Sponsor's Marks

Copyright © David Boettcher 2005 - 2023 all rights reserved.

Before sending an item to be assayed and hallmarked at a British assay office a person must first register their details and a punch mark with the assay office they want to use. The reason for this is pretty obvious - the assay office needs to know who to charge for their services, where to return the items, and who to hold responsible and punish if an item is found to be sub-standard, which in earlier times included sentence to the pillory. This person is called the sponsor, which in this context means the person who takes responsibility for the items submitted.

The sponsor does not need to be someone directly involved in making the item. In fact, apart from a few very ancient or artisan hand crafted items, the person whose sponsor's mark appears on something almost certainly did not make it. When it comes to watch cases, this is even more true. Although watch case making was difficult to mechanise and remained largely a hand craft industry, it was a mass production hand craft industry, with division of labour and individual specialists contributing to the manufacture of each case. Although it is nice to think that the sponsor's mark gives some connection to an individual craftsman working at a bench making watch case this is simply not what happened, which is why it is misleading to refer to the sponsor's mark as a “maker's mark.” See The Fallacy of the "Maker's Mark" for more details about this.

An item will not be hallmarked unless it carries a sponsor's mark, this is a legal requirement. At one time the sponsor or maker of the item stamped the mark, but now the assay office will hold a punch on behalf of a sponsor and stamp the sponsor's mark. This is how my work is marked, my punch is held at the London Assay Office. A "hallnote" submitted with work to be marked includes a declaration of where the item was made and who is the sponsor, and the sponsor's mark is struck accordingly.

The details registered must include an address in Britain, and at least one punch mark. The punch is used to mark items that are submitted to the assay office with the sponsor's mark so that the items they submit can be easily identified. The punch mark must be unique, and usually consists of a person or company's initials set within a shaped surround. If the initials are the same as someone already registered, details such as the surround shape will be made different so that the two marks can be distinguished.

Punches were individually registered, by blackening them in a candle flame and pressing them onto paper or by striking them into a sheet of copper or lead. If a sponsor had more than one punch, each was registered separately. When new punches were made to replace or supplement earlier ones, they were also registered, even if the design was apparently identical.

The sketch here shows the two types of punches for stamping two different styles of sponsor's marks.

• The cameo punch is cut away such that the initials are created in relief (cameo) by pressing down the metal around them. The punch also forms the outside shape around the initials. This is called a cameo mark.
• The intaglio of incuse punch presses the shape of the initials into the metal. These often don't have surrounds, but sometimes an intaglio surround is also pressed into the metal. This is called an incuse or in-cutting mark.

I have collected below a small selection of sponsor's marks from watch cases. This is not a comprehensive collection, if a letter is missing, it is because I don't have any marks starting with that letter. If you have a mark that isn't here, please feel free to get in touch via my Contact Me page and I will try to help you identify it. If you want to identify many watch case sponsor's marks I suggest you get hold of a copy of Philip Priestly's book on the subject.

Ordering of Sponsor's Marks

It is a tradition that sponsor's marks are listed alphabetically starting with the first letter of the mark rather than the surname. This can be a bit cofusing at first, for example my registered sponsor's mark “DBB” is found under D for David rather than B for Boettcher. Other examples are AB for Baume & Company and GS for Stockwell & Company.

The list of letters below is clickable to take you to the section of the page where the first letter of the mark will be found if it is present.

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The Fallacy of the “Maker's Mark”

The requirement for a sponsor's mark to be struck on gold and silver items as part of the hallmarking process was introduced by an Act of King Edward III in the year 1363. At that time the mark was intended to identify the master goldsmith who would "answer", i.e. be punished or fined, if an item was found to be of substandard quality. It was never intended to identify who actually made an item.

In strict terms the mark is a responsibility mark, but it was not given any name in the 1363 Act. A master goldsmith in the fourteenth century working under the strict rules of the goldsmiths' guild, with a small workshop and a couple of journeymen and apprentices, might naturally have been thought of as the "maker" of items made in his workshop and, understandably but unfortunately, the mark became referred to casually as the "maker's mark", and some of the subsequent Acts did not rectify this.

When the power of the guilds to control who could work in precious metal declined, and with developments in trade and commerce, it became necessary to allow people such as retailers and importers to enter a mark at an assay office so that they could send items for hallmarking. This was first officially acknowledged in the 1738 Plate Offences Act, although it is obvious that the practice existed well before 1738. The 1738 Act required that anyone who made, or caused to be made, any gold or silver wares, to enter new marks at the assay offices. This requirement was to ensure that anyone who traded or dealt in silver or gold wares and who was already registered with an assay office for the purposes of hallmarking should enter new marks, in addition to those who made such items. It has therefore been misleading for over 300 years to describe this mark a "maker's mark".

When it comes to watch cases, this is even more true. Watch case making was difficult to mechanise and remained largely a hand craft industry. But it was a mass production hand craft industry, with division of labour and individual specialists contributing to the manufacture of each case. One specialisation was forming the bowl shaped pieces of the dome, outer back, bezel and lid, forming the case band and soldering them together. Making the “joints” (hinges) that allowed the case back, lid and bezel to be opened was another speciality. Making the springs that opened the back and lid was another speciality. The pendants were often made by a completely different pendant maker who specialised in casting gold and silver. Engraving and polishing were further separate specialisations. Although a case was less complicated than a watch movement and there were not as many separate trades involved, there was still considerable division of labour and each case was the product of a team, not of one person.

The Gold and Silver Wares Act, 1844, introduced the term “private mark” as a result of such considerations. Since then the term “sponsor's mark” has been adopted and is the name used for this mark in the 1973 Hallmarking Act.

Helen Clifford puts the position clearly in Silver edited by Philippa Glanville OBE, FSA, formerly chief curator of the metal, silver and jewellery department of the Victoria and Albert Museum and an authority on silver. Clifford writes

Philippa Glanville summarises this by saying The myth of the maker's mark is unravelled, challenging a century of silver studies. To assume that the sponsor's mark tells you who made the item is wrong. In some cases it might; in many cases it doesn't.

The term sponsor has as one of its meanings one who takes responsibility for something. The term sponsor's mark therefore accurately reflects the legal significance of the mark, and for preference should always be used to avoid misleading assumptions.

The image here shows a clear example of why this is the case. A neighbour of mine made some silver items when he was at college in the 1970s. He was not registered with an assay office so he was unable to get them hallmarked. He asked if I could get them hallmarked, which I did. In the image you can see my sponsor's mark, DBB set in a rectangular surround with pointed ends, followed by a set of London Assay Office hallmarks with the date letter "r" of 2016. Underneath has been laser engraved the statement "Made by Anthony WIlliams" identifying the real maker.

The assay office stamped my sponsor's mark and laser engraved the maker's name. When I discussed this with them there was no confusion at all, they understood perfectly the difference between the sponsor and the maker. Assay offices do not care at all who made an item; they only need to know, by law, who takes responsibility for it when it is submitted for hallmarking; someone who may have had no part in its manufacture.

In case this is thought to be a recent thing, consider the work of Paul de Lamerie, the most famous English silversmith of the eighteenth century. Philippa Glanville states that it is known that de Lamerie, in common with many other goldsmiths and silversmiths, often subcontracted work to a range of other workshops and had the work marked with his sponsor's mark before submitting for assay and hallmarking. Although de Lamerie had his own workshop in which some items were made, the presence of Paul de Lamerie's mark on an item of gold or silver does not show who made it, which might have been a subcontractor or workmen in de Lamerie's own workshop, and therefore it would clearly be misleading to describe it as a "maker's mark".

Unfortunately the sponsor's mark is still sometimes called the “maker's mark”. This gives rise to ridiculous statements such as Case also signed CN Charles Nicolet a known casemaker for IWC and The movement is Swiss and the case is silver, the watch was assembled and made by George Stockwell for Stockwell and Co Ltd in 1914 with the GS hallmark. These two statements are completely wrong. Charles Nicolet was a director of Stauffer & Co. a large London company that imported watches made by the Swiss parent watch manufacturing company Stauffer, Son & Co. and from IWC and other Swiss manufacturers. Charles Nicolet's mark was entered so that Stauffer & Co. could send Swiss made watch cases to be hallmarked. George Stockwell's mark was entered for Stockwell and Company, a large company of carriers and importers who submitted watches for hallmarking on behalf of their Swiss customers. George Stockwell was a director of the company and never made a watch case or assembled a watch in his life. Saying that Stockwell & Company made a watch case is like today saying that it was made by Fedex! In 1907 Stockwell & Company began to arrange hallmarking for Swiss companies that didn't have British offices, they were one of the first Assay Agents.

Even today and knowing the truth full well, the term “maker's mark” is often casually used by people who should know better, even at the assay offices, although not usually by people in the actual assay and hallmarking section. The acid test would be to ask them to guarantee that the registered person actually made the item, and then they will explain that is not the purpose of the mark.

So Whose Mark Is It?

The sponsor's mark was entered by someone in a position of responsibility and involved in causing an item to be made. In the fourteenth century this was the master goldsmith in whose workshop items were made. But by the eighteenth century Paul de Lamerie, in common with many other goldsmiths and silversmiths, subcontracted work to other workshops and had the items marked with his own sponsor's mark before submitting them for hallmarking. Marks could be entered by people who had no more role in making the item than placing an order for it to be made. If a limited company wanted to send items for hallmarking, a mark was entered under the name of one of the directors. If imported items needed to be hallmarked, a sponsor's mark entered in the name of a director of an importing company or an assay agent would be used.

Bear this in mind when you are looking at the sponsor's mark on a hallmarked gold or silver item. The person whose sponsor's mark appears on it almost certainly did not make it, which is why it is misleading to refer to it as a “maker's mark.” However, the sponsor's mark does point to someone who had role in the item being hallmarked, even if it was only placing an order with the actual manufacturer, and understanding that helps you to understand more about how the item was made.

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Marks Beginning with A

AB: Arthur Baume, Baume & Company

The AB sponsor's marks in the images were entered by Arthur Baume, Managing Director of Baume & Co., London.

The first style of mark with cameo letters in curly script within an oval surround was registered at the London Assay Office on 18 November 1876. A week later on 25 November 1876 an incuse mark of the letters AB was also registered. The incuse mark is rare.

The second cameo mark shown here, with block capital letters AB on a cross hatched background within a rectangular surround was first registered on 24 April 1883.

Swiss watches with gold or silver cases were imported into Britain without hallmarks until 1870, when some Swiss made watch cases began to be sent for hallmarking at British assay offices. Baume & Co. obviously caught onto this trend in 1876, and it is interesting that November 1876 was also when they became the London agents for Longines. English watchmakers objected to foreign watch cases receiving British hallmarks, but the practice continued until 1877 when it was stopped from 1 January 1888 by the Merchandise Marks Act.

Two punches with the cameo AB mark were registered at the London Assay Office on 14 September 1888, as were two punches with the incuse AB mark. At first sight this is strange because the Merchandise Marks Act 1887 effectively stopped importers of Swiss watches from sending them to be hallmarked after 1 January 1888. However, in September 1888 Baume & Co. founded or purchased a watch factory in Coventry, which explains these four punches; they were most likely for use at the Coventry factory.

A punch with the second style of mark, block letters in a rectangular surround, was registered with the London Assay Office on 1 March 1907, no doubt in anticipation of the requirement that all imported watches must be hallmarked in a UK assay office, which came into force on 1 June 1907. Additional punches with the same mark were registered in March, August and November 1907. Punches with this style of mark had been registered with the Birmingham Assay Office in January and July 1901. Birmingham was the principal jewellery making centre of the UK at the time and it seems likely that Baume were having items such as watch chains made there.

For the history of Baume & Company, and their relationship with Baume & Mercier, see Baume & Company

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A·B: Alfred Bedford

A punch mark AB in cameo within a rectangle with cut corners was entered under the name of Alfred Bedford at the London Assay Office on 30 August 1876. Alfred Bedford was not a case maker, he was the manager of the British branch of the American Watch Co. of Waltham, Massachusetts.

An identical AB cameo mark was entered at the Chester Assay Office on 16 September 1876 by Frederick Francis Seeland, another employee of the Waltham Watch Company UK.

The mark shown in the image here, A·B in cameo within a rectangle with cut corners was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1879 by Alfred Bedford, manager of the American Waltham Watch Co, Holborn Circus, London. A number of similar punches with A·B in cameo within a rectangle without cut corners were entered at the Birmingham Assay Office under Bedford's name between 1880 and 1900. The pellet was used between the initials to distinguish it from AB marks already registered by others. Bedford died in July 1902 and therefore the marks entered under his name ceased to be used.

The mass production methods used by Waltham meant that they could produce more watches than the American market needed, so they had a surplus or oversupply of movements. However, watch cases were still made by traditional hand craft methods and consequently struggled to keep up with demand to house the mass produced movements and were not in surplus, so Waltham wanted to export bare movements that would be cased in the destination country.

When the British branch of the Waltham company was set up in the 1870s, it found that British watch case makers could not supply the number of cases it needed, so initially large numbers of cases were imported. These were stamped with Alfred Bedford's sponsor mark and sent for British hallmarking before being used to house Waltham movements. Bedford stated that in 1877 Waltham UK had imported 5,000 cases from the United States and 18,000 from Switzerland, most of which had been hallmarked at Chester.

The problem of case supply for Waltham in Britain was eventually solved by the creation of a watch case factory in Birmingham that eventually became the Dennison Watch Case Co. It appears that Waltham had some interest in the company and that Bedford could give permission at least for work to be done. Before a Select Committee examining in 1887 proposed changes to the Merchandise Marks Act Bedford was asked Is there not a branch of the American watch manufacture established in Birmingham? to which he replied It is the case shop. The exact role of Waltham in the early history of the Dennison company is yet to be uncovered.

All the hallmarked cases made by Dennison to house imported Waltham movements had the sponsor's marks of either Frederick Francis Seeland, who was manager for the American Watch Co. of Waltham in the UK before leaving in late 1876 to take over at IWC, or the A.B of Alfred Bedford, who took over from Seeland. Bedford told a Select Committee that these cases were only for watches sold in Britain, they were not for export.

There is some similarity between the marks registered by Alfred Bedford and Arthur Baume, but the association of Bedford's marks with Waltham, and Baume's marks with Baume and Longines, makes it quite easy to work out which is which.

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AC: Antoine Castelberg

This is the mark of Antoine Castelberg, a watch dealer and importer operating in London, originally from La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. His full name was Johann Antoine, or Anton, Benedict Castelberg.

From the mid 1870s Castelberg acted as assay agent for Swiss manufacturers such as IWC who wanted to have Swiss made watch cases marked with British hallmarks. Between 1876 and 1878/9 IWC sent cases to Castelberg for hallmarking. The cases were then returned to Schaffhausen for fitting the movements. The British hallmarking of Swiss watch cases was effectively stopped by the 1887 Merchandise Marks Act from 1 January 1888 until 1 June 1907.

Castelberg's sponsor's mark "AC" incuse within an oval surround incuse was first entered at the London Assay Office on 25 August 1875. The registrant was Antoine Castelberg trading as Castelberg, Petitpierre and Company, address 90 Newgate Street London. On 2 August 1876 the company was recorded as moving to 58 Holborn Viaduct, London. Castelberg also registered the same mark at the Chester Assay Office on 17 October 1877, giving the same address 58 Holborn Viaduct, London. Castelberg seems to have been purely a watch dealer, Fritz Petitpierre seems to have been based in Switzerland and had some involvement in watch manufacturing.

Holborn Viaduct and Holborn Circus were the home of many importers of Swiss watches in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Parcels of watches carried by Stockwell & Company were received from Switzerland by train via the ferry from Calais to Dover, brought from the port of Dover by train under bond and examined by Customs Officers at Holborn Viaduct railway station. The goods could not be removed until customs duties had been paid, so it was convenient for import agents to have an office near to the station, and it was also handy for catching a train to Switzerland.

In 1877 Castelberg applied for a British patent for an invention of "Improvements in calendar watches." A communication to him from abroad by Fritz Petitpierre, of Chaux de fonds, Switzerland. Dated 23rd April, 1877. He also applied for a patent for an invention of "Improvements in watches." A communication to him from abroad by Cécile Domon, of Bienne, Switzerland. Dated 14th May, 1877.

In September 1877 it was reported that Castelberg, Petitpierre, & Co. had been awarded a silver medal for watches at the International Exhibition in Cape Town.

In 1878 The London Gazette recorded that on 15 May a partnership between Castelberg, Fritz Petitpierre, Jules Godat and Gaspard Brunner, carrying on business at Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland and 58 Holborn Viaduct, London, under the style Castelberg, Petitpierre, and Co. as Watch Manufacturers, was dissolved by mutual consent. Castelberg and Brunner left and the business was carried on by Petitpierre and Godat as Petitpierre and Co.

Castelberg & Co. had a stand as part of the British representation at the Sydney International Exhibition in 1880. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Castelberg & Co.'s exhibit in the British Court consisted of a large variety of work "made in this firm's manufactory at 59 Holbourne Viaduct, London," some of which display excellent style and very high finish. Of course, these were actually Swiss watches imported by . There were ladies' and gentlemen's watches in gold and silver, in hunting, open face and half-hunting cases, and various forms of keyless mechanisms. Some had "horizontal" (cylinder) escapements, but most had English (right angle) lever escapements. Castelberg & Co. were represented in Sydney by Messrs. I. Jacobs and Co. of 30 Hunter Street, and address now occupied by The Grand Hotel.

During the trial of Morris Schott for deception at the Old Bailey on 27th March 1882, Castelberg related in his evidence that he was a watch dealer and importer at Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland and 38 Seckforde Street, Clerkenwell. Castelberg described sending orders to several watch manufacturers in Chaux-de-Fonds, and that he charged commission of 2½% of the total value of orders he took.

Castelberg got into financial difficulties in Switzerland in 1887. In December 1887 the "Castelberg affair" or "Castelberg scandal" was news in Neuchâtel, where the Feuille d'Avis de Neuchâtel reported that Castelberg had sort protection from his creditors, which was granted, and offered to pay 60% of the money he owed them. There was an indignant protest against this in La Chaux-de-Fonds when two experts, Renaud and Perrenoud, reported that Castelberg had possessed "no regular accounting", indulged in "shameful operations", and owed in excess of 140,000 Swiss francs.

However, Castelberg recovered from this and was still trading in 1895.

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AF: Alfred Fridlander

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, one of Coventry's most distinguished watchmakers.

This is 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.

Alfred Emanuel Fridlander (1840 - 1928) was born in Birmingham. 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. Fridlander supplied 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 later became a Director of the Triumph Cycle Co, the Auto Machinery Co. and Leigh Mills Co. These companies were all set up in Coventry using the skills of the workforce that had been gained in watchmaking and that became available as watchmaking declined and skilled men looked for other work. Fridlander became a town councillor and Justice of the Peace (J.P.), and he served in that role for 28 years.

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A·G·R: Arthur George Rendell for Robert Pringle & Sons

The sponsor's mark A·G·R with pellets (dots) between the letters within a surround of three overlapping circles is the mark used by Robert Pringle & Sons on imported watch cases. The entry of this sponsor's mark followed the passing of the Assay of Imported Watch-Cases Act in 1907 which required that all foreign gold and silver watch cases be hallmarked in a British assay office before being put on sale.

The A·G·R sponsor's mark was first registered with the London Assay Office in the name of Arthur George Rendell on 25 June 1907. The purpose of the business given at the time of registration was “Watch Importers”. The address 40/42 Clerkenwell Road, London, was that of Robert Pringle & Sons. This company already had their own R·P sponsor's mark registered at the London Assay Office for use on items of their own manufacture, so it appears that they wanted to keep the hallmarking of imported watch cases something completely separate.

The assay office required that a principal of a company took responsibility for items that were sent for hallmarking by a company, so the mark was usually entered in the name of a director of the company. Rendell was obviously a manager or director of Robert Pringle & Sons in charge of importing watches, and perhaps other imported gold and silver plate.

The same A·G·R sponsor's mark was registered with the Chester Assay Office on 15 June 1907, and under the name Robert Pringle & Sons with the Glasgow Assay Office in circa 1917 and the Edinburgh Assay Office on 1 August 1926. The Chester entry does not appear in Philip Priestley's books because the purpose of the business was given as silversmith (Ridgway & Priestley).

The A·G·R mark only appears on imported items; Robert Pringle & Sons had other registered R·P sponsor's marks that were used on items of their own manufacture or were made by other British manufacturers. Note that these were not used on watch cases so are not found in Philip Priestley's books.

Robert Pringle & Sons

Robert Pringle & Sons of 40/42 Clerkenwell Road, London, was in its time one of the UK's largest wholesalers of jewellery, silverware, clocks and watches.

