I bought an Election gold cased watch recently and I'm a bit puzzled about the dating of it. According to Dr Ranfft's archive, the calibre 415 was typically from around 1940. But the date code in the case suggests that the case was made in 1931. That's quite a difference. Does anyone have any take on this age discrepancy?
Case marks are: "ff," a crown, "18," and an assay office mark of three bushels with a sword, which denotes the Chester assay office. If this last is correct, then the "ff" date code for Chester is 1931. The crown mark and the "18" denote the fineness of the gold, in this case, 18K. The case was made by Smith and Ewen, Birmingham.
The dial is marked shockproof and there's (I presume) an interesting external anti-shock device over the regulator, not a device I've seen before, although no doubt some here have.
Thoughts on date?
Case marks are: "ff," a crown, "18," and an assay office mark of three bushels with a sword, which denotes the Chester assay office. If this last is correct, then the "ff" date code for Chester is 1931. The crown mark and the "18" denote the fineness of the gold, in this case, 18K. The case was made by Smith and Ewen, Birmingham.
The dial is marked shockproof and there's (I presume) an interesting external anti-shock device over the regulator, not a device I've seen before, although no doubt some here have.
Thoughts on date?