Today I bought this nice silver Zenith pocket watch from my local flea-market: The movement serial number is 1400457 which dates it about 1901 according to the Zenith serial numbers table I have found in my search. The movement is I think a Zenith NVSIII 18-28-3 So I have 2 questions: First, what is it known about the red colour of the word Zenith in the dial; Is it simply a stylistic choice of this particular watch, or does it have some importance; Second I noticed in the inside side of the external cover, right to the symbol of Zenith a symbol that I haven't seen before: A crescent and a royal crown right next to it. Do you know what is it;
For starters, compare the stampings you see inside the case, with the markings you should find in this link. http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/swisshallmarks.php
Thank you for the very informative link. According to this(http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/casemarks.php#german), the crescent and the royal crown is the german import mark for silver cases. So it seems that this watch originally was intended to be sold in the german market. Thank you again for your help
I find the 0.875 mark to be curious. Depending on the country, coin silver is either 0.800 or 0.900. Yours is 0.875. I wonder if the 0.875 purity for silver was German.
Well the site that you gave me(http://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/casemarks.php#german) mentions these in the Swiss Hallmarks and Other Marks paragraph: "The marks were the ones shown here; for 18 carat gold the head of Helvetia, the female national personification of Switzerland which is also called the Confederation Helvetica, for 14 carat gold a squirrel, and for silver either a rampant bear, a bear standing with forepaws raised, for the higher standard of 0.875 silver, or a grouse for 0.800 silver. In 1888, in response to the British Merchandise Marks Act, the Swiss authorities introduced a higher standard of silver of 0.935 that was intended to be the equivalent of British sterling silver, the minimum standard of silver that the Act permitted to be imported. The Swiss bureaux de contrôle were authorised to assay this standard and hallmark watch cases that met it with three "standing bear" stamp marks; one small bear above two large bears as shown in the picture here." "Marks such as "Fine silver", 800, or 875 could also indicate a Swiss origin, and French names of parts such "cuivre", "ancre", rubis or "spiral" indicate a Swiss or French origin. The Swiss Federal Cross mark often indicates a Swiss patent."