Robert Pringle (1800-1875) was born in Scotland. At the age of 13, i.e. in circa 1813, he became apprentice to a jeweller in Perth. It seems likely that Robert Pringle was related to John Pringle, the son of Robert Pringle and Ann Gibson and who was apprenticed to Charles Murray for seven years from 5 June 1816. It appears that Murray took his first apprentice in 1816 after being admitted Freeman Jeweller on 27 March 1816, so Robert Pringle would not have been apprenticed to Murray.

After completing his apprenticeship Robert Pringle moved to London in 1820. In 1835 he set up in business on his own as a manufacturing jeweller in Amwell Street, Clerkenwell, employing up to twelve men. By 1868 the business had moved to premises with a shop at 21 Wilderness Row. Robert Pringle died in 1875 and his son, also named Robert Pringle, took over and expanded the business considerably. The business was renamed from Robert Pringle & Co. to Robert Pringle & Son in 1882. In 1899 when the third Robert Pringle became a partner with his father, the business was renamed to Robert Pringle & Sons. When the then senior Robert died in 1907, the third Robert took his brothers William, James and Edwin into partnership.

From around 1868 the company's address was 21 Wilderness Row which, when the road was redeveloped in 1881, became 42 Clerkenwell Road. As the business expanded it took over the premises next door, No. 40, in 1884. The premises were named "Wilderness Works" after the old name of the road, as shown on this memorandum head dated 1889. Further expansion resulted in the premises eventually spanning 36-42 Clerkenwell Road, and the premises at the rear, whose frontages were numbers 17-20 Great Sutton Street.

Robert Pringle, the son of the founder, first registered the mark R·P at the London Assay Office on 17 January 1862, giving his trade or profession as a gold worker. This may be thought a late registration for a business set up in London as a jeweller in 1835, but Robert Pringle was listed in 1852 as a gilt jeweller, i.e. a maker of gold plated silver jewellery. Most items of jewellery were exempt from hallmarking because either they were below the minimum weight for hallmarking or it was not possible to punch the mark without damaging the item.

The first sponsor's mark punch R·P in cameo entered by Robert Pringle & Sons was recorded at the London Assay Office on 17 January 1862. Many punches bearing the R·P initials were registered by the company over the subsequent years. Note that these were not specifically for watch cases so are not found in Priestley.

Imported Watches and "A·G·R"

When British law was clarified and enforced by the 1907 Act "Assay of Imported Watch-Cases (Existing Stocks Exemption)" which came into force on 1 June 1907 and required that henceforth all imported watches be assayed in a UK assay office and marked with British import hallmarks, a sponsor's mark was required so that Pringles could send imported watches for assay. It is evident that Arthur Rendell worked at Robert Pringle & Sons and registered his initials as the mark for use on imported items, so it seems most likely that he was a manager or director in charge of the department or section responsible for handling imported watches. You can read more about the Act on my page about British import hallmarks.

The London Assay Office records simply show that the A·G·R was registered by Arthur George Rendell, 40/42 Clerkenwell Road, London, with no mention of Robert Pringle & Sons although the address is that of the company's offices and warehouse. The first punch was registered on 25 June 1907, followed by further punches with the same mark on 25 June 2 July and 7 October 1907, and 3 September 1908. However, the Chester Assay Office records show that punches with the same A·G· R mark were sent by R Pringle & Son for registration. The first registration at Chester was on 15 June 1907, further identical punches were registered at Chester on 10 July and 10 October 1907, and 5 September 1908. The number of punches registered gives an indication of the volume of imported watches Robert Pringle & Sons were handling at the time.

Until 1 June 1907, if a department existed at Robert Pringle & Sons for imported watches at all, it would have simply received watches from Swiss makers, kept them in stock, and then sent them out to British retailers as orders came in. However, from 1 June 1907 the requirement for all imported watches to be hallmarked required extra work. The movements had to be removed and stored while the cases were hallmarked, and the cases had to be stamped with the registered A·G·R mark and sent to the assay office. After assay and hallmarking, the cases were returned and needed a certain amount of rectification and final polishing after being hallmarked before the movements could be reinserted. The complete watches would then have been put on test for a few days, carefully observed to make sure that they were running properly. Although not a huge amount of work, it required extra staff, workshop space and storage space.

Although some of the large importing companies such as Dimier Brothers and Stauffer & Co. could afford this, smaller watch manufacturers would have needed a London agent to carry out this work for them. Pringles were rather late in getting the A·G·R mark registered on in June 1907, the outcome of the court case between Goldsmiths' and Wyatt had been known since November 1906 and Dimier Brothers had registered new punches within a few weeks of this. The fact that Pringles didn't register the A·G·R mark until some time after the new rules came into effect suggests that they were not aware of the impending change in the law.

The date of registration of the A·G·R mark being in response to the 1907 Act opens the question of whether Pringles had been importers of foreign watches before June 1907. Before June 1907 foreign watches could be imported without being required to be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office. It was therefore possible to send over small parcels of watches direct from Switzerland straight to the retailers who ordered them from travelling representatives who showed them samples, although someone needed to arrange customs clearance and pay the necessary British import duty, so I think it is likely that Pringles were involved in that before 1907.

Why didn't Pringles simply use the many "RP" sponsor's marks they already had registered at the assay office? It seems likely that they wished to keep the hallmarks on imported watches different from those on their normal stock or items of their own manufacture, probably because they didn't own the watches but were purely acting as assay agents.

The Edinburgh Assay Office records show that the A·G·R mark was registered on 1 August 1926 in the name of Robert Pringle & Sons Ltd. by Arthur George Rendell. Later registrations of the same A·G·R mark mention only Robert Pringle & Sons and not Rendell's name. The records at Edinburgh show that six punches with the A·G·R mark were registered in Glasgow, but records of the dates of registration no longer exist, they were lost or destroyed after the Glasgow Assay Office was closed in 1964. My records show numbers of watches with the A·G·R sponsor's mark being hallmarked in Glasgow with the earliest date seen being 1917, so the purpose of the Glasgow registration may have been to have a second way of getting watches hallmarked as demand expanded during the War, although it could be because the Glasgow Assay Office charges were lower than those in London and when volumes of wristwatches increased during the war it became worthwhile to take advantage of this.

Robert Pringle & Sons are also recorded as registering sponsors marks for other people. Edinburgh registrations show that in addition to the A·G·R mark, and Robert Pringle & Sons, or Arthur George Rendell acting on their behalf registered marks in Edinburgh and/or Glasgow SP (Sigmund Pulzer), EAP, SFC (Schwob Freres), LWC (Langendorf Watch Company), NW/[?], GWC, and R&S (Rotherham & Sons) "for: Hugh, Kevett & Ewan Rotherham".

The company became limited liability in 1931 as Robert Pringle & Sons (London) Ltd., as shown in the picture here.

Robert Pringle & Sons was voluntarily wound up in 1981. Creditors were paid in full. A branch of the business that had been started in 1966 became Robert Pringle (Engineers) Ltd., gear cutters, and continues to this day as Robert Pringle Engineers.

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A.H.R: Alfred Henry Read

The punch was recorded on a plate at Chester but the register with the details are missing. However the mark has been identified by comparison with an identical one registered at the London Assay Office in 1883 by Alfred Henry Read of Hill St. Coventry. Sponsor's sometimes registered the same punch with two assay offices so that they could choose which one to send a particular item to for hallmarking.

The Coventry Watch Museum Project records Alfred Henry Read working as a watch manufacturer between 1883 and 1901. You can read more about him and a watch carrying this sponsor's mark on my page about British hallmarks.

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ALD: Aaron Dennison and the Dennison Watch Case Co.

Aaron Lufkin Dennison (1812-1895) was one of the pioneers of watchmaking by machinery in America. In 1862 Dennison moved to England and around 1874 set up a watch case manufactory in the Handsworth area of Birmingham which eventually became the Dennison Watch Case Company. Initially the company made cases for imported watch movements from the American Watch Company of Waltham, later they also cased imported Swiss movements.

You can read more about Aaron Dennison and the Dennison Watch Case Company on my Dennison page.

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A[symbol]M and J[symbol]W: J Véron Grauer & Cie of Geneva

Some watch cases with Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks have a sponsor's mark of the letters A and M separated by a number, such as the A2M mark shown here, and others with the same letters A and M separated by a symbol, such as the star in the second image A✧M.

Examples of A2M, A5M, A9M, A10M, A11M and A✧M have been seen. They are all similar in style, made with by incuse punch with no surround.

There are also watch cases with Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks with a sponsor's mark of the letters J and W separated by a symbol. There are a large number of these, at least 22, recorded on surviving Glasgow Assay Office punch record plates.

Unfortunately, the records for the Glasgow Assay Office were mainly lost when the office closed in 1964 and there are no surviving records of who entered these marks, although there are some surviving plates with punch marks of the sponsor's marks, showing that the sponsor's details and individual punches were registered with the Glasgow Assay Office.

However, although the Glasgow Assay Office records have been lost, some punches with similar sponsor's marks to those entered at the Glasgow Assay Office were entered at the Edinburgh and Dublin assay offices, for which records do exist and from which it can be inferred who entered the same marks at the Glasgow Assay Office.

If you have a watch case with one of these sponsor's marks, either A(number)M, A(symbol)M, or J(symbol)W, or something else along these lines, I would like to see a photograph please!

A[number]M and A[symbol]M

The surviving Glasgow Assay Office plates have some A[number]M punch marks, A2M, A10M and A11M, but there is no record of who entered these sponsor's marks.

The records of the Edinburgh and Dublin Assay Office each include an A5M mark, incuse with no surround, the same as the ones seen alongsinde Glasgow Assay Office hallmarks. The punches were registered at Edinburgh on 3 March 1931 and Dublin on 17 September 1934. They were entered by J Véron Grauer & Co of Geneva, carriers and assay agents.

Watch cases have been seen with Glasgow Assay Office hallmarks and A[number]M sponsor's marks other than those on the surviving plates, showing that some of the original plates are also missing. The image here shows an A5M sponsor's mark in a watch case with Glasgow Assay Office hallmarks for 9 carat gold. The date letter is the “i” of the Glasgow hallmarking year from July 1931 to June 1932.

From this it seems evident that Véron Grauer & Co were acting as agents for Swiss watch case manufacturers in the same way as Stockwell & Co, carrying watch cases to Britain, submitted them for hallmarking and then returned them to Switzerland to be finished before being sold on to watch manufacturers.

It seems reasonable to infer that all of the similar A[number]M and A[symbol]M marks, incuse with no surround, that were entered at the Edinburgh, Dublin and Glasgow assay offices were entered by Véron Grauer & Co.

Rather curiously, there is no record of Véron Grauer & Co registering their details or any sponsor's marks at the London Assay Office.

J[symbol]W

It is known from surviving Glasgow plates bearing registered punch marks that at least 22 similar punches were entered at the Glasgow Assay Office with the initials J and W stamped incuse with no surround and with a symbol between the letters such as a heart J♡W, diamond J♢W, triangle J△W, square J▢W, equals sign J=W, swastika J卍W, etc, etc. (There doesn't appear to be an HTML code for a trilobe; if you know it, please let me know.)

The image shows one of these sponsor's marks with the swastika 卍, an ancient religious icon dating back to the stone age which did not gain its modern negative connotations until the 1930s. The case has Glasgow Assay Office hallmarks for nine carat (·375) gold, the date letter is the "g" of the Glasgow hallmarking year from July 1929 to June 1930.

The Dublin Assay Office records include a sponsor's mark of J W incuse with a trilobe symbol between the letters, the same as the one shown in the image with Glasgow Assay Office hallmarks, so it seems reasonable to infer that the identical J trilobe W punch mark was entered at the Glasgow Assay Office by J Véron Grauer & Co.

By extension, it seems reasonable to assume that all the similar J[symbol]W punches were entered at the Glasgow Assay Office by J Véron Grauer & Co.

It also seems at least possible that the mark was intended to be based on the initials J and V (for Véron), but when the punch cutter was instructed, the letters V and W were mixed up due to different English and continental pronunciations of the letters V and W.

The earliest existing assay office record of a J[symbol]W punch is 7 Apr 1928 at the Dublin Assay Office.

If you have a hallmark with one of these J[symbol]W sponsor's marks, please send a photograph.

J Véron Grauer & Cie

J Véron Grauer & Cie of Geneva were carriers who specialised in transporting products of high value such as watches and jewellery, and also in customs clearance in many countries. They entered these sponsor's marks so that they could act as assay agent for a number of different Swiss watch case manufacturers.

The number or symbol between the letters was used most likely used for administrative purposes, to identify which manufacturer each watch case belonged to. Watch cases were submitted in large batches for hallmarking and could not have labels or any other means of identification attached to them, so the sponsor's mark is the only means of identification.

The sponsor's mark A9M has been seen in a nine carat gold case with Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks for 1930 to 1931 and the Poinçon de Maître of a Hammer with Handle with the registration number 136 that was issued to the Swiss watch case making company C.R. Spillmann SA. If there are other cases with the same A9M sponsor's mark and a Hammer with Handle with the registration number 136, that would support the theory. If you have such a case, please let me know.

It appears that Véron Grauer were performing the same role as assay agent for Swiss watch case manufacturers as Stockwell & Co. This involved registering punches at British assay offices, supplying these punches to Swiss watch case makers, transporting watch cases to Britain, submitting them for assay and hallmarking and then returning the hallmarked cases to the case maker in Switzerland.

The mark with a star between the A and the M, shown in the second image, is in a case with Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks which also has the GS sponsor's mark of Stockwell & Company. Véron Grauer was probably also part of the continent wide network of shipping agents including Messageries Nationales Express and the Messageries Anglo-Suisses that Stockwell & Co. also belonged to.

Véron-Grauer also entered a mark AK incuse within an incuse rectangular surround at the Edinburgh Assay Office in 1931.

Rather curiously, there is no record of Véron Grauer & Co registering their details or any sponsor's marks at the London Assay Office.

Véron Grauer & Co still exists as a logistics company in Switzerland, the specialised valuables transport branch of the Deutsche Post DHL group, and traces its history back to 1867.

James Weir

At one time it was thought that the J[symbol]W punches were entered by James Weir, who did enter some JW sponsor's marks. Philip Priestley records two sponsor's marks that are known to have entered at the Glasgow Assay Office by Weir; J.W. incuse with no surround, which is annotated in the records as “Watch Case Punch”, and J.W in cameo within a heart shaped surround. There are a number of other punches known to have been entered by Weir that Philip did not record because they are not recorded as watch case marks. It seems likely that JW punches used on watch cases without anything between the initials, especially those entered or used before 1928 and those in cameo, were entered by James Weir.

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A.W: Arthur Wigley

This sponsor's mark A.W was entered at the London Assay Office in 1875 by Arthur Wigley of 40 Caroline Street, Birmingham.

In 1874 Wigley was recorded as a rose engine turner. By 1889 he was recorded as a partner in Dennison, Wigley and Co., which became the Dennison Watch Case Company.

You can read more about the Dennison Watch Case Company on my Dennison page.

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Marks Beginning with B

B&S: B H Britton & Sons

B H Britton & Sons were Charles Henry Britton, Walter Britton and Herbert Britton, Manufacturing Goldsmiths at 35 Hockley Hill, Birmingham, England.

The sponsor's mark B&S within a rectangular surround was first entered by B H Britton & Sons at the Chester Assay Office in 1912. The mark shown in the images here, the initials B&S incuse with an incuse surround made of two conjoined circles, was first registered in May 1931.

B H Britton & Sons made gold watch cases for a number of importers of Swiss watches, including Rolex and Claude Reginald Henry trading as The Carbel Watch Company, Diamond House, Hatton Garden, London, E.C.1. In 1954 Henry sold his businesses Carbel Watch Company Ltd and the trading name C. R. Henry to Louis Newmark (Holdings) Ltd, Croydon, Surrey.

Brittons were one of a number of British goldsmiths following a trend for having gold cases made in England that began during World War One in 1915.

The hallmarks in the cases shown here are Chester Assay Office marks for a nine carat gold item made in Britain. The town mark is three wheat sheaves surrounding an upright sword, rather than the acorn and oak leaves import town mark stamped by Chester on imported items. The date letter in the round case back is the “N” in Court hand font of 1938 to 1939.

The patent number seen in the round case, 378233, for "Improvements in watch cases" was granted to Charles Henry Britton, Walter Britton and Herbert Britton of 35 Hockley Hill, Birmingham, on 11 August 1932 with a priority date of 15 September 1931. The object of the invention was stated as to provide an improved construction of a two piece watch case with a neat and attractive appearance that could be cheaply manufactured. The case was made from a short piece of tube that formed the middle part of the case. This was pressed or rolled at both ends to provide the recess for the glass at the front and an undercut at the rear for the case back to snap on to.

The hallmarks in the “Made for Rolex” tonneau (barrel shaped) case are also Chester Assay Office marks for a nine carat gold item made in Britain. The date letter "J" is for 1959 to 1960, showing that the trend that began during World War One continued long after the Second World War. Gold watch cases were (and are) much more expensive than silver or base metal due to their gold content, so no manufacturer wanted to carry a significant stock of gold cases, or watches with gold cases, and therefore gold cases were made as close to the time of sale as possible.

The Rolex case was one of the later ones marked by the Chester Assay Office. With a history stretching back to Saxon times, and having served the Liverpool watch case makers during the nineteenth century, the Chester goldsmiths were stripped of their power of assay and touch and their Assay Office closed on 24 August 1962.

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BWC: British Watch Cases Ltd.

British Watch Cases Ltd, 236-240 Pentonville Road, London.

There is not much information recorded about this company. The company appears to have been set up to manufacture gold cases for imported Swiss movements as a result of the McKenna duties on imported items, first imposed during World War One.

The first mention I have found so far of British Watch Cases Ltd. is that they exhibited at the British Industries Fair in 1937. An entry in the Horological Journal for March 1937 says that “This firm will show a comprehensive range of different shapes and sizes of Watch Cases from 3¾in. to 19in. in 9ct. and 18ct. Gold, Silver, Gold filled, and Chromium.” A three and three-quarter inch watch case would itself be very large, but imagine a 19 inch watch case! It appears that the writer (or type-setter) has confused the triple prime ''' of lignes with the double prime '' of inches; 3.75 lignes to 19 lignes covers almost all sizes of movement.

The image here of the marks in a watch case have one version of the BWC sponsor's mark along with "London Made". The case was assayed and hallmarked in Edinburgh; the hallmarks are the 9 for nine carat gold, the three towered castle mark of the Edinburgh Assay Office, and the date letter "A" of 1931 to 1932. Later punches registered by the company were slightly more elaborate, still with the initials BWC incuse, but of varying height within an incuse diamond surround.

British Watch Cases Ltd registered marks at the Edinburgh Assay Office for a number of other companies, including George Nicolet trading as Stauffer, Son & Co.

Edinburgh Assay Office records show that Marcel A. Leuba was Chairman & Managing Director of British Watch Cases Ltd. The name Willy or Welby Leuba also appears alongside that of Marcel.

Another name associated with the company is Rene Marchand of Marchand and Jobin, Ltd who sold watches under the Majex brand. Rene Marchand was a brother of Louis Marchand of the Milex-Elem Watch Co., Bienne, Switzerland.

Watches with cases made by British Watch Cases Ltd sometimes carry the brand name Trebex, a trademark registered by Milex-Elem S.A. in Switzerland on 22 February 1938.

British Watch Cases Ltd registered a large number of sponsor's marks at the Edinburgh Assay Office, including A&AAL incuse, A.K, A•S BRITISH MADE, B.W.C incuse, EG, M.L Incuse and PAREX of 36 Douglas Road. It seems likely that British Watch Cases Ltd was making cases for a number of (probably Swiss) watch manufacturers who were identified by these separate marks.

British Watch Cases Ltd also supplied cases to Rolex.

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Marks Beginning with C

C&C^LD: Carley & Clémence Ltd.

Carley & Clémence styled themselves as "Watch and Clock Makers and Importers of Swiss Watches", but in reality the British company Carley & Clémence Ltd. were importers and wholesalers.

The history of Clémence Frères goes back to 1860 in Switzerland, with factories at Les Bois and La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1863 or 1864 Joseph August Clémence settled in London and opened a British company to import Swiss watches. His father, M. Victor Clemence, of Les Bois, Switzerland, died in April 1900 at the age of eighty-one.

Clémence Frères of 11, Southampton Row, London, W.C, advertised in 1889 that they were Manufacturers of chronometers, chronographs, repeaters, and other complicated watches, as well as various grades of plain watches, keyless and non-keyless, with factories at Chaux-de-Fonds and Les Bois, Switzerland.

