# Services Watch



## Vorlan

[No message]


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## mach 0.0013137

I don`t no what`s gone wrong with your photos but you`ve peaked my interest :wink2:


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## Vorlan

sorry about this post I was trying to put a picture in as you can tell I am a newbe 

Can anyone give me any information about this watch, I acquired for Â£10


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## mach 0.0013137

Nice one & not bad for Â£10. It was made for the Services Watch Co., Ltd.,Leicester in the mid/late 1930s by Thiel Brothers of Thuringia Germany. Below is a similar vintage Services catalogue which shows a `Chrome` (bottom left). It was fitted with an unjeweled pin-pallet movement & there was an identical model called the `Colonial`










BTW, if you need to get it serviced contact Steve Burrage at Ryte Time Watch Repairs (check Google), he`s worked on all my Services watches & used to work for the company. :thumbsup:

,


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## Vorlan

Thanks for the reply and info, I couldn't find any thing at all on the internet. The watch is in perfect working order and keeps good time.

Very interested to learn it was made in Leicester, as I live in Leicester !


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## mach 0.0013137

I used to live in Leicester & have been researching the company for a few years, not an easy task but you might find these notes of interest...

The Services Watch Co., Ltd was founded in Leicester by a Frank Liquorish sometime in 1926/27, it was dissolved on 26/11/2002 although I gather from Steve Burrage who used to work for the company that Services watches stopped being produced in the late 1970s.The company never actually made watches themselves instead they either had them made by other firms or bought parts in which were then assembled in the Services factory.

The earliest Services watch I`ve so far come across was made in 1927 using a 15 jewel movement made by the Fleurier Watch co., Switzerland it was fitted into an Edinburgh hallmarked silver case. However during the early years & up to WWII one of their main suppliers appears to have been Thiel Brothers of Thuringia Germany who made complete watches (pocket & wrist) for them. At first these appear to have been marked on the dial as `German Made` changing over to `Foreign` or `Foreign Made` probably by the end of the decade. So far the German Services watches of this period I have come across seem to have simple but sturdy unjeweled pin-pallet movements. In addition to Thiel Brothers sometime in the early/mid 1930s Services appear to have begun sourcing watches from The Oris Watch Company Switzerland this arrangement continued into the 1950s. There may have been other suppliers but I can not confirm that at this time, some were marked as being `Swiss Made`others were like those from Thiel were marked `Foreign`. Despite the company name I have so far not come across any indictation that Services watches were actually issued to any members of the armed forces although some `Transport` models were used by the Air Raid Precaution wardens during WWII.

Initially after the end of WWII the company continued to source from Switzerland (the Oris Watch Company), these for some reason continued to be marked as `Foreign`. Possibly due to restrictions on importing `luxury` goods during the early 1950s Services switched to UK based suppliers such as Louis Newmark Ltd., Perfect Works,Stafford Road, Croydon, Surrey (marked Made in England`) & later by the Anglo-Celtic Watch Co.Ltd., Gurnos Works, Ystradgynlais, Wales when they are usually marked as being `Made In Gt Britain` (or similar).While most Services watches from this period used un-jewelled movements there were a few 5 Jeweled models. From around the early/mid 1950s Services again began sourcing from abroad, their range including a chronograph using a 17 Jewel Venus movement (there had been at least two other Swiss made chronographs made in the 1930s). From the 1950s until Services ceased production they produced watches sourced or using parts from Switzerland, Britain, France, East & West Germany, Russia & Hong Kong.


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## mach 0.0013137

Just been checking my notes & here`s some additional information....

Model names

Albany

Airman

Air Wrist

Aerist

Army (pocket watch)

Caller

Cambridge

Chrome

Competitor

Colonial (wrist & pocket watch)

Continental

Challenge

Charnwood

Court

Croydon

County (pocket Watch)

Coventry

Daventry

Despatch Rider

Diplomat

Divisor

Diane

Droitwwich

Eton

Exel (alarm clock & pocket watch)

Esquire

Gatwick

Golf

Goodwood

Hatfield

Harrow

Heston

Henley

Hendon

Hollywood

Hockey

Indian

Indian Army

Jubilee (1935 George V)

