# French watch.



## hartley353 (Nov 8, 2013)

Besancon. A city in eastern France famous as the birth place







of Victor Hugo, and the Lumiere brothers. At one time this was the center of French watch manufacture employing 20,000 people.

The cathedral is home to an astronomical clock using over 30,000 mechanical parts. This pocket watch was probably a souvenir buy for one of the many visiting tourists.

The watch face along with the city name, carries the statement Queen of watches. The whole watch is adorned with engraving, now showing pocket wear, but the watch keeps time still.


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## aball28 (Aug 27, 2018)

Lovely looking piece, especially the hands.


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear @hartley353, you may be aware that a gold plated "La Reine des montres" pocket watch rather like your own though with simpler hands is extant bearing the helpful inscription, "A. C. June,1923," also with the initials "AC" in the caseback shield. This watch, shown here below, has the serial number 57919 and a movement signed "GC" (pics from assets.catawiki.nl):




























The brand, "La Reine des montres" is often associated - by virtue of marks on the dial of some (La Reine des montres) branded watches - with Jean Benoit, although I am not sure if he was merely a retailer/repairer of these watches as opposed to an actual manufacturer. Here is a Christmas advertisement by Benoit for 1917 (pic from i.ebayimg.com):










Another brand name associated with Jean Benoit pocket watches is "Chrono Start" and judging by the number of surviving examples of Benoit-produced/sold being sold online, his firm seems to have been popular supplier of pocket watches in the earlier, pre-World War Two, 20th century.


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## Roger the Dodger (Oct 5, 2009)

That's lovely...I sometimes wish I'd kept all my PWs... :sadwalk:


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