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<p>[QUOTE="Svenedin, post: 2425634, member: 15615"]A follow up to the OP: I have never really looked at watches like yours that closely because I am a man and I would not wear a ladies watch.......anyway, I saw several on the websites of antique watch dealers in Portobello, London selling for anywhere between £150 and £200. Admittedly these ones were a little bit later, with keyless winding, but they had near identical Swiss cylinder movements. Clearly there is a healthy market for watches like yours.</p><p><br /></p><p>PS: I noticed that you got your info about Swiss hallmarks from the vintagewatchstraps.com website. There is also some very good information on that website on how the Swiss watch industry worked pre-1900 and why it is unusual to find maker's marks on watches of that era unless they are high-end pieces. Basically, at that time, (much like the English watch industry) the manufacture of watches was highly distributed amongst dozens of different trades. Some people would make rough movements (ébauche), others would make the wheel work, others made dials and so and so on. Finally, a "watchmaker" who had probably not actually "made" any of the watch would finesse the movement (which is very skilled). Some makers would then sign the movement but often they would not and if the dial is signed it may well be the retailer and not the maker.</p><p><br /></p><p>This mode of manufacture continues to this day. The very prestigious marques like Rolex and Omega do make their own movements but many other (very expensive) watch brands buy the movements ready made (e.g. by ETA a major movement maker) and then modify them (sometimes very significantly) to their requirements.</p><p><br /></p><p>So the question "Who made this watch?" is almost impossible to answer with your watch.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Svenedin, post: 2425634, member: 15615"]A follow up to the OP: I have never really looked at watches like yours that closely because I am a man and I would not wear a ladies watch.......anyway, I saw several on the websites of antique watch dealers in Portobello, London selling for anywhere between £150 and £200. Admittedly these ones were a little bit later, with keyless winding, but they had near identical Swiss cylinder movements. Clearly there is a healthy market for watches like yours. PS: I noticed that you got your info about Swiss hallmarks from the vintagewatchstraps.com website. There is also some very good information on that website on how the Swiss watch industry worked pre-1900 and why it is unusual to find maker's marks on watches of that era unless they are high-end pieces. Basically, at that time, (much like the English watch industry) the manufacture of watches was highly distributed amongst dozens of different trades. Some people would make rough movements (ébauche), others would make the wheel work, others made dials and so and so on. Finally, a "watchmaker" who had probably not actually "made" any of the watch would finesse the movement (which is very skilled). Some makers would then sign the movement but often they would not and if the dial is signed it may well be the retailer and not the maker. This mode of manufacture continues to this day. The very prestigious marques like Rolex and Omega do make their own movements but many other (very expensive) watch brands buy the movements ready made (e.g. by ETA a major movement maker) and then modify them (sometimes very significantly) to their requirements. So the question "Who made this watch?" is almost impossible to answer with your watch.[/QUOTE]
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