Style: Art Nouveau
Circa: 1917
Case: Unusual LONG Sterling Silver case with George Stockwell London Import Hallmarks from 1917. The two piece case is hinged at 12:00 with winding crown at 6:00. Nicely curved back. Measures 40mm excluding crown and hinged lugs and is 17mm wide. 10mm strap.
Dial: Original factory printed "Exploding" numbers dial with red 12. Classic Art Nouveau design. Unsigned.
Movement: Extremely rare and unusual 15 Jewel Swiss made form style manual wind movement which echos the shape of the long case. The watch is wound and set using the winding crown at 6:00. Nice Geneva strip decoration. Unsigned.
This rare and unusual watch from 1917 is a classic example of the creative engineering and design that was typical in the early years of the wristwatch. Most likely fashioned in reaction to the now famous Movado Polyplan of the same basic style, this is a wonderful attempt at forming the watch to fit the wrist. The classic Art Nouveau dial has even wear but still looks great, especially the fancy red 12. A rare and important piece of watchmaking innovation from the early days of watches on wrists.
Note: Although this watch has been fully serviced and is keeping relatively good time, we do not recommend it as an everyday wear wristwatch. These early experimental movements were fantastically creative, but not very practical in terms of long term wear. One reason why so few were produce, making them so rare today. Because of this, the watch will not carry our standard warranty for timekeeping within 2 minutes/day but is guaranteed to at least work for the full 90 day time period. It is a true collectors timepiece, an important artifact in vintage watch history.