Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket Watch - John Bennett, London, 1880
- Maker / attribution
- Mr John Bennett (Maker)
- Date
- 1880
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London, Middlesex, England, Great Britain
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne
- Accession / object no.
- ST 46057
- Catalogue title (original)
- Pocket Watch - John Bennett, London, 1880 (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number ST 46057), this is a pocket watch by Mr John Bennett, made in London, Middlesex, England, Great Britain, dated 1880. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Summary — Museums Victoria
Gents pocket watch, silver case, John Bennett, London, circa 1880. This watch was originally purchased by George Coleman, the great-grandfather of the donor, in 1881 from John Bennett, watchmaker at 65 & 64 Cheapside, London. He paid 6 pounds, 9 shillings and 6 pence for the watch. After he died in 1933, the watch was then passed down to his son Harry Coleman, who kept the watch until his own death in 1946. At Harry's death, the watch was passed to Harry's son George Harry Coleman, who had it until 1972, when he died, and the watch was passed on to his sons, the donors. A receipt issued by John Bennett, London, on 26 May 1881 to Mr. Coleman, Ealing, for the purchase of the watch is registered at HT 3537.
Physical description — Museums Victoria
White enamel open face dial with roman numerals. Seconds dial at 6. Outside of case has engineered decorative marking. Silver fob chain and brass and silver key. Key wound spring; lever escapement.
Inscriptions & marks
Inside back of case has London hallmark for 1880 (leopard head in oblong with capital E inside shield), sterling standard hallmark (lion passant) and maker's mark 'P.W.' Dial marked 'John Bennett London'. Back plate marked 'Maker to the Royal Observatory John Bennett 65 & 64 Cheapside London', surrounding a crown encircled with rays. More recent marking, 'G.H. Coleman 1933 Grandfather's Watch'. Box inscribed in gold "John Bennett Watchmaker and Goldsmith 65 & 64 Cheapside London/ Manufacturer to the Royal Observatory, to the Queen & the Hon Board of Ordnance."
Provenance
Donation from Mr John Coleman, Mr James Harry Coleman, 28 Sep 2001
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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