Robert Morrill & Co. Geneva pocket watch

[oldstuffrules]

I obtained an antique pocket watch made by Robert Morrill & Co. Geneva and after doing some thorough Googling I can't find any information about this company. The watch is over 100 years old. It's beautiful and still works. Does anyone know about Robert Morrill or his company?
https://mb.nawcc.org/webkit-fake-url://ACE7A1EC-3D84-4D25-BCE4-5097C09AA6E7/image.tiff

 

[Squite]

All I could find relating to a jeweler of the period was a Morrill Brothers that was part of a meeting in New York of the National Association of Jobbers in American Watches in January 1894 in this Jeweler's Circular article.

I have to be honest, Morrill to me is not exactly a Swiss sounding name. I'd be willing to bet that your watch may have been labelled for retail and exported from Switzerland to either the US or Britain. If it were Swiss made for the Swiss market, it wouldn't be labeled 'Geneva', it would be labeled 'Geneve'.

 

[oldstuffrules]

Thank you for your research and astute observations. Is it possible that the watch was made in Geneva and marked Geneva not Geneve because it was strictly made for export? I have heard that a lot of Swiss watches were made strictly for export.

 

[Squite]

Thank you for your research and astute observations. Is it possible that the watch was made in Geneva and marked Geneva not Geneve because it was strictly made for export? I have heard that a lot of Swiss watches were made strictly for export.

That was the implication of my previous post, was that it would have been made in Switzerland expressly for export to the English speaking market, and that is the reason it is labelled Geneva in English as opposed to 'Geneve'.

This also helps to possibly explain the reasons that we can't seem to find any information regarding a maker named Morrill in the coffers of the Swiss records (which are scant anyway), while the only connection to the name contemporary to the watch is to a jeweler in the US.