$6,325
Tiffany & Co. , New York, No. 90275. Produced in the 1920s. Very fine, keyless, minute-repeating 18K gold pocket watch. Accompanied by original fitted box and "Winchester : An Anerican Legend" by R. L. Wilson, book signed to T. G. Bennett’s, Grandson, Tom, with the watch shown on page 9. Four-body, "bassine", solid, polished, gold hinged cuvette engraved: T. G. Bennett, 423 Prospect St., New Haven, Connecticut. White enamel with painted Breguet numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary sunk seconds. Blued steel "spade" hands. Cal. 19’’’, rhodium plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 27 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet Balance-spring, repeating on gongs by activating slide on the band.Dial, case and movement signed.Diam. 53 mm. Notes Thomas Gray Bennett Was the son-in-Law of Oliver Fisher Winchester and the President of the gun-making firm Winchester Firearms and Ammunition W.R.A. & Co. made famous by his father-in-law. Having worked for W.R.A since 1870, Bennett would retain the presidency for the next 21 years, and the company, under his leadership, would almost grow to quadruple its size. Bennett ushered in the age of modern firearms with automatic, "repeating" mechanisms when he made an historic journey out to the Wild West to buy the manufacturing rights to gunmaker John Moses Browning’s designs. The Browning partnership made the gunmaker famous and ensured that the name of Winchester Firearms
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-09-22
