terrace, Chapel Fields
• Flint, Joseph (dials) 102 Spon street
• Gravenor, Robert (cases) 7 Butts
• Harris, Charles (cases) 6 Norfolk street
• Harris, John (cases) 3 Hertford place, Butts
• Hopkins, Henry (dials) 47 Gas street
• Johnson, J. (escapement) Providence street, Earlsdon
• Keene, Jonathan (escapement) 11 Meadow street
• Kennedy, C. & Son (cap) 27 Hill street
• King, Mary (dials) 4 Russell terrace, Chapel Fields
• Lawrenson, J. (dials) 22 Croft road
• Lynes, E, H. (dials) 9 York street
• Mills, Edwin (escapement) 48 Albion street, Butts
• Neal, W. (gold cases) 4 Craven street
• Oxley Brothers (cap) 51 Spon End
• Payne, Charles (dials) 6 Spon End
• Pike, R. J. (cases) Cromwell House, Earlsdon
• Radburn, J. (escapements) 5 Duke street
• Satchwell, William (dials) 7 Lord street, Chapel Fields
• Scrivener, Richard (dials) 10 Gas street
• Sexton, William (cases) 2 Hearsall terrace
• Skidmore, G. (hands) Percy House, Percy street
• Smith & Sons (balances) Hearsall Works
• Smith, W. M. (dials) 1 Craven street
• Spiers, W. J. (cases) 3 Mount street
• Taylor, Thomas (escapement) 2 Barras lane
• Trahern, F. T. (cases) Clifton villas, Old Allesley road
• Waterfall, Albert (cases) 11 Moat street
• Wilday, J. S. (cases) 2 St. Thomas’ villas, Butts
• Wilsby, & Ansell (balances) 18 and 19 Mount street
• Wright, F. (cases) 127 Spon street

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Rotherham & Sons

Rotherham & Sons, based at 26-28 Spon Street, Coventry, England, could trace its origins back to 1747. In the nineteenth century Rotherhams became the largest watch manufacturer in Coventry. In 1880 John Rotherham sent his works manager to America to buy watchmaking machinery machinery from the American Watch Tool Co. and the company began to mass produce watch parts.

There is a separate page about the company at Rotherham & Sons.

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Alfred Fridlander

Alfred Emanuel Fridlander (1840 - 1928) was born in Birmingham and became one of Coventry's most distinguished watchmakers. By 1871 he was living in Coventry and gave his employment as a watchmaker employing 30 men and 6 boys. He is recorded at Holyhead Road Coventry.

The sponsor's mark of the initials AF in a rectangular surround with cut corners was entered at the London Assay Office by Alfred Fridlander. It appears to be one of three similar punches that Fridlander registered between 1872 and 1882. Fridlander's first registration at the London Assay Office was on 13 October 1868 with a similar mark differing only in that there was a pellet between the A and the F, like this: A•F.

Fridlander supplied many London retailers with watches. This included supplying S. Smith and Sons with many watches including their first non-magnetic watches, some of which were exhibited and awarded a gold medal and diploma at the 1892 Crystal Palace Electrical Exhibition. Fridlander also supplied movements for the Royal Geographical Society waterproof watches, often called traveller's or explorer's watches. Many Fridlander watches were tested at the Kew trials and received Class A and Especially Good certificates, often having Kaurrusel revolving escapements and cut bimetallic temperature compensating balances.

Fridlander became a wealthy man having diversified, like many Coventry manufacturers, into the bicycle and motorcycle business, where he became a director of the Triumph Cycle Co, the Auto Machinery Co. and Leigh Mills Co. These companies were set up in Coventry to use the skills the local workforce had gained in watchmaking that became available as watchmaking in the city declined and the workers looked for other employment. Fridlander became a town councillor and Justice of the Peace (J.P.), and he served in that role for 28 years.

Alfred Fridlander: London 1883 / 1884 Hallmarks

British made movement and case

These are London hallmarks in an 18 carat gold case. The sponsor's mark was entered at the London Assay Office by Alfred Fridlander, a watchmaker of Coventry. It is likely that the movement was finished in Coventry from a rough movement made in Prescot, and that the case was made in Coventry in Fridlander's factory.

Reading from the top the marks are:

• The sponsor's mark "AF" in a square surround – the registered mark of Alfred Fridlander.
• In the centre: a crown above an 18 – the standard mark of 18 carat gold from 1798.
• To the left the date letter "H" – the date letter of the London hallmarking year 1883 to 1884, see the note below about the date letter surround shape.
• To the right the leopard's head, and no other town mark – indicating the London Assay Office.

