# Vintage Zenith



## HHHH (Jul 28, 2008)

I have had this old Zenith lying around for a couple of years now without knowing anything about it. It is not my thing and way outside my limited knowledge of watches but today I decided to see if I could find out anything about it but have not had too much success. So I wondered whether I could tap into the enormous font that is TZ to see if there is anything interesting to be found?

This is the watch..










A solid silver case with what I think is a porcelain dial.

the movement..










Which is stamped with Zenith, Swiss made and the serial number 2353734










The inside of the case back has Dennison Watch case stamped in it with the number 427755










The Hallmark is a lion, an anchor and what looks like either a V or Y.



















The last bit is very worn and difficult to photograph.

It also has a rectangle with ALD stamped in it

Googling the hallmark I believe the case to be from Birmingham (the anchor)and made in either 1920 (V) or 1923 (Y).

The confusing bit is the ALD which the hallmark site identified as A.L Davenport Ltd, from Birmingham, but this company was not established until 1927 and the case is clearly marked Dennison, or are they all part of the same company?

It has other numbers marked in the case back too, but engraved/scratched rather than stamped.

They are R270, R274 and the number 20102876. Would these signify anything or are they some sort of service marks?

Someone i showed it to referred to this as a trench watch, can anybody confirm that or shed any light please?

Thanks

Howard


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Hi, fabulous watch by the way......... :man_in_love:

Yes Aaron L. Dennison is the watch case maker. He was one of the three founders of the American Waltham Watch Company, the company fell on hard times and he sold up, moved to Birmingham and started making cases here, where later he won a contract to make all the cases for the Walthams coming to the UK, thats why there are a lot of Silver Walthams with "ALD" as the case maker.

Which goes to show, it's not what you know, it's who you know that gets you along in life! :friends:

Aaron Dennison died in 1895 although the company continued to run, i do not know if they changed the name to "Davenport" though....... i would not have thought so as "Dennison" was "THE" trademark or tradename...... like Hoover, the original Mr. Hoover is long gone but the name lives on......


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## HHHH (Jul 28, 2008)

Thanks for the info.

i'm guessing that in the world of hall marking perhaps companies are not given unique 3 letter abbreviations and that it just happenend that there was an A.L Dennison and an A.L Davenport both producing precious metal products in Birmingham during the same period.


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## Mechanical Alarm (Oct 18, 2010)

TZ ? ? ! ! ! !


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## HHHH (Jul 28, 2008)

Mechanical Alarm said:


> TZ ? ? ! ! ! !


D'oh! posted in both for maximum exposure and forgot to edit! Sincere apologies to all.


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Well yes there might have been........ although they may have used different type font or embossed in a circle to differentiate between the two..........

Today if someone already has those initials or logo you can't have it and you will have to come up with something else.

Hope that helps......


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## aroma (Dec 11, 2009)

It's a Dennison case alright - Dennisons continued making cases for many of the 'big names' right up until February 1967 when the company went out of business. Watches with Dennison cases usually command a premium as they are a lot heavier than the Swiss manufactured ones.


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## HHHH (Jul 28, 2008)

thanks for all the info gents.


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