Surfaced in Scotland

Serial Number: 13976

Sold on the internet today, 30 Oct 2015, another William Bent movement in Scotland.

It is quite remarkable how many William Bent's have been discovered in Scotland.

This one has a 44mm diameter white enamel dial (some damage to the dial exists, consistent with having been roughly torn from its original gold or silver case)

I do hope the proud new owner will share some pics with us...

Another Discovery!

William Bent serial number 16417
English fusee full-plate lever; Dial Diameter 45mm.
Having been removed from its original case, this movement has been refitted in a Birmingham silver case of suitable size, in order to protect it from damage and to preserve this fine example of hand made craftmanship.

The white enamel dial is in very fine condition with only a tiny hairline at 5 o'clock.

Shared with us thanks to Cynthia in British Columbia, Canada...
She wrote...
'My grandfather, O.T. Holdcroft, was apprenticed as a watch maker in England, later moving to Canada in 1910. He farmed until 1930 and then went back to watch repair during the depression. This watch was something that he had in his shop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It says "Fitted up" by O.T. Holdcroft in Calgary, Alberta, March 1933.'
'The one gold hand makes me think that it well might have been stripped of its gold case, so sad. But my grandfather worked on it in March of 1933 and it was still in his shop when he died on January 1, 1950.'

Consecutive Serial Numbers

...but so dissimilar in design.

William Bent serial number 16595 and serial number 16596.
Son of a shoemaker, William Bent was apprenticed to the watchmaker John Orton in Clerkenwell, which was the watchmaking capital of England in the 1800s.
These were days when every man, regardless of his station, carried a pocket watch.
The watchmaking industry was booming, the 1880 Trade Directory (which was the forerunner of the telephone book) lists thousands of tradesmen involved in the watchmaking industry in London.

During this time, America and Switzerland were both introducing mass production techniques into watchmaking, an approach that England was slow to adopt, still relying on the old method of piecework.
Without electricity, thousands of workers in their homes, each specialised in the manufacture of an individual component. Fusee chains, for example, are constructed of figure eight links, riveted together like a bike chain. The links were hand punched and riveted usually by children, because of their keen eyesight; the finished chain no thicker than a piece of string.

Therefore it would appear William Bent did not craft each watch from raw materials, neither did he have a factory employing hundreds of men.
Instead he collected the components and assembled a watch to the customer's requirements, then employing the services of independent specialists to make the case and to engrave the movement and dust cover to his specification.
This explains the disparity in the watches shown above.

Serial number 16595 is a small, full hunter, key wind, key set, silver cased pocket watch,
whereas...
serial number 16596 is a large, open face, key wind, key set, gold cased pocket watch.

William Bent serial numbers have been traced to as high as 18410 with many differing designs, whereas, Waltham USA serial numbers go to hundreds of thousands, and they are mostly identical.

Visit the Gallery

This blog now has a Gallery.

The Gallery contains images of known William Bent watches.

These photographs, collected from around the World, are arranged in Serial Number order.

Find the new tab labelled Gallery above.

Unique Find

William Bent, in his lifetime, was involved in the development of the mechanical pocket watch seeking an ever more accurate timepiece. It was an era of innovation when many design ideas were tried and tested.
A rare example of innovative design is this movement, Serial Number 9503, which dates to the early 1860s.
Below are three photos which compare the 9503 with Serial Number 16183 (from about 1870 and much more typical of the full-plate fusee movements found in key wind movements)


The "Rim" dust cover protects the gap between the two plates.
Compare with the full dust cover which offers overall protection.


Dust covers removed.
Compare the solid balance wheel with the bi-metal, double split, compensated balance.


White enamel dials removed to reveal motion work.
The complicated additions on 9503 are an early key-less time-setting device, to adjust the position of the hands without having to open the glass and turn the hands with a key fitted to the cannon pinion.
Very early for its time, so probably experimental. A unique find!

Family Heirloom

Thank you to Neville in South Africa for sharing these photos of his beautiful 52mm, 18carat gold, William Bent open faced pocket watch. Serial Number: 11821; Hallmarked "m" for 1867.


It is interesting to note the signature on the dial "William Bent London" is printed in an Italic style Script font. This is a feature unique to this watch as on all other examples recorded, it is printed in a Serif font like Times New Roman.
Perhaps a study of the various signatures, that have been collected, could be the topic of a future posting.

Signed "William Bent London" - printed in Script.

The 18 carat gold case is decorated with an engine turned pattern with a vacant cartouche. The pattern shows little sign of "pocket wear" for its age.
Opening the case, the cuvette bears an elaborately engraved inscription, presenting the watch to Neville's Great grandfather in 1870 as an expression of respect from his Scottish farming community.