If you click on the image you should get a bigger view.

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Newsome & Yeomans, Newsome & Co. and Samuel Yeomans

Newsome & Yeomans, Newsome & Co. and Samuel Yeomans are regarded as amongst the leading English watchmaking companies of the late nineteenth century.

There is now a separate page about Newsome & Yeomans and their offshoots at Newsome & Yeomans

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Bonniksen

Bahne Bonniksen (1859-1935) served an apprenticeship with a watchmaker in Copenhagen and spent two years working there before moving to England in 1882. In Denmark his master had shown him a Jürgensen watch which inspired his interest in precision timekeeping. He initially worked in London, attracted by its horological reputation, for the company of R.G. Webster.

In 1887, Bonniksen took a job as a lecturer at the Coventry Technical Institute on Earl Street. He also started work part time as a watch springer and timer, and eventually gave up teaching to become a full-time as a watchmaker.

In 1892 Bonniksen invented a simpler form of tourbillon which he called a Karrusel. The principle of the Karrusel is that a rotating cage, called the Karrusel, is driven off the pinion of the third wheel. The Karrusel is pivoted on the pillar plate coaxial with the fourth wheel. The fourth wheel sits inside the Karrusel with its pinion projecting below the Karrusel to engage with the third wheel as normal. The balance and balance spring, lever and escape wheel are mounted on the Karrusel carriage, together with two cocks, one of which bears the upper pivot of the fourth wheel and the lower pivot of the balance staff, the other bears the top pivot of the balance staff. The lower pivots of the lever and escape wheel are formed in the Karrusel, with a separate cock for their upper pivots. The right angle English lever is the ideal layout for the design.

Bonniksen's house at 16 Norfolk Street in Coventry still exists and bears a blue plaque commissioned by the Coventry Watch Museum Project with the words “Residence and Workshop of Bahne Bonniksen Watch manufacturer and inventor of the Karussel Movement for watches and chronometers 1894”. Number 16 is a single fronted terraced house which does not look large enough to contain both a home and a substantial workshop, but Bonniksen said that all Karrusel movements were made there.

Bonniksen is almost certainly referring to the production of rough movements consisting of the main plates and train wheels, including the Karrusel carriage. Components would have been sourced from separate specialist suppliers and assembled into rough movements. Some of these were no doubt finished on the premises, but Bonniksen also supplied supplied other watchmakers with rough movements for finishing.

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J. Player & Son

The company was founded by Joseph Player, who was joined in business by his son Joseph William Player.

In the later years of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century, watches manufactured by the company J. Player and Son achieved many passes at the Kew watch trials and the company was recognised as being among the leading makers of fine English watches at that period.

J. W. Player was apprenticed to his father and afterwards attended the watch finishing and escapement making classes at the British Horological Institute under Henry Bickley (himself a Coventry man) and Charles Curzon. In 1894 he married Mademoiselle Laure Jacob of Le Locle, who was a very accomplished watch adjuster.

In the early 1900s, J. W. Player became an instructor of horological classes at the Coventry Technical Institute, Earl Street. From 1922, for many years he contributed a practical column to the British Horological Institute's Horological Journal. He edited the 1938 and 1955 editions of Britten's Handbook, Dictionary and Guide, the latter edition in his 90th year

A famous watch completed by Player & Son in 1909 was the most complicated watch ever finished in England. It was an English lever one-minute tourbillon with repeater, perpetual calendar, equation of time, sunrise and sunset, tides, phases and age of the moon, sidereal time and GMT, and other astronomical indications. The cost of manufacture was in the neighbourhood of £1,000, which was a great amount of money at the time and the investment is said to have contributed to the closure of the company in 1910. The current location of this watch is unknown, no doubt in a safe somewhere.

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Coventry Cooperative Watch Manufacturing Society

The Coventry Cooperative Watch Manufacturing Society was a group of previously independent traditional Coventry hand-craft watch finishers who banded together in 1876 to gain the benefits of the combined resources and purchasing power of a larger entity. The registered office of the Society was 45, Bishop Street, Coventry. At the third half-yearly meeting, the Society was able to pay its first dividend of 2½ per cent on subscribed capital.

The cooperative members finished rough movements obtained from Prescot, principally if not exclusively from the Prescot firm of John Wycherley. It is thought that all of these were going barrel movements, that is without fusees.

The venture was fairly successful for about 10 years and then went into decline because the members refused to, or couldn't, modernise and continued in the old fashioned way finishing rough movements made by others.

