Storch Brothers with a Marvin inside

[Marrick]

Today's new toy:



Inside is:





And on the back:



So - what I've found out:

1) Storch Brothers were merchants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From a PDF titled 'The Jewish in Penang 1830 - 1970':

"The Jewish community was well-represented as a middleman minority by the affluent and renowned Storch Brothers and ..."

There are several references to the firm in archives of the Straits Times and they were bought by 'Teatang' in 1954 when described as 'A Kuala Lumpur based company retailing in jewellery and watches'.

2) The silver case has British hallmarks - Glasgow import stamp and the date letter from 1927.

3) The inscription on the back probably refers to the W.R.Shaw mentioned here:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issu.../4503/page.pdf where - in India - W.R.Shaw was given an Emergency Commission from 2nd lieutenant to lieutenant on 27th August 1941.

Here http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issu.../3155/page.pdf shows that he was later moved from the R.A.O.C. (Royal army Ordnance Corps) to the Indian A.O.C.

So maybe he celebrated his promotion by buying a 14 year-old watch and having it engraved.

What I haven't identified is the movement. Presumably its a Marvin, but earlier than those in the Pink Pages.

Working; and keeping reasonable time. The bolt spring is broken, I think, as the stem doesn't stay put in the setting position. - but I can live with that.

I must stop looking on ebay.

[bubba48]

Nice watch, but I especially love this kind of historical research.

[Mirius]

Nice watch. You outbid me lol

[Marrick]

Nice watch. You outbid me

You cost me money.

BTW, its keeping good time.

[Mirius]

Well this is a moment to go down in forum history. I was outbid by Marrick

Sorry about the price bump. I was curious about the 1927 hallmark with the 1941 engraving with a Marvin inside. I however probably wouldn't have uncovered that history, so I'm glad it went to you

[radger]

Great watch with historic reference.

Your second link shows that W.R Shaw was appointed to the Indian army on 27th Aug 1941.
The watch is engraved Oct 1941, it was Oct 1941 that the 48th Indian Infantry Brigade was formed.
I wonder if Shaw was part of this.

[Marrick]

Thanks radger. I've skimmed through some other material online, and the IAOC was involved in lots of things including the defence of Malaysia and Singapore when they were based at Kuala Lumpur. But there were also units attached to brigades - so he could have been involved with the 48th. Apparently, most records were lost; and he wasn't eminent enough to be mentioned anywhere.

BTW, there was a watch on ebay recently with an engraving referring to the Hartlepool bombardment of 1914 (same action included Scarborough and Whitby). Too pricey for me though at £67 not working:



Just to add, for the benefit of those who don't know where Hartlepool is - its in NE England (as is radger).