1885 Coventry Cooperative Watch Manufacturing Society Gold Pocket watch

[dkCambridgeshire]

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Before Coventry became became the hub of the English motor industry, it was one of the centres of English clockmaking / watchmaking ... but in the late 19th C. its products' prices were 'undercut' by the more efficiently manufactured Swiss, German and American watch and clock imports. Coventry was a once a thriving 'cottage industry' watchmaking city where skilled home workers made their particular specialist  watch / clock parts ... to be bought by other 'watchmaker assemblers' and added to the basic ebauche frames shipped in from other towns, e.g. Prescot, Lancs. 

In the late 19th C. many Coventry watchmakers / clock makers transferred their skills to the Coventry motor and bicycle industries ... fusee movement chains and bicycle / motorcycle chains manufacture are similar apart from 'scale'  They could earn far more making motor industry products than in watchmaking. A few watchmaking companies continued making timepieces, Rotherham's being one of the most successful ...  but they also branched out into manufacturing vehicle instruments ... e.g. speedometers, fuel gauges, rev counters etc. 

In 1876, in an effort to compete with cheaper imports, the Coventry Cooperative Watch Manufacturing Society (CCWMS) was formed and it continued to produce quality watches in relatively small numbers and with decreasing production year by year, until the early 1920s ... when due to the demise of the pocket watch and fierce overseas competition, production ceased. 

Twelve years ago I discovered a CCWMS 18ct gold case pocket watch in a pawnbroker's window; my watchmaker restored the watch and it's now a prized possession.

Hereunder is the latest photo taken earlier today after setting up in a Lastolite Cubelite with white polyester background ... using a custom white balance for the kitchen window cloudy daylight. Difficult trying to kill some of the gold case reflections so took the liberty of using a Leitz paperweight to reflect the Leitz logo into the watch case. The acrylic supports are very useful for mini studio photo set-ups and can be bought in sets of different sizes ... some are stepped with 2 and  3 levels. 

Regardless of how the 'exploded' watch was displayed, it was impossible to include both the movement and the dial ... thus set up a small mirror at 30º angle underneath the acrylic stand to reflect the dial ... and held a gold reflector above the set up and waved it back and forth during the long exposure to avoid its texture showing up in the mirror. The watch key both winds the fusee movement, and, when fitted to centre arbor in the middle of the dial,  turns the minute hand (and thus the hour hand). I've discovered that the basic ebauche frame (bare movement) was bought in by CCWMS Coventry from the John Wicherley Watch Co. in Prescot, Lancs. UK. CCWMS then finished / refinished the movement using either additional parts made by themselves' or outsourced from other Coventry 'cottage industry' watchmaking specialists .... those parts being the escapement, mainspring, enamel dial, hands and case. In this example the completed movement was fitted into an 18ct gold case made by Edwin James Walker (E.J.W.) in Coventry. The case was sent to the London Assay office for hallmarking ... hence its 'K' 1885 hallmark date. The whole watch was assembled / finished over a period of several weeks or months.    

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Leica X Vario fitted with Leitz Elpro VIa achromatic supplementary close-up lens  ... 70mm focal length macro setting ... ISO 100, 4 secs, f16 using self timer ... camera supported on Arca ball head / Manfrotto tripod. 

cont'd ... 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

 

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.. to illustrate the lighting set up and X Vario fitted with the Elpro VIa close up lens ... soft brush used for dust removal after examining magnified live view 

cont'd ... 

[dkCambridgeshire]

 

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.. close up illustrating the CCWMS movement ... one of the few surviving examples with the balance cock CCWMS engraving ... another X Vario image 

cont'd ... 

Edited October 22, 2021 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

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Another X Vario image:

Another 1885 CCWMS 18ct gold pocket watch photo to illustrate the 'sterile' (no name) enamel dial  ... dial was 'outsourced ' by CCWMS from a Coventry cottage industry dial maker.

Many English 19th C. pocket watches' dials with "makers' names" were not in fact made by the alleged maker ... jewellery and watch retailers ordered pocket watches from English and Swiss factories with their own retailer name added to the dial ... as if they had made the watch in their own workshops. The watch could actually have been assembled in e.g. Coventry or Liverpool or London's Clerkenwell watchmaking district ... and many Clerkenwell watches were made in Coventry ... or the dial alone could have been added by a Clerkenwell 'watchmaker'. Very few 19th and 20th C. British 'high street watchmakers' actually made their own watches. Even 'quality makes' such as J. W. Benson and Frodsham outsourced their watches from other watchmakers. . 

cont'd ... 

Edited October 22, 2021 by dkCambridgeshire

[dkCambridgeshire]

 

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... ... and finally another X Vario photo of the case interior showing the case maker's initials E.J.W. (goldsmith Edwin James Walker) and the London Assay Office hallmarks. The 'Crown' and the 18 (18 carat) are standard marks; the indistinct 'Leopard head' on the RHS is the London Assay Office mark; the 51785 is the case serial number. I was unsure about the Leopard head until yesterday when the Coventry Watch Museum confirmed the hallmarks must denote the London Assay Office ... the K font being in the style used by London. Due to their 20th C unpopularity, many thousands of pocket watches have been scrapped for their silver and gold value ... but it's still possible to source some quality vintage pocket watches. Railway company issue pocket watches are very collectible ... as are military pocket watches. 

BW

dunk  

Edited October 22, 2021 by dkCambridgeshire

[stuny]

A lovely set, and thanks for letting us see behind the curtain.