Trademark: The letters CCWMS on a Maltese cross. The letters CCWM are on the arms of the cross, the letter S is entwined about the cross.

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Coventry Watch Movement Company

When the Lancashire Watch Company was founded in 1888, Coventry watchmakers were concerned that the supply from Prescot of rough movements for finishing would cease, so in 1889 they founded the Coventry Watch Movement Company, sometimes referred to as the Coventry Watch Movement Manufacturing Company, in the Hillcross area of the city.

The purpose of the Company was to manufacture rough movements, which would be supplied to Coventry watchmakers for finishing.

Samuel Yeomans was its first chairman. C H Errington attended an early meeting. The first ordinary meeting was held in May 1889. Shareholders present were Samuel Yeomans (chairman of directors), I. J. T. Newsome, Charles Read, Rowland Hill, T. Kinder, J. Hawley, jun., J. Hewitt, R. Waddington (retiring directors), Masser (solicitor), E. F. Peirson (secretary), E. Adkins, T. J. Mercer, E. Denny, C. Shufflebotham, R. J. Pike, T. Gardner, W. Flowers and A. H. Marston.

Charles Scarisbrick, a watch movement manufacturer of Prescot, was recruited as manager. In 1881 Scarisbrick had been listed as a watch movement manufacturer at West Street, Prescot, employing five men and four boys. The first batch of Coventry movements was completed in April 1889. Scarisbrick reported that considerable orders were in hand.

The association of Scarisbrick with the company didn't last long. In November 1891 it was reported that “Mr W Jeffs of Fleet Street, Coventry, has formed a partnership with Mr. Charles Scarisbrick, late manager of the Coventry Watch Manufacturing Company. The firm will take up movement manufacturing in Meadow Street, Coventry.”

The company was initially under capitalised and struggled for some years. When additional capital was introduced and automatic machinery purchased it found that the demands from Coventry watchmakers were too small to keep the machinery fully occupied so it diversified into the manufacture of bicycles, and parts for the motor and aviation industries. In 1912 the reference to watches was dropped from the name and it became the Coventry Movement Company Limited.

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S. Alexander & Son

One of the older watchmaking companies in Coventry was S. Alexander & Son, Wholesale Watch Manufacturers at 61 Allesley Old Road. The company was founded in 1860 and celebrated its centenary in 1960.

In advertisements, the company said it was Makers to the Admiralty, Contractors to the War Office and the Royal Aircraft Factory. High class hand-made gold presentation watches were a speciality.

In May 1937 it was announced that a limited company, S. Alexander & Son (Coventry), Ltd, with Capital of £1,000, had been formed to acquire the business of a watchmaker and jeweller carried on by Samuel Alexander as " S. Alexander & Son," at 61, Allesley Old Road, Coventry. The directors are: Samuel Alexander and Valentine S. Alexander. Registered office: 61, Allesley Old Road Coventry.

Watches supplied to the Admiralty had to marked with their maker's name, so some deck watches manufactured by the company are known. However, the company appears to have never entered a sponsor's mark at an assay office or signed the movements of watches they made.

Virtually nothing else seems to have been recorded about this company.

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Read & Son

Peck’s Circular for 1896-7 lists Read & Son as manufacturers of English Keyless Watches, St. John's Buildings, 124 to 127 Spon Street, Coventry.

The entry under Coventry Watchmakers says that Read & Son were awarded the only silver prize medal awarded at the Exhibition, 1867, for the best selection of watches of superior workmanship, home and export; London agency, 2 Gresham buildings, London, E.C..

Read & Son's advert states that they are Sole Manufacturers of the ‘Overstone’ Watch.

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Prescot, Lancashire

In the first part of the eighteenth century, watches were made in and around Prescot by individual watchmakers as they were in many towns and cities around the UK. By the end of the eighteenth century the practice of individuals making entire watches had been replaced by the system of “division of labour”, where individual workmen specialised in the making of a single part or a small number of parts, and watches were the end result of the work of many of these specialists.

Prescot in South West Lancashire near to Liverpool became a centre of manufacture for horological tools, and collections of parts that constituted rough movements that were sent to Clerkenwell in London to be “finished”. Rough movements were also sent from Prescot to Liverpool and to Coventry to be finished.

John Wycherley

In 1866 John Wycherley set up a factory in Warrington Road, Prescot, with three floors and steam power, to produce rough movements by machinery. Wycherley stated that all the plates of a specific type of movement would be the same size and that the parts were interchangeable. Wycherley also introduced a system of defined movement sizes, so that cases and dials could be ordered without having to send the movement for them to be made to fit.

