Following on from Rev-O ’s Coventry Watch Museum post, hereunder some pics of my
"Coventry Co-operative Watch Manufacturing Society" 18ct gold cased
pocket watch.
The watch was discovered in a damaged state in a Peterborough
pawnbroker’s window 13 years ago. Mark Wiles F.B.H.I. (Antique and Modern, East Barnet, N London)
restored the watch in 2009; Mark initially thought it was a Georgian timepiece.
In the early to mid 19th C., Coventry watchmaking / clock making was a thriving industry but gradually
went downhill following imports of cheaper Swiss and American clocks and watches. In an effort to compete with
cheaper imports and to maintain production of quality timepieces, the Coventry Co-operative Watch Manufacturing Society was formed
in 1876. This 1893/4 fusee pocket watch is a very fine example of a CCWMS timepiece … and one of the few to have been engraved on the
balance cock with CCWMS.
The Assay Office hall mark is indistinct but is likely Chester … the style / font of the K date mark
does match the1893/4 Chester date mark. I am planning to take an infra red photograph of the
Assay Office mark to see if IR will reveal some more distinct ’stamp’ detail.
In 2010 Paul Shufflebotham, Chairman, Coventry Watch Museum advised on another forum regarding CCWMS:
"Coventry Co-operative Watch Manufacturing Society
was set up in 1876 when they register their trade mark.
They were working at 35 Mount Street Chaplefield Coventry until 1900
Then at Stanley Terrace until 1918 when ceased trading.
The CCWMS was one of the founding members of the Co-operative Union which is still
going today.”
Cheaper late 19th C. American and Swiss imports coincided with the growth of the Coventry bicycle and motorcycle industry which evolved into the Coventry motor industry.
Watchmakers' and clock makers’ skills transferred easily to some of the requirements of the bicycle / motor engineering industry … e.g. fusee chains and bicycle chains are similar apart from ’scale’ .
BW
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Originally Posted by magirus
