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posted
Here are a couple pictures of an Omega pocket watch I got a few months ago. At first glance it's a nondescript 15-j in an 0.800 silver case. The case is slightly wider than an American 16 size case but the movement looks to be about 12 size or so.

 
Posts: 676 | Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee USA | Registered: December 08, 2002
posted
Here's the dial size with the bezel removed, notice how thick the center portion of the case is. The serial number indicates production about 1923-1925. The name on the dial intrigued me so I used Google, the National Geographic Atlas, and a Rand McNally Atlas from the early 1940's to look for a place called Estrella del Norte. I had no luck with that and thought that it probably came from Mexico or some other Spanish-speaking area of South America.
Yesterday I tried the name "Levy Hermanos" in Google and found plenty of information. The Levy Hermanos Foundation has been a generous benefactor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A company called Levy Hermanos was prominent in the Philippines during the early years of the 20th century; they were very active in law cases before the Supreme Court in Manila. This is where I found a reference to a case between them as "La Estrella del Norte" and the estate of someone who had previously used the name Estrella... There was also a link to the Cornell University Library web pages with a scan of a page from a book "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malay", Wright Arnold, 1908. The page had a picture of the Levy Hermanos business in Singapore and the text gave a list of their locations including Manila. Shanghai, Port Arthur, and others. The page also indicated that Levy Hermanos was an agent for Omega watches. So, my watch was sold by Levy Hermanos at a store called Estrella del Norte in Manila sometime around 1925. I bought it from someone in Kansas and wonder how it got there. Makes me think of the Wizard of Oz.

 
Posts: 676 | Location: Oak Ridge, Tennessee USA | Registered: December 08, 2002
posted
Star of the North or North Star! Levy Brothers!
 
Posts: 767 | Location: Los Osos, California USA | Registered: December 12, 2002
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