In September 1867, Wycherley attended at a meeting of the British Horological Institute Council held at the Institute's headquarters in Red Lion Square, London, where he explained the accuracy to which the frames, wheels and pinions were made so that they were interchangeable. A letter from Rotherham and Sons was produced in which that company described how seven frames and one set of materials had been received from Wycherley, six of the frames marked but not drilled for the pivot holes. Rotherhams had found that when the holes were drilled where indicated and the one set of materials tried in each, the heights and depths were found to be correct. Moreover, the top plates were interchangeable between all the pillar plates.

In the discussion that followed Wycherley's presentation there were several amusing incidents. One watchmaker said the length of the pinion head was an important matter but another contended that there was no advantage in any given length for pinion heads. Mr. Wycherley said, if he listened to every one he would have to give up his trade altogether. There would of course be differences of opinion, and he could not hope to meet the views of all. What he wanted is to know the right length for pinion-heads. In another incident, he was asked if he could not send the movements with the wheels run in. Mr. Wycherley thought “he might as well make the watches altogether.” From today's perspective, some of these arguments seem trivial, but at the dawn of mass production of interchangeable parts, long established craft methods had to be changed.

Wycherley seems to have been a very successful movement maker, but was a long way from producing complete watches. At first his business made just plates, train wheels and pinions, little more than a collection of raw materials machined into their initial form that required a lot more work to become a watch. The plates were not even drilled for the train pivots. The watch finisher arranged to have the wheels "planted", which means drilling holes in the plates for the pivots. The rough movement was then sent to the jeweller, escapement maker, engraver, gilder, dial maker, and many other specialists before it was finally cased and the watch was finished.

Rough movements made in Wycherley's factory were stamped "JW" on the dial plate, one is shown here. The number 7673 on the watch movement is Wycherley's serial number for the movement. The 12 followed by an 0 over a 3 gives the size or "calliper" of the movement, the size being the diameter of the bottom (dial) plate measured by a pair of callipers. This calliper size is called the Lancashire gauge for determining watch sizes. A diameter of 1" plus 5/30 inches for the mounting flange was taken as the base size and called zero (0) size. Each 1/30 inch increased in diameter increments the size one number. The 12 on this movement indicates that it is 1 and 17/30 inches diameter. The 0 over 3 indicates the pillar height, the distance separating the two plates of the movement. Standard pillar height was taken 1/8" indicated as 0/0, with increments indicated above the line and decrements below in 1/144". For more about this see watch sizes.

In 1882 Wycherley sold his business to Thomas P. Hewitt and it was renamed Wycherley, Hewitt & Co. Hewitt was later instrumental in founding the Lancashire Watch Company.

NB: Sometimes the name is spelt without the final “e” as Wycherly. There are many mentions of John Wycherley / Wycherly in the Horological Journal in the nineteenth century. I counted 182 spelt Wycherley and 65 spelt Wycherly. I found three earlier instances, but the latter spelling seems to have become common from 1886 in the name of Wycherley, Hewitt & Company, which was more often (~61 times) printed in the HJ as Wycherly, Hewitt & Co. than the correct Wycherley, Hewitt & Co. (only 24 times).

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Liverpool

Liverpool was an important centre of watch finishing with a large export trade to the Americas.

Well known Liverpool watch manufacturers included Litherland in various combinations, Roskell and Thomas Russell.

Peter Litherland was born in 1756 in Warrington, a town just inside North Cheshire on the banks of the River Mersey, 20 miles east of Liverpool. He became a watchmaker and in 1791 was granted a patent for the rack lever escapement. This is similar to the detached lever escapement except that the lever is connected by a curved toothed rack to a pinion on the balance staff.

Russells of Liverpool

NB: This section is under active review and editing and will change frequently until this notice disappears.

The Russell family's connection with watchmaking is said to have begun in 1740 or 1745, with Thomas Russell from Eskdale in Cumbria. His brother was a preacher, and it said that locals referred to the brothers as ‘Watch and Pray’. However, since Thomas Russell was born in 1780 to William Russell, the dates in the 1740s can't be right.

Thomas Russell (1780-1830) is thought to have served his apprenticeship under William Bellman at Broughton, a village near Preston in Lancashire. An apprenticeship at the time was normally served for seven years from the age of fourteen, which would have taken him to the age of 21. After finishing his apprenticeship, he moved to Lancaster to work as a journeyman with William Wakefield.

