An early solid gold men’s Accurist watch, with an interesting stepped case. Model reference 667.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the hallmark on the inside of the case back we can accurately date this watch to being assayed in 1950, just two years after Accurist were founded. However the personal inscription to the case back is the more obvious dating method, saying “To Bert, from Maud & Ralph Xmas 1952”.
CONDITION
Founded in Clerkenwell London in 1948, Accurist designed good watches and had them made in Switzerland to sell in the UK. Their natural rival was Rotary, but we are not talking about the modern brands here – they would also be competing with established Swiss brands like Cyma, Record, Mido and the like. The quality is far higher than Accurist watches of today. You get a 17 jewel manual wind movement from ETA, which is working well. The movement also has striped finishing, and this is a solid indicator that the company were striving to be better rather than cheapest – the only person likely to see it was the watchmaker, but they still wanted to impress them. The red seconds hand is a nice design touch, but the case is the real star here. Made by David Shackman & Sons, it would have been made in England and the movement fitted in England too to ensure the watch wasn’t highly taxed as an import (movements were not taxed as highly as complete watches). As well as the stepped sides, you also get these extended lugs. All this requires more time on production over say a stamped case, and also will use more gold too. This is a design made by a watch person rather than a bean counter. The leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour if preferred.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
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SIZE
Width with crown 32.7 mm
Width without crown 31.6 mm
Between lugs 16 mm
Lug to lug length 40.4 mm
Case Thickness 8.4 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.