Please help identifying this Hy Moser & Cie Pocket watch

[Shur]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here and no collector, i dont know much about watches either. So i'm calling for help on this.

I have a Hy Moser & Cie 14k (56) pocket watch. I can't find much about it (all other on the net look slightly different) so I hope someone can help.
I have contacted Moser, but they couldn't help me since they dont seem to have the logbooks with Serial No's and all.
The watch is from my mother in law in Russia, since Moser had a factory there, i thought it must be Russian. But other Russian Mosers have cyrillic, this one just alphabetic.

Info on the watch (pics below)

Echappement A Ancre (this has something to do with the anchor-system?)
Marque Deposee (?)
15 Rubis (15 jewels)
Qualite Blondel (the maker is Blondel? anyone knows when he was active?)
No. 78310 (are there non-official databases for this, couldn't find one)
Dial: Roman numbers (I have seen many others so far, but only mine has the H.M. 'shield' inside the XII, maybe that can say some about the period it was made in?)

Was it normal that French was being used in Russian watches?

It's missing the glass and two hands, not sure if the movement still works, it looks a bit dirty.
I dont have other pictures now since the watch isn't with me here.

Thanks for any answers and help.

Below are the (so far only) photo's.

 

[MartyR]

Welcome to the board, Shur

The watch was definitely made by Henry Moser. The following (from Mikrolisk) is the trademark (registered in 1882) shown on the cuvette:



Mikrolisk says Moser operated in Le Locle, Switzerland and St Petersburg, Russia at that time, although it is not clear whether the Russian operation was amnufacturing or just sales. "Marque deposee" means "registered mark" and refers to this trademark.

"Quakite Blondel"is also a registered trademark of Henry Moser, registered in 1896. Moser seems to have used a large number (at least 12) of noted watchmakers' names as trademarks (Lepine, Boutte and Tobias amongst others) and I can't help thinking that these were intended to deceive buyers. Certainly that use of other names would not be legal today! I guess is that the different "qualites" would denote a higher or lower grade of watch, in which case Blondel would be a lower one as he would be less well known than many of the others!

"Echappement ancre" means "anchor escapement" which would be viewed as a better quality lever escapement than the earlier traditional cylinder escapemenet favoured by Swiss makers.

Itv was pretty standard procedure that Swiss watches were inscribed in French, so I would be fairly sure that your watch was made in Le Locle, but possibly then sent to St Petrsburg to be sold. The "56" that you refer to is the Russian assay mark for 14K gold, which demonstrates that the watch was intended to be able to be sold in Russia.

The Blondel inscription shows that the watch was made from 1892, perhaps as late as 1910. I believe that the Henry Moser company continued to make watches through the 1940s and perhaps later.

Yours is an average quality watch with a typical 15 jewels. Apart from some staining on the movement plate it seems to be in pretty good condition.

 

[hornbee]

I can't find much about it (all other on the net look slightly different) so I hope someone can help.

Hi,

In addition to MartyR's post:

'Qualite Blondel' is a part of an early Moser quality gradation used during ~1860-1910. Besides 'Blondel' there were 12 other adopted names specifying the quality.
Basically, the names are covering only two main groups of Moser watches - lower grade and middle grade.
The upper grade and premium Moser watches of the period carry no extra names and signed simply: H. (or Hry, Hri, Henry, Henri) Moser.

In the beginning of XX century Moser&Cie dropped this name-gradation and became using Russian alphabet letters to differ the classes of all their watches and movements (including those of premium quality).

The shown watch belongs to 'entry level' and dates to ~1890-1900s.
Its movement most likely was produced by a contractor company. Moser sourced lower and middle grade movements massively from Fontainemelon, Aubert freres, LeCoultre&Cie, etc.

Middle grade watches bear the inscriptions: 'Qualite Monard', 'Qualite Salter', 'Qualite Boutte', 'Qualite Tobias', 'Qualite Mole', "Qualite Bridel'.
Entry level includes: 'Vernez', 'Robert', 'Fleury', 'Maret', 'Blondel', 'Lepine'.

Moser has been placing these vicarious names on the cuvettes (and even on the dials) since 1850s. At first, they served as trademarks and a marketing dodge. After becoming associated with a corresponding quality within Russian market, all were adopted as official gradations of Moser quality.

 

[Kayvan]

I have the same watch that I got from my grandfather. Is there a way or a place I could take this watch to get it serviced. I really am looking to get it Professionally polished to make it look brand new

 

[Tom McIntyre]

I have the same watch that I got from my grandfather. Is there a way or a place I could take this watch to get it serviced. I really am looking to get it Professionally polished to make it look brand new

Welcome to the NAWCC Message Board.

If you can tell us where you live we can tell you how to contact watchmakers as opposed to jewelers in that area. Some of the folks here will probably try to discourage your desire to get it "polished" but it can certainly be made to look "well cared for."

If you do not mind sending the watch by registered mail, there are specialists who can do the work also.

 

[Dr. Jon]

On small bit, most of the Russian upper class people spoke and read French, sp French engraving was fone for Imperial Russia

 

[Kayvan]

Welcome to the NAWCC Message Board.

If you can tell us where you live we can tell you how to contact watchmakers as opposed to jewelers in that area. Some of the folks here will probably try to discourage your desire to get it "polished" but it can certainly be made to look "well cared for."

If you do not mind sending the watch by registered mail, there are specialists who can do the work also.

Hi Tom, Thanks for getting back to me. I live in Vienna VA. This watch is very sentimental to me, I am kind of hesitant to mail it. That said I am willing to drive and hand deliver it. Do you know anyone in the Washington DC Metro area (VA, DC, MD) that specializes in doing this work? Thanks