In 1889 Clémence Frères announced that “Out of fifteen pocket chronometers with Messrs. Clemence Frere's Improved and Simplified Chronometer Escapement, which were recently deposited for trial at the Neuchâtel Observatory, fourteen obtained “Especially Good” certificates; the mainspring of the remaining one having broken, it could not be tested. The Director of the Observatory says such a success is unprecedented.”

In 1891 Clémence Frères acquired the business of George Carley & Co. The separate titles of the two companies, Clémence Frères and Carley & Co., were maintained until 1903, when a limited liability company Carley & Clémence Ltd. was formed.

In 2010 Christie's sold 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. There was no indication where the movement was made, but the watch had an off-white enamel dial in the typical manner of the London dial maker Frederick Willis, renowned for high quality dials, and case was made by the London case maker Fred Thoms, renowned for exceptional cases, both suppliers to the best English watchmakers. This suggest that in addition to Swiss watches, Carley & Clemence were purchasing English made watches from English wholesale manufacturers such as P. & A. Guye, Ltd. and Nicole Nielsen & Co., and retailing them under their own name.

In February 1915 the death of Mr Joseph Auguste Clémence at age 71, chairman of Carley & Clémence (Limited), watch and clock makers of Ely Place Holborn, and a member of the Court of the Clockmakers' Company, was announced in Horological Journal and The Times. In the Horological Journal it was said that there was practically no Society of any importance connected with the trade with which he was not identified. He had been admitted to the livery of the Clockmaker's Company in 1891, was on the Committee of the Clock and Watch Makers' Asylum for twenty years, was a member of the Committee of the Watch and Clock Makers' Benevolent Institution, a founder of the London Wholesale Jewellers and Allied Trades Association, and a member of the Council of the BHI for twenty two years, holding the posts of Vice-President and Chairman. He was always very interested in technical education.

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, Certina 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&C^LD, was provided to me by Ewen Taylor and is in the case back of a Swiss made "hermetic" watch owned by him, the case in 9 carat gold made by the Geneva company of François Borgel and marked with London Assay Office import hallmarks in 1925/26.

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CN: Charles Nicolet

Charles Nicolet 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 of "CN" incuse with no surround was first registered with the London Assay Office on 1 March 1877, the address given as 12 Old Jewry Chambers. NB: The spelling in Priestley is Nicholet, which is incorrect. He then registered a sponsor's mark "C.N" in a rectangular lozenge with cut corners 10 Oct 1881 and the same 15 Oct 1885. On 23 Feb 1887 the registered address was changed to 13 Charterhouse Street, Holborn, London. On 26 Mar 1896 a sponsors mark "CN" in a surround with angular ends was registered.

On 4 Nov 1904 an incuse mark the same as the original "CN" sponsor's mark was again registered. On 3 Apr 1905 and 17 October 1907 marks of "CN" in rectangular lozenge with cut corners were also registered.

Charles Nicolet 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.

Charles Nicolet's sponsor's mark was used on some of the gold and silver watches imported by Stauffer and Co. during the period between 1874 and 1887 when some Swiss watches were given British hallmarks, and then on all off the gold and silver watches imported by Stauffer after the law was enforced from 1 June 1907 so that all imported gold and silver watches had to be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office.

A watch was advertised with the description saying Case also signed CN Charles Nicolet a known casemaker for IWC. This is an error caused by the mistake of calling the sponsor's mark a “maker's mark”. In this case the watch case was made in Switzerland, not by Charles Nicolet, but it was stamped with his sponsor's mark before being sent to be hallmarked.

You can read more about Stauffer and Nicolet by clicking this link: Stauffer Son & Co.

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Marks Beginning with D

DBB: David Boettcher

To increase the authenticity of my watch straps I make copies of early sterling silver wristwatch strap buckles. I make these by hand in sterling (0.925) silver, and they are hallmarked by the London Assay Office with a full set of struck traditional UK hallmarks, just like their predecessors were around a hundred years ago. My intention is that these replicas should be as close to the originals as possible. You can read more about this and see pictures on my Sterling Silver Buckles page.

This picture shows the hallmarks on one of my buckles. Reading from the left the marks are:

• My sponsor's mark, my initials "DBB" in a surround with angular sides or ends, first registered with the London Assay Office in 2012
• The lion passant, the walking lion with raised right forepaw that has been the mark of sterling silver since the time of King Henry VIII
• The 925 mark which indicates the silver content, required since 1975, the only part of the mark that King Henry wouldn't recognise
• The leopard's head, the sign of the London Assay Office since 1544
• The date letter, in this case an "o" for 2013

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DB^s Dimier Brothers & Co. / Dimier Frères & Cie

The sponsor's mark DB^s or DBs shown in the images here was registered at the London Assay Office by Dimier Brothers & Co., a large company importing Swiss watches into Britain in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and also exporting to Switzerland leather straps made in England for wristwatches.

Dimier Brothers & Co. had offices in London and, under the name Dimier Fréres & Co., in la Chaux-de-Fonds. They had no manufacturing capability, they were purely an import / export company. Watches and watch movements imported by Dimier Brothers often carry the trademark DF&C within an oval.

There was another, earlier, company called Dimier Fréres in Fleurier. That company manufactured watches from the early to middle nineteenth century but wasn't connected with the later company other than by family name, and therefore perhaps by family.

The Dimier brothers company in London was first recorded in 1868 at 46 Cannon Street, London, as Swiss watch importers. The first sponsors mark "CD" was registered by Charles Dimier on 4 December 1878. A second mark "ED" was registered by Edward Dimier on 8 July 1884.

These marks were registered during the period between 1874 and 1887 when some Swiss watch cases were being stamped with British hallmarks, as discussed on my Assay and Hallmarking page. From 1 January 1888 new styles of combined marks, including prominently the word "Foreign", were introduced by Act of Parliament to be used by British assay offices for hallmarking imported watch cases. This effectively put a stop to foreign watch cases being marked with British hallmarks until 1907.

In 1906 the case of Goldsmiths vs. Wyatt resulted in an Appeal Court judgement that all imported gold and silver watch cases should be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office, and the law was modified so that all gold and silver watches imported into Britain after 1 June 1907 were assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office, and marked with special hallmarks that were used only on imported items.

The sponsor's mark “G.D” was first registered with the London Assay Office by George Charles Dimier on 12 December 1906, less than two weeks after the judgement in the case of Goldsmiths vs. Wyatt. The Dimier Brothers company subsequently registered eight more "G.D" punches with the London Assay Office between March and December 1907, and five further "DBS" punches in 1907, the large number of punches gives an indication that they were importing large numbers of watches that all needed to be marked before being sent to be assayed and hallmarked.

During World War One, imports from Switzerland of watches in gold cases, or gold watch cases, were severely restricted by high import duties, and actually prohibited for the latter part of the war. After the war the import duties continued, making it economic to import bare watch movements and put them into English made gold cases. In 1922 Dimier Brothers entered a number of sponsor's mark punches “DBS&C^o” in cameo at the Birmingham Assay Office. These were the first marks they had entered in Birmingham, suggesting that they were using a Birmingham based watch case manufacturer to make cases, which were marked with Dimier's sponsor mark.

Dimier Brothers played an important role at the beginning of the twentieth century in the introduction of the first modern wristwatches. They registered in Britain and Switzerland a design of curved fixed wire lugs to attach a leather strap to a watch case. They required Swiss watch manufacturers to pay a fee to use this design, which was shown by the Swiss registered design number 9846 being stamped in the back of the watch case as "Déposé No. 9846". You can read more about this at Déposé No. 9846.

The advertisement reproduced here is from a Swiss trade paper in 1913 for English made "bracelets cuir" for "montre bracelets", i.e. leather straps for wristwatches. These were made by Pearson & Sons in London and sold in Switzerland by Dimiers. You can read more about this at Early wristwatches.

Dimier Frères & Cie registered the name “Selezi” as a trademark on 11 March 1912.

The company traded under the name George Dimier from the 1920s. In advertisements it was claimed that the company could trace its history back to 1795 in Geneva. This was perhaps via the company based in Fleurier mentioned previously.

Dimier Brothers & Co. was voluntarily wound up in 1971.

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D.S.&S. Shackman & Sons

Lawrence W. kindly sent me the photograph of the case of his Baume watch reproduced here, and Phil D sent me the image of the Omega case.

The Baume case has London Assay Office (leopard's head on the right) hallmarks of the type specifically used for a British made item in 9 carat (375) gold. These hallmarks show that the case was made in Britain to house a Swiss watch movement that was imported bare, that is without a case. This practice began during World War One when high import duties were levied on imported watches, but the high cost of gold and the import taxes that it incurred meant that making gold cases in England to house imported Swiss watch movements continued into the late twentieth century.

The date letter is the "Q" of 1951 to 1952 - remember that the hallmarking year began at the end of May when new wardens were elected, so date letter punches were used in two calendar years until May of the following year.

The sponsor's mark D.S.&S. in cameo was entered by David Shackman of D. Shackman & Sons. Two punches were first registered at the London Assay Office in 1922, and then a number more in 1946 and 1947, one of which was used to strike the sponsor's mark in this case.

The Omega case has London Assay Office hallmarks for an item made in Britain of 9 carat (·375) gold. The date letter is the Roman italic "o" of 1969 to 1970. The sponsor's mark OWC in cameo was entered at the London Assay Office by the Omega Watch Company (England) Limited in 1952. However, the case was not made by Omega - the fancy "S" is a trademark of Shackman and Sons.

The company was founded in London by David Shackman in around 1915 as fine jewellery manufacturers. Sponsor's mark punches were not initially required because most jewellery is exempt from hallmarking. David Shackman was joined by his sons Rubin and Albert to form D. Shackman & Sons. In addition to making gold watch cases for Baume like the one illustrated here, the company made cases for Longines, Rolex and Omega.

During the Second World War, Shackman & Sons also made optical instruments, ssurvivings and bombsights, for the armed forces at a factory in Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

After the war, Shackman & Sons continued making gold watch cases and bracelets to house imported Swiss movements, but also went into manufacturing special purpose cameras and accessories under the name “Autocamera”. The company was later renamed Shackman Instruments Ltd. and was taken over by Anamax Ltd. in 1993.

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D&R: F Ducommun

The surviving records of the Glasgow Assay Office show that the initials D&R incuse within an incuse oval surround were entered by F Ducommun of 59-61 Hatton Garden, London. Unfortunately the date of the entry is unknown. Watch cases seen with this mark are dated from the mid 1920s.

Philip Priestley suggests that D&R might refer to Fritz Ducommun with Adolph Ries. However, I think this is unlikely.

Adolph Ries entered a sponsor's mark A·R in cameo within a rectangular surround with cut corners at the London Assay Office on 28 July 1884. The address was 59 Hatton Garden. The company Adolph Ries & Co Ries had moved to 45 Hatton Garden by 1897, and then in 1902 the company moved to 15 Charles Street. This was long before the 1907 Act that required imported watch cases to be hallmarked, and long before the D&R mark was entered at the Glasgow Assay Office.

Fritz Ducommun was recorded as having premises at 59-61 Hatton Garden, London, but this appears to have been long after Adolph Ries & Co relocated. The building 59-61 Hatton Garden was divided after after Adolph Ries & Co departed and let to a number of separate businesses.

Fritz Ducommun, a watch company's manager carrying on business as a watch importer at 59-61 Hatton Garden, London, was petitioned in the High Court for bankruptcy by his creditors in February 1932.

Eugene Ducommun-Roulet was a watch manufacturers of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The company was wound up in 1905 so it seems unlikely that the D&R initials refer to Ducommun & Roulet.

The records of the Glasgow Assay Office and the coincidence of the address suggest that the D&R sponsor's mark was entered by Fritz Ducommun of 59-61 Hatton Garden, London, but the source of the R is currently unknown.

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Marks Beginning with E

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EH: Edwin Harrop

This punch mark appears to have been entered at the London Assay Office in May 1911 by Edwin George Harrop, one of several punches registered over the years by members of the Harrop family.

The business is said to have been established in 1836 by Edwin, George and Elijah Harrop as manufacturing goldsmiths and jewellers. Edwin George Harrop took over the business when his father Edwin B. Harrop died in 1894.

In 1918 The London Watch Case Company, 157 Farringdon Road, London, was listed with E. G. Harrop and A. M. Lederman as directors.

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EH: Edward Heuer

Edward Heuer entered two sponsor's marks, “EH” in cameo within an oval surround and “EH” in cameo within a double oval surround, at the London Assay Office on 14 May 1879 describing his business as a watch manufacturer at 6 Thavies Inn, Holborn Circus, London, EC, a location much favoured by importers of Swiss watches because of its close proximity to Holborn railway station with links to the continent.

Heuer was not a manufacturer of watches in England. Whether he had a manufacturing operation in Switzerland is not known but is unlikely. It is more likely that Heuer was acting as an import agent for Swiss watches. The purpose of registering a sponsor's mark at the London Assay Office was so that he could submit Swiss made watch cases for hallmarking. This practice took place between 1874 and 1887 and is explained in detail at Foreign Watches with British Hallmarks.

The business was taken over by Gustav Mayer.

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EM over AM: Mojon and Montandon

The watch case in the photograph has Birmingham Assay Office (anchor) hallmarks for sterling silver (walking lion). The date letter is the "h" of the Birmingham Assay Office hallmarking year from July 1882 to June 1883. Date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected, which took place in Birmingham at the end of June, so were used over two calendar years.

The sponsor's mark EM over AM in cameo was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1881 by Edward Mojon & Albert Montandon of 120-121 Newgate Street, London EC.

Edward Mojon and Albert Montandon were in business under the style or firm of Mojon, Montandon and Co. at 26 and 27 Bartlett's-buildings, Holborn, Middlesex, as Watch and Musical Box Manufacturers, Importers and Dealers. Their partnership was dissolved, by mutual consent, as and from the 31st day of July, 1888. The business was carried on by Edward Mojon, who later went into partnership with John Manger as Mojon & Manger, also at 26 and 27 Bartlett's-buildings.

The movement of the watch, and therefore the silver case also, is Swiss. The movement is a Lépine bar type with a cylinder escapement. This means that Mojon and Montandon were importing Swiss watches with British hallmarks.

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Marks Beginning with F

F&D: Fulda & David

The sponsor's mark F&D was entered at the London Assay Office on 26 September 1907 by Fulda & David of 11 Hatton Gardens, London.

There can be little doubt that this was in response to the 1907 Act "Assay of Imported Watch-Cases (Existing Stocks Exemption)" which came into force on 1 June 1907 and required that henceforth all imported gold and silver watch cases be assayed in a UK assay office and marked with British import hallmarks. You can read more about that Act on my page about British import hallmarks.

The company of Fulda & David was established as a partnership in London between Otto Gabriel Fulda and Jacques David in 1879, carrying on business as watch importers and wholesalers.

On 4 November 1899, Fulda & David registered the name “Ingomar” as a trademark.

The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on 22 October 1904 due the retirement of Jacques David. Otto Fulda continued in business as a sole trader watch importer and wholesaler under the style Fulda & David.

Following Otto Fulda's death on 10 July 1919 the business was incorporated as Fulda & David Limited. On 25 November 1920 the trademarks Ingomar, Vintrix and Valmor were transferred from Fulda & David to Fulda & David Limited. A new trademark Venta was registered at the same time.

On 4 August 1927 at an Extraordinary General Meeting, the shareholders of the company heard that it could not continue in business due to its liabilities. A resolution was passed that the company should be wound up voluntarily. The post-war slump that occupied much of the 1920s and 1930s resulted in many companies being wound up.

The assets of the company were acquired from the liquidators in 1928 by a new company called Fulda & David (1928) Limited. This company too went into voluntary liquidation in 1930. Business was tough in the early 1930s.

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FB: François Borgel

This is not a British registered sponsor's mark but a Swiss trademark. I have included it on this page because a lot of early wristwatches that were used in the trenches during World War One and have survived in remarkably good condition used the patent dust and damp resistant screw case that carries this mark.

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 dust and moisture resistant watch case. It has a one piece case with no back opening, the movement and bezel are mounted on a threaded carrier 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 for many Swiss firms, famous ones including Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin and others. For further details please refer to my Borgel page.

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FFS: Frankfeld Frères

The sponsor's mark shown here, FF^S incuse with no surround, was entered by Frankfeld Frères, Importers of Foreign Gold and Silver Watch Cases, Adelaide Chambers, 52 Gracechurch Street, London. This particular mark is in an 18 carat gold Borgel screw case, which is why the sponsor's mark is stamped above the Borgel trademark.

Culme records two cameo punches with the same initials entered by Frankfeld Frères, the first on 6 February 1907 and the second on 11 February 1911. Both of these punches were sent in by Louis Frankfeld. Culme's data stops in 1914. In addition to these marks, Philip Priestley records that the incuse punch that made this mark was entered on 2 November 1915.

Frankfeld Frères was a partnership based at 2 Avenue de la Servette, Geneva, between Louis, Emile and Henry Frankfeld. In 1880, Arnold Frankfeld of 52 Gracechurch Street entered two punches at the London Assay Office. No doubt he was part of a perfectly legal trade in sending in Swiss watch cases for British hallmarks which English watchmakers objected to strongly. It seems likely that Louis, Emile and Henry were Arnold's children.

The entry of a punch in February 1907 shows Frankfeld Frères were aware of the Appeal Court judgement in November 1906 in the case of Goldsmiths' vs. Wyatt that all imported gold and silver watch cases should be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office and meant that Frankfeld Frères were ready to send imported watch cases for hallmarking when the subsequent Imported Watch Cases Act came into force on 1 June 1907.

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F.F.S: Frederick Francis Seeland

Frederick Francis, or Frank, Seeland was the Assistant Manager of the Waltham Watch Co., UK, before leaving to become manager of the International Watch Company (IWC) of Schaffhausen, Switzerland in October 1876, after the first company, founded by F.A. Jones, had gone bankrupt.

The F.F.S mark was entered by Seeland at the London Assay Office on 2 November 1875 and the Chester Assay Office on 31 January 1876. This mark was used on cases for Waltham watches made in Birmingham by Dennison, and also on imported Swiss and American cases that were hallmarked in Britain.

Seeland was succeeded at Waltham UK by Alfred Bedford. When Seeland was manager at IWC, Swiss watch cases were sent to be hallmarked in Britain and then returned to Switzerland to be finished into watches. For more about this see Early IWC watches with British hallmarks. None of the IWC Seeland watches that I have seen with British hallmarks bear Seeland's sponsors mark, it appears that he used third party agents such as Antoine Castelberg, Fritz Petitpierre and Joel Blanckensee & Co. who had their own registered sponsor's marks.

Seeland generated apparent profits for IWC by overstating the value of stock on hand. This came to light during the summer of 1879 when a stock take was conducted by the managing director Johann Rauschenbach and the factory foreman. Seeland with his family secretly left Schaffenhausen for America just before the stock take took place.

A census taken in Newark, New Jersey in 1880 showed Frederick Seeland age 37 (so birth circa 1843) and his wife Fanny age 27 living there with two daughters Irene age 6 and Emma age 1 and a son Frederick age 3. Frederick Seeland's occupation is watchmaker and his place of birth is Switzerland. His wife Fanny's place of birth is New Jersey, as is the eldest daughter Irene. The two younger children were born in Switzerland.

The census data is rather at odds with a passport application lodged by one Frederick Frank Seeland in March 1874 in which Seeland swears that he was born in New York on 24 January 1842 and that he is a native and loyal citizen of the United States.

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FM: Frank Moss

This sponsor's mark FM in a serif face within a rectangular surround with cut corners is the sponsor's mark of Frank Moss, 48 Frederick Street, Birmingham. It was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 25 August 1882 with the address 48 Frederick Street, Birmingham. Frederick Street is within the jewellery quarter of Birmingham and this is likely to have been the address of a workshop or factory.

Frank Moss was a partner in the firm of J. Blanckensee & Co., watch manufacturers and importers. The company was a partnership between Joel and Leon Blanckensee and Frank Moss. It appears that the company was not involved in the manufacture of watches in Britain but acted as importers and assay agents for Swiss watch manufacturers.

Blanckensee & Co. already had a number of sponsor's marks registered with the Birmingham Assay Office. It appears that the “FM” mark registered under the name of Frank Moss was entered for the purpose of submitting Swiss made watch cases to be hallmarked at the Birmingham Assay Office.