In June 1804, Thomas Russell announced that he had taken a shop in Market Street opposite the Post Office, which he had stocked with ‘plate, etc.’ and where he intended to carry on a watch and clock making business. He married Mary Ellis at Ingleton in 1808. Thomas Russell died in April 1830, aged fifty years and was buried at the Priory Church, Lancaster.

Thomas Russell had a son, also called Thomas. He married Mary, the eldest daughter of Robert Lomas of Manchester, at St. John’s Church, Manchester, in June 1832. At the time of his father's death, he was working in Liverpool in a ‘most respectable establishment’. He returned to Lancaster in October 1830 and took over his father's business.

In 1834, Thomas Russell sold off his stock of silver and silver plated items to concentrate on watchmaking. In December 1834, Thomas Russell announced that he was leaving Lancaster to run an ‘Establishment of great magnitude’ he had taken on in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He employed a relation, Joseph Vickers, to run the Lancaster shop.

In July 1835, Thomas Russell announced that he had entered into a partnership with Joseph Vickers trading as ‘Russell & Vickers’. This partnership lasted until May 1839, when it was dissolved. In June 1839, Joseph Vickers was declared to be insolvent.

Sometime around 1840, Thomas Russell appears to have moved back to Liverpool. Henry Stuart and Thomas Russell had a business in Liverpool trading under the style of Stuart and Russell, Watch and Clock Makers at 170 Park Lane. A former employee charged with forging a cheque said that he had been in the service of Messrs. Stuart and Russell, watchmakers, but had left on the 20th April, showing the partnership was formed during or before 1842.

One line of business was importing American clocks. In July 1843, Gore's Liverpool General Advertiser records the arrival from New York of The George Washington carrying 14 cases of clocks and weights for Stuart and Russell, in December 1843, The Montezuma carrying eight boxes of clocks and weights, and in May 1844, the New York with 13 cases of clocks and 12 cases of weights. Other imports by Stuart and Russell in 1843 and 1844 are recorded as ‘contents unknown’ but were presumably also American clocks and weights, which were very popular because of their low price.

The partnership of Stuart and Russell was dissolved on 28th January 1844. Henry Stuart continued under various names and appears to have ceased trading in circa 1882. This business was begun in Liverpool in 1797, possibly by Henry Stuart, who was later joined by Thomas Russell when he moved from Lancaster. This is currently only speculation.

After the partnership was dissolved, Thomas Russell set up in business on his own to 20 Slater Street, Liverpool, where he was listed in 1855 as a watch manufacturer. He later moved his ‘manufactory’ to 30 Slater Street Liverpool, where he is listed from 1859 as a watch manufacturer and jeweller.

Thomas Russell had three sons, Thomas Robert (born 1834), Arthur Wellesley (born 1839) and Alfred Holgate Russell (born 1840).

In 1857, a box chronometer from Thomas Russell and Son, Slater Street, Liverpool, number 6045, was given by Queen Victoria, or it seems Prince Albert, to their son Prince Alfred. This instrument is now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum. The main dial is signed across the centre: ‘T. RUSSELL & SON LIVERPOOL. No. 6045 / MAKER / W. B. CRISP LONDON No. 156’. It was made by W. B. Crisp, a London chronometer maker, and many internal parts bear Crisp's serial number 156. Thomas Russell and Son had their own number 6045 applied to the dial and to the box.

In 1858 a Royal Warrant was granted by Queen Victoria, appointing Thomas Russell and Thomas Robert Russell ‘in the place and quality of chronometer makers at Liverpool to Her Majesty.’ From 1859, the firm is listed under the style of Thomas Russell & Son, chronometer and watch manufacturers, watch case makers and jewellers.

Thomas Robert Russell trained as a lawyer. He articled as a Clerk to his uncle Joseph and studied at Bonn University, and he appeared destined for the a career at the bar until his father became mentally ill and was unable to manage the business. Thomas Robert gave up his legal career and entered the family firm.

Thomas Russell committed suicide in 1860. At the time of his death he was being cared for by Alfred. The two had gone to stay at Marine Crescent, a sea front location in Waterloo, Great Crosby, to see if the sea air would improve the father's health.

After the death of Thomas Russell, the business was continued under the same style of Thomas Russell & Son at 30 & 32 Slater Street, Liverpool, by Thomas Robert and Alfred Holgate Russell. This arrangement continued for 18 years.