Keston

Ladies Sports

Malvern

Marine

Naval

Navigator

Neptune

Ontime

Oxford

Radley

Reading

Recall

Regatta

Repton

Rossall

Scout

Senior (pocket watch)

Severn (pocket watch)

Sherwood

Sports

Tennis

Thames

Tourist

Transport

Winner

Windsor

Winchester

Wimbledon

Yale

*Movements used *

Cupillard

Felsa 4007N 25 jewels

A. Schild cal.1187 15 jewels, circa mid 1950s.

BIFORA

ETA

Emes

Fleurier

Ronda

EB Bettlach cal.8020 & 8800

Wotania ltd

Oris

Venus

Thiel Bros (pre war)

UMF/UMK (post war)

Kienzle

Moljina

Newmark

Smiths/Ingersol

Standard

Remix (Hong Kong)

Glashutte Spezmatic (VEB GlashÃ¼tte Uhrenbetrieb)


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## chris l

Mach,

when are you going to produce a book on the history of the Services Watch Company?

We're waiting...


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## Vorlan

Would it be fair to say you have a slight interest in services watches


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## mach 0.0013137

chris l said:


> Mach,
> 
> when are you going to produce a book on the history of the Services Watch Company?
> 
> We're waiting...


Finding information on both Services & it`s sister company Aviation is really difficult so I doubt I`d ever get enough to write a book even if a publisher would produce one, I remember the negative reaction from publishers to a book on the history of the Soviet Motorcycle Industry* I was co-authoring in the late 1980s :thumbsdown:

*which btw took over eight years to work on :sadwalk:

I am hoping to get a dedicated Services & Aviation website set up but it`ll have to wait as there`s so much work needs doing on my house :hammer:


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## mach 0.0013137

Vorlan said:


> Would it be fair to say you have a slight interest in services watches


Some might say that


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## scottswatches

mach 0.0013137 said:


> chris l said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mach,
> 
> when are you going to produce a book on the history of the Services Watch Company?
> 
> We're waiting...
> 
> 
> 
> Finding information on both Services & it`s sister company Aviation is really difficult so I doubt I`d ever get enough to write a book even if a publisher would produce one, I remember the negative reaction from publishers to a book on the history of the Soviet Motorcycle Industry* I was co-authoring in the late 1980s :thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

How about Wikipedia? and forget publishers these days for any special interest books - Amazon will let you self publish e-books.

And i work for a publisher - we are left with either textbooks or celebrity tosh that is guaranteed to sell. No room for anything in the middle now


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## mach 0.0013137

Hmmm, something to think about, thanks :thumbsup:


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## jasonm

Scotts right, ebooks are easy to do apparently ..... Also small run 'vanity publications' as I think they are called are doable, a member of my family had one done on one my interesting Great Great Grandmother, the run was only 20 books I think ( we all had to buy one lol )

I bet you could even print one yourself seeing how much printers and software have advanced in recent years, just the binding to sort and your away.....


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## JoT

I love the way the dial just says "Foreign" .... those were the days :lol:


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## JoT

jasonm said:


> Scotts right, ebooks are easy to do apparently ..... Also small run 'vanity publications' as I think they are called are doable, a member of my family had one done on one my interesting Great Great Grandmother, the run was only 20 books I think ( we all had to buy one lol )
> 
> I bet you could even print one yourself seeing how much printers and software have advanced in recent years, just the binding to sort and your away.....












Mac's printer being moved into his new house .... maybe not so easy 

.

.


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## chris l

JoT said:


> I love the way the dial just says "Foreign" .... those were the days :lol:


 A British newspaper headline from the '30's; "Fog in Channel; Continent isolated". (A regular weather forecast in Britain at that time...)


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## mel

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Vorlan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Would it be fair to say you have a slight interest in services watches
> 
> 
> 
> Some might say that
Click to expand...

Vorian, I'll say it, Mach's too modest, he's probably the world's leading expert on Services watches - and he's not getting any of mine :rofl2:


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## mach 0.0013137

mel said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vorlan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Would it be fair to say you have a slight interest in services watches
> 
> 
> 
> Some might say that
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Vorian, I'll say it, Mach's too modest, he's probably the world's leading expert on Services watches - and he's not getting any of mine :rofl2:
Click to expand...