The mark "JB&Co." within a rectangular surround had been entered on 29 October 1875 with addresses at Duchess Road and Regent Street Birmingham. Regent Street is off Frederick Street within the jewellery quarter of Birmingham and this is likely to have been the address of a workshop or factory, whereas Duchess Road is a residential location and appears to have been a private address. A second punch with the same mark and address details was entered on 13 May 1878. Five further similar punches were registered with the same details between 1901 and 1903. On 28 April 1903 a punch was entered with "J.B 2 & Co" within a rectangular surround with cut corners and address 48 Frederick Street, Birmingham was entered. The use of the "2" in this punch indicates that the Frederick Street operation was a separate establishment from the one at Regent Street.

The company "S. Blanckensee & Son" was founded circa 1827 in Birmingham as wholesale manufacturing goldsmiths and jewellers. From a small beginning it gradually expanded to become one of the largest in the trade. In 1887 it was incorporated as a limited company with Aaron Blanckensee, the son of the founder, as Managing Director. The manufactory was at 14 and 15 Frederick Street Birmingham, there was a branch office at 35 Ely Place Holborn, London, and a manufactory and warehouse in Madrid. The company manufactured high class jewellery, chains, caskets and gem set work. There is no suggestion that they were involved in watch or watch case manufacture.

In 1885 Frank Moss is recorded as applying for a patent for "Improvements in watches". The address given was 4 and 5 Arcade Chambers, Corporation Street, Birmingham, most likely the address of the Patent Attorney that Moss used to prepare and submit the application.

In 1876 Joel Blanckensee & Co. registered in Britain a trademark of a bee with the words "Trade" and "Mark" above and below the bee, as seen in the image here. The listing says they were "Chronometer and watch manufacturers, importers of Swiss (Geneva) watches ; Regent Street, Birmingham, England". It is interesting to note that the first issue of the British Trade Marks Journal was published in 1876 after the passage of the Trade Marks Registration Act in August 1875. Blanckensee might have been using the bee trademark before 1876, or alternatively the passing of the Act might have stimulated the thought - the latter is more likely I think. The bee trademark is seen on movements made by IWC in the 1880s, presumably to fill orders from Blanckensee.

The sponsor's mark FM is seen in IWC watch cases and indicates that Blanckensee & Co. were instrumental in getting Swiss made gold and silver IWC watch cases hallmarked in British assay offices. This is discussed further at Early IWC watches with British hallmarks.

In 1876 Blanckensee & Co. also registered another bee trademark, and one of a watch balance; probably for a Swiss manufacturer, possibly IWC.

In later years Joel Blanckensee & Co. registered trademarks for a number of other Swiss companies including Constantin Mathey and Emile Schneitter Fils. The Schneitter Fils trademark of the word "Achille" on a ribbon beneath a figure of the warrior Achilles kneeling holding a sword and shield was registered in June 1899, a year and a half before the same mark was registered by Schneitter in Switzerland in November 1890. This is rather strange for a trademark registered in Britain because the spelling Achille for Achilles is clearly Swiss/French.

Advertisements in the Swiss trade press show that Emile Schneitter Fils was acting as Blanckensee's representative in Switzerland at that time. The location of the Schneitter operation on the second floor of a building on Rue Neuve in La Chaux-de-Fonds, which is the centre of town and not a manufacturing area, makes it apparent that this was an office, and it is likely that this was extent of Schneitter's activities, an office where orders from Blanckensee in England were communicated to local manufacturers for shipment to England.

The advert here by Blanckensee in a Swiss trade paper in April 1904 says that they are horlogical wholesalers and that they wish to buy batches of watches in English or "fantasy" (fancy) style, ladies jewellery watches, for cash. A watch in the "English style" that Blanckensee were seeking, with a full plate movement, balance above the plate and a right angle lever escapement has been seen with the Achille trademark. It is in a silver case marked with the Swiss 935 and three bears hallmarks showing that it was made to be exported to the UK. By 1904 their representative or agent in Switzerland has changed to E. Biedermann and no further trace of Emile Schneitter has been found.

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FP: Fritz Petitpierre

FP in an oval surround is the mark of Fritz Petitpierre, an associate of Antoine Castelberg in Castelberg, Petitpierre, and Co. of Chaux-de-Fonds Switzerland and 58 Holborn Viaduct, London,

Petitpierre's sponsor mark was first entered at Chester on 18 June 1878 with the address 58 Holborn Viaduct. This was shortly after Castelberg left the partnership in May 1878. Petitpierre's also entered a mark in London on 22 November 1878 with the address 33 Hatton Garden, and entered a mark in Birmingham on 11 November 1882 with the address 66 Holborn Viaduct.

After Castelberg left the partnership Fritz Petitpierre traded as Petitpierre & Co. in Britian and Petitpierre & Cie in Switzerland. He seems to have imported a lot of Swiss watches into Britain during the latter part of the nineteenth century, mostly at the lower end of the quality and price range, which is perhaps why little is known about his company.

I originally thought that Petitpierre was merely a London import agent, but I found a letter signed by "Les ouvriers du Comptoir Petitpierre et Cie." dated October 1889 announcing that they had secured a wage rise of 15% and thanking their "honoured patron". Comptoir literally translated means sales counter or trading post, but in this context it is usually short for comptoir d'horlogerie, a workshop where parts made by out-workers on the établissage system were assembled into complete watches. So it appears that Petitpierre had a Swiss watchmaking or watch assembly operation.

Petitpierre was also involved in getting Swiss watch cases hallmarked in British assay offices, including the IWC cases discussed at Early IWC watches with British hallmarks.

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F.W: Unknown

Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks often have the sponsor's mark F.W in cameo within a rectangular surround as shown in the image here. Unfortunately this mark is not recorded in the surviving records of the Glasgow Assay Office, which were not well preserved when the office closed in 1964.

The hallmarks in the image are Glasgow Assay Office (two opposed and prone letters "F") import hallmarks for sterling ·925 silver, the date letter is the “S” of 1915 to 1916, remember that date letter punches were used over two calendar years.

This sponsor's mark was almost certainly entered at the Glasgow Assay Office after 1907 by someone acting as an Assay Agent for Swiss watch case manufacturers.

Philip Priestley suggests on the basis of similarity that it might be Frederick Wright of Coventry, son of Noah Wright, but I have doubts about this. Frederick Wright is recorded by Culme a case maker at 34 Trafalgar Street Coventry and then at 136 Spon Street Coventry, entering punches at the London Assay Office in 1869 and 1875. Wright entered two F.W punch marks at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1894. The Wright family were clearly watch case makers during the nineteenth century in Coventry. It seems unlikely that they would act as assay agents for foreign watch case makers after the British import hallmarking Act came into force in 1907.

A very similar mark, FW in cameo within a rectangular surround with cut corners, is listed in the Glasgow Assay Office records as punch number 446, which was entered by F R Gerber of London. The type faces used for the two punches are very similar, the principal difference is that the mark shown here has a full stop between the letters. I think Gerber is a strong candidate for this mark.

From the FW marks in Culme, this is similar to number 5327 which was entered by Francis George Wesson in 1908, which would tie in with the start of British import hallmarks. Wesson was earlier recorded entering marks as a glass mounter, but when the requirement for foreign gold and silver watches was passed into law in 1907 he might have decided to act as an assay agent. Another possible mark is a punch entered by Francis Weintraud, described as a “Foreign Agent” in 1898.

Unfortunately, without records from the Glasgow Assay Office, it seems unlikely that the identity will ever be known for certain.

The mark is often seen in addition to a Stockwell & Company GS sponsor's mark.

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Marks Beginning with G

GAS: George Arnold Stoll for Elite Bracelet Manufacturing Co.

The sponsor's mark G.A.S incuse with no surround was first entered at the Chester Assay Office in 1928 by George Arnold Stoll, Managing Director of the Elite Bracelet Manufacturing Co. of 37, Portland Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, later moved to Regent Works, Regent Street, Birmingham (date not recorded). The company also had an office in Union Bank Building, 1 Hatton Garden, London.

The name “Stolkace”, a play on the name Stoll and the word case, was used for watch cases made by the Elite Bracelet Manufacturing Co.

The case shown in the image here, courtesy of James, has Chester Assay Office (upright sword between three wheat sheaves) hallmarks for nine carat (·375) gold, the date letter in Court Hand typeface which looks like “ff” is for 1931 to 1932. Note that these are the hallmarks applied to a British made item, they are not import hallmarks.

In January 1933 René Stoll, a Swiss Citizen residing at 37, Portland Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, applied for a British patent for an improved design of watch case. René Stoll was evidently some relation of George Arnold Stoll, but it is interesting that he has Swiss Citizenship and not British.

The invention was a two piece case with projections around the semi circular holes for the stem so that when the two parts of the case were brought together a tube was formed. The stem was inserted through this tube and the crown enclosed it to prevent the entry of dust – the figures from the patent reproduced here show the idea. The patent was granted No. GB406859 in March 1934.

Stolkace advertised regularly as British makers of watch cases in the British horological press. The earliest advertisement I found was published in June 1928 in The Practical Watch and Clock Maker, the last was in The Horological Journal in December 1962.

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GGG: George Guillaume Gautschi

This GGG mark was entered by George Guillaume Gautschi, trading as De Pury, Gautschi & Co., importers of gold and silver watches. Twelve "G.G.G" punches on were registered on 10 February 1910, and a further six on 3 February 1910.

De Pury, Gautschi & Co. were listed in the London Gazette on 23 February 1914 in a summary of bankers returns. The General Partner was George Guillaume Gautschi of Townsend, St. Albans, occupation Banker, and the first listed limited partner was David de Pury of Grayshott House, Haslemere, occupation Gentleman.

For more about Gautschi and de Pury see the entry lower down on this page for Herman Edward de Pury.

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GJ: George Jenkins

The sponsor's mark here, GJ in cameo within an oval surround, was entered at the London Assay Office on 19 January 1857 under the name of George Jenkins, formerly of the watch case makers Jenkins & Green after the dissolution of the partnership in 1856.

The mark here appears to show a pellet between the initials, G·J, as does the photograph in Culme. However, Philip Priestly does not record a pellet, and the mark is not distinct, so it is difficult to be sure whether or not the pellet exists.

Culme says that George Jenkins is recorded as a watch case maker at 58 Charles Street, City Road from 1844 until 1847. However, today's Charles Street is in a very upmarket part of London near Berkeley Square, which cannot be the same address. City Road is close to Clerkenwell and must have been the area in questions, perhaps with a Charles Street that no longer exists. Jenkins then moved to 22 Rahere Street, Goswell Road, Clerkenwell in 1848 where he went into partnership with James Green. Jenkins & Green subsequently moved to 15 President Street East, Goswell Road, Clerkenwell, where they are listed as gold watch case makers until the dissolution of the partnership on 8th January 1856.

Culme does not mention what happened to George Jenkins after the dissolution of the partnership, but the entry in January 1857 of the sponsor's mark shown in the photograph here indicates that he carried on in business as a watch case maker under his own name.

James Green continued in business at President Street until his death. Caroline Green is then recorded at the same address where she traded as a watch case maker under the style of James Green until c.1867 and then under the style of (Mrs) Caroline Green until c.1876. At this time she was joined at the same address by Henry George Green, trading as C. Green & Son. H.G. Green subsequently continued trading as C. Green & Son at 15 President Street East, re-named 19 President Street, where he is described in 1890 as a watch case maker, engraver and repairer, later moving to 48 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell.

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GM: Gustav Mayer

Gustav Mayer took over the business of Edward Heuer, an importer of Swiss watches with an office at Thavies Inn, a building of multiple occupancy that was favoured by many Swiss watch importing businesses.

Gustav Mayer entered two sponsor's mark punches at the London Assay Office on 21 March 1881, giving his address as 16 Thavies Inn, EC. The marks were “GM” in cameo within an oval surround and “GM” in cameo within a double edged oval surround as shown in the image here. The mark shown here was found in the case of a Swiss watch with a cylinder escapement movement. The watch case has Birmingham Assay Office for sterling silver with the date letter “h” for 1882 to 1883.

Philip Priestley records that the Mayer entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 4 January 1883 a punch mark “GM” in cameo within an oval surround, with no mention of the double edge, and also in January 1883 “GM” in cameo within a rectangular surround.

Culme records that by 1883 G. Mayer & Co are listed as watch manufacturers at 20 Thavies Inn, EC.

Mayer was not a manufacturer of watches in England. Whether he had a manufacturing operation in Switzerland is not known but is unlikely. It is more likely that Mayer was acting as an import agent for Swiss watches. The purpose of registering sponsor's marks at the London and Birmingham assay offices was so that he could submit Swiss made watch cases for hallmarking. This practice took place between 1874 and 1887 and is explained in detail at Foreign Watches with British Hallmarks.

Philip Priestley records that Mayer & Fulda, also of 20 Thavies Inn, London, EC, (so presumably the same Gustav Mayer), entered two sponsor's mark at the Birmingham Assay Office in January 1883, the initials “M&F” in cameo within a rectangular surround and a similar mark with an oval surround. In 1886, the address of the company was changed to 11 Hatton Garden. The company is listed in Kelly's Post Office London Directory, 1891.

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GN: George Nicolet

The GN sponsor's mark shown in the small image was entered by George Alfred Nicolet of Stauffer, Son & Co. after the retirement of his father Charles Nicolet (see above). The mark is taken from an IWC hermetic wristwatch with Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks for 1929 to 1930.

The larger image shows marks in a nine carat gold Borgel case of a watch sold on eBay. This also has Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks for 1929 to 1930. This case also has the trademark of a dog sitting upright with "The Mark of Confidence". This trademark doesn't appear in the case of the IWC watch, which suggests that it was introduced in circa 1930.

George Alfred Nicolet trading as Stauffer, Son & Co. entered two sets of marks at the London Assay Office; the first "GN" in a rectangle with cut corners, the second GN in a rectangle. Both appear to have been registered on 2 February 1933, the address given was 13 Charterhouse Street, London.

The date of the IWC hermetic wristwatch with George Nicolet's sponsors mark is earlier than the date given for the registration of his mark at the London Assay Office, implying that he registered his mark at Glasgow first. Unfortunately the records from the Glasgow Assay Office, which was closed in 1964, are very incomplete and the actual date of registration is unknown.

A similar GN mark was registered at Edinburgh in 1955 by British Watch Cases Ltd. This was entered under the name of George Alfred Nicolet trading as Stauffer, Son & Co. The company British Watch Cases Ltd. registered marks at the Edinburgh Assay Office for a number of other companies. These punches were used on cases made by British Watch Cases Ltd that were submitted for assay and hallmarking under the responsibility of the sponsor identified by the punch, even though they played no part in making the case. This again illustrates why it is wrong to refer to a sponsor's mark as a “maker's mark”.

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GRB: George Richard Baldock

This GRB cameo mark in a rectangular surround was entered at the London Assay Office by George Richard Baldock, the first entry recorded was on 19 May 1909 as a gold and silver worker and watch importer at 31 Holborn Viaduct.

George Baldock worked with Robbins and Appleton, the London agents for the American Watch Company of Waltham, for 25 years before setting up his own business in 1903, wholesale jewellers and watch importers specialising in Waltham watches. This was coincidental with the death of Royal Elisha Robbins in 1903 and there may have been some connection between the two events.

A new company was formed in 13 August 1934, G R Baldock & Company Limited, with A P Dickenson as director.

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GS: Stockwell & Company.

Stockwell & Company were carriers and shipping agents with their head office at 16 to 18 Finsbury Street, London, with many depots around the UK. They were part of a European wide network of shipping agents called Messageries Nationales. Stockwell & Company company was founded in the nineteenth century and became a large and company moving good around Britain and, through Messageries Nationales, across the continent. They were used by many Swiss watch manufacturers to transport watches from Switzerland to Britain.

In 1907 the British law changed to require that all imported gold and silver watch case be assayed and hallmarked. Many Swiss manufacturers did not have offices in Britain and could not organise this themselves, so Stockwell & Company registered with several assay offices in order to submit items for hallmarking on behalf of their customers. Stockwell & Company did not own the goods, so they were not importers in the strict sense of the word but acted as “Assay Agents” for their customers.

Stockwell & Company were not manufacturers and never made watch cases, or assembled, imported or sold watches. Stockwell and Company were carriers who acted as British assay agents for Swiss case makers. Watches are often advertised with the description saying something like this example; The movement is Swiss and the case is silver, the watch was assembled and made by George Stockwell for Stockwell and Co Ltd in 1914. This error is caused by the mistake of calling the sponsor's mark a “maker's mark” leading to the false assumption that it identifies who made an item. Watch cases made in Switzerland were stamped with Stockwell & Company's registered sponsor's mark before transported to Britain and sent to an assay office to be hallmarked and then returned to their makers in Switzerland.

Origins of Stockwell & Company

Stockwell & Company was founded in 1878 by Henry Stockwell. In 1900 the firm was incorporated as a limited liability company Stockwell & Co. Ltd. George Stockwell was a nephew of Henry Stockwell. George had over twelve years experience when he succeeded Henry Stockwell to the management of the company.

Stockwell & Company were the sole agent for Great Britain for the Messageries Nationales, the leading network of continental carriers with representatives in almost every European country.

Kelly's Post Office London Directory for 1882 lists Henry Stockwell as agent for Messageries Nationales de France at 15 King St. The Business Directory of London for 1884, published by Morris, records Henry Stockwell as a shipping agent at 15 King St, Cheapside, London EC. The Post Office London Trades Directory for 1891 lists Messageries Nationales Limited, 15 King Street, Cheapside EC.

Kelly's Post Office London Directory for 1910 lists "Messageries Nationales, shipping & forwarding agents (George Stockwell, manager), 16 & 18 Finsbury st EC (TA "Messageries" ; TN 6134 London Wall); 15 King street, Cheapside EC (TN 5487 London Wall) & 8 & 10 Beak st. Regent st W - TN 1721 Gerrard". Note the inclusion of telephone numbers, shown by TN and the number and district to be quoted to the telephone switchboard operator.

Stockwell were part of a continent wide network of shipping agents including Messageries Nationales Express and the Messageries Anglo-Suisses, the Swiss end operated by Danzas & Co. of Basel under convention with the Swiss Federal Post. Louis Danzas had fought at Waterloo on the side of Napoleon. After the battle he joined a transport company which he eventually came to head. The Danzas company was acquired in 2000 by Deutsche Post World Net and is now part of DHL Global Forwarding. The Danzas name was dropped in 2005, which seems rather a shame for a company that could trace its history back to the battle of Waterloo.

Stockwell & Company Assay Agents

When the British law regarding foreign watch cases was amended so that from 1 June 1907 all imported foreign gold and silver watch cases had to be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office, many importers of foreign gold and silver did not have offices in Britain that could organise this so Stockwell & Company registered with several assay offices in order that they could arrange for their customer's watch cases to be hallmarked.

George Stockwell's sponsor's mark was first registered with the London Assay Office on 15 June 1907, following the 1907 Act "Assay of Imported Watch-Cases (Existing Stocks Exemption)" which came into force on 1 June 1907, requiring all imported gold and silver watch cases to be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office. George Stockwell also registered punches with the Birmingham Assay Office on 8 November 1917, and with the Glasgow Assay Office, although the date of registration in Glasgow is not recorded.

Before 1 June 1907 it was possible for watches to be sent direct from suppliers in Switzerland to customers in the UK, but after 1 June 1907 the requirement for watches to be hallmarked in the UK complicated things.

The assay offices would only accept empty watch cases for hallmarking, and after hallmarking the cases required at least final polishing. In order for a watch case imported as part of a complete watch to be sent for assay, a person or company with a "registered mark" had to remove the movement from the case and stamp the case with his registered mark. The watch case could then be sent to the assay office, where it would be tested (assayed) and if found to be of the proper standard it would be hallmarked and returned to be reunited with its movement. Obviously this required a premises where the movements could be removed and stored while the cases were being assayed, and staff to remove the movements and replace them once the cases were hallmarked. Some of the larger Swiss companies already had permanent agents in the UK and these were able to process watches for hallmarking, but many smaller Swiss companies only had travelling sales representatives and did not have UK offices or premises.

An alternative was to send over to Britain unfinished watch cases to be hallmarked, which would afterwards be returned to Switzerland to be finished and fitted with movements to make watches. Although this seems a lot of effort, it was in fact what as done. Arrangements were made whereby packages of cases were sent from the case maker in Switzerland to the UK where they were bonded to the customs authorities, which means that the person or agent responsible for handling the cases in Britain deposited a sum of money or a financial guarantee with the customs as a bond. The cases under bond were then sent to an assay office to be assayed and hallmarked, and then were returned to Switzerland. A certificate showing that they had been exported allowed the agent to recover his deposit from the customs authorities. The Swiss cases maker then finished the cases before sending them on the watchmaker to have the movements inserted.

