doug sinclair
10-05-2004, 10:40 PM
Joan,
Welcome to the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors Message Board. The NAWCC is an international organization of approximately 28,000 members in 175 chapters located world wide. The NAWCC is made up of members whose interests span the complete spectrum of time and timekeepers. This message board is sponsored by the NAWCC and has over 4,200 registered members, and about an equal number non-registered who post regularly. The message board is free of charge to all who list, both member and non-member. Why not bookmark this site and come back regularly?
Now, to your watch. English watches were produced by sort of cottage industry, with many specialty manufacturers producing the parts that went together to produce the finished watch. Kind of a division of labor system. Someone would produce a design for a movement, and parcel out the plans to these specialty manufacturers who would produce parts according to the plans. Someone else would buy all the parts required to make a watch from these manufacturers, and finish what he could, then turning the watch over to someone else to finish another section of the work. The final act would be to engrave the name of the retailer on the movement. So, as you can see, the list of people involved in making an English watch would read like the directory of a small town.
Even the highly regarded makers in England whose names as watchmakers are readily recognized, produced many of their watches this way.
You might want to see if F. Rosenthal appears in a city directory from that era. It won't tell you who made the watch, but you might be able to learn something about the retailer.
Welcome to the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors Message Board. The NAWCC is an international organization of approximately 28,000 members in 175 chapters located world wide. The NAWCC is made up of members whose interests span the complete spectrum of time and timekeepers. This message board is sponsored by the NAWCC and has over 4,200 registered members, and about an equal number non-registered who post regularly. The message board is free of charge to all who list, both member and non-member. Why not bookmark this site and come back regularly?
Now, to your watch. English watches were produced by sort of cottage industry, with many specialty manufacturers producing the parts that went together to produce the finished watch. Kind of a division of labor system. Someone would produce a design for a movement, and parcel out the plans to these specialty manufacturers who would produce parts according to the plans. Someone else would buy all the parts required to make a watch from these manufacturers, and finish what he could, then turning the watch over to someone else to finish another section of the work. The final act would be to engrave the name of the retailer on the movement. So, as you can see, the list of people involved in making an English watch would read like the directory of a small town.
Even the highly regarded makers in England whose names as watchmakers are readily recognized, produced many of their watches this way.
You might want to see if F. Rosenthal appears in a city directory from that era. It won't tell you who made the watch, but you might be able to learn something about the retailer.