# Mount Royal Watches: Joining Up the Dots



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

I bought a couple of rather nice large-size mechanical 17-jewel hand-wind Mount Royal wristwatches some time ago, and had a look at the Mount Royal brand and its history. My own watches come from the most recent iteration of the Mount Royal brand, as an accompanying name to the company producing Jean Pierre Swiss-made watches. In fact, Mount Royal is now most closely assocted with relatively inexpensive but reasonable quality pocket watches using Chinese mechanical movements, and I would expect my Mount Royal wristwatches to also contain Chinese movements. The brand does include a few quartz wristwatches, including Masonic examples, but mechanical wristwatches seem to have been abandoned while the pocket watches go from strength to strength.

What I find intriguing is that the Mount Royal name was used at an earlier time, as a brand name for a number of Swiss-made mechanical multi-jewelled watches. Also, there is another brand out there - Mountroyal - also currently producing wristwatches, and this brand is perhaps not linked to Mount Royal. Finally, to confuse matters, there is a further brand, with watches marked Mount Royale - once again with probably no connection to Mount Royal. I just wonder if a member of the forum has an interest in the older Mount Royal wristwatches, and can join up the dots to provide a timeline for the Mount Royal name, from the vintage watches to the modern Mount Royal watches, including my own examples.

Modern Mount Royal quartz Masonic wristwatch (pic from pocketwatch.co.uk)










Modern Mechanical Mount Royal pocket watch (pic from battery.co.uk)










Vintage Mount Royal automatic wristwatch - what relation is this watch to the modern Mount Royal watches? (pic from wristwatchesmart.com):










The movement in the above Mount Royal watch (pic from wristwatchesmart.com):










Movement in a vintage Mount Royal wristwatch - the movement marked, "21 jewels, Swiss Made, Adjusted" (pic from relic-watches.com):










Mount Royal/Jean Pierre advertising page, showing the chrome version of my two Mount Royal 17-jewel watches - middle row, far right (pic from timetips.org):


----------



## Muddy D (Nov 16, 2013)

Cheers Honour, a good read. Not a brand I've heard of before, I feel you've educated me on something again!


----------



## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

Interesting Honour......the Boz bought me a Jean Pierre pocket watch........



It was a lot more expensive than Mount Royal versions, but is solid and an excellent time keeper. I am a bit dubious about the Swiss connection but I would have thought it should be reasonable quality for just under 200. 

The watches aren't cheap either, and they do a line in Masonic watches.

Good review....Thanks.


----------



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

Yes, the Mount Royal brand is a bit of a conundrum. It's always nice to see a decent pocket watch on the forum, so thanks for that Rog. I just wondered if you had opened the case and had a look at the movement of the Jean Pierre.


----------



## RWP (Nov 8, 2015)

No obvious way in Honour, and as a new watch beyond me :laugh:


----------



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

Thanks Rog - I realised as soon as I had mentioned this that I myself wouldn't really want to poke about in a brand new and rather nice watch.


----------



## GrahamButler (Aug 18, 2016)

> I bought a couple of rather nice large-size mechanical 17-jewel hand-wind Mount Royal wristwatches some time ago, and had a look at the Mount Royal brand and its history. My own watches come from the most recent iteration of the Mount Royal brand, as an accompanying name to the company producing Jean Pierre Swiss-made watches. In fact, Mount Royal is now most closely assocted with relatively inexpensive but reasonable quality pocket watches using Chinese mechanical movements, and I would expect my Mount Royal wristwatches to also contain Chinese movements. The brand does include a few quartz wristwatches, including Masonic examples, but mechanical wristwatches seem to have been abandoned while the pocket watches go from strength to strength.
> 
> What I find intriguing is that the Mount Royal name was used at an earlier time, as a brand name for a number of Swiss-made mechanical multi-jewelled watches. Also, there is another brand out there - Mountroyal - also currently producing wristwatches, and this brand is perhaps not linked to Mount Royal. Finally, to confuse matters, there is a further brand, with watches marked Mount Royale - once again with probably no connection to Mount Royal. I just wonder if a member of the forum has an interest in the older Mount Royal wristwatches, and can join up the dots to provide a timeline for the Mount Royal name, from the vintage watches to the modern Mount Royal watches, including my own examples.
> 
> ...