In order to assay the case the assay office took a small sample of metal by a process called ‘drawing’, which required scraping a sliver of metal from each separate part of the case. Punching the hallmarks into the back of the case distorted the metal. So after cases had been hallmarked they required ‘rectifying’; straightening and polishing. Also, if there was any engraving on the outside of the case, such as on the back of a pocket watch, this had to be done after hallmarking. So cases were sent over from Switzerland part way through the manufacturing process when they were still ‘rough’ and, once back in Switzerland, finished before being sent on to the watch manufacturer.

From June 1907 some of these smaller Swiss watch manufacturers arranged for Assay Agents in the UK to handle the hallmarking process for them. One of these agents was George Stockwell & Co., who before 1907 were purely shipping agents and had not registered a mark to send items for assay. Stockwell's "GS" mark is one of the most common sponsor's marks seen on imported Swiss watches from this period that still exist, and appears on many hundreds, probably thousands, of watches that come up for sale every year.

In 1914 George Stockwell announced, via the letter reproduced here that was published on 1 July 1914 in the Swiss watch trade press, that at a meeting with the British hallmarking authorities he had argued that the cost of hallmarking gold watch cases (les boites or) was too high, and that he had secured a reduction in the cost of hallmarking from 5d to 2½d.

The announcement also said that Stockwell & Co. were reducing their handling fees, and that as a result of new special arrangements, return shipments of hallmarked cases would be accelerated. Parcels of watch cases for hallmarking were to be sent by Messageries Anglo-Suisses, via Calais, to Care Of: Stockwell & Co., at Customs, Holborn Viaduct station.

Holborn Viaduct and Holborn Circus were the home of many importers of Swiss watches in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Holborn Viaduct railway station opened on 2 March 1874 as an additional terminus for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway so had a good connection to the continent via the Calais to Dover ferry. This line also carried the Royal Mail service to and from the Dover, and therefore to the continent. Holborn Viaduct station also had a hotel and, with its good connection to the continent, was very popular with foreign business people visiting London.

Parcels of watch cases were then submitted by Stockwell, under bond, to the assay office for hallmarking. The use of a bond, a financial guarantee made by Stockwell, meant that no customs charges were levied. The bond was released when the hallmarked cases were sent back to Switzerland. This required little effort on the part of the Swiss watch case manufacturers. Each case manufacturer held one or more sponsor's mark punches registered by Stockwell, which is why Stockwell & Company registered so many punches, and struck the sponsor's mark before parcelling up the partly finished cases for dispatch by Messageries Anglo-Suisses to London. On receipt back of the cases, they were cleaned and polished and sent to the watch manufacturers.

Parcels of finished watches were also received from Switzerland via the ferry from Calais to Dover, brought by train from the port of Dover under bond to Stockwell's warehouse at Holborn Viaduct railway station, and examined by Customs Officers. Goods could not be removed from customs until customs duties on the finished watches had been paid, so it was convenient for importers and agents to have an office near to the station.

Shipments of watch cases from Swiss case makers were carried by the Anglo-Swiss Courier Danzas & Co via Calais to Dover and delivered to the Customs Office at Holborn Viaduct railway station. Stockwell & Co. would deposit a bond with the customs authorities and transport the package to an assay office for hallmarking, and then ship them back to Switzerland. When Stockwell's sponsor's mark was struck onto the cases is not known, but it seems quite likely that this was done by the watch case maker in Switzerland as part of the manufacturing process. This would explain the large number of sponsor's mark punches registered to Stockwell & Company.

The whole process sounds like a logistical nightmare but the letter from Stockwell & Company shows how it was conducted. Watch cases from various Swiss watch case makers were shipped across the continent and channel, cleared through customs, sent to one of the several assay offices that Stockwell & Co. were registered at for hallmarking, then shipped back to the correct manufacturer in Switzerland for final finishing before they were supplied to watch manufacturers to be fitted with movements. The process was evidently handled quickly and efficiently in 1914 with the communications that were available, details sent by ‘the usual’ notice, a postcard or letter sent to Stockwell the same day as the departure of the parcel.

One question that is not resolved is where the sponsor's mark was applied to the watch cases. Stockwell & Company registered many punches and it is quite likely, in fact almost certain, that some of these were sent out to Switzerland to case makers, who stamped the cases in their workshops. In other cases, Stockwell & Company would have stamped items in their London warehouse before they were submitted to the assay office for testing and hallmarking. Without a registered sponsor's mark stamped on it, an item would not be hallmarked.

Hernu, Peron & Stockwell

In the early 1930s, no doubt under pressure from the great recession, Stockwell & Company Ltd. merged with or took over Hernu, Peron & Co., another firm of international carriers, although not a British assay agent. Hernu Peron were sole agents for the warehousing of champagne at the Southampton Dock, which might have been part of the attraction for Stockwell. The combined company was incorporated as Hernu, Peron & Stockwell Ltd. and continued in business until at least the 1960s.

The advertisement from 1934 reproduced here is for the ‘Bonded Warehouse’ of Hernu, Peron & Stockwell Ltd. This is a warehouse authorised by the customs authorities where imported items on which import duties were due could be held. For the watch trade this had been important since the Revenue Act of 1883 had required that all gold and silver plate imported into Great Britain or Ireland be deposited in a bonded warehouse and not released from bond until it had been hallmarked.

Stockwell & Company Sponsor's Marks

Stockwell & Company first registered at the London Assay Office four punches with the initials GS for George Stockwell, the Managing Director, on 15 June 1907. The address given was 16/18 Finsbury Street, London, EC, and the company was stated to be a ‘Foreign Agent Importer of Foreign Gold and Silver Watches’.

The registration of these punches was no doubt a result of the change in British law that took effect on 1 June 1907 that all imported gold and silver watch cases had to be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office. The fact that the punches were registered two weeks after the law had changed shows that Stockwell had not anticipated being asked to act as assay agents for their customers. The business evidently took off rapidly, because a further eight punches were registered only two weeks later, on 29 June 1907. These were followed by 32 more punches in 1907 and many other punches over the subsequent years. The need for so many punches indicates the large number of watch cases that Stockwell & Company were sending for hallmarking.

The requirement to assay and hallmark all imported gold and silver watch cases resulted not only in a lot of work for Stockwell & Company, but also for the assay offices which had to test and hallmarks all the cases. In ‘Hallmark: A History of the London Assay Office’, John Forbes records that there was a flood of imported watch cases at the London Assay Office. The total number of silver cases received in the twelve months to May 1908 was approximately 200,000 compared to only 3,000 English made cases that had been received during the corresponding period from 1906 to 1907. By 1912 this had increased to around 700,000, reaching a peak in 1918 of more than 1.25 million. There was also a spectacular increase in the number of gold watch cases, jumping from approximately 4,700 cases in the twelve months May 1906 to May 1907 to 78,500 in the following year and to almost 255,000 in 1912/13. Then owing to an import duty on gold watches during the war there was a sharp decline.

The picture to the right shows Stockwell & Company's sponsor's mark in a silver watch case with a London Assay Office import hallmark, the ‘.925’ mark for sterling standard silver, and date letter ‘u’ for 1915 to 1916.

Stockwell & Company registered a cameo GS punch at the Birmingham Assay Office on 8 November 1917. This was followed by two similar punches on 10 June 1918 and 15 July 1918. The second picture shows Stockwell & Company's sponsor's mark on a sterling silver watch case with a Birmingham Assay Office import hallmark (equilateral triangle) and date letter "t" for 1918 to 1919.

You can see that the block at the top of the surround 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, but every punch used had to be first registered with the assay office at which goods were to be sent for hallmarking.

Stockwell & Company registered a cameo GS punch at the Chester Assay Office on 5 May 1923.

Stockwell & Company registered an incuse GS punch at the Dublin Assay Office on 11 August 1927. This was to enable them to submit items for hallmarking in the republic of Ireland, which by that time no longer accepted British hallmarks.

Stockwell & Company registered an incuse GS punch at the Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks but unfortunately the surviving records do not give a date for this.

On 30 April 1936 Lionel George Stockwell registered a sponsor's mark and eight punches at the London Assay Office for Hernu, Peron & Stockwell Ltd., successors to George Stockwell, Gold & Silver Importers 18 Finsbury Street EC2. The punches had the initials LS in cameo within a rectangule surround with a tab in the centre of the top, like the GS cameo punches. This was the first mark and punches registered for the new company, which up to that date had continued to use the GS punches registered previously.

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Marks Beginning with H

HEM: Henry Edward Matthews

This is a mark that Philip Priestley missed. Culme shows that this sponsor's mark was entered by Henry Edward Matthews. Henry was the son of Edward Matthews, who is listed at various addresses in and around Clerkenwell from 1880 to 1899 first as a goldsmith and later as a watch case maker (Edward Matthews is listed by Priestley). Edward was succeeded by Henry in 1910, who was also listed as a watch case maker.

Another watch case maker with the same family name, Martin Matthews, is well known as the last of four generations of case makers working in the traditional way, using basic hand tools and simple bow and pole lathes. Whether there was any connection between Martin and Edward and Henry Matthews is not known. Several videos of Martin Matthews at work can be seen on YouTube, such as Four Generations of Watchcase Making, which shows how watch cases were made in England right into the twentieth century.

The case shown in the image has London Assay Office hallmarks for sterling silver (leopard's head and lion passant). The date letter is the Roman small "o" of the hallmarking year from 1909 to 1910. Date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected at the end of May, so the London hallmarking year ran from the beginning of June to May of the following year. Because this case was hallmarked after 1 June 1907 when different hallmarks were introduced for imported watch cases, the presence of the traditional marks of the leopard's head and lion passant show that this case was not an import but was made in Britain.

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HP: Herman Edward de Pury

The case shown here has London Assay Office import hallmarks (inverted Zodiac sign of Leo) for sterling silver (⋅925). The date letter is the “m” of the hallmarking year from June 1907 to May 1908. Date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected so were used over two calendar years, although this hallmark could not have been struck before 1 June 1907 when the Assay of Imported Watch-Cases Act came into effect.

The sponsor's mark of the initials HP in a four lobed surround was entered by Herman Edward de Pury, who first registered his details and this punch mark with the London Assay Office on 17 October 1902 as a gold and silver worker, address at St. Clement's House, 27 Clement's Lane, London. This is an address right in the heart of the City of London and is today serviced offices. The building looks as if it hasn't changed since de Pury was there, and it would not have been a goldsmith's workshop although it could have been a jewellery merchant's warehouse.

Herman Edward de Pury was granted naturalisation as a British subject, taking the oath of allegiance on 1 December 1903. He was originally from Switzerland. His private address was given as Grayshott House, Haslemere, Surrey. This was where Sir Francis Galton died on 17 January 1911, presumably whilst a guest of the de Pury family.

Herman Edward de Pury was born in 1876 at Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was the son of David François de Pury of Neuchâtel and Mary Blakeway I'Anson. He married Margaret Gwyn Jeffreys in 1904 at Kensington, London, England. He died in 1931. Herman Edward de Pury died on 12 April 1931 at Bâle (Basel), Switzerland.

A partnership between David de Pury and Herman Edward de Pury, De Pury and Son carrying on business as merchants, was dissolved in December 1902, Herman carrying on the business under the same name. It would appear that it was a father-son partnership and that David de Pury, Herman's father, retired. Herman was joined in business by George Guillaume Gautschi and the company renamed De Pury, Son and Co., also carrying on business as merchants. This partnership was dissolved in December 1908 and all liabilities taken over by De Pury, Gautschi & Co. of 150 Leadenhall Street, London.

Another "HP" punch, identical to the first, was registered on 24 June 1907 by De Pury, Son & Co. at the Clement's Lane address, the business described as importers of gold and silver watches. Ten more identical punches were registered with the same details on 13 July 1907. A further ten identical punches were registered in the name of De Pury, Son & Co., importers of gold and silver watch cases at the same address, on 9 April 1908 by George Guillaume Gautschi under power of attorney. A total of 21 punches registered within a period of less than 10 months.

Gautschi, trading as De Pury, Gautschi & Co., importers of gold and silver watches, then registered 12 "G.G.G" punches on 10 February 1910, and a further six on 3 February 1910. De Pury, Gautschi & Co. were listed in the London Gazette on 23 February 1914 in a summary of bankers returns. The General Partner was George Guillaume Gautschi of Townsend, St. Albans, occupation Banker, and the first listed limited partner was David de Pury of Grayshott House, Haslemere, occupation Gentleman.

This is all rather a mystery. De Pury seems to have been from a wealthy or aristocratic family and been working in London as a merchant or banker. The reason for the registration of his first punch in 1902 as a gold and silver worker is unknown. The registration of the large number of 21 punches in the period between June 1907 and April 1908 as importers of gold and silver watches or watch cases implies that they were hoping to service some of the large numbers of imported watches that would need to be hallmarked after 1 June 1907, when British law required that all imported watches be hallmarked in a British assay office. But 21 punches, or 22 if you count the 1902 punch, is a huge number of punches, yet the number of watches seen with the "HP" mark is very small, so it would appear that the work didn't materialise, it was presumably snatched by Stockwell and Pringle once they got going as Assay Agents.

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Marks Beginning with I

The letter j was invented in the 16th century as a variant of the letter i to allow finer nuance in the written word. Because the London Assay Office and its registers of workers were much older than the letter j, many sponsor's marks for workers with names beginning with J, such as John, James, etc, were registered with the letter i instead of j.

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James Thickbroom

The watch case in the image has London Assay Office hallmarks for sterling silver (leopard's head and lion passant). The date letter is the Blackletter (Gothic) small “d” of the hallmarking year from 1859 to 1860. Date letter punches were changed at the London Assay Office when new wardens were elected at the end of May, so the London hallmarking year ran from June to May of the following year. The sponsor's mark, “IT” incuse with no surround, was registered at the London Assay Office by James Thickbroom.

James Thickbroom was from a family of watch case makers. The company was founded by George Thickbroom (1774-1837), who first entered a sponsor's mark at the London Assay Office on 29 March 1819.

In February 1832, James Thickbroom entered a mark “JT” incuse with no surround at the London Assay Office as a pendant maker, 10 Galway Street, Clerkenwell.

On 16 August 1837, George Thickbroom, Alford Thickbroom, and James Thickbroom, carrying on business under the firm of George Thickbroom and Son [sic], of No. 10, Galway-street, St. Luke's, Watch-case-Makers, declared that they mutually agree to dissolve their partnership. It seems likely that George Thickbroom retired and Alford and James Thickbroom continued in partnership.

On 30 October 1837, Jane Thickbroom entered a mark “JT” incuse with no surround at the London Assay Office. This mark was entered next to George Thickbroom with the address 10 Wellington Street Clerkenwell. George Thickbroom died around this time, in early October, which must have some bearing on the entry.

On 4 May 1843, Alford Thickbroom and James Thickbroom, carrying on business under the style and name of A. and J. Thickbroom, Watch Case Makers, No. 10, Galway-street, Saint Luke's, agreed to dissolve their partnership.

On 19 May 1844 an incuse sponsor's mark JT over JH was entered at the London Assay Office by James Thickbroom and Joseph Hirst at 10 Galway Street, Clerkenwell. The partnership, then at 12, Skinner Street, Clerkenwell, was dissolved in December 1845.

On 31 December 1845, James Thickbroom entered a mark of the letters J and T in cameo with individual surrounds at the London Assay Office as a pendant maker, 10 Galway Street, Clerkenwell.

James Thickbroom died in 1867 and his business was taken over by his nephew Joseph Walton.

In 1881, George J. Thickbroom advertised that he was successor to A. [Alford] Thickbroom, Silver Watch Case Maker, 6, Spencer Street, Goswell Road, London.

George J. Thickbroom retired in 1889 and the business was taken over by Fred Thoms, Watch Case Maker, 41, Spencer Street, London.

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I. J. T. N: Isaac Jabez Theo Newsome, Newsome & Company.

The two sets of hallmarks shown here both have the same sponsor's mark, the initials I.J.T.N in cameo within a rectangular surround.

Punches with this mark were first entered at the Chester Assay Office on 7 November 1884, and at the London Assay Office on 21 November 1884 and 22 April 1886 by Isaac Jabez Theo Newsome with the address 14/15 The Butts, Coventry, giving his occupation as watchmaker and watchcase maker.

Another punch with the came initials in cameo but with a diamond shaped surround was also entered at the Chester Assay Office on 7 November 1884.

Reading from the top and then left to right the marks are:

• The lion passant or walking lion, the standard mark for sterling silver.
• The town marks of (1) the Chester Assay Office, an upright sword between three wheat sheaves, and (2) the leopard's head of the London Assay Office.
• The Chester hallmark has assayer's mark or date letter "E" for the year 1888 to 1889. The London hallmarks has the date letter "L" for the year 1886 to 1887. Remember that hallmark date letters span two calendar years, for brevity only the first year is shown in most references.
• The sponsor's mark I.J.T.N in cameo within a rectangular surround. NB: Philip Priestley has the London punch as being entered by Newsome & Yeomans but this is incorrect. All the I.J.T.N punches were entered by Newsome after Newsome and Yeomans had parted company in 1878.

Notice how the three assay office hallmarks are arranged in a regular triangle formation, whereas the sponsor's mark can be at a random angle. This is because the sponsor's mark was struck with a single punch before the case was sent to the assay office, but the three assay office marks were made by a "press punch". This is one punch that carries all three marks which was applied to the case and driven home by a fly press. This method of marking was used to speed up the process of marking the large numbers of gold and silver watch cases submitted for hallmarking. If the assay office hallmarks are not punched in a regular triangle pattern, this can indicate a fake hallmark in a watch case.

Read more at Newsome & Yeomans, and Newsome & Co.

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I.W.C.Co. : Illinois Watch Case Company Limited

The wristwatch case in the image here is sterling silver (lion passant), hallmarked at the Chester Assay Office (three wheat sheaves) during the hallmarking year from 1 July 1914 to 30 June 1915 (date letter script O). The movement is a Waltham Grade No. 361 (Model 1907) 3/0 size 7 jewels made in 1913.

A search through my references didn't find the name J. Harmsworth. The engraving looks like it was done by the type of engraving machine found in a high street shop such as one that engraves trophies, which suggests that it was an owner's name.

The sponsor's mark is I.W.C. above a “C” with an “o” inside it for Co. This sponsor's mark was entered at the Chester Assay Office by the Illinois Watch Case Company Limited on 31 March 1915, so the watch case in the image was hallmarked between then and June 1915.

The hallmarks are after 1907, from when imported items had to be stamped with import hallmarks, and therefore show that the case was made in Britain.

The Illinois Watch Case Company Limited entered two punches at the London Assay Office on 11 December 1914, one incuse punch the same as the mark in the photograph and one cameo punch with the letters IWCC^OL^D. They were listed as Watch Importers and Manufacturers, Watchcase Makers, 64/65 Holborn Viaduct & Elgin, Illinois, USA. Both punches were cancelled on 6 Sep 1915. The company also entered two punches making the same two marks at the Chester Assay Office on 31 March 1915.

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Marks Beginning with J

The letter J

The letter j was invented in the 16th century as a variant of the letter i to allow finer nuance in the written word. Because the London Assay Office and its registers of workers were much older than this, many sponsor's marks for workers with names that today we think of as beginning with the letter J, such as John, James, etc, were registered with the initial letter i instead of j.

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J[symbol]W: J Véron Grauer & Co of Geneva

A large number of punches were entered at the Glasgow Assay Office with the initials J and W stamped incuse with no surround and with a symbol between the letters such as a heart J♡W, diamond J♢W, triangle J△W, square J▢W, equals sign J=W, swastika J卍W, etc., etc.

There is good evidence that these sponsor's marks were all entered by the carriers J Véron Grauer & Cie of Geneva.

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JC: Unidentified

The watch case in the photo here has Glasgow Assay Office (two horizontal opposed letters F) import hallmarks for sterling (·925) silver. The date letter is the “d” of the Glasgow hallmarking year from July 1926 to June 1927. Date letter punches were changed at the Glasgow Assay Office when new wardens were elected at the end of June, so the Glasgow hallmarking year signified by the date letter spans two calendar years.

There are two punch marks that look like sponsor's marks in this case; “JC” incuse with no surround above “SFC” in cameo within a shaped surround.

The SFC mark is not listed in the surviving Glasgow Assay Office records but is without question the mark of Schwob Frères & Co who were partners with the Tavannes Watch Company.

An identical SFC sponsor's mark was entered at the Edinburgh Assay Office on 1 August 1926 by R Pringle & Sons Ltd, who are presumed to have been acting as agents for Schwob Frères. The registered name is “Schwob Freres & Co Ltd S.A.” The “Ltd” is an abbreviation for a British limited company, the equivalent of the Swiss/French S.A. for Société Anonyme. If the Ltd had been used alone it would imply that Schwob Frères had a British subsidiary, but used in conjunction with S.A. in this way implies that it has simply been added as a translation. The registered address of Schwob Frères & Co is La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. This would not be an acceptable address for a sponsor's mark, which was required to be registered with a British address so that British hallmarking law would apply to the registrant.

