New Discoveries

New Discoveries

Many thanks to my third cousin Frank, who made contact recently.
We both share William Bent as our 2x Great Grandfather.
Frank has supplied some great pictures of William Bent movements I didn't know existed.
Their details have now been added and the "Catalogue" continues to grow.
Thank you Frank for your permission to include the following pics.
Who knows how many more are out there, still to be discovered?





11313 - External Regulator Arm
Usually located internally, the regulator arm is used to adjust the Balance Spring to make the watch run slightly faster or slightly slower. Having the Regulator Arm in this external position would have encouraged imprudent fiddling with the adjustment, an action best left to a professional.





16701 - Note the "m" in the loop of "Bent"
Each engraver had their own personal style. Many variations of "William" exist on William Bent watches. This one is distinctive with the accommodation of the "m" within the loop of the B for Bent.





17061 - Gold hands - once housed in a gold case?
This picture clearly illustrates the correct length and style of 19th century Pocket Watch hands.
The hour hand, all but reaches the Roman numerals, while the minute hand extends to the furthest markings on the dial. The subsidiary seconds hand all but touching the seconds increments.
Replacement hands on pocket watches are often incorrect length or inappropriate style.
Original hands were either blued steel or gold. Blued steel hands make it easy to read the time and were popular in both Silver and Gold cases. Gold hands were predominantly used in gold cases.
Modern reproduced hands are often neither blued steel or gold.

Silver Hallmarks

Silver Case Hallmarks

The hallmarks found on William Bent watch cases are the most reliable means to determine the age of the timepiece.

www.925-1000.com/british_marks.html is a great reference site for deciphering English Silver symbols, date letter codes and maker’s marks.
Here we examine the silver hallmarks on two watches.

William Bent Serial # 13285

William Bent Serial # 12635
The hallmarks photographed here read as follows:

The Silver Standard Mark – the lion passant (walking lion) indicates that the solid silver case has been tested and is at least 92.5% pure silver. This is the purity mark for British Sterling Silver.

The City Mark – the leopard’s head indicates the case was tested at the London Assay Office.

(The majority of leopard’s head marks are so worn they look to me like a skull and crossbones – however 

the second watch displayed here shows an almost mint mark on watch #12635)

The Date Letter – lower case “r” for 1872 on watch #13285 and lower case “q” for 1871 on #12635.

The date letters can be read from the chart:

www.925-1000.com/dlc_london.html

The Maker’s Mark – “R.O” (not “B.O”) is for Richard Oliver, silver watch case maker, Galway Street, operating in St Luke’s, London 1864-1873 (registered 1859) www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk

The Serial Number – William Bent watches so far discovered have serial numbers ranging from 8631 to 18410 (View them in the Catalogue). Numbers are sequential, but I don't think they started at #1.
Matching serial numbers appear in five places on a William Bent watch: twice on the case; on the dial; on the movement and on the dust cover.

Rare Find

Rare William Bent Champlevé sold at Woolley & Wallis auction on 30 Oct 2013.

Serial # 13506 - 18ct gold Hallmarked for 1874.

In the History section you will see William Bent was 51 in 1874.

This beauty is a keywind & set pocket watch housed in an 18ct gold case and is unique as it is the only William Bent I have seen with a gold champlevé dial instead of the traditional white enamel.

I would love to know more about this watch and perhaps even receive some pics via email to grace these pages. (I hope the proud new owner will read this and leave a comment)

The Catalogue

Now you can date your William Bent pocket watch movement.

The catalogue which appears in the tab above is not an official list compiled by William Bent, (how I wish such a list could be found). Instead, it is a list compiled (from my research) primarily as a record of all known William Bent pocket watches and movements sold across the world.

Feel free to use the catalogue as a means of approximating the date of any William Bent movement.

Also please help to maintain the catalogue by informing me of any omissions or errors. It is by no means complete and could be more useful to everyone if we pool our information.

The dates which appear in the catalogue have been taken from hallmarks on the watch cases, but only those whose serial numbers match the movement they contain.

Unfortunately, many gold and silver cases have been sold for scrap (the prices of gold and silver being so high) leaving the watch movements orphaned and often suffering damage in the process.

Some movements have been found married up with a suitably sized case, but the serial numbers do not match. The dates from these cases have not been included in this catalogue.

Why are some serial numbers in the catalogue accompanied with an asterisk?

The majority of William Bent pocket watch movements are of the English Fusee Full-plate Lever design (like the one that is illustrated here). I have included an asterisk (*) in the catalogue to indicate those that vary from this design. These variations will be dealt with in a separate post.

This beautiful example 13392 is typical of the keywind, keyset, fusee full-plate lever design favoured by William Bent. By using the catalogue as a guide, it dates to about 1873.
These images appeared briefly on ebay in 2012.

Welcome

I am creating this blog to share all I have researched on William Bent in the hope of learning more!
I'm new to this blogging business, so it may take a little while. Please be patient and check regularly.
If you have an interest in William Bent or his pocket watches, I will be pleased to receive comments from you.
Future pages include...
Catalogue - listing of known William Bent pocket watches and movements.
History - The Life of William Bent, Watchmaker.
Examination of rarities and oddities.
Photos from around the world.
And more...