 I've got my dad's Mount Royal. It's automatic and dates from the sixties (or maybe a little earlier).

Lovely watch.


----------



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

Thanks for that Graham - I've only just been able to respond now so apologies.


----------



## GrahamButler (Aug 18, 2016)

Hi @Always"watching"

Did you make any headway with your Mount Royal quest?

I'd post a photo of mine if I knew how to.


----------



## Redwolf (Jun 15, 2010)

Thanks honour.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## Tarek Saleh (Sep 8, 2020)

Hey there, I know I am 4 years late to this conversation but I´ve recently purchased a blue dial 17 jewel mount royal watch. I live in Argentina and a vendor on MercadoLibre (an online retailer) was selling many of these watches for dirt cheap prices so I naturally acquired one. These watches are technically brand new as they have never been used before (New Old Stock) and it really bewilders me that this vendor has dozens of them in Argentina (assuming its a swiss brand). Upon opening the watch to service it, I discovered that the incredibly small hand-woven mechanical movement contains no markings of any type, which has led me to believe that we are dealing with a cheap chinese movement. The watch itself also lacks any indications of where it was made so my best guess is that we are dealing with a chinese or italian watch brand that went out of business many years ago.

The vendor has its own website: https://www.eltrustjoyero.com.ar/

Photo of the watch:

https://ibb.co/0tVSRF0

Mercado Libre article: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-625360188-reloj-mount-royal-vintage-70-nuevos-cuerda-acero-azul-gtia-_JM#position=2&type=item&tracking_id=f07d5aac-17a4-4562-a32b-83f8bed6575a


----------



## Balaton1109 (Jul 5, 2015)

Always said:


> I bought a couple of rather nice large-size mechanical 17-jewel hand-wind Mount Royal wristwatches some time ago, and had a look at the Mount Royal brand and its history. My own watches come from the most recent iteration of the Mount Royal brand, as an accompanying name to the company producing Jean Pierre Swiss-made watches. In fact, Mount Royal is now most closely assocted with relatively inexpensive but reasonable quality pocket watches using Chinese mechanical movements, and I would expect my Mount Royal wristwatches to also contain Chinese movements. The brand does include a few quartz wristwatches, including Masonic examples, but mechanical wristwatches seem to have been abandoned while the pocket watches go from strength to strength.
> 
> What I find intriguing is that the Mount Royal name was used at an earlier time, as a brand name for a number of Swiss-made mechanical multi-jewelled watches. Also, there is another brand out there - Mountroyal - also currently producing wristwatches, and this brand is perhaps not linked to Mount Royal. Finally, to confuse matters, there is a further brand, with watches marked Mount Royale - once again with probably no connection to Mount Royal. I just wonder if a member of the forum has an interest in the older Mount Royal wristwatches, and can join up the dots to provide a timeline for the Mount Royal name, from the vintage watches to the modern Mount Royal watches, including my own examples.
> 
> ...


 Sorry, Honour. I was totally unaware of your 2016 *Mount Royal* dissertation until another member "de-necrotised" the thread.

If it's of any interest, here's what I posted on 25th June this year about my own Mount Royal, along with the accompanying images. As you'll see, my superficial research didn't get very far.

*"Today, a 1950s relic of the Jewel Wars, this Mount Royal running on a Felsa 4002 pimped to 80 jewels, probably 25 of which are broadly functional and 55 which, er, aren't.*

*The most likely maker of this curiosity would have been the original Choisi company of Geneva (Est. 1928) long before its demise and later reactivation in 2013 by some business interests based in Singapore.*

*I've never seen another one and sometimes wonder how many survive today or, indeed, were ever made". *

Regards.


----------

