VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 28, cal 57, Borgel case

Oh for the love of Borgel !

I dedicate this post for the South African Heritage to my cousin Raymond and
for his new found passion, to young Master Tobi in Prague.

Tonny, raises an interesting discussion when he writes "Not to be waterproof,
but to protect it better against dust and moist".

Intially, this was the marketing message from the Borgel Case Manufacturing
company - however, as time went by they actually did succeed in making their
Borgel cases fairly watertight. A detailed research into this aspect has been
conducted by a leading expert, David Boettcher and I shall add referfence to
his work lower down in this post. Definately worth the visit / read.

Now, being originaly a South African I would be amiss here to not reference
the fact that these watches were field proven to have been waterproof
during the Second Boer War (October 1899 - May 1902) when the British
Empire went to war with the two Boer states, the South African Republic
(Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. This war was also known as
the South African War.

As we sadly know all wars create commercial oppertunity, and the South African
War was no different. IWC and it's partners (Borgel and the Stauffer Company)
were quick to push these watches out to the market. So we see, that the high
street retailer of The Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company of 112 Regent Street
London offered these watches to " Gentlemen going on Active Service ",
asking the costly sum of £2.10 shillings.

And so it was that an officer carried this IWC Borgel cased Cal. 57 from the
UK all the way to South Africa. Where in one of the the infamous battles of
the war, namely the Battle of Modder River fought on the 28th of November
1899, he lost his watch in the very same river. This watch later surfaced
(sic.) and was written up in The Tatler of March 10, 1915.

Information/images from VintageWatchstraps.com (C) David
Boettcher.

So years later, and given my South African heritage and my passion for these
Borgel cases I simply could not resisist it, when this watch you see below
(now in my
Collection) came up for sale - I jumped at the chance of securing it.

In many respects the same steel oxides case and watch as Tonny's with one
exception.

The Logo on the Dial

Please do take the time to visit David Boettchers excelent horological site
where the black and white images above are copied from.

Vintagewatchstraps.com

However, the Steel Case watch I wish to share with you to day in order to
complement Tonny's Steel cased timepiece, is neither so fancy nor bears a
strong tale - yet, it's a special watch in my Collection.

With just 2 exceptions, my Steel Oxide cased watches somehow all are fitted
with Cal.57 movements.

Amongst some of it's peers, it stands out marginally (pheraps becuase of the
eloborate hands on it), but as can be seen with all these steel cased watches
here above (top left watch refers)
it' looks pretty much the same timepiece.

The Watch

This watch was sold on the 20th of March 1898 to the famous Mr. Didisheim of
La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The case a humble Steel Oxide case, with gold trimmings.

But what really makes this watch special to me, is that it is one of the few
Cal. 55 (Cal. 55 Lep. "Schaffhausen" 18 lignes) in my Collecection.

When I first saw this watch and took a look at it's movement, I was
perpelexed. The serial number indicated that it was a Cal. 55 however, the
main plate was different in shape to other Cal.55.

The Cal.55 I know (here below on the left) had a significant S shaped cut away
on the main plate - this new watch (here on the right) a much smaller half
round cut away,

I needed to engage the experts and fortunately Watch77 was able to come to my
rescue.

So there you are folks - one is never to old (or to young Master Tobi) to
learn and whilst all that glistens is not gold - these steel oxide cased IWC's
are for sure shiny gems of my Collection.

Borgel cases can be a mystery for a starting collector.

When I bought one of my earliest IWC pocket watches I could not open it I did
not realise it was a Borgel case

Who would expect a screwed case 140 years ago? I tried to open it using the
normal method : with a knive. I could see on the damage of the case rim that a
previous owner did the same. Without success. The only thing which was
abnormal to me on the watch, was the very thick case. Fritz Wagener asked me
to translate a Borgel patent, which was written in French. Only then I
understood what to do : pull the crown and unscrew the case. The watch
survived.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).

Here on can
see, how thick the movement is to fit on the back lid.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc

And indeed Adrian, so it was when I obtained my first Borgel case and could
not open it - that you came to the rescue with "the secret".

This one is from my collection. Caliber 57 was sold to Stauffer, Son & Co. in
year 1902. Interesting thing that there is a Extract from
the ledger from Schaffhausen for this watch.

I got it few years back, but as I remember I've seen it posted in the "old"
IWC forum probably around 2009-2011. It was also amazing disussion about
Borgel case that time.

Another fantastic example of a Borgel cased C.57.

Thanks for sharing.