Hello

I am new to your site and also to pocket watches. Received some watches from my mother in law. One is marked H.E. Peck London Swiss Movement. It has two key slots. As I understand. One is for winding, the other for adjusting the hands. I am assuming that this is a common watch but would appreciate any information on age and any other information on this someone might have.

Bruce.

Here is the back

Here is the movement -Sorry for blurriness. No markings on the movement

Bruce, H.E.Peck was a retailer of watches, so it's possible yours was originally a UK import.

If you can check for hallmarks on the case domes, and post a photo, it'd helps us provide more info as to whether it was a UK import of a Swiss watch, or an imported Swiss cylinder movement cased up in the UK by an English casemaker.

I'd guess the age of it to be around 1880 or so, give or take a decade either way, but any hallmarks would help.

Best regards

John

Hello Bruce and Welcome to IHC185, it is good to have you as a new member.

Sometimes these early English watches are a pickle to identify. John is the best at doing this type of identification. The hallmarks that John refered to are generally located on the inside of the watch case lid....if there are any hallmarks at all. If at all possible, take a few pics of the inside of the case.

Again, Welcome to IHC185, you will find this to be a very user friendly site and you will be amazed at the information & services that is so freely given by the membership....

Regards,
Jerry

Thank you all for such a wonderful welcome. I did a lot of reading from this web site last night and it is truly an amazing hobby. A super way to look a bit into the past. This watch is all intact. Don't have a key so do not know if it works. I have someone in our town that does clock and watch repair and will be having him take a look to see if it can be made functional.

Here is a picture of the inside of the case. Appears to be two standing lions. Face of the watch does say Swiss Made.

The case is very dark. Any thoughts on what the finish is?

I did find Peck, Henry Edward of London listed on the Historical Clock & Watch Research Page. It says he was a retailer from about 1890 to 1910. Census shows him in 1891 and again in 1901 as a watchmaker and jeweler at 127 Wilberforce Rd. Hornsey.

Here is a better picture of the movement. Very plane and without markings.

Good photo's of the hallamrks and movement Bruce, thanks for putting them up for us.

They're Swiss hallamarks, the two standing bears are also copied in the smaller shield just under the 0.935 grade mark.
0.925 is Sterling Silver, but 0.935 is a common grade used on imports.

Which also answers another question, the case is solid silver, so a good silver dip cleaner plus a careful polish will bring it up a treat.
Take the movement out first though!

The movement is a Swiss Cylinder type.
These commonly stop running usually when fully wound.
It will have a blued steel mainspring fitted - unless someone's changed it for a later alloy type, and which gets weak and 'set'. When fully wound, doesn't have enough grunt to get the train transmitting enough power to impulse the balance.

You may find it will tick for a few seconds if rocked gently to get the balance moveing.
Not too hard though, if you hear a 'pinging' noise, back off, it's the banking pin on the balance rim hitting the stop under the balance cock. (you can just see the pin on the bottom of the balance near the case edge).
This prevents the edges of the cylinder hitting the back of the escape wheel teeth and busting stuff.

Peck may have imported the whole watch, or, depending when trading laws eased, may have imported the movement and case individually.
There was a huge import tax imposed upon complete watches, so the Swiss and importers got around this by importing the bits in 'Kit' form when the tax didn't apply.

Hope you get it running again, let us know what your watch guy makes of it!

Best regards

John

Most appreciate the response John. Tried the rocking movement but do not see or hear any action in the mechanism. Should know in a week or so if this watch is usable.

In reading the posts on this web. It appears that the swiss made a lot of mechanisms and cases and others may have put them together, finished them with their name on the dial. Mr. Peck did list on the face "Swiss Made". That may also have been a requirement.

I always thought that "Swiss Made" indicated a high level of quality for a watch. In my readings, it appears that the Swiss just were able to put out watches of a good quality in mass.

Bruce, let us know the verdict your repairer arrives at with it!

I'm inclined to think that putting 'Swiss Made' on the dials back then, was more of a fashion statement than a legal requirement.

Anything remotely 'Foreign' to the UK general public in the early 1900's would have appeared a touch 'exotic', especially as travel was a preserve of the wealthy, class distinction being well and truly alive until WW1 which changed society forever.

I think you nailed the Swiss situation pretty good with that succinct 'one liner', but I confess to having reservations where the term 'good quality' is applied, because some of their mass produced watches (pin pallet for instance) were pretty darned awful to be honest, (strictly a personal observation BTW) and even eBay buyers that have turned being a 'cheapskate' into an art form, turn their noses up at them.

What the Swiss probably did get right, was beating their competitors on lower price and bigger volume, and have a fairly aggressive marketing machine that convinced the buying public that Swiss was best.

Of course we all have our own ideas on that!

Personally, the only new watch I ever bought was a Citizen Quartz, so they didn't get it all their own way ..............

John