From as soon as there were shops that sold watches and jewellery, the terms “watchmaker and jeweller” were commonly used by high street retailers. Most people would assume that someone who described themselves as a watchmaker actually made watches. The term “watchmaker” must be one of the most abused in the English language. The practice in Britain until the mid-1920s was that it was the retailer's name that was put onto watches. If one watchmaker didn't want to put the retailer's name on the watches he made, the retailer could go to another watchmaker who would. English watchmakers were many and usually quite small operations, so the retailer had the stronger hand.

It was high street retailers who sold watches to the public, and they didn't want anyone's name other than their own on the watches that they sold. The person who controlled the process of finishing the watch was called the watchmaker, even though they usually didn't actually make or finish a single part of the watch themselves.īut the people who made watches didn't usually sell them directly to the public. Making a watch was divided broadly into making the main parts by the movement maker, the case maker, the dial maker, etc., and “finishing” which involved bringing all the parts together. 189190 Clamshell Waterproof Watchĭon't assume that a name engraved onto the movement of an English watch indicates who made it usually it doesn't.Īlthough in the earliest days of watchmaking there were individuals who made complete watches, by the end of the eighteenth century a division of labour had occurred so that there were dozens of specialists involved in the making of a watch. Bocks and Rams: IWC and Stauffer Trademarks.New product: Leather and Sterling Alberts.Savonnette and Lépine Watches and Cases.Bears Galore! Three Bears and 0♹35 Silver.Borgel 2: Taubert & Fils and Taubert Frères.Borgel 1: François Borgel and Louisa Borgel.Straps for Vintage Fixed Wire Lug Trench Watches or Officer's Wristwatches

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