A long cased tank watch from France’s leading watchmakers at the time, Lip, with the benefit of a solid gold case and the T18 movement.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the London hallmark on the inside of the case back we can accurately date this watch to being assayed in 1949.
CONDITION
Lip history goes back to 1867, and they have had an interesting history. They became France’s biggest watchmakers, and had technical and design highlights such as electronic watches, the Nautic-Ski, and the MACH 2000, but also had industrial disputes in the 1960’s and 1970’s that pretty much closed the factory. Now they have been revived and new Lip models can be bought from them, including a tank watch in steel called the T18 at €1,990. But this watch we have is in precious metal, not steel, and has their T18 movement inside – a T18 model was offered to Winston Churchill as a token of appreciation from France too. This is a manual wind movement with subseconds, which is running well. The movement still has its snug dust cover too, stamped MADE IN FRANCE. The dial has been restored in the past, but presents well. The acrylic crystal has a few light marks. The gold case is made by DS&S, so will have been made in the UK and then the movement imported – post war there were high duties applied to complete gold watches, so many companies had their movements and dials cased in the UK to legally avoid the duties. The leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour or material if preferred. The watch is signed on the dial, case and movement.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail. All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.
SIZE
Width with crown 22.7 mm
Width without crown 20.7 mm
Between lugs 17.5 mm
Lug to lug length 38.0 mm
Case Thickness 10.6 mm
All sizes are approximate. The watch is photographed on a wrist of 190mm/7.5 inches.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.
From 1st September 2021 we will be planting a tree for every watch we sell, working with the International Tree Foundation (Est 1922) to make this business positive on carbon. By buying anything pre owned you are effectively reusing what already exists, but this takes it further and makes us feel good.
