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A wonderful World War 1 era sterling silver "Land & Water" high-grade trench style wristwatch by Zenith of Switzerland, retailed by Birch & Gaydon of Fenchurch Street in London around 1917. This beautiful early example is certainly an early example, and quite possibly a prototype due to movement details. It has that perfect vintage feel with much of its original luminous still in place including in its gothic style hands which contrast on the black enamel dial perfectly. Housed in an early "dust-proof/moisture-proof" two-piece case with screw-off Borgel style bezel, the watch measures just over 35mm in diameter excluding that awesome large onion style crown which made winding with gloves on easier back in the day. Inside we find a superb high-grade, 15 jewel Zenith movement freshly serviced here at Meticulous and keeping great time. The inner case is correctly signed with Glasgow Assay Office import stamp, the Zenith ZWC signature and all of the correct Sterling silver hallmarks. A truly beautiful high-grade WW1 era timepiece retailed in London by Birch & Gaydon for the famous house of Zenith.
David Boettcher of vintagewatchstraps.com helped with my research of this watch and has written a superb article detailing many aspects of the history of Birch & Gaydon and there relationship with Zenith, along with many fascinating details specifically about the Land & Water series of timepieces. A fascinating read you can find here.
Circa: 1917
Style: Military, Early wristwatch
Case: Solid sterling silver case measuring 35mm in diameter excluding the original crown with a screw-off style bezel creating a dust proof seal onto the monoblock case back. These were advertised in 1917 as "moisture proof" as well as "dust-proof", but in truth they have no gaskets in the seals of the case so really can only be considered dust proof by modern standards. Inside the case is fully signed and hallmarked including a ZWC sponsors mark, 0.925 for sterling silver and the Glasgow Assay Office Sterling mark and letter dating it to 1917-1918. The original "unbreakable" crystal has some crazing, but is in overall excellent, honest condition for this example.
Dial: Stunning factory original black enamel dial with orange radium filled hour numbers, with a sub-seconds dial at 6 and signature that reads Birch & Gaydon Ltd, Fenchurch Street, London, Land & Water, Swiss Made. Excellent overall condition with only a couple of minor hairlines only visible under magnification, with no chips or obvious imperfections to the eye.
Movement: Here is where it gets interesting. The high quality, 15-Jewel, micro-regulator Zenith movement in this watch is not the typical caliber used in the production of this model, but one that is a few years older with a serial number dating its original production to approximately 1913/1914. I would usually suspect a miss-match, but the "feet" of the original enamel dial are perfectly placed and soldered on the back specifically to fit the intended calibre of movement, which they do, proof that the movement is almost certainly original to the dial and watch. Therefor I believe it is quite possible an older movement was pulled from stock to create this early prototype example of the Land & Water series, as later versions were manufactured using the Zenith Calibre 10 to 13 NVSI series of movements. It is a superb quality Zenith in-house designed and manufactured calibre, manually wound with 15 jewel a fancy micro-regulator on the balance and a blue over-coil Breguet hairspring. It was just freshly serviced here at Meticulous, is keeping great time and comes with our full 1-year mechanical warranty, ready to wear! Just a bit of corrosion visible on the ratchet wheel to note.