In August 1877, the employees of Messrs. T. Russell and Sons held their annual dinner at the Pied Bull Hotel, Chester. The Company numbered between 90 and 100, and was presided over by the senior member of the firm, Mr Thos. Russell, supported by his brother, Mr A. Russell, and Mr Kellie, foreman of the works. Mr Dobie, on behalf of the workmen, presented to Mr T. Russell an address expreesive of the goodwill of the men towards their employers, congratulating Mr Russell on his restoration to health, and also upon his return home after a two years’ absence in foreign lands. Mr T. Russell said that since he had last met them, he had been almost literally round the world. He had visited Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, and thence to Queensland. From Brisbane he went to Cooke's Town, thence to Somerset, and the Torres Straits, and the Island of Java, and onto Singapore. From Singapore he went to the Malay Archipelago, and thence to China and Japan.

Thomas Robert Russell and Alfred Holgate Russell dissolved their partnership on 1 July 1878. The notice published in the London Gazette says that ‘Thomas Robert Russell will continue to carry on the said business, at Church-street, Liverpool aforesaid, under the style or firm of Thos. Russell and Son’.

This would have seemed natural; Thomas was the older brother and entered the business first. Initially the business was continued under the style of Thos. Russell and Son at 18 Church Street. Advert in 1879, including one in September, for ‘Thos. Russell & Son's Keyless Watches’ gives the address as 18 Church Street. There were no further adverts like this in 1879, even in the important pre-Christmas period, or in 1880.

It appears that the trading name Thomas Russell & Son changed hands between the brothers. In January 1881, an advert was placed under the name ‘Russell's, 18 Church Street’. In May 1881, an advert stated,

RUSSELLS,
MAKERS TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN,
CATHEDRAL WORKS,
18, CHURCH STREET, LIVERPOOL,
Warn the Public against Buying Watches represented as their Manufacture at Sales or otherwise.
THEY CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED GENUINE by Writing to the above Address, and are
SENT FREE, AT RUSSELLS’ RISK AND COST.

In 1882, the Liverpool Echo published an advert saying,

Alfred Russell and Co (Thomas Russell and Son). Established 1797. Wholesale offices 24, 25, 26, Sandon Buildings, Old Post Office Place, Church Street. Manufacturers of the well-known ‘Russell’ watch.

The substance of these two adverts is that Thomas Robert Russell, trading as Russells, and Alfred Russell and Co., trading as Thomas Russell and Son, both made watches that they described as ‘Russell’ watches, and tried to put off the public from buying watches made by the other company. The tone of the adverts does not imply a spirit of mutual cooperation, it is more much more intemperate and antagonistic.

Following the dissolution of the partnership of Thomas Robert Russell and Alfred Holgate Russell, they went different ways and created two separate companies in Liverpool operating under very similar names which are often confused.

Two adverts side-by-side in the Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser in 1888 contain the following statements:

• Mr. T. R. Russell, Maker to H. M. The Queen, Cathedral Works, 18, Church Street, Liverpool. No agent in Barrow.
• Established 1797. Thomas Russell & Son, Wholesale Watch & Chronometer Manufacturers, Makers to The Queen and Admiralty. Factory, Sandon Buildings, Liverpool. W. Roberts, Duke Street, Agent For Barrow and District.

This advert shows that T. R. Russell and Thomas Russell & Son are separate entities. Both companies continued to claim Royal patronage, derived from the warrant granted in 1858. T. R. Russell, trading as Russells, did not appoint agents but sold watches only in the shop at 18 Church Street or by mail order, whereas Alfred Holgate Russell, trading as Thomas Russell & Son, had no shop and only sold watches through retailers appointed as their agents.

Time o'Day

It appears that the trademark ‘Time o'Day’ was first used by Thomas Russell & Son before the partnership was dissolved. After the partnership was dissolved, it was used by T. R. Russell. Alfred Russell registered a trademark of a winged wheel in clouds with the words ‘Tempus Fugit’.

Thomas Robert Russell recognised that the manufacturing and wholesale of English watches was coming under increasing pressure from imports and went into retail, whereas Alfred Holgate Russell continued with manufacture and wholesale.

T. R. Russell

The address of T. R. Russell was 18, Church Street, Liverpool, on the corner of Church Street and Church Ally in Liverpool. The same building included the Cathedral Works, so called because of St. Peter's cathedral on the opposite side of Church Alley.

It is said that in 1875, Thomas Robert Russell had this building rebuilt. Its design was based on the Nassauer Haus in Nuremberg, which he had seem on a tour abroad, possibly while studying in Germany. There was a large retail shop on the ground floor, and workshops in the rest of the building. At one time, 300 people worked there. However, Sandon Buildings, which was built starting in 1875, occupied the same location, with frontages to Church Street, Post Office Place, Brook's Alley and Church Alley. It is not clear whether Russells simply took up occupation of part of Sandon Buildings or had some influence in their construction.