Edinburgh`s not that far away Mel & BTW isn`t it about time you & Mrs.Mel took another holiday?  :lol:


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## Vorlan

Thank you kindly for the information, any idea on the value ? did I manage to at least double my outlay of a tenner ?


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## mel

Vorlan said:


> Thank you kindly for the information, any idea on the value ? did I manage to at least double my outlay of a tenner ?


Probably you did, but not if Mach and me'sen have anything to do with it - - we'll both tell you it's a scrapper and offer you a pound note top whack ! :lol:


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## mach 0.0013137

Vorlan said:


> Thank you kindly for the information, any idea on the value ? did I manage to at least double my outlay of a tenner ?


Difficult for me to say as Chromes don`t come up that often & don`t seem to be as popular as for example the `Army` or `Colonial `models but you might get more then you paid for it, as we say on the forum: "A watch is worth what someone is willing to pay for it."



mel said:


> Vorlan said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you kindly for the information, any idea on the value ? did I manage to at least double my outlay of a tenner ?
> 
> 
> 
> Probably you did, but not if Mach and me'sen have anything to do with it - - we'll both tell you it's a scrapper and offer you a pound note top whack ! :lol:
Click to expand...

Behave Mel, I`m trying to be nice here


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## Vorlan

Once again thank you for your information, It's nice to know it has some sort of history.

Looking at the movement from an engineers point of view, which i am, I find it amazing

that something with so many small parts can still work let alone keep good time after 80 years


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## mach 0.0013137

In case you`re interested this box would go with your `Chrome` Vintage Services Pocket Watch.

The watch it`s being sold with is from the 60s/70s & was made for Services by Smiths/Ingersoll in Wales :wink2:


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## andynap

Hi

If it's any help, please find below an image of a Services watch I was given as a birthday present in 1965. Still going fine!


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## andynap

Sorry, forgive, copied into wrong posting


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## andynap

Hi

If it's any help, please find below a Services watch that was given to me as a birthday present in 1965/8. Not a very good photo, I'm afraid. The face says "17 Jewel Incabloc, Swiss Made". It's still going strong, without ever being serviced!


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## mach 0.0013137

Thanks, it looks like one of these...

*Services (Navigator) `Swiss Made`EB cal.8021 17 Jewels, circa late 1960s*










Nice watches & one of the few Services I`ve so far come across with a stainless steel case B)


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## Regox

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I am hoping to get a dedicated Services & Aviation website set up but it`ll have to wait as there`s so much work needs doing on my house :hammer:


When this happens, let us know, dare say between the members on this forum we've got photos of almost every Services watch.


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## mach 0.0013137

Regox said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am hoping to get a dedicated Services & Aviation website set up but it`ll have to wait as there`s so much work needs doing on my house :hammer:
> 
> 
> 
> When this happens, let us know, dare say between the members on this forum* we've got photos of almost every Services watch.*
Click to expand...

Thanks I `ll bare that in mind but I would be amazed if it were true, for an almost forgotten brand Services seemed to have been very prolific  :wink2:


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## Regox

Also, your watch list is missing at least one:

Services Chronograph, Swiss made. Please forgive the tape on it, arrived with loose glass, haven't been to jewellers with it. Also, can anyone tell me what the dial at the 9 is for? Dial at 3 appears to be second hand, and second hand on dial appears to be stopwatch for calculating MPH.



Spoiler


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## mach 0.0013137

I`ve been after a good example of one of those for sometime, I recently missed this one due to being short of cash :sadwalk:

As seen in this Services catalogue from the late 1930s...


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## Regox

Hehe....mach...about that auction... I may have some info about the winner..


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## mach 0.0013137

Regox said:


> Hehe....mach...about that auction... I may have some info about the winner..


It`s amazing how you can really go off people you`ve never met :disgust:

Of course all could be forgiven if you ever decide to let it go :friends:


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## kerry10456

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Regox said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am hoping to get a dedicated Services & Aviation website set up but it`ll have to wait as there`s so much work needs doing on my house :hammer:
> 
> 
> 
> When this happens, let us know, dare say between the members on this forum* we've got photos of almost every Services watch.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks I `ll bare that in mind but I would be amazed if it were true, for an almost forgotten brand Services seemed to have been very prolific  :wink2:
Click to expand...

