Does tiffanys count
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Went up town to go fetch the cheap Bulova Deal out of Argos today,
As i went past another shop I spotted watch described as vintage.. It had Howlett Smith Gt Yarmouth on the face.
Googling turns up a Jewellers in Yarmouth of that name.
Is it common to get watches with the shops name on them?
Does tiffanys count
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I think this was quite common years ago. Companies like Mappin & Webb still have their own brand, although that's a brand rather than a single store I guess.
Agreed. If you go back the 30s it was not unusual for some watchmakers to add the name of the retailer to the dial. Rolex did it for jewellers all over the world, if you have a look at the site vintage watches collection you can see a few examples.
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Thankyou
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Does it make them worth buying even if they don't have a recognisable name on them..?
Believe it or not there are collectors who collect watches that are local to them. The dealers Name on the dial almost becomes more interesting than the brand, especially if the watches don't cost the earth. That Birkenhead watch is on e-bay now for £125 or best offer. A bit of fun?
I reckon I should go see if its still there then, Ya never know, someone might be able to tell me what it is.
Another example is J W Benson who often had their watches made by Universal Geneve, Cyma and Smiths. Presumably if the watch was actually made by a prestigious Swiss manufacturer then the shop would have already sussed this out and pointed it out on a sticker. Might be worth asking the question, though.
Here's one of mine:
https://omegaforums.net/threads/universal-geneva.45580/
One of the most famous watches in the world is named after the dealers.
I give you the Zenith Cairelli, Cairelli being the retailer the Italian government bought it from. Named on the dial too.
Now that Zenith has re-issued the watch, they cannot bing themselves to use the name (as it is not theirs) so they called it the CP2. Which is correct, but the rest of the world knows the original as the Cairelli.
D
And then, of course...
Last year I posted about an old 8 Day travel clock with 'Z.Barraclough' on the dial. I managed to find a contemporary picture of the jewellery shop in Leeds.
This is what is on the same site now:
From historical industrial records on the internet and small name changes it was even possible to narrow down the date of the clock.
If you find this kind of stuff interesting (as I obviously do) it's fascinating what you can turn up and I'd encourage you to try. Even if it is for something much more mundane than another one of Alan's beautiful UGs.
Here's the link to my original post, which has some of the sources I used.
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...-needed-Update
Last edited by alfat33; 6th September 2017 at 09:58.
Cheers. In a different life I'd have happily spent all day every day digging up this stuff.