The building had a well-known clock on the corner crowned by three large bells on which three gilded figures struck the passing hours. Two were sailors, emblematic of Liverpool, who played chimes, while the third figure was Father Time, who struck the hours. There was also a large sign of Russell's ‘Time-o-Day’ trademark.

Thomas Robert Russell died on 28 August 1894. Probate was granted in London on 22 October to Katherine Elizabeth Russell widow, Walter Russell esquire and Stanley Russell, watchmaker. The effects were £29,378 2s. Walter Russell did not enter the retail business but instead became a Barrister at Law, just as his father had planned to do.

Some time around 1898, T. R. Russell converted into a limited liability company under the name of ‘Russells Ltd’.

Russells moved from 18 Church Street to smaller premises in 1938. The building was bombed during the war and rebuilt in plain modern style after the war. Today the site is occupied by Primark.

Thomas Russell and Son

After the dissolution of the partnership in 1878, T. R. Russell continued to use the trading name ‘Thos. Russell and Son’. An advert from September 1879 for ‘Thos. Russell & Son's Keyless Watches’ gives the address of 18, Church Street, Liverpool, and offers to send watches to customers on receipt of a postal order.

However, by 1880, this name was being used by Alfred Russell. An advert from March 1881 says, ‘Thos. Russell and Son's Watches and Chronometers can be obtained wholesale from the Manufacturers

In 1881, an advert by Robert Sutton of Whitehaven, who had just been appointed sole agent for Thomas Russell and Son for West Cumberland, stated (no doubt using copy supplied by Alfred Russell),

Messrs. Russell and Son ... whilst always giving the preference to their own hand-finished Movements they have introduced, to meet the requirements of the time, a Machine-made Lever Watch at a very considerable reduction in price, thus placing them within the reach of everyone who earns wages and appreciates good time-keeping. These Watches have just been awarded the Gold Medal, and the Manager of their Machine Watch Factory the Cross of the Legion of Honour, at the Paris Exhibition, thus gaining the highest possible Award against all competitors.

Although the source of these machine made watches is not stated, further down the advert, after a lengthy list of Russell's hand made watches, is a section headed Machine Made Watches which lists Russell's 16-size Jura Machine-made Keyless Lever Watch, leaving no doubt that it was made in Switzerland. The machine made watches in question were most likely Longines, since Russells sold Longines watches with the movements engraved ‘Russells Machine Made Keyless Lever’. In 1883, he words ‘Machine-made Lever’ as a trademark.

In 1883, Alfred Russell and Co., 24 and 25, Sandon Buildings, Post Office Place, Liverpool, Lancashire, registered a trademark of a winged wheel in clouds, and the words ‘Tempus fugit’.

In June 1886, Alfred Holgate Russell and Arthur Wellesley Russell, trading as Thos. Russell and Son, 24, 25, and 26, Sandon Buildings, Old Post Office Place, Liverpool, Wholesale Watch and Chronometer Manufacturers and Jewellery Merchants, were declared bankrupt. In September, the Liverpool Bankruptcy Court was told that the statement of affairs showed liabilities £7,244 and assets £4,621. Under a scheme of arrangement, the creditors had accepted an offer of payment of 12 shillings in the pound. The receiving order was rescinded and the adjudication of bankruptcy was annulled.

Alfred Holgate Russell died on 12 November 1893.

Watches branded Thos. Russell & Son, Liverpool, are seen with cases made by the illinois Watch Case Company of Elgin, USA, and Swiss made movements.

Alfred Russell and Co, trading as Thomas Russell and Son, converted into a limited liability company under the name of ‘Thomas Russell & Son Watch Co Ltd’ on 22 March 1922. The first directors were B. A. Russell, R. O. Williams, J. Wright and T. T. Russell (advisory director for life).

Ralph Samuel: Watch Case Maker

Ralph Samuel (1815-1860) was a very successful Liverpool watch case maker, at one time the largest watch case manufacturer in Britain and possibly the world.

Ralph Samuel was first recorded at the London Assay Office when a sponsor's mark RS in cameo within an oval surround was entered on 16 January 1843 with three punches, the address given as 54 Wood Street, Liverpool. Five similar punches were registered under the same name on 7 April 1843, the address given as 55 Wood Street, Liverpool. However, Samuel remained at 54 Wood Street for many years, at least until 1855, so the number 55 is probably an error.

