Hi
I bought and just received this early WWI 'Trench' wristwatch.
It was described as a "Beautiful WW1 1915 Marconi Officers trench watch"
On examining it, I saw no indication it was 'Marconi' or Rolex.
I asked the seller who had been told by two separate sources it was a 'Rolex' Marconi movement, he even gave me a link to another 'Marconi' watch on Ebay that has no marking either on dial or movement.
I know that seller, and he thinks all his 'unmarked' movements are from the top 5 manufacturers.
anyway.
On receiving the watch, there is marked '68' beside the balance wheel on bottom plate. That is all I can see.
I checked Beguelin (Damas) its not that, I checked Gallet, its not that. Looks more like Fontainemelon. Did they make a '68'
Hope some one can help
Its a very nice piece, will post pictures after I can try to find movement and if any links to Rolex
unfortunately most calibres of that time looked similar, and accordingly the advanced search spits out lots of calibres. However, the first begins with "A" (A. Michel) and is thefore quickly found: bidfun-db Archive: Watch Movements: AM 220
But sorry, no match for the second: Probably the maker finished it beyond recognition, and only a dial view could help further.
unfortunately most calibres of that time looked similar, and accordingly the advanced search spits out lots of calibres. However, the first begins with "A" (A. Michel) and is thefore quickly found: bidfun-db Archive: Watch Movements: AM 220
But sorry, no match for the second: Probably the maker finished it beyond recognition, and only a dial view could help further.
Hi Roland
Really thanks, truly appreciated.
I have found further details of Michel, A in Kathleen Pritchards books. They were one of the original group of 26 ebauch makers that became EBAUCHES SA
I have some questions, that maybe you can answer.
1) Any idea what the '68' is on the bottom plate, actually it looks 68 +, I wondered if it was referring to a patent.
2) Can you explain how you started your search, so I may learn how to better do it.
Hard to tell from the photos as seem just out of focus there and the punching is messy. It seems to me that the top part of the 6 if it were a 6 is straight as it would be with a 3 and there could be the top to the three too. But too hard to be sure on my phone.
Just a theory, but the number could just be a sequence serial. When finishing movements like this, the location of the pivots was subject to minor variations in location, so it was important to keep all the bridges and cocks together with the main plate to ensure that the gears would mesh properly. So you might find (for example) that if you remove the balance and look on the bottom of it, another "68" stamped there (and similarly under all the bridges). Makers like Gallet would use the last three or so digits of the movement serial, but a smaller maker might not bother with a full serial number.
Yes that could be for I have a bunch of old Revue GT movements and all have an unique double number.
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