It is not known why there are two punch marks that look like sponsor's marks in this case but it is likely that a local agent in Glasgow was used to hand in the work to the assay office and applied their registered sponsor's mark JC incuse to the case to facilitate this. That the Edinburgh registration of the SFC sponsor's mark appears to be invalid because it does not have a British address supports that idea.

Unfortunately the sponsors mark JC is listed as unidentified in the surviving Glasgow Assay Office records. The records of the Glasgow Assay Office were not well stored and preserved after the office closed in 1964.

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JF: Jean Finger

The incuse mark JF with a rectangular surround shown in the image here is the trademark of Jean Finger, Fabrique des boîtes de montres, a watch case making company in Longeau, Berne, Switzerland.

This is not a British registered sponsor's mark but a Swiss trademark. I have included it on this page because a number of early wristwatches that carry it have survived in remarkably good condition due to an interesting waterproof watch case made by Jean Finger's company.

The watch case that carries the marks shown in the image is not one of Finger's waterproof cases, although it does have a screw back. The case has Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks for sterling (·925) silver, the date letter is the Roman font lower case "c" of the Glasgow hallmarking year that ran from July 1925 to June 1926. The sponsor's mark, the incuse mark “J star W”, was entered at the Glasgow Assay Office by J Véron Grauer & Cie of Geneva. The long number is a serial number that was stamped into the case by the watch manufacturer.

Hermetic Cases

In January 1921, Jean Finger was granted Swiss patent number CH 89276 for a “Montre à remontoire avec boitier protecteur”, which literally translated means a stem winding watch with a protective box, watch cases being called boxes in French. In English pair-cased watches, the inner case was similarly called the watch box, although that term was later dropped in favour of watch case.

The greatest difficulty in making a waterproof watch case is sealing the hole where the winding stem enters. Jean Finger's patent overcame this problem 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 flipped out on a hinge to allow the hands to be set and the movement wound.

Because the outer case formed a hermetic seal, these cases are often referred to as “hermetic”. There are more details of this case design at Double Case “Hermetic” Watches.

Some hermetic watch cases bear the words “Double Boitier Brevet 89276” (Double Case Patent 89276), a reference to the Jean Finger patent.

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JR: John Rotherham

The mark JR in diamond surround is the sponsors mark of John Rotherham, of Rotherham & Sons (see below). This mark was registered at the Birmingham Assay Office, together with the same initials in a rectangular surround, on 15 July 1886, by John Rotherham trading as Rotherham & Sons, Watch and Case makers, of 4 Spon Street, Coventry.

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J.J.H

Seen in a wristwatch case with London Assay Office import hallmarks for sterling silver 1918/1919. Not in Culme or Priestley.

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JW: James Weir

Philip Priestley records two sponsor's marks entered by James Weir at the Glasgow Assay Office, J.W. incuse with no surround, which is annotated in the Glasgow Assay Office records as “Watch Case Punch”, and J.W in cameo within a heart shaped surround. There are a number of other punches known to have been entered by Weir that Philip did not record because they were not associated with watch cases.

It seems likely that all plain JW punches, that is those without additional symbols as part of the mark, especially those in cameo and those entered before 1928, were entered by James Weir. Two punches of the initials JW incuse with no surround like the one in the photograph here are recorded as having been possibly entered by James Weir.

James Weir had retail shops at 25 and 27 Argyle Street and 66 Buchanan Street, Glasgow. Some of the items submitted under Weir's sponsor's mark were presumably for eventual sale in the Weir shops in Glasgow, but Weir also acted as an assay agent for Swiss watch case manufacturers. The cases of Tavannes Submarine watches usually carry the JW incuse sponsor's mark attributed to Weir.

Unfortunately, when the Glasgow Assay Office office closed in 1964 many of the records were lost or destroyed, so there is little known about Weir's registration. He is recorded as being a Member of the Glasgow Goldsmiths' Company and described as a Jeweller. The first mention of Weir in the Glasgow Assay Office records is dated 1891, another punch mark is dated 1902. The company was incorporated as J. Weir Limited circa 1920.

The entry from the Glasgow Post Office Directory for 1911/1912 pictured here shows that James Weir styled his company as a watch manufacturer, chronometer maker to the Admiralty, jeweller & silversmiths, and that they had premises in Glasgow on Argyle Street and Buchanan Street, two of the main shopping streets in Glasgow city centre. The Croft, Bearsden, is Weir's residential address. Bearsden is a suburban town on the north west fringe of greater Glasgow, approximately 6 miles from the city centre. Development of Bearsden was stimulated by the construction of a railway line in 1863 connecting it to the city centre and it became home to wealthy commuters working in the city. Today it is described as “an affluent and leafy suburb” with many substantial houses and millionaire residents.

The company James Weir Limited was voluntarily wound up in October 1928 during the post war depression, just before the start of the great recession. The name J. Weir & Son was acquired by Time Products Ltd.

NB: Many of the sponsor's marks previously thought to have been entered by Weir, marks J[symbol]W consisting of the letters J and W separated by a symbol all incuse, are now known to have been entered by the Swiss carriers J Véron Grauer & Cie of Geneva. The earliest record of these are entries at Dublin in 1928.

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JW and JW&Co: Joseph Walton and Joseph Walton & Company

The sponsor's mark JW in cameo within an oval surround was first entered at the London Assay Office by Joseph Walton in 1867.

Joseph Walton was born in Meriden near Coventry in circa 1834. When his father died in his teens he moved to London to live with his uncle James Thickbroom, a watch case maker. When James Thickbroom died in circa 1867, Joseph took over the business.

When Joseph Walton died in 1911 aged 77, the business continued as Joseph Walton & Company. The sponsor's mark JW&Co. in cameo was entered by Joseph Walton & Company in 1917. This mark is not recorded by Philip Priestley.

In 1930 the company acquired the business of Fred Thoms, another well-known London watch case maker.

Philip also has an entry for an incuse sponsor's mark of the initials JT over JH. This was entered by James Thickbroom & Joseph Hirst, who were in partnership between 1844 and 1846. Philip records that they were “Trading as Joseph Walton & Co”, but this is a misreading of the entry in Culme, which refers to his history of Joseph Walton & Co because that is where details of the partnership between Thickbroom and Hirst are recorded, it is not the name that they were trading under. In 1844, when the Thickbroom and Hirst partnership was dissolved, Joseph Walton was only age 10 and living in Coventry.

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JW: John Woodman

This mark, JW in cameo within a surround of two overlapping circles, was entered at the London Assay Office by John Woodman, a watch case maker at 33 Smith Street, Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, on 7 November 1876. The entry was erased on 14 September 1897 and a virtually identical mark was subsequently entered by John Edward Wilmot, gold and silver worker, on 14 October 1897.

John Woodman was a partner in Philip Woodman & Sons.

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Marks Beginning with P

P & S^S: E. J. Pearson and Sons

E. J. Pearson and Sons were harness makers and saddlers in London. In 1908 they registered a design for a watch strap, details of which can be see on my page at early wristwatches.

The sponsor's mark as shown here was first registered with the London Assay Office 3 November 1908. Initially two punches were registered, with more punches for the same mark being registered in 1909, 1910 and 1914, two punches each time.

E. J. Pearson and Sons were a long established company with roots going back to 1804. The coincidence of the date of their first entry at the London Assay Office and the registration of their design for a wristwatch wrist strap is interesting. I suppose that harnesses and bridles didn't use silver or gold fittings and that wristwatch straps were the first items that they made that needed buckles made of precious metal.

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Marks Beginning with L

LA: Leon Allamand

The sponsor's mark LA in cameo within a rectangular surround with cut corners was entered at the London Assay Office by Leon Allamand of City Road, EC, London. The first punch making this mark was entered on 22 February 1877, followed by an identical punch on 22 May 1882. Punches making incuse marks were entered on 9 October 1877 (L.A), 15 July 1880 (LA) and 8 February 1882 (L.A).

Leon Allamand was clearly an importer of Swiss watches who also acted as an assay agent to get Swiss made watch cases marked with British hallmarks before that was effectively stopped by the Merchandise Marks Act 1887. The reason for registerin

The watch case in which this mark was found has London Assay Office hallmarks for sterling silver with the date letter "M" for 1887 to 1888. The presence of British hallmarks together with the legend “Swiss Made” as shown in the image is curious, because in theory the use of British hallmarks was changed before Swiss Made came into use. A plausible explanation is that the case was hallmarked in 1887 and sent back to Switzerland to be made into a watch, which was then imported after 1 January 1888.

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LA: Louis Arnould City Watch Case Company Ltd.

This sponsor's mark was entered by Louis Arnould trading as the City Watch Case Company Limited.

Arnould originally registered this sponsor's mark on 9 May 1919 under the name of the “Crown Watch Case Company Limited”. He was asked to alter the company name to avoid any potential confusion with the monarchy, and so on 27 June 1919 the name was changed from Crown to City Watch Case Company Limited. The City Watch Case Co Ltd. is listed in a 1920 telephone directory (tel City 7129) with the address Crown Buildings, Cox's Court, London EC1, which probably explains why Arnould wanted to call his company the Crown Watch Case Company.

The mark was first registered at the London Assay Office on 9 May 1919 with six punches of the initials L.A in cameo, with a full stop between the L and A, within a surround with angled ends as shown in the lower of the two photographs. The similar mark without stop shown in the upper image was entered in 1925. A further 38 sponsor's mark punches were entered by the City Watch Case Company Limited between 1920 and 1931, indicating that the company must have been very busy producing a large number of cases requiring hallmarks.

Both of the sets of marks shown here are in gold watches with Swiss movements. In both cases the leopard's head, the London Assay Office mark for a native British item, shows that the cases were made in England and not imported. In the lower photograph the date mark of a Gothic letter “i” in a circular surround was used on gold in 1924/1925. This is an example of a surround shape used on a gold item that is different from the surround shapes used on silver items which are shown in most reference books and tables of date letters. This is discussed further at Surround Shapes.

During World War One Swiss watch movements were put into gold cases made in Britain as a result of import duties imposed by the British government, see War Duties. These duties continued to be charged after the war and it Arnould probably set up his company as a response to the demand for British made gold cases as a result of the import duty. An article in the Horological Journal of April 1935 states that the City Watch Case Company manufactured only gold watch cases, refining and alloying gold on the premises, casting into ingots and rolling into strips from which the case parts were punched and formed by press dies.

Although no punch mark is recorded, the London Assay Office database states that Arnould also used an incuse “LA” mark with no surround.

A Swiss patent was granted to a Louis Albert Arnould of Onnens, Vaud, in March 1930, No. CH 138645. It seems likely that this is the same person, and suggests an interesting Anglo-Swiss aspect to the company. The patent was for a watch mounted within a solid outer case for protection. To view the time, a catch was released and a spring inside the case made the watch pop up. This was along the lines of the “purse watches” made very popular at the time by the Movado Ermeto.

The City Watch Case Company Ltd was voluntarily wound up in 1976.

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LN: Lewis Newmark

The watch case in the photograph here has Chester Assay Office (three wheat sheaves around an upright sword) hallmarks for 9 carat gold. The use of the traditional Chester Assay Office town mark shows that this item was made in Britain, an imported item would have the town mark of an acorn with oak leaves. The hallmarks for 9 carat gold are a number 9 and .375 arranged vertically. The date letter is the Chester Assay Office Court Hand “L” of the hallmarking year from 1936 to 1937.

The sponsor's mark, LN incuse with no surround, was entered at the Chester Assay Office in October 1935 by Louis Newmark of 44 Hatton Garden, London.

The dial has the name “Carbel”, which refers to Claude Reginald Henry trading as The Carbel Watch Company, Diamond House, Hatton Garden, London, E.C.1.

The patent No 378233 was granted to B H Britton & Sons in 1932. This shows that the case was made by B H Britton & Sons, even though it carries Lewis Newmark's sponsor mark. It was very common practice for a manufacturer to apply the sponsor's mark of a person or company who ordered an item but had no role in its manufacture.

No sponsor's mark was entered at the Chester Assay Office under either the name of Claude Reginald Henry or Carbel Watch Co. Henry sold the Carbel business to Louis Newmark in 1954; the presence of Newmark's sponsor's mark on this earlier case indicates that even before the sale, Henry was having work submitted for hallmarking under Newmark's responsibility, i.e. he did not want to incur the expense of registering his own sponsor's mark.

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LW: Weill & Company

This LW mark was registered at the London Assay Office with two punches on 23 January 1907. Louis Weill had been involved in importing watches from Switzerland for a long time and, like the Dimier Brothers mentioned above, he clearly had realised that the outcome of the case of Goldsmiths vs. Wyatt, which resulted in an Appeal Court judgement in November 1906 that all imported gold and silver watch cases should be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office, meant that he had to be ready to send imported watch cases for assay. The law wasn't actually brought into effect until 1 June 1907, but by registering two punches in January, Weill was ready for it. A third punch with the same mark was registered on 19 January 1914.

Louis Weill was born in 1844 in Bavaria, Germany. The 1871 London census shows him aged 27 living as a lodger in a house in Brixton with two other German men, Jacob Carlebach, 24 and Joseph Carlebach, 29, described as a "cotton broker". All three are naturalised British subjects. Weill's occupation is given as "member of stock exchange".

The 1881 census has Weil, a "watch manufacturer and importer", age 37 married to Babette aged 28, also born in Bavaria and a naturalised British subject. There does not appear to be a British record of the marriage and it is most likely that Louis and Babette were married in their native Bavaria. The 1911 census shows that they had been married 40 years, so they must married in 1871, when Louis was 27 and Babette 18. It appears that having come to England to set up as a trader of some sort, Weill has got into the watch import trade.

An advert by Weill & Co. in the Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith in October 1891 says that Weill & Co. was established in 1863, which must be about the date Louis Weill came to England - he would have been 19. The 1871 London census showing him as a member of stock exchange indicates that he was a trader and speculator, and no doubt he discovered the profitable trade of import/export.

In circa 1874/1875 Weill went into partnership with Henry Harburg, trading as Weill & Harburg at 14 Hatton Garden, EC, later at 3  Holborn Circus, EC. The precedence of the name of Weill over Harburg, which is not in alphabetical order, indicates that Weill was the senior partner.

Weill and Harburg acted as patent agents for Swiss music box and watch manufacturers. A patent was granted to Louis Weill and Henry Harburg on 12th February 1875 for "Improvements in musical boxes and other similar instruments", a patent first registered in Switzerland by Louis Auguste Grosclaude. A patent application was received in February 1885 from Louis Weill and Henry Harburg, 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, for "An improvement in watches and other time-keepers", a patent first registered in Switzerland by Henri Guillaume Borel.

Two sponsor's mark punches with the mark L.W over H.H for Louis Weill and Henry Harburg were registered at the London Assay Office 31 March 1876, and a further two punches with the same mark on 24 May 1876. Louis Weill first registered his own "LW" punch mark with the London Assay Office on 24 November 1879. The registration of the Weill & Harburg punches and Louis Weill's own LW punch was during the period when Swiss watch manufacturers were getting watches assayed and hallmarked with English hallmarks. This was perfectly legal, but much to the annoyance of English watch manufacturers who managed to get the practice stopped in 1888. From 1888 until 1907 Weill would have continued importing Swiss watches without English hallmarks.

From 1880 Swiss watch cases were hallmarked in Switzerland, but the Swiss hallmarks do not record as much as British hallmarks; there is no sponsor's mark or date indication in a Swiss hallmark.

On 12 April 1890 the partnership of Weill & Harburg was dissolved and Harburg left to continue in business on his own account until 1892, when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. It seems likely that Weill wanted to expand the business and that Harburg left because of a difference of views about this. Weill purchased the assets and assumed the liabilities of the existing business and, remaining at the same address of 3 Holborn Circus, continued as Weill & Co.

During the 15 years of the partnership Weill & Harburg had maintained a fairly low profile. After the partnership was dissolved it appears that Louis Weill commenced on an expansion of the business. The advert shown here from the Watchmaker, Jeweller and Silversmith magazine of October 1891 was the first of a series of similar advertisements, and the name Weill & Co. is listed in all the trade directories. The name Weill & Co. also appears in many of the announcements of arrangements made by jewellers who have got into financial difficulties, indicating that Weill & Co. supplied many jewellers with stock.

The advert shows two of Weill & Co.'s best known designs, "The Ascot" and "The Winner", both chronographs, The Winner being a complicated spilt seconds version. These would have been expensive watches at the time, in 2004 Chrisite's New York sold a minute repeating perpetual calendar chronograph keyless lever pocket watch with phase of the moon indication in an 18 carat gold hunter case signed Weill & Harburg, London, circa 1880 for nearly £9,000. The advert also lists "The celebrated machine made Billodes" which was a brand name used at the time by the company that eventually became the Zenith Watch Co. Weill & Co. are also known to have imported watches from IWC in Schaffhausen.

Louis Weill exhibited as part of the Swiss delegation at that Universal Exposition of Chicago, America, in 1893, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1893 the La Fédération Horlogère Suisse reported Weill & Cie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, exposed watches, one of which shows the time in seven different cities.

Weill & Co. moved on 24th June 1896 to 111 Hatton Garden, EC4 where the firm is listed in 1897 as wholesale manufacturers of watches, watch bracelets and musical boxes, using the telegraphic address 'Festal'. The image here shows an announcement of the move in the Swiss watchmaking trade journal La Fédération Horlogère Suisse in June 1896.

There are several mentions of the branch of Weill & Co. at 40 Rue Leopold Robert, La Chaux-de-Fonds, but I have found no evidence that there was a manufacturing operation. Today the Avenue Leopold Robert in La Chaux-de-Fonds is the central avenue of the town, a dual cariage way lined on either side with shops, bars and restaurants, and it is difficult to imagine that it might once have been lined with watch factories. I expect that 40 Rue Leopold Robert was an office that organised the manufacture of watches to Weill's designs by some of the myriad of small watchmaking companies in Chaux-de-Fonds, and arranged their delivery to the main hub of the company in London.

Following Louis Weill's retirement Weill & Co was continued by Arthur Mayer and one of Weill's nephews, Leo Weill. The style of the firm was subsequently changed to Arthur Mayer & L. Weill.

Louis Weill retired in 1916 and died on 18 April 1919 at age 76, leaving an estate valued at £99,524 16s 3d., a huge sum at the time. The announcement of his death in The Times recorded that he was still the beloved husband of Babette. They had been married for around 48 years; they had no children. Babette and the staff of Weill & Co. in London and la Chaux-de-Fonds posted the very touching announcement shown here in La Fédération Horlogère Suisse; Mrs. Louis Weil, London; Messrs Arthur Mayer and Leo Weill, London; Messieurs Weill & Co, La Chaux-de-Fonds; have the deep regret to tell their friends and acquaintances of the great and painful loss they are experiencing in the person of Mr. LOUIS WEILL, Founder and former head of the house Weill & Co their beloved husband and uncle, and revered leader, who died in London on April 18 this year, in his 76th year. La Chaux-de-Fonds, April 28 1919.

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Marks Beginning with M

M.S: Max Steyerman

Several M.S marks, and also marks without the dot just MS, were entered at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1877 by Max Steyerman of 16 Vyse Street, Birmingham. A similar mark was entered by Steyerman at the London Assay Office in 1882 with the address 33 Holborn Viaduct, London. An alternative spelling in the London Assay Office register is Steyermann, which is most likely the native spelling that was Anglicised by dropping the last n.

In the registration Steyerman is described as a watch manufacturer. Vyse street is in the jewellery quarter of Birmingham and today number 16 is occupied by Classic Diamonds. From the street front it looks like a typical single fronted terraced house, but at the back is a small workshop. This could possibly be the location of a watch manufacturer but it does not appear to be large enough for a watch factory, and Birmingham has little history of watch manufacture. When William Ehrhardt in 1856 set up one of the first companies in England to make watches by machinery he chose Birmingham because it was away from the traditional centres of English watch manufacturing where watches were made by hand using craft skills and factory methods would be opposed, as Pierre Frédéric Ingold had been in the 1840s. Ehrhardt wanted machine operators for his factory, not traditional watchmakers.

The Holborn Viaduct, London, is also a clue as to Steyerman's occupation, being an area favoured by watch importers.

