This came in shortly before Christmas and I bought it on a whim for under $70. I can’t say I had the time to do much in the way of due diligence and for the money decided to have a punt. I’m confident that, given what I’ve paid, it hasn’t recently been frankened and the patination (including the signed dial) is sufficiently even that I’m fairly certain all parts of the watch belong together. Trench watches were one of my first areas of interest when this illness struck over 10 years ago and, if this does come from the house of Messrs Perret & Berthoud then it will feel like things have come full circle.


The first and significant demerit is that I can't find a dial typeface in Sala to match. There are other Universal Watch according to Mikrolisk and it's perfectly possible the watch comes from one of the other makers (though perhaps not the Lahore-based company)



Statistically it's perhaps more likely that it comes from a precursor of UG but that doesn't prove a thing.





The serial number, when viewed under a loupe, looks more like 101555 rather than 131555. Given our known serial number ranges for UG this could work in terms of sequence. I've tried to research some case numbers for other early watches but wasn't able to come up with much. The silver hallmarks suggest that the case was made before 1933 as the Swiss silver standard went down from 935 to 925, bringing it in line with sterling silver. Clearly this adds up in terms of the watch's style. The bear hallmark and absence of any UK stamp suggests it wasn't made for the English market but no real surprise there (it came from a North African seller). I'm assuming that JF is the name of a case maker - there's a list of Poinçon de Maître on David Boettcher's excellent website:
https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/swisspdm.php
The emphasis is on gold case makers so not 100% helpful - the only listed name to match JF is Junod Frères. There is also some excellent information about Swiss hallmarks:
https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/swisshallmarks.php

It will go off for a service at some point in the new year and that will entail a new crystal and probably a relume of the hands. I have a new 12mm leather strap with a sterling silver buckle from David Boettcher ready to be fitted when it returns.

Any other thoughts on this one?

 

Very cool, what is the case size ?

 

I think I have seen it before but cant remember where. However there is a very similar Omega. Here it goes.

Nice catch!

 

33mm.

Just realised I omitted a movement shot.

 

Looks all original to my eyes. I’m really looking foreword to seeing this post service. David B. does a fine job with straps. Will your watchmaker stabilize the chip at 1:00?

 

Thanks.


I didn't really notice the crack at first but obviously, once I took the bezel off, it was clear.I might see if we can colour it in a bit - I did toy with the idea of getting the dial re-lumed (we have access to a very good re-lumer in the UK - James AKA Dreamboat) but have decided that's a step too far.

 

Looks nice! Congrats!

 

I believe JF may refer to Jean Finger, a case maker best known as an inventor of a hermetic (double case) design patented in the early 1920s and later adopted by Rolex.

 

You don’t want the chip turning into a visible crack.

 

Thank you - that looks to be a very interesting lead.

https://marcfellman.wordpress.com/tag/hermetic-watch/

 

Following up on a post of Mark's recently I realised that I have never updated this thread. The watch went off in the new year, just before Covid and I actually had it back by March of that year.


And on the strap from David Boettcher

Incidentally I had an exchange with David B and he agreed that it's a Jean Finger case. That's good enough for me .

 

Looks great! Congratulations, again!

 

My pocket watch from 1921 says hello:

 

My BENSON says:



PLEASE don´t destroy this rare watch !