I've got a "Services" Disney watch I haven't seen anywhere else but mine. I collect "Character " watches and have a Mickey Mouse Pocket watch marked "Services Disney". Any idea of the date of manufacture?


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## kerry10456

kerry10456 said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Regox said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am hoping to get a dedicated Services & Aviation website set up but it`ll have to wait as there`s so much work needs doing on my house :hammer:
> 
> 
> 
> When this happens, let us know, dare say between the members on this forum* we've got photos of almost every Services watch.*
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks I `ll bare that in mind but I would be amazed if it were true, for an almost forgotten brand Services seemed to have been very prolific  :wink2:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've got a "Services" Disney watch I haven't seen anywhere else but mine. I collect "Character " watches and have a Mickey Mouse Pocket watch marked "Services Disney". Any idea of the date of manufacture?
Click to expand...

Sorry new to this forum and can't seem to fiqure out how to attach photo of same. I'll read the help pages again and see if I can do something else.


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## Regox

Hang on Kerry, I already have a copy of your watch saved... is this it?:










If so, we're not sure about it. Got any pics of the movement?


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## kerry10456

Yes, this is it and the movement will be posted shortly, Well I hope it will. I think if I save it to MSN or Yahoo, I can post it then.


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## kerry10456

Thank You Regox for the posting of this photo. And want to take the time to say, I'm enjoying this forum. I'm new here, but I really love a good timepiece and It seems there are several things to be learned off of this site. Thanks again for steering me towards this forum.


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## kerry10456

kerry10456 said:


> Thank You Regox for the posting of this photo. And want to take the time to say, I'm enjoying this forum. I'm new here, but I really love a good timepiece and It seems there are several things to be learned off of this site. Thanks again for steering me towards this forum.


Sorry , every time I try to upload photos, Error, not allowed to use this feature. So here's link to same,also added a "Smith" Donald Duck pocketwatch to the album. Hope this will post. http://s1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd415/kerry10456/Disney%20Pocket%20watches%20English/


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## Regox

Try using imgur, it's extremely easy to use, and then just paste the link they give you. It should look something like [img.]linktoimage[/img.] (Minus the .) . Failing that, if you send it to me, I'll stick it up.


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## kerry10456

Regox said:


> Try using imgur, it's extremely easy to use, and then just paste the link they give you. It should look something like [img.]linktoimage[/img.] (Minus the .) . Failing that, if you send it to me, I'll stick it up.


That's not the problem, I have not been giving the usage yet. I have limited access, I can't view member profiles (including my own),post photos or add a photo to my profile. The administator must grand me these options first. Hasn't happened yet.


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## Regox

Eh, I don't even have these permissions yet, and I joined october last year. Shouldn't stop you inserting BB-codes though


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## mach 0.0013137

kerry10456 said:


> kerry10456 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thank You Regox for the posting of this photo. And want to take the time to say, I'm enjoying this forum. I'm new here, but I really love a good timepiece and It seems there are several things to be learned off of this site. Thanks again for steering me towards this forum.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry , every time I try to upload photos, Error, not allowed to use this feature. So here's link to same,also added a "Smith" Donald Duck pocketwatch to the album. Hope this will post. http://s1218.photobu...ches%20English/
Click to expand...

You just need to click the `*IMG code*` below your image then right click in your post & press `paste`...


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## kerry10456




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## c.griff

Hi, I have posted on this site as i have a services Indian Army watch. It has a paper dial (i'm told), is all original and working. The new strap has been made to make it wearable and to extend its life. Don't know much more about it other than it was a Great Grandparent's.


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## mach 0.0013137

Well, if anyone does know any more about this watch or the company I`d certainly be very interested to hear :yes:


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## Nigel Kibble

​
*I've a collection of 46 Services watches including some boxed and adverts from the 50s and 60s and have gained **a lot** of information from* *mach 0.0013137 in this feed. I am unable to send mach a message on here so my email is [email protected]*

*It would be great to chat chat with him or anyone else who has **information** on Services and Aviation watches. I live just 15 minutes away from where they produced their watches and have been **interested** in finding anything out about them.*

*I am thinking of approaching the **in Leicester Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester to see if they would be interested in me displaying my collection with a brief history of Services let me know if you have any additional **information** which would be useful to me.*


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