A further six punches of the same description were registered on 23 August 1843 under the address of Compton Street, Clerkenwell, London. Samuel occasionally sent cases to London to be hallmarked when the customer preferred a London hallmark and Compton Street was probably the address of his London agent.

Culme says that in 1845, Ralph Saul Samuel was listed as a partner in Jacob Lewis Samuel & Co, watch case and dial makers and rose engine turners of 54 Wood Street, Liverpool. Priestley lists two sponsor's marks with the initials JLS; the first, JLS in cameo within a rectangular surround dated circa 1835, is attributed to Joseph Lewis Samuel, the second, JLS&Co in cameo within an oval surround dated 1836 or 1837, is unattributed.

By 1853 Ralph Samuel is listed at 54 Wood Street, Liverpool, suggesting that he had taken over or succeeded to the business. Samuel remained at 54 Wood Street until 1855 or 1856, after which his address was 72 Wood Street, Liverpool. Whether the business moved or the street was renumbered is not known, but the latter seems a strong possibility.

In 1856, Ralph Samuel gave evidence to a Select Committee of the House of Commons that was investigating the hallmarking of gold and silver wares. He had been in the trade of manufacturing gold and silver watch cases for about 25 years and his business manufactured an average of 600 gold watch cases a month and 800 silver. Samuel said that his business made more cases than the rest of the Liverpool manufacturers and was probably the largest watch case manufacturer in the world, making up to 200 gold and 400 silver watch cases in a week. At the time there were 100 men and boys employed, although it had been considerably more at one time and was likely to increase again in the future.

Liverpool never had an assay office, so most gold and silver watch cases made in Liverpool were sent to the Chester Assay Office for assay and hallmarking. Ralph Samuel said that it cost 9d (nine old English pence) each way to send watch cases to Chester by the railway. When asked if he insured the goods, he said that he didn't; he had on occasion sent parcels of watch cases worth £800 or £900 and they were delivered to the assay office by the railway porter.

If an item was found by the assay office to be substandard, for example, if it failed the assay test or was deemed to have more solder than was necessary, then it was ‘battered’ and returned without hallmarks. The manufacturer got back the raw material so that it could be melted and reused, but the cost of the ‘fashion’, the workmanship that had gone into making the piece, was lost. At the Select Committee hearing on 10 April 1856, Ralph Samuel was asked if he had ever had his work broken in this way. He replied ‘Yes ; very frequently ; within the last fortnight, I think I had a parcel broken.’

Ralph Samuel died in February 1860 and his widow Mary took over the running of the business. The 1861 Census describes Mary's occupation as “Gold case maker employing 40 men and 20 boys.”

Culme records a sponsor's mark AGR in cameo within a rectangular surround as being entered on 17 February 1859 by Arthur Guiness Rogers Trading as Samuel & Rogers at 72 Wood Street, Liverpool. Presumably, Ralph Samuel was too infirm or ill by then to run the business.

A sponsor's mark S&R in cameo within a rectangular surround was entered at the Chester Assay Office On 18 Feb 1864 by Mary Samuel & Arthur Rogers Trading as Samuel & Rogers, Watchcase Manufacturers, 72 Wood Street, Liverpool.

On 2 April 1881, Arthur Rogers trading as Samuel & Rogers,72 Wood Street, Liverpool, entered a sponsor's mark AR in cameo within a rectancular surround at the Chester Assay Office.

The business at 72 Wood Street, Liverpool, eventually became Benson Brothers, watch case manufacturers. The Benson Brothers case making business was purchased by the Dennison Watch Case Company in the 1930s.

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Robert Kunzler

Robert Kunzler was a highly skilled watch springer and adjuster.

Kunzler was born in Switzerland near Le Locle about 1870. He trained in watchmaking at the Le Locle Technicum and worked in Germany, moving to England around 1900. After working for Erhardt in Coventry he returned to Le Locle to take a course in high-precision watch adjusting, afterwards returning to England.

Kunzler set up in business as a high precision watch springer and adjuster. At first he did this work as a subcontractor for watchmakers, but later became a watchmaker in his own right. He bought movements from Harry Pybus, who had taken over the movement maker Joseph Preston & Son, in Prescot and had them finished by specialist outworkers (jewellers, escapement makers, etc.) in Coventry and Birmingham, and then adjusted them himself. He submitted watches to Greenwich and Kew for rating.

Kunzler was asked by the Astronomer Royal to assist in setting up a chronometer repair department at Greenwich. Kunzler became the first employee of the Chronometer Repair Section in November 1937, along with H. Warden and D. Evans.