Ascot Antique Clocks

Description

Case size 20mm X 38mm excluding crown.

Strap size 16mm.

A 1930s 18ct gold cased Doctors watch by West end watch company. The case having Swiss mark and stamped 18K and numbered along with W (West end watch Co). The high quality movement having makers stamp W and numbered the same as the case.

1930s gold-cased doctor’s watches, often described by collectors as “duo-dial watches,” are among the most distinctive wristwatches produced during the Art Deco era. Their unusual dial layout—combining a small hour-minute dial with a large, prominent seconds sub-dial—was designed to help physicians measure a patient’s pulse and respiration quickly and accurately.

Many manufacturers produced watches of this type during the late 1920s and 1930s, including Rolex, Longines, Gruen, and Vertex. Another maker that produced similar examples was the West End Watch Company, a Swiss brand known for manufacturing durable wristwatches for international markets. The watch described here follows the same medical-watch concept and features a rectangular Art Deco case with an oversized seconds register, together with an 18-carat gold case bearing Swiss hallmarks.

The West End Watch Company was founded in 1886 by Alcide Droz & Sons of Saint-Imier, Switzerland, with the name inspired by London’s West End district by their Bombay representative M. Arnold Charpié.During World War I, British and Indian soldiers traveling from Bombay to Mesopotamia were issued West End watches.

In 1917, the company became Société des Montres West End SA in Geneva, and the Sowar sub-brand was registered. In 1934, it was the first brand to introduce the Incabloc anti-shock system.

In 1973, the company was sold to Aubry Brothers Ltd of Noirmont, Switzerland, after the original owners had no heirs.