VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 59, Seeland case 253

These watches are precious, and whilst they do not have the most sophisticated
of movements, they are to us collectors simply things of beauty.

So let me pay compliments to Tonny, who clearly (and painstakenly so as not to
harm anything) polished the case on the watch he shows us today, to a
magnificent high shine - fitting of it's high silver content.

Now, I am not a gambling man but on the rare occassion, I will hazard a bet -
and today is one of those days.

I bet that the serial number of Tonny 's movement is #27274

Today, it's not hard for me to select a watch in my collection to complement
Tonny's lovely little jewel of a Cal. 24 (now corrected - accidentally had it
listed as a Cal.25. - Thanks to Sagittarius for pointing out my mistake.)

The Watch

The watch bears a very close resemblance to that of Tonny's. Note the
identical hands - magnificent blue steel hands.

The bow stem (there is no crown for winding / setting on these movements which
are set by key) has almost one and the same Hallmark as Tonny's pocket watch.

We see clearly on both the walking lion passant and a letter. In the case of
Tonny's watch its the letter "N" whereas on mine it is the letter "O"

The above, an extract from David Boettcher excelent site which can be found
here

Then, we find the same Hallmarks back on both inner cases. Again, mine with
the same year date letters.

So from this we learn that the cases were assized in the Chester Assay Office
(see below - again from David Boettcher site).

So both Tonny and my watch were assized by the Chester office. But the
question arrises when?

A quick dive into the records of the Chester Assize office we see the
following.

So we learn too, that Tonny's watch ( which as you can see from the case
serial number is 326 pieces earlier than mine ) was also assized a year (or
rather somehwere in the previous 12 months ( as the Chester Assay Office
hallmarking year ran from 1st July to 30th June, neatly bisecting the year)
and dates from 1876 (the letter "N") and my pocket watch from the year 1877.

And how do I know what Tonny movement serial number is? Well here's my
movement bearing the serial number #27600.

Well, as ourt good friend Sherlock Holmes said when I cried "Excellent!"-
"Elementary," said he. By decuction (and assuming they worked in serial number
order in Schaffhausen (which they typically did) then 326 pieces lower was the
number #27274.

Some further research will be conducted before I can claim my beer from Tonny.

Look at the beauty of this movement adorned with it's blue screws and all.

Unlike Tonny's case back which has a blank circular cartouche on it for
engraving - mine has a decortive crest patern on it.

So now, only one thing now remains. After confirming my research, to restore
Tonny's movement engraving the correct serial number and to replace that
broken dial. Jeroen says he is up to it!

No one knows more about British Hallmarks for silver and gold used in watch
cases than David Boettscher and it is pleasure to read the full story citated
by Mark. The explanation of why so many full plate watches made by Seeland
have British silver cases, can be seen as a 'trick' used by Seeland. The
British hall marked cases were considered to be of higher quality as the
silver cases from abroad and they fetched higher prices on the market.
Therefore F.F. Seeland let silver cases make in Switzerland and sent them to
Great Britain where they were stamped with British hallmarks after control of
the silver content. Thereafter they were sent back to Schaffhausen where the
case received the movement to be sold as a complete watch. In this way Seeland
could ask higher prices but he failed, as the stock piled up which finally
caused the second bankruptcy.

Regards,

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc)

Here are a few silver cases, all from Seeland full plate watches, which were
hallmarked in Great Britain on request of F.F.
Seeland.Except
the British official hallmarks there are also two letters visible in an oval
or circle. These are the names of 'sponsors' who held office in London,
imported the silver, let it hallmark and exported them again.

'F.P' is Fritz Petitpiere and 'A C' is Antoine Castleberg.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).

Hi all,

I just thought that I should mention that it is a calibre 24, not calibre 25.

Alan

my comment above referred to Tonny's watch discussed earlier, not to Adrian's
posting!

Alan

I await that with interest Tonny!

Until then stay safe