I recently came across a nice Longines and really liked the look of it.


Made a few pictures of it when I received it and contacted a few fellow watch enthusiast. One of the other watch enthusiasts decided to dive deeper into the engravings on the back and found out that this watch really has an interesting story to it.

As can be seen in the pictures the watch engravings tell that the watch was given to a certain W.V. Arnold by A.W. Fox probably in 1953. According to the internet the movement serial number also dates the watch to 1953.



At first we were thinking this was kind of a friendship watch given to W.V. Arnold to celebrate their friendship. When diving deeper into both names we found out that the giver is the once famous racing driver Arthur Wingrave Fox more commonly known as Arthur Fox. (Source: motorsport magazine archive)

Arthur Fox is mainly known as being owner of the Fox and Nicholl racing team racing mainly Talbots and Lagonda’s pre war. The team entered the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1929 until 1937. They even won Le Mans in 1935 with a Lagonda which can be seen in the Louwman Museum in The Hague (the Netherlands)

The folllowing picture shows Arthur Fox his international traveling pass which was probably used for the 1929 24 hours of Le Mans. (source: Aston Service Dorset).


An other picture of Arthur Fox I found trough ebay which looks more like a cartoon/caricature:


Now you guys are probably dying to find out who the receiver was. It turned out that W.V. Arnold worked for Arthur Fox from 1911 till 1955 according to an article I found in the archive of the motorsport magazine.

Now the engraving talks about 1911-1953 so there are two options. One being that the source is wrong considering the working years and the other is that after his official retirement he still worked two years for mister Fox. One thing is sure and that is that mister Arnold worked on the Le Mans winning Lagonda in 1935!

 

Cool! Its fascinating the stories that we come across. Thanks for sharing

 

Excellent story and post! Thanks much!

 

Great post, what could be better than a watch with a motorsport connection!

 

I believe one of our Forum Members owns a Steve McQueen Bullitt watch. It's a Benrus Series #3061 black dial. This is what he wore in the movie Bullitt with what's considered the greatest chase seen ever!

What the hell, if Steve McQueen wore one, it's good to be cool

 

Ok it is not worn by Steve McQueen...

However you don't find a cool story behind a watch engraving often.. Most of the time you don't find anything at all about the engraving..

 

Cool story and nice watch!

 

Great post with an interesting story Emile.

 

Very nice find. Interesting story!

 

If it was worn by Steve McQueen: Who could afford it? None the less it's as I said: It's good to be cool

 

great watch forensics

 

Fantastic story! This is what makes collecting vintage pieces great fun! Thanks for posting

 

I love stories about a piece's provenance. Thanks for sharing!