Hallmarks inside the case show...
The crown for British standard.
The "m" date letter for 1867.
The leopard's head for London Assay office.
"18" for 18 carat purity (75% solid gold).
The serial number 11820 that appears inside the case matches the serial number on the dial
indicating the watch is in its original case.

Thank you again to Neville for sharing his family heirloom with us. Naturally, it is not for sale and because of the inscription engraved inside, its value is priceless to his family.

Please contact Philip if you have a William Bent pocket watch you would like to share.
This site is dedicated to those who have an interest and appreciation for fine craftmanship of a time gone by.

Birmingham Sham

If it Sounds too Good to be True...



Bidding in online auctions is not something I regularly participate in, but after reading the auction catalogue, I believed I had uncovered the holy grail!
The Auction House described the item as follows...

#16858
"A Victorian silver key wind open face pocket watch signed William Bent, the white dial with hourly applied Roman numerals, bordered by a minute track, subsidiary seconds dial to six o`clock, round case with milled band, engine turned decoration and vacant cartouche to the rear, hallmarked Birmingham 1897, fitted with a full plate fusee and chain movement with ratchet tooth lever escapement. Case diameter 51mm."

It was the 'Birmingham' that caught my attention and certainly struck me as a little odd! William Bent lived and worked his whole life in London; all his watches I have ever seen were hallmarked in London. It started me thinking that maybe this might be the only one of his watches that had in fact been assayed in Birmingham? Could this watch be that rarest of the rare?

The photographs provided by the auction house unfortunately didn't show all the detail; the auction was to go live, online within hours; it was impossible to physically inspect the item, so a decision had to be made. Was I to pass up an opportunity to obtain perhaps the rarest William Bent watch of all time? No! I had to have it; I had confidence in what is a reputable auction house and ultimately, my curiosity made the decision for me.

Online auctions are a very cold affair really, the auctioneer stirs up the bidders in his practised monotone and bids are shown on your screen. Green if you are winning; red if you have been outbid. Clicking the "Bid Now" button as quickly as is possible is required to stay in front and keep the bid green.

Eventually, the hammer fell on my final bid and I had won this rare item. However, having won the watch was only the beginning, money would have to be transferred and then it would take weeks before the item found its way across the world to my hands. It was during this time my curiosity and doubts continued to grow!



When the watch finally arrived, I was very keen to get to the bottom of this anomaly.
On initial inspection...
Yes, the solid silver case revealed the anchor hallmark depicting Birmingham, but that's where the authenticity ended!
The serial numbers of the case and the movement did not match and the dial size was not correct for this case.



On opening the bezel, the sad truth was revealed. It became clearly obvious that the genuine William Bent movement herein had suffered irreparable damage having been ripped from its original case in a most undignified manner. The hinge of the movement and the white enamel dial had both been unnecessarily damaged beyond repair.

Unfortunately, so many William Bent solid gold and solid silver cases have been stripped for scrap, leaving the movements sadly damaged, left naked without their cases.

In defence of the Birmingham case, I guess it could be argued that someone was trying to protect this genuine William Bent movement by finding a suitable silver case in which to preserve it.



This begs the question, what options exist to preserve a William Bent movement we may have purchased that has been separated from its original case?

I took the very first William Bent movement I ever bought to an old watchmaker and he suggested we find a nice silver case for it. He couldn't find one, and to this day I have never found a suitable one of that particular size.

We must be aware that because these watches were made before mass production, standard sizes are rare and interchangeable parts are almost non existent. Besides, the original case would have been stamped with the same serial number as the movement, making it an impossible task to find a duplicate.

I have recorded the dial sizes of all the William Bent watches we have discovered so far in the Catalogue and you will note the extensive range of measurements that exist.

I know this story is not an isolated case and perhaps examples of alternative housings could be the subject of a future posting?

Opening a Pocket Watch

Key wind, Key set, Pocket Watch - Open Face design.

Press the button on the top of the pendant, the rear cover will swing open 90 degrees.
To wind the watch, insert key and turn anticlockwise.

Step 1.

Lever under the lip at 1 o'clock to open the front bezel.
You can use a Case knife, but avoid a sharp blade which may damage the case or injure yourself.

The front bezel hinges at 9 o'clock and can swing open to 90 degrees.
Time may be set by placing key on centre and turning the hands.

Step 2.

Depress the spring clip with the thumb nail.

The movement swings on a hinge at 12 o'clock. Avoid contact with the watch hands!

Step 3.

Slide retaining clip by pushing raised nib to the left with thumb nail.

Lift Dust Cover gently off the two retaining pins to reveal the balance.