You might be interested in this listing if you want to add a pocket watch to your collection.
This is a fantastic 1940s Tavannes/Cyma Canadian pocket watch. It has been completely serviced, has a new mainspring, and runs like a top. Hodinkee sold the same watch and provided an excellent description:
"Tavannes may not be a name many collectors have heard; it's a bit of a deep cut. The brand traces its roots back to 1891 and became prominent in the first few decades of the 20th century, an era of watchmaking often overlooked by vintage collectors today. By 1938, Tavannes advertising materials touted its production and sale of over 30,000,000 watches – yes, 30 million watches. After a fire destroyed some of the brand's manufacturing facilities in 1940, Tavannes focused on working behind the scenes of Swiss watchmaking by producing movement calibres and even whole watches to be signed and marketed by other brand names. Tavannes' involvement as the maker of many early JLC Reversos is the best example of this third-party manufacturing. The brand also worked with names like Hermès, Dunhill, and Zenith.
This pocket watch is triple-signed by Tavannes on the movement, case, and dial, and it likely dates to the late 1930s or early 1940s, when the brand was at its height. Accompanying the Tavannes dial signature is a lot of text and a bit of a story. Text wrapping around the upper portion of the dial hints that this pocket watch was given as a gift to an employee of 25 years' time at Abiti Power & Paper Company, Limited. This firm operated out of Montreal and was at its height in the first half of the 20th Century. Furthermore, a retailer's signature is found above the sub-seconds dial. Mappins is a Canadian jeweller still operating today and traces its roots back to the famed UK-based Mappin & Webb. All of this matches up, with Candian company, a Canadian jeweler, making this undoubtedly a Canadian Tavannes pocket watch. The inside caseback is signed by Cyma, a sister company to Tavannes that is believed to have been created by executives as it was shorter and easier to say than Tavannes.
Beyond the story, the look of this watch is genuinely stunning. We were thoroughly impressed by the multilayered dial with its ring of copper tone and the overall finishing of this example. It has a great look in the metal. The curvature of the text at the top of the dial is striking and integrated very well into the watch's design. The cherry on top for this Tavannes is the handset, we've been calling them "skyscraper hands" around the office as they remind us of the shape we saw on a recently sold Longines Conquest Power Reserve.
The Fine Print
Maker: Tavannes
Model: Pocket watch
Reference: N/A
Year: 1940s
Material: 10k gold filled
Dimensions: 42.5mm diameter; 9mm thickness
Crystal: Plexiglass
Lume: No
Caliber: Tavannes, manually-wound, caliber 587
Box/Papers: No
The service was $375.00. The Hodinkee watch sold for $1200 USD.
I am asking for a modest $500 plus shipping.
This is a fantastic 1940s Tavannes/Cyma Canadian pocket watch. It has been completely serviced, has a new mainspring, and runs like a top. Hodinkee sold the same watch and provided an excellent description:
"Tavannes may not be a name many collectors have heard; it's a bit of a deep cut. The brand traces its roots back to 1891 and became prominent in the first few decades of the 20th century, an era of watchmaking often overlooked by vintage collectors today. By 1938, Tavannes advertising materials touted its production and sale of over 30,000,000 watches – yes, 30 million watches. After a fire destroyed some of the brand's manufacturing facilities in 1940, Tavannes focused on working behind the scenes of Swiss watchmaking by producing movement calibres and even whole watches to be signed and marketed by other brand names. Tavannes' involvement as the maker of many early JLC Reversos is the best example of this third-party manufacturing. The brand also worked with names like Hermès, Dunhill, and Zenith.
This pocket watch is triple-signed by Tavannes on the movement, case, and dial, and it likely dates to the late 1930s or early 1940s, when the brand was at its height. Accompanying the Tavannes dial signature is a lot of text and a bit of a story. Text wrapping around the upper portion of the dial hints that this pocket watch was given as a gift to an employee of 25 years' time at Abiti Power & Paper Company, Limited. This firm operated out of Montreal and was at its height in the first half of the 20th Century. Furthermore, a retailer's signature is found above the sub-seconds dial. Mappins is a Canadian jeweller still operating today and traces its roots back to the famed UK-based Mappin & Webb. All of this matches up, with Candian company, a Canadian jeweler, making this undoubtedly a Canadian Tavannes pocket watch. The inside caseback is signed by Cyma, a sister company to Tavannes that is believed to have been created by executives as it was shorter and easier to say than Tavannes.
Beyond the story, the look of this watch is genuinely stunning. We were thoroughly impressed by the multilayered dial with its ring of copper tone and the overall finishing of this example. It has a great look in the metal. The curvature of the text at the top of the dial is striking and integrated very well into the watch's design. The cherry on top for this Tavannes is the handset, we've been calling them "skyscraper hands" around the office as they remind us of the shape we saw on a recently sold Longines Conquest Power Reserve.
The Fine Print
Maker: Tavannes
Model: Pocket watch
Reference: N/A
Year: 1940s
Material: 10k gold filled
Dimensions: 42.5mm diameter; 9mm thickness
Crystal: Plexiglass
Lume: No
Caliber: Tavannes, manually-wound, caliber 587
Box/Papers: No
The service was $375.00. The Hodinkee watch sold for $1200 USD.
I am asking for a modest $500 plus shipping.