The mark M.S in cameo within a rectangular surround is in the case of an IWC "Seeland" watch. This watch was part of the stock sold off by Rauschenbach when he took over the business. It seems unlikely that Steyerman was a watch case maker and therefore that this IWC watch was cased in Switzerland, because if the case had been made in England it would carry the English case maker's mark, not Steyerman's. The other mark, M.S incuse, is from a Swiss watch with a case that is clearly of Swiss manufacture. It seems most likely that Steyerman was acting as an Assay Agent for a number of Swiss companies who did not have British based offices, submitting watch cases for hallmarking on their behalf.

NB: There is an error in Philip Priestley's entry for this mark at the Birmingham Assay Office, he has Sheyernmann, it should be Steyerman or Steyermann.

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MWL: Marcel & Willy Leuba

The sponsor's mark MWL incuse within an incuse lozenge or diamond shaped surround, only partially visible in the mark in the photograph here, was entered at the Edinburgh Assay Office on 1 August 1926 by Marcel & Willy Leuba.

Marcel A. Leuba was Chairman & Managing Director of British Watch Cases Ltd, a company that registered a large number of sponsor's marks at the Edinburgh Assay Office. However, the watch case in the photograph here was not made by British Watch Cases Ltd.

The hallmarks in the watch case are Edinburgh Assay Office hallmarks for 9 carat (0.375) gold. The date letter is the “U” of the Edinburgh Assay Office hallmarking year from October 1925 to September 1926. At the Edinburgh Assay Office the date letter punches were changed on Michaelmas day, 29 September, and used from the first hallmarking day in October.

The town mark is the cross of St Andrew, which the Edinburgh Assay Office used from 1 June 1907 on imported watch cases, showing that this case was not made in Britain. It was made in Switzerland and sent to Britain to be hallmarked before being finished and supplied to the watch manufacturer.

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Marks Beginning with N

NK: Wristwear Ltd

The sponsor's mark of the initials “NK” incuse within a shaped incuse surround is often seen on gold watch bracelets. This mark was entered at the London Assay Office for Wristwear Ltd. It is currently not know whose initials these are, most likely a director of the company.

The marks on the clasp of a Wristwear bracelet shown in the image here are London Assay Office hallmarks for an item made in Britain, shown by the leopard's head, which was not used on foreign made items after 1907, of 9 carat (·375) gold. The date letter is the Roman italic "p" of 1970 to 1971. Thanks to Phil D. for the image.

The company was apparently founded before 1915 but very little information exists. It was struck off the Register and dissolved in January 1936, but evidently subsequently revived. The company became insolvent in 1990 and was wound up voluntarily on 1 May 1990, and liquidated in 1992. Companies House only hold records of dissolved companies for 20 years.

1965: “Specialising in fashioning precious metals for more than half a century. Wristwear Ltd., 26 Underwood Street, London, N.l, offer an unusually complete range of fine gold bracelets for both ladies' and men's watches.”

1965: Exhibits at Earls Court. “Wristwear Ltd (B42) are showing both English made and imported gold watch bracelets. The English made watch bracelets are in 9 ct and 18 ct gold and some are for lug fitting and others for soldering direct to makers' cases. A range of imported gold milanese bracelets is also diamond facetted.”

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Marks Beginning with R

Robert Bragge / English Watch Company

Robert Bragge of the English Watch Company registered this mark R•B in cameo within a rectangular surround with the Birmingham Assay Office in 1878.

The English Watch Company sprang from the Anglo-American Watch Company, formed in late 1871 at 45 Villa Street, Birmingham, with Aaron Dennison as manager and with machines purchased from the failed Tremont Watch Co. of the USA. The Birmingham company was itself wound up in 1875 and sold for £5,500 to William Bragge who ran the company as the English Watch Company until 1882, when this company was incorporated as the English Watch Company Limited. In 1883 Bragge's son Robert took over. The English Watch Company itself went into voluntary liquidation on 11 February 1895 and was not resurrected. It is thought that H. Williamson of Coventry bought some of the machinery.

The trademark of the English Watch Co. is reproduced here from Cutmore. The larger image with this trademark is from a watch case that has Birmingham Assay Office hallmarks for sterling silver with the date letter "d" for 1878 to 1879. The sponsor's mark R and B in separate cameos must therefore be RB for Robert Bragge, but the mark with the letters separated like this is not recorded in Priestley.

The sponsor's mark E.W.Co in cameo within a rectangular surround was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 16 Mar 1885 by the English Watch Company Limited. The case has Birmingham Assay Office (anchor) hallmarks for sterling silver (walking lion). The date letter is the "i" of the Birmingham hallmarking year from July 1885 to June 1886. Assay office date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected, which took place in Birmingham at the end of June, so each date letter was used over two calendar years.

You can read more about this venture and see an example of one of the watches produced at English Watch Co..

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RC&S: Reeve Carter and Son Ltd

The hallmarks shown in the image are Birmingham Assay Office hallmarks for an item made in Britain. This is signified by the anchor, the town mark struck by the Birmingham Assay Office on items made in Britain. On imported items, the town mark of the Birmingham Assay Office is an equilateral triangle.

The date letter is clearly from the Birmingham Assay Office date letter series Cycle VIII, a set of script capital letters which ran from “A” from 1 July 1950 to “Z” which finished on 31 December 1974, but the letter is difficult to read.

The sponsor's RC&S mark was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office by Reeve Carter and Son Ltd., listed as Manufacturing Jewellers of 25 Hylton Street, Birmingham. They first registered on 15th November 1956. This company was not identified as a watch case manufacturer by Philip Priestley when he went through the records of the Birmingham Assay Office looking for entries mentioning watches or watchcase makers. Thanks to Craig at the Birmingham Assay Office for the information.

The date of registration of the sponsor's mark helps with reading the date letter, which is the “J” of the Birmingham Assay Office hallmarking year from July 1958 to June 1959 - date letter punches were changed at the Birmingham Assay Office when new wardens were elected at the end of June so were used over two calendar years until 1974. The 1973 Hallmarking Act made assay office date letters change with the calendar year from 1 January 1975, which is why the Birmingham Assay Office Cycle VIII terminated on 31 December 1974.

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R.O: Richard Oliver, and RO over JE Oliver and Edwards

Richard James Oliver is first recorded as working in Galway Street, London in 1845.

Oliver was partnered at this address for a short time by John Edwards and they traded as Oliver and Edwards. The sponsor's mark RO over JE was first entered at the London Assay Office in 1846. The partnership was dissolved in 1859.

Richard Oliver continued in business at the same address until he moved in 1876 to 1 Northampton Square, Clerkenwell, and in 1895 to 31 Wynyatt Street, Clerkenwell. From 1903 the business was carried on by his son Albert Thomas Oliver, moving at some time to 25 Spencer Street, Clerkenwell.

Oliver's business never modernised to the use of steam or electrically powered machines, they continued to make cases in the time honoured way by hand until the besiness eventually closed in 1970. Some of the benches, lathes and tools were acquired by the Liverpool museum and set up in a replica workshop. The tools and techniques used by the Olivers, and the worksubshop itself, were more than pre-Victorian; they would have been familiar to watch case makers of the eighteenth, and even the seventeenth, century.

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R&S: Rotherham & Sons Ltd

The company was based in Coventry but, because Coventry never had an assay office, gold and silver watch cases were sent to the Birmingham, Chester and London assay offices for hallmarking. This required that the company's details were registered and sponsor's punch marks were entered at each assay office.

The reasons for choosing a particular assay office varied. Birmingham had a poor reputation at one period so Chester was favoured as the next nearest. A Chester hallmark was preferred by some customers, whereas other customers considered the London hallmark to be more prestigious. There were also the more mundane considerations of fees and turnaround times, which varied from office to office and time to time.

The earliest sponsor's marks were entered for Vale & Company in 1816. Presumably, before then the company bought in cases from Coventry watch case makers which had their own sponsor's marks. The entry of a sponsor's mark might have been because the company had become large enough to bring case making in house, or it could be that Vale & Co. specified that cases made for them be marked with their own sponsor's mark.

The incuse punch mark "V&Co" shown in the smaller image here was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 24 January 1816 for Vale and Company. Howlette and Carr subsequently left or retired from the company and the partnership was renamed Vale and Rotherham.

The first mention of the Rotherham name in the records of sponsor's marks appears to be the sponsor's mark V·R first entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 6 February 1822 by Vale and Rotherham.

The larger image here shows a watch case with the sponsor's mark V·R in cameo within an oval surround and Chester Assay Office (upright sword between three wheat sheaves) hallmarks for 18 carat gold. In addition to the standard for 18 carat gold of a crown over the number 18, there is also a leopard's head. The Chester Assay Office struck the leopard's head as a standard mark on the higher standards of gold, 18 and 22 carat, between the years 1719 and 1834. The date letter is the "E" of of the Chester hallmarking year from 5 July 1823 to 4 July 1824.

An incuse punch SV over RR was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 20 August 1834 by Samuel Vale and Richard Rotherham for the company Vale & Rotherham.

The Birmingham Assay Office was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1773. The Act stipulated that only silver wares produced within twenty miles of Birmingham could be marked at the office. The 1824 Birmingham Assay Office Act allowed hallmarking of gold as well as silver, and required that all silver or gold wares manufactured within a 30 mile radius be sent there to be hallmarked. Rotherhams felt that there was a prejudice against Birmingham jewellery which affected the sale of watches marked with the Birmingham hallmark, so they bought many watch cases from London case makers that were hallmarked in London. These had to carry the London maker's sponsor mark because the 1824 Act precluded Rotherhams from registering with any other assay office than Birmingham. The Gold and Silver Wares Act 1854 removed the monopoly of the Birmingham Assay Office over local work by allowing manufacturers to send work to any assay office they chose.

On 17 June 1857 an incuse mark with the initials “HB” was entered at the London Assay Office by Henry Buckland of the Rotherham Watch Factory, Spon Street, Coventry.

On 24 February 1858 an incuse mark with the initials “RKR” was entered at the London Assay Office by Richard Kevitt Rotherham of the Rotherham Watch Factory, Spon Street, Coventry.

Philip Priestley records that a sponsor's mark of the initials JR in a serif face in cameo within a diamond surround (not shown) was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office, together with the same initials JR in a sans-serif face in cameo within a diamond surround as shown here, on 15 July 1886 by John Rotherham, as watch & case makers trading as Rotherham & Sons of 4 Spon Street, Coventry. Similar punches were registered in 1888, 1901 and 1908.

However, the sponsor's mark JR in a sans-serif face in cameo within a diamond surround has been seen in watches made by Rotherham & Sons with hallmark dates earlier than 1886, so there must be an earlier entry not recorded by Priestley.

A punch with the initials JR in a sans-serif face in cameo within a diamond surround was entered at the London Assay Office on 7 March 1881 by John Rotherham.

The first punch mark entered by John Rotherham at the Birmingham Assay Office on 7 April 1841 for Rotherham & Sons was the initials R&S in cameo within a rectangular surround, address given as 4 Spon Street, Coventry. This remained the only R&S punch registered at Birmingham until a punch with the same initials in cameo within a diamond shaped surround was registered in 1912, and then three similar punches were registered in 1917.

Philip Priestly lists punches that made the R&S mark within rectangular surround as being registered at Birmingham in 1841 and in London between 1907 and 1919, and the R&S mark with diamond surround 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 come in through London, although many imported watch cases were hallmarked in Glasgow.

Rotherhams also imported watches as well as making them. The image here shows hallmarks in an imported Borgel watch. The sponsor's mark of the initials R&S in a rectangular surround with cut corners was entered at the London Assay Office in 1907 in response to the Assay of Imported Watch-Cases Act. It is shown here alongside London import hallmarks for sterling silver, the date letter "i" is for 1924 to 1925.

Rotherham & Sons also entered punches at the Glasgow Assay Office, which seem to have been used only for imported Swiss watch cases.

JR: John Rotherham or Joseph Radges?

There is a temptation to ascribe any “JR” sponsor's mark in a nineteenth century English watchcase to John Rotherham. However, the larger image here shows a JR mark that was not entered by John Rotherham.

The large image shows the inside of a watchcase back with London Assay Office hallmarks for sterling silver, the leopard's head and lion passant. The date letter "M" is for 1887 to 1888, remember that date letter punches were changed part way through the year when new wardens were elected, so a date letter refers to parts of two calendar years.

The sponsor's mark is not the similar punch mark that was entered at the London Assay Office in 1881 by John Rotherham, which is the shown in the smaller image. The surround of Rotherham's mark is square, set in a diamond shape, the face of the initials “JR” is sans-serif, and there is no period between the initials.

The sponsor's mark in the watch case has a diamond shaped surround that is wider than it is tall, the initials “J.R” are in a serif face and have a period between them. This punch mark entered by Joseph Radges at the London Assay Office in November 1876 (Culme 9893). Joseph Radges is recorded as a watchcase maker, address 11 & 14 Summerland House, Butts, Coventry.

Although Radges' address in Coventry suggests that this watch was finished and cased in Coventry, it also suggests that it was not made by Rotherhams. If it had been made by Rotherhams the case would have one of the sponsor's marks entered on behalf of the company, which it does not. It is most likely that the movement was finished by one of the many other Coventry watchmaking companies, possibly a watchmaker working in The Butts such as Newsome & Co., who contracted Radges to make the case.

This shows how important it is to consider every aspect of a sponsor's mark, not just the initials. The exact shape of the surround, if there is one is important, as is the type face of the letters and any punctuation. These two JR marks are quite different so it is easy to spot, sometimes it is not so easy.

There is more about the history of this important English watchmaking company at Rotherham & Sons.

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R.W.C.Ltd: Rolex Watch Company Limited

At some time the W&D sponsor's mark was superseded by the sponsor's mark “R.W.C.Ltd” incuse within an incuse oval surround. The dates at which sponsor's marks such as the W&D mark ceased to be used was decided by the company, is not recorded by the assay offices.

The first entry of this mark appears to be four punches with the sponsor's mark R.W.C.Ltd that were registered at the London Assay Office at Goldsmiths' Hall on 11 September 1923 by Hans Wilsdorf for the Rolex Watch Company Limited, 40/44 Holborn Viaduct, London EC.

The same R.W.C.Ltd mark was also entered at the Glasgow Assay Office, although the date of its entry at Glasgow is not recorded. The earliest Glasgow hallmark that I have seen in conjunction with the R.W.C.Ltd. mark has the date letter “a” for July 1923 to June 1924, so the Glasgow registration was most likely also entered in 1923, probably at around the same September date as the punches registered at the London Assay Office.

The instance of this sponsor's mark shown in the image here is in the case back of an early Rolex Oyster. The hallmarks below the sponsor's mark are Glasgow Assay Office import hallmarks for nine carat (·375) gold for the years 1927 to 1928 - Glasgow date letter punches were changed on 1 July each year after the election of new wardens at the end of June. Note that the RWC mark is the registered sponsor's mark, without which an item could not be hallmarked. The Rolex name beneath the hallmarks is a trademark, which is not required for hallmarking.

It seems likely that Wilsdorf registered the R.W.C.Ltd sponsor's mark in 1923 as part of his push to get the Rolex name and Rolex Watch Company more widely recognised instead of Wilsdorf and Davis. There would have been some marketing and brand recognition reason behind it, as Wilsdorf discusses in the Rolex Jubilee Vade Mecum, when he was also trying to get British retailers to accept the name Rolex on the dial, alongside or instead of their own.

Caution is needed with the initials RWC because the Replica Watch Case Company, the Roy Watch Case Company and the Rone Watch Company all entered marks with the same RWC letters. The precise form, shape and lettering of the mark are important to distinguish between these marks.

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Marks Beginning with S

SA: Selling Agency

The sponsor's mark SA in a diamond surround is for a company called "Selling Agency", first registered with the London Assay Office on 20th September 1907 as gold and silver watch importers at 46 Cannon St. London, a subsidiary of Dimier Brothers (see their entry under DBs above), import agents and watch makers at the same address.

This sponsor's mark is seen in the cases of Omega watches so it is assumed that in 1907 Dimier Brothers formed the subsidiary to handle the import and hallmarking of Omega watches following the British law of that year that required all imported gold and silver watches be assayed and hallmarked in a British assay office.

There is more about about Omega watches on my page about the Omega Watch Company.

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SA: Swiss Agency, Bouverat & Co Ltd

The sponsor's mark in the photograph, SA in cameo with each letter within a separate rectangular surround, was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office in 1924 by George and Jean Bouverat trading as The Swiss Agency, 30 Frederick Street, Birmingham.

The watch case in the photograph has Birmingham Assay Office import hallmarks for 9 carat, 0.375, gold with the date letter "C" for the Birmingham Assay Office hallmarking year from 1927 to 1928.

The watch case in the photograph also carries a mark in the shape of a hammer Swiss Poinçon de Maître, a type of mark that was introduced in Switzerland in 1926 to allow traceability of gold and silver watch cases to their manufacturer.

The company Bouverat & Co Ltd was founded in Birmingham in 1919 by Albin George Bouverat, who was born in Switzerland. He was joined by his brother Jean (John) in 1921.

Bouverat and Co. had a registered sponsor's marks “GB&C^o”, they probably registered the bland “Swiss Agency” so that, in addition to watch cases submitted for hallmarking under their own name, they could offer hallmarking services to Swiss watch case manufacturers who did not have their own registration.

The English company was connected with a Swiss company, Arnold Bouverat-Jobin & ses fils, founded in 1858, although obviously that was not the company's original name. The watchmaking company appears to have been founded by Eugène Bouverat. In February 1908, the company of Eugène Bouverat was dissolved and the assets and liabilities taken over by Paul Bouverat.

It appears that the company of Arnold Bouverat-Jobin was not originally founded for watchmaking. A notice published in 1885 stated that “Le chef de la maison Arnold Bouverat-Jobin, aux Breuleux, est Arnold Bouverat allie Jobin, originaire des Breuleux, y demeurant. Genre de commerce: Epicerie et mercerie.” The nature of the business was stated as grocery and haberdashery.

In June 1917, the business Arnold Bouverat-Jobin, grocery and haberdashery, was struck off the official register. A new company, Arnold Bouverat-Jobin et fils was created by Arnold Bouverat, a son of Eugène Bouverat, and Achille Bouverat, a son of Arnold Bouverat. This company had begun operations on 1 January 1916. Subsequently, Jean Bouverat, another son of Arnold Bouverat, joined the business and on 7 July 1919, the company name was changed to Arnold Bouverat-Jobin & ses fils.

On 30 March 1922, Arnold Bouverat-Jobin & ses fils registered the trademark “Visible” in Switzerland with the registration number 51589. George Bouverat & Co was appointed the sole British agent for Visible watches. Arnold Bouverat-Jobin & ses fils traded as the Visible Watch Co, Les Breuleux.

The company marketed a range of watches under the name Bernex, a trademark registered in Britain by Bouverat & Co. George Bouverat's son Ronald became managing director in 1964. Albin George Bouverat died on 31 January 1978 aged 89 years.

In 1960, George Bouverat & Co. Ltd. became sole British agents for Girard-Perregaux. In 1982 it was announced that they had terminated this agreement.

In April 1986 it was announced that “Mr. R. G. Bouverat, F.B.H.I., has retired from the family firm of George Bouverat & Co. Ltd., Birmingham, which was founded by his father in 1919. The company, which specialises in Swiss watches and gold jewellery, has been purchased outright by Mr. D.O. Bird, who has been with the firm for the past 11 years, and will continue to deal, as before, with their extensive retail outlets.”

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SD: Sylvain Dreyfuss - Rotary

This SD cameo mark within a rectangular surround with a tab at the top was registered at the London Assay Office on 20 February 1915 in the name of Sylvain Dreyfuss of the company “Moise, George & Sylvain Dreyfuss” trading as M. Dreyfuss, Watch Manufacturers, Moorfield, London EC2.

A similar SD punch mark, without the tab, was entered at the London Assay Office in March 1957 under the trading name Moise Dreyfuss Rotary Watches. This mark is rectangular in outline and has a crown above it. This mark is still registered at the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Assay Office.

Marks similar to the 1915 SD mark were entered at Edinburgh in 1927 and 1963, and Glasgow in 1936 by Moise and George Dreyfuss. Another SD sponsor's mark is recorded as being entered at the Glasgow Assay Office but no records of date or registrant exist. However, there can be no real doubt that it was entered by Dreyfuss & Co.

Fabrique de Montres Rotary was established at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Moise Dreyfuss in 1895. The company's official history says that within 12 years Georges and Sylvain Dreyfuss began importing Rotary watches to Britain. The entry at the London Assay Office in 1915 by Sylvain Dreyfuss of a sponsor's mark punch suggests that it was in fact only 10 years later that this occurred. Britain was to become the company's most successful market. Until 2014 Rotary remained in the ownership of the Dreyfuss family through Dreyfuss Group Holdings. Since then it has been owned by a Chinese company.

