And... just in, this Hermetic. If you look to the
first page of this thread you'll see two similar, although even better, examples.
@dougiedude shows a version with even number numerals, and astonishing hands (I would love to know more about those), and Hijak showed one like mine with a crosshair.
This isn't afaik a company with great or even documented traditions, or much of a history to shout about at all, but I think between WW2 and the quartz crisis it clearly did good work, and this watch would have been worn proudly as EDC by a fairly average joe in the 1950s. I would really like any advice on how to date this more accurately, because I haven't found anything too useful so far. After some attempts to work out how a francophone would say "Marvin", I was delighted and relieved to discover that apparently the branding first came from an American customer in the 1930s - problem solved.
The dial furniture is all an attractive copper-y tone, the case is sharp and well-proportioned, and the fine-ness of the printing is really pleasing. Sometimes, the broad clean bezel combines with reflections from the crystal to created the illusion of a stepped case in a way I can't quite explain.
I was struck by quite how three-dimensional the dial is, particularly the crown logo (no, not that one...) - maybe this shows it better.
Inside, the cal 560 is tidy and solid imo, and it looks like this. But,
calling experts, please - before I damage anything, where is the serial number to be found? There is one inside the caseback - is that all?
I think this is a fun watch for casual wear without depreciation anxiety, low-cost but robust enough. When this passes on one day, it's $/£ value will be low, but it will be a great example to the recipient of "how it was" 100 years back in the high analogue age. So here are the final two photos.
The WRUW shot.
The not-at-all-contrived-no-really quirky shot.