Tonny has chosen well today - a very appropiate watch for mothers day.
Clearly, a watch like this would be aquired by a Gentleman as a gift for the
Mother of his Children. What nicer gift than giving the lady of the household
the gift of time!
Lets begin my story of the watch that I would like to share today with
yourselves, in the same frame of mind. A watch, certainly nowhere nearly as
elaborate and of museum quality, as Tonnys Calibre 63, but certainly one
originally also intended for the Lady of the Manor.
Most fairy tails begin with the words: Once upon a Time, a time long time
ago.....
And so this story too, begins with those words. Once upon a time a long, long
time ago lived a man and his son. And father passed onto his son, the skills
of the watchmakers trade. And as time passed, so did the generations of father
and son, one after the other handing down the skills and the family business
from father to son, for 5 generations and more. They became known as the
Clockies of Dollymoor.
The Watch
When I fist saw this watch, I knew imeadiately that I would secure this watch
as a gift to the mother of my children.
Whilst the Mrs. does not wear a wrist watch, I knew that she would certainly
appreciate the elequance and simple beauty of this ladies pocket watch fitted
with a sister movement of Tonny's C.63, namely a "Savonnette 12 1/2 ''',
Serie 256" (which is how the good folk of IWC Schaffhausen listed this
movement at the time - which later became known as Calibre 64).
The engraving on the inside of the watch case back caught my attention.
As did the case serailo nunber and hallmark. To me it was very clear that the
movement was definately Probus Scafusia and from Schafhausen, but what about
this 18K gold case which bore a serial number of 72 which clearly was not a
Schaffhausen serial number.
I went ahead and aquired the watch.
After some research I was able to identify the High Street Jewelers and saw
too, that the hallmark on the case was in fact not their hallmark.
Who was this reseller, and how did he fit into the IWC history. We know of
other companies in England who imported IWC movement and cased them in the UK,
but Mr. Barraclough & Son were not known.
Time to dive into the archives in Schaffhausen - and I shared my findings
about the jewler with them and asked Dr. Seyffer the Museum Curator to
investigate further this watch. His findings we interesting and again proof,
that IWC were in the spirit of Jones, selling bare movements, noit only into
the USA market, but also right into the heart of the Swiss Watchmaking
Industry !
" In the sales records we found that movement number 91320 was sold March 16
1895 to retailer A. Frankfeld in Geneva. IWC sold only the movement. ... I
checked also our sales records of 1895 and there was no delivery directly to
Barraclough. So from Geneva the movement was sent to Leeds "
So, it seems that the IWC movements were in demand, and making their way to
the Uk via other channels too.
The watch, was fully restored and on special occasions my lovely wife will
wear her watch around a lenghty gold chain around her neck.
Its a little gem of a half hunter pocket watch. Meaning, that she can see the
time through the window on the cover, without needing to depress the crown and
open the watch fully.
The dial bears the International Watch Co , logo - so clearly then already
Probus Scafusia was well recognised, and no attempt to hide it by the
Barraclough family.
The C.64 movement is pristine and runs well.
The watch is of course small (compared to normal pocket watches). Seen here in
my wife's relatively small hand.
And last but not least, while it appears that the firm of Barraclough moved
on, today at the same address on the corner of 54 Briggate Street and
Commercial street in Leeds, we still find a high street jeweler.
I wonder if they too, sell IWC today?
The