According to the Rotary web site, the trademark of a “winged wheel”, shown in two versions to the right, was introduced in 1925. In Clock and Watch Trademark Index of European Origin Kochmann gives a registration date for this trademark of 15 October 1926. The original version looked like a bicycle wheel with wings, the modern version shown below has clearly evolved from the original but is still recognisable as the same thing – once you know what the original was, of course.

Philip Priestley has the spelling as Dreyfuss with only one “s”, which is not correct.

A trademark of the letters SD within a rectangular base with a round top was registered for watches, watch parts and jewellery by the company Fils de Moise Dreyfuss, Fabrique de Montres Rotary, of Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds, on 28 July 1934.

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SFC: Schwob Frères & Co, La Chaux-de-Fonds

This mark of SFC in the very unusual and distinctive surround was registered in Edinburgh on 1 August 1926 in the name of Schwob Frères & Co. Ltd. S.A. of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

It is strange that a Swiss address is given, registrants had to have a UK address for obvious reasons – where to send invoices, if no other reason. The Edinburgh book of registrations indicates that a similar SFC mark was registered by Robert Pringle & Sons, so it seems that the Robert Pringle company was acting as UK assay agents for Schwob Frères, but that Schwob wanted to have their own distinctive sponsor's mark so Pringle registered this mark in their name. In the event of any problem or dispute, Pringle in the UK would be the responsible party.

Schwob Frères & Co. registered its name in Switzerland in 1881 for watch movements and cases. The company worked in close cooperation with the Tavannes Watch Company, see Tavannes Watch Co., Schwob Frères and Cyma.

See the entry for Arthur Rendell above for more about Robert Pringle & Sons and other sponsor's marks that they registered for third parties.

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S.M.C^OL^D: Stylic Manufacturing Company Limited

The watch that has these hallmarks in its case is a Swiss made movement in an English made gold case. For when and why this started to be done, see World War One and Gold Cases

The case has Chester Assay Office hallmarks for an item made in Britain (that is, not imported) of 9 carat (.375) gold. The date letter is the Black Letter (Gothic) font "a" of the Chester Assay Office hallmarking year from July 1926 to June 1927. (The punches were changed when new wardens were elected at the end of June.)

The sponsor's mark "S.M.C^OL^D" incuse with no surround was made by one of two punches entered at the Chester Assay Office on 24 November 1920 and 17 February 1921 by the Stylic Manufacturing Company Limited, Watchcase Manufacturers, 32-34 Branston Street, Birmingham.

The Stylic Watch Case Co., Ltd., 42, Frederick Street, Birmingham, were elected as members of the British Horological Institute in April 1924.

In June 1926 the Stylic Watch Case Co. Limited went into voluntary liquidation, which was concluded in March 1927 when the liquidator, acting under section 195 of the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, held the final meeting of account and dissolved the company. This process did not stop the manufacture of watch cases, as the example illustrated here shows.

The company was subsequently referred to as Smith, Ewen & Stylic, Ltd., Smith & Ewen having purchased the rights to the Stylic name and assets of the company from the liquidators in 1926. Smith & Ewen originally registered a sponsor's mark of S&E in cameo within an oval surround at the Birmingham Assay Office in June 1906. Smith, Ewen & Stylic, Ltd. continued making jewellery and bracelets into at least the 1970s, using the advertising byline “Styled by Stylic”.

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SNB: Samuel Norman Burgess

The incuse sponsor's mark SNB within an incuse "triple circle" shown here was entered by Samuel Norman Burgess of 7 Hatton Gardens, London, who acted as assay agent for the purpose of hallmarking the imported watch case in which this mark appears. Thanks to David J. for this image.

The business was founded by James Reichenberg in 1899 at 7 Hatton Gardens. A subsidiary, The Talis Watch Co., was listed at 106 Hatton Garden in 1909. In 1913 the company was listed as watch importers. Reichenberg took on Samuel Norman Burgess as a partner and subsequently retired on 15 January 1925. The notice in the Gazette of the dissolution of the partnership gives the address as 7 Hatton Garden. Burgess continued to run the business, which was converted into a limited liability company Reichenberg & Co. Ltd. Burgess continued as Managing Director until his death on 1 January 1938.

In 1939 Reichenberg & Co. Ltd. were advertised as wholesalers of Tavannes and Cyma watches.

The import of Talis watches was taken over in 1962 by B. H. Ries Ltd. of 18-21 Hatton Garden, London.

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SP: Sigmund Pulzer

The SP mark shown here in a rectangular surround with a tab at the top used in imported watch cases was registered by Robert Pringle & Sons of London at possibly both Glasgow and Edinburgh assay offices. It is very similar to an SP mark with a quatrefoil or cruciform surround that was registered by R Pringle & Sons in Edinburgh in 1926. Another SP mark was registered by Arthur George Rendell for Robert Pringle & Sons although no exact date or image survive.

No other registrant of an SP mark recorded in the surviving Glasgow and Edinburgh Assay Offices archives has the same association with imported watches as Arthur George Rendell and Robert Pringle & Sons. However, it is known that Robert Pringle & Sons, and Arthur George Rendell acting for Robert Pringle & Sons, entered a number of sponsor's marks at the Glasgow and Edinburgh Assay Offices on behalf of other companies.

A similar sponsor's mark but without the tab at the top was entered at the London Assay Office on 12 February 1909 by Sigmund Pulzer, a gold and silver worker. The entry in Philip Priestley's book also says "Agent for Langendorf Lanco Watch Company". Phil, a moderator on The Watch Forum, has a watch with Edinburgh hallmarks dating it to 1929/30 with the Edinburgh SP sponsor's mark and a Langendorf movement. From this, he suggests that the Edinburgh SP sponsor's mark was entered by Robert Pringle & Sons for Sigmund Pulzer. Unfortunately the records of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Assay Offices are far from complete and it might be impossible to prove this, but it is a very plausible explanation and the best that has emerged to date.

Culme says that Sigmund Pulzer was thought to have been in business in London since 1876, importing American and continental fancy goods at 8 Bradford Avenue, Red Cross Street. He later moved to 33 Holborn Viaduct, moving again in 1907 to 9 Hatton Garden, where in 1913 he is listed as an American merchant and agent for the Langendorf Watch Co. It appears that Pulzer joined the British Horological Institute because in 1917 he is recoded in the Horological Journal as a subscriber to an appeal on behalf of the National Benevolent Society of Watch and Clock Makers. Pulzer's business was subsequently converted into a limited liability company under the style of S. Pulzer & Son Ltd, his son Leo Pulzer being one of the directors. By the time of Sigmund Pulzer's death aged 71 on 15 June 1930, the business had moved to 45 Hatton Garden. No 45 Hatton Garden was divided into a several offices occupied by a number of watch importers over the years.

There are three sponsor's marks L.W.C in cameo that were entered at the Edinburgh Assay Office by R. Pringle & Sons Ltd. A similar mark at the Dublin Assay Office is recoded by Philip Priestley as “L.W.C. 15 Oct 1932 Langendorf Lanco Watch Company, 45 Hatton Garden.” Since by 15 June 1930, Sigmund Pulzer's business had moved to 45 Hatton Garden, it is fairly certain that this is another mark entered on his behalf at the Edinburgh Assay Office by Robert Pringle & Sons.

The SP mark is shown here alongside Edinburgh import hallmarks in a Swiss made wristwatch; 925 in an oval for imported sterling quality silver, the mark X in an oval surround is St. Andrew's cross, the town mark used by the Edinburgh Assay Office on imported items, the "Y" in the surround with waisted sides is the date letter for the hallmarking year 1929 to 1930.

See the entry for Arthur Rendell above for more about Robert Pringle & Sons and other marks they registered for third parties.

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SS: Samuel Saltmarsh

This sponsor's mark, SS in cameo within a rectangular surround with cut corners, was entered at the London Assay Office on either 6 December 1836 or 4 January 1845 by Samuel Saltmarsh, a watch case maker at 74 Middleton Street, Clerkenwell.

These two cameo marks are both recorded by Philip Priestley, each with a period between as in S.S, but in Culme the mark, No. 13466, does not appear to have a period, and in Grimwade there is definitely no period, so I think that Philip made a mistake. NB: the current spelling appears to be “Myddelton Street” but Priestley, Culme and Grimwade use the variations Middleton and Myddleton as written.

Grimwade records an incuse mark of the initials SS over JH entered at the London Assay Office on 21 February 1835 by Samuel Saltmarsh and Joseph Hirst, case makers, 28 Coppice Row, Clerkenwell. A cameo mark of the initials SS over JH within a rectangular surround was entered at the London Assay Office on 6 March 1835 with the same details. The entry 6 December 1836 by Saltmarsh of a mark with only his initials suggests that the partnership with Hirst had ended at about that time.

Samuel Saltmarsh (c1801-1849) died in late 1849 and was succeeded by his wife Elizabeth Mary Saltmarsh, who entered a sponsor's mark EMS in cameo within a rectangular surround with cut corners at the London Assay Office on 22 December 1849 as a watch case maker at 74 Myddleton Street Clerkenwell. This appears to have been shortly before she too died.

Elizabeth Mary Saltmarsh was succeeded by her son Frederick Samuel Saltmarsh (1832-?) who entered two punches with the sponsor's mark FSS in cameo within a rectangular surround at the London Assay Office on 1 January and 12 April 1850 as a watch case maker at 74 Myddleton Street, Clerkenwell.

After leaving the partnership with Samuel Saltmarsh, Joseph Hirst entered a sponsor's mark J·H in cameo within a rectangular surround at the London Assay Office on 9 December 1836 with address 153 St John’s Road, Clerkenwell.

On 19 May 1844 an incuse sponsor's mark JT over JH was entered at the London Assay Office by James Thickbroom and Joseph Hirst at 10 Galway Street, Clerkenwell. The partnership, then at 12, Skinner Street, Clerkenwell, was dissolved in December 1845 or January 1846.

Joseph Hirst then went on with his brother James to form the company that became the very well known case makers Hirst Brothers.

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Marks Beginning with V

V·R: Vale & Rotherham

The sponsor's mark V·R in cameo within an oval surround was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 6 February 1822 by Vale & Rotherham. It was one of several VR marks entered by this partnership, forerunners of the well known Coventry watchmakers Rotherham & Sons.

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VWCo. and V.W Ltd.: Vertex Watch Company

The Vertex Watch Company was founded in 1916 by Claude Lyons as the Vertex Watch Company in London, with a Swiss arm Vertex SA in la Chaux-de-Fonds. Pritchard says that in 1920 the company was known as Aureole & Vertex.

This was not the first use of the name Vertex in conjunction with watches. The first watches bearing the name Vertex engraved on the plates were made by the Lancashire Watch Company in Prescot, Lancashire, in 1911. The company had a very successful line of watches called Vigil and the managing director, Alfred Hirst, offered a prize of 5 shillings for the best suggestion of a name for a new line of watches. James M. Smith suggested Vertex and won the 5s.

The Vertex Watch Company appears to have been created particularly to import watches made by Thommen into Britain. Vertex Revue was listed as a brand of Thommen SA. Movements were stamped "V.W", "V.W.Co." or "VW" within a rectangle.

A sponsor's mark VWC^O in cameo within a rectangular surround was first entered at the London Assay Office on 21 April 1925 under the name of Claude Lyons for the Vertex Watch Company 37/38 Hatton Garden, London. Six punches were registered on this date, followed by 12 further punches on 7 July 1927 with the same initials in cameo but within a rectangle with quadrant cut corners. Prior to entering these punches, Vertex had used the services of Stockwell & Company as assay agents.

The image here shows London Assay Office import hallmarks for 18 carat (⋅75) gold in a Borgel watch case. The date letter is the Black Letter (Gothic) font “k” of the hallmarking year from June 1925 to May 1926 - London date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected at the end of May so were used over two calendar years.

Vertex was one of 12 companies that supplied W.W.W. ( Watch: Wrist, Waterproof ) specification watches for the British military. In 1953 an automatic Thommen Revue watch was marketed in the UK under the name of Vertex. Buser Frères & Cie, Phenix Watch Co, S. Thommen and Vulcain collaborated to form Manufactures d'Horlogerie Suisse Réunies SA (MSR) in 1961.

On 28 February 1972 an Extraordinary Meeting of the Members of Vertex Watches Limited in London passed a motion that the Company be wound up voluntarily. Pritchard says that in 1973 Vertex was listed as a brand of Vertex London.

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Marks Beginning with W

W&D: Wilsdorf and Davis

This W&D in an oval surround with points top and bottom is the sponsor's mark of Wilsdorf & Davis, importers of gold and silver wares, first registered at the London Assay Office on 25 June 1907. A second punch with the same mark was registered on 13 August. The company of Wilsdorf & Davis is better known these days by a brand name that Wilsdorf created in 1908; Rolex.

The company of Wilsdorf & Davis was founded in London in 1905. Until 1907 they would have imported watches and other silver and gold items without having them tested and hallmarked by a UK assay office, but UK law changed in 1907 and from 1 June 1907 all imported gold and silver items had to be assayed and hallmarked at a UK assay office. This is the reason for the registration of the W&D sponsor's mark. Items imported from Switzerland by Wilsdorf & Davis before 1907 would have carried Swiss hallmarks. Once the UK law was changed, the Swiss authorities allowed items to be exported to the UK without Swiss hallmarks.

The registration of the two punches on dates so close together indicates that the second punch was required to keep up with the volume of work, rather than replacing a worn out punch, so Wilsdorf & Davis must have had two men working full time punching watch cases that were to be sent for hallmarking.

The following information is gleaned from Culme John Culme "The Directory of Gold and Silversmiths, Jewellers and Allied Traders, 1838-1914: From the London Assay Office Registers" Publication Date: 15 Oct 1987 | ISBN-10: 0907462464 | ISBN-13: 978-0907462460 Two volumes; the first with 4,000 biographies, the second with photographs of 15,000 marks taken directly from the London Assay Office Registers at Goldsmiths' Hall. . The partners in Wilsdorf & Davis were Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred James Davis. The address recorded at the registration of their punches was 83 Hatton Garden, later recorded on 1 November 1907 as moving to 85 Hatton Garden, EC1, then between 17 August 1912 and 25 August 1919 they are recorded at Stevenage House, 40-44 Holborn Viaduct, EC, where they are listed in 1913 as watch manufacturers and importers (TA: 'Wilsdorfs').

Wilsdorf & Davis are also recorded on 8 April 1915 at 15 Northampton Street, Birmingham, and also 3 Ruelle de la Fabrique, Bienne, Switzerland. They are recorded 25 August 1919 as having an office at 61 Rue Elfenau Gare, Bienne, Switzerland, in addition to their London office, and also as representatives of the Rolex Watch Co. Ltd. whose chairman was Hermann Aegler with Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred James Davis as directors and Harry Sedgley as secretary.

The same W&D sponsor's mark was entered at Birmingham in June 1909, at Chester in April 1912 and at Glasgow, although records of the date of the latter entry have been lost. These additional registrations allowed Wilsdorf & Davis additional freedom to either order items to be made outside London, or send items to be hallmarked at Birmingham, Chester of Glasgow if there were delays at one of the other assay offices, or if one office was cheaper than the others.

Although the sponsor's mark was not necessary on watch cases that did not require a British hallmark, it would have been convenient to arrange for the case maker in Switzerland to stamp the mark as the case was made. There was no reason why it should not have been stamped on watch cases that were not ultimately hallmarked in Britain, and it would have been easier to stamp all cases, whether or not they were destined for Britain. Therefore the W&D mark can be seen in watch cases without British assay office marks.

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W.E: William Ehrhardt

The sponsor's mark “W.E” incuse was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 14 November 1867 by William Ehrhardt, and also at the London Assay Office.

After the first incuse punch, further punches with “WE” and “W.E” in cameo within oval and rectangular surround were registered between 1880 and 1914.

The punch mark shown here with “W.E” in cameo within an oval surround was made by one of three punches registered in Ehrhardt's name between 1907 and 1914.

William Ehrhardt (1831-1897) was born in Germany and served an apprenticeship in watchmaking there. He came to England in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition.

In 1856 Ehrhardt set up a company in Birmingham to make watches by machinery. This was before John Wycherley set up his factory in 1866 in Prescot, Lancashire, and before Aaron Dennison formed the Anglo-American Watch Company in 1871 in Birmingham, so Ehrhardt was one of the pioneers of watchmaking by machinery in England.

You can read more about the company and the watches they manufactured at William Ehrhardt.

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W.H.S: William Henry Sparrow – H. Williamson Ltd and Büren

This sponsor's mark, W.H.S in cameo within a rectangular surround with angled ends, was entered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 27 January 1903. A second mark of the initials W.H.S incuse with no surround was registered at the Birmingham Assay Office on 5 March 1905.

The same cameo mark was registered at the London Assay Office on 22 June 1907 by William Henry Sparrow, described as an importer of gold and silver watches, 11 Spencer Street, Birmingham. Two punches were registered at that time. Two additional punches with the same mark were registered on 4 July 1907, and two further punches with the same mark on 3 May 1909.

The first of the entries at the London Assay Office follows shortly after the introduction on 1 June 1907 of the requirement for British import hallmarks on all imported gold and silver watch cases.

These simple registration details conceal an interesting story.

Philip Priestley records that Sparrow was “Possibly Manager of the Errington Watch Company Case Department”, which make sense because it is known that by 1907 Sparrow was working for the English watch manufacturer H. Williamson Ltd. of Coventry. When the Errington company was acquired by Williamson in 1895, Errington was retained as the factory manager and evidently Sparrow continued in charge of the manufacture of watch cases in Coventry, and later also the hallmarking of imported Swiss watch cases. Errington used their own CHE (Charles Huton Errington) sponsor's marks for watch cases so Sparrow did not have a registered mark before the takeover by Williamson.

H. Williamson imported Swiss watches from Büren, a Swiss company that they purchased initially to obtain parts, but after a court case over the use of Swiss parts in watches that were sold as English, Williamson began to import complete watches from Büren.

Sparrow was responsible for sending both English made and Swiss made cases to be assayed and hallmarked so watch cases are seen with the W.H.S sponsor's mark containing English and Swiss movements.

Follow this link to read more about H. Williamson Ltd. and the famous court case.

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WL: Walter Low

The badly battered case back shown in the image here was found in the paddock of a family farm. Unfortunately there is no movement, the brass and steel parts of the movement have probably long since corroded away.

The case has Birmingham Assay Office (anchor) hallmarks for sterling silver (walking lion). The date letter is the Blackletter (Gothic) small “i” of the Birmingham hallmarking year from July 1883 to June 1884. Assay office date letter punches were changed when new wardens were elected, which took place in Birmingham at the end of June, so each date letter was used over two calendar years.

The sponsor's mark appears to be one entered at the Birmingham Assay Office in December 1882 by Walter Low, describing himself as a watch manufacturer at 15a/16a Bury Street, London. It is notable that Low is not recorded by Culme and therefore was not registered at the London Assay Office, which would be unusual in the extreme for a real London based watch manufacturer. The address in the centre of London, a stone's throw from St James' Square, is also not the address of a watch manufacturer. I suspect that Mr Low was actually an importer and that the watch was made in Switzerland. Between 1874 and 1887 there was a practice of having Swiss watch cases marked with British hallmarks and I suspect that this case is one of them. For further details about this, see Foreign Watches with British Hallmarks.

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Marks Beginning with Z

ZWC: Zenith Watch Co.

This mark ZWC^O in a triangular layout within a triangular surround is the registered sponsor's mark of Zenith Watch Co. (Great Britain) Ltd. It was entered at the London Assay Office on 16 July 1914 by Herman Frederick Roost, Managing Director.

The company was founded in 1865 by Georges-Emile Favre-Bulle as “Georges Favre-Jacot & Cie”. The first workshop was in the Billodes district of Le Locle; it may have been on the same spot where Breguet had his workshop 1793 to 1796. The first trademark, registered in 1884, was “Billodes” with this name on a garter surrounding an heraldic coat of arms.

In 1897 the trademark "Zenith" was registered in Switzerland. In circa 1914 the company name was changed to Fabriques des Montres Zenith based at Le Locle, Switzerland, with a British branch at 119 High Holborn WC.

In England Birch & Gaydon appear to have been the principal retailer of Zenith watches. Zenith had an office in London and one would think that this meant they must have been dealing with more than just one company.

In Scotland Zenith watches were sold by Brook & Son of Edinburgh.

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Combined Marks

The sponsor's mark and the case makers trademark are often seen together. For instance, below left is a picture of a case with the AGR sponsor's mark, and also the FB trademark for the case maker François Borgel, and below right is a case with the GS sponsor's mark and the FB trademark.