West End Watch Company - Appreciation thread and fan club

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

The military collection

A Secundus issued to the British Army stationed in India

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

A Matchless issued to the Civil Service

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

A Sowar Prima C.S.(I)

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

Longines C.S. (I), a watch mentioned by Konrad Knirim in his book on military watches. West End Watch Co was the largest importer of Swiss watches which were however distributed under its own brand

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

WEWCo was the largest importer of Swiss watches which were however distributed under its own brand, such as this Mido and Longines

these were sometimes recased in more weather-resistant cases

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

A WeWCo Sillidar

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

A WeWCo Secundus

Source: https://omegaforums.net/threads/west-end-watch-co-from-india-with-love.124164/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

West End Watch Co - Ruling the Roost.


West End Watch Co. , is one of the oldest Swiss watch brands and one of the few that has been in continuous operation for over 120 years. Nearly 15 million watches bearing the West End Watch Co. brand have been sold worldwide, particularly in India with its 100,000 Queen Anne watches.

Like Favre-Leuba, whose sales agent it was in Bombay, the West End Watch Company had made its reputation among Anglo-Saxon soldiers during the First World War thanks to the 50,000 watches purchased by the army to equip its troops, such as the camel corps of TE Lawrence , known as Lawrence of Arabia, or the first pilots of the Royal Air Force. It also distributed Zenith watches and was the first importer of Jaz alarm clocks in Bombay and Calcutta.

In addition to Favre-Leuba and Zenith, West End Watch Co marketed in India brands such as Tissot, Longines and Omega under its own name, such as this ladies' watch, on the right, stamped West End Watch Co. From then on, it was logical that Louis Gustave Brandt, co-founder of JAZ and co-director of Omega with his cousins, all descendants of Louis Brandt, founder of this other Swiss watch brand, would call on the same importer to distribute his Jaz alarm clocks in South Asia.

Now reissued, Gandhi's alarm pocket watch was a silver Zenith, sold by the Favre-Leuba boutique to a friend of the Mahatma who gave it to him. Until the 1960s, the destiny of the Zenith, Favre-Leuba, West End Watch Co and Jaz brands were closely linked on the Indian subcontinent: see the article we devoted to the Sifco Jaz Favre-Leuba factory and the giant alarm clock offered to the Raja of Nanpara .

1930 West End Watch Co catalogue in Bombay, the last page of which is devoted to the Jaz de Luxe: CUBIC , BATIC , etc.

Source: https://jazlebontemps.com/2017/10/07/west-end-watch-co-importateur-jaz-aux-indes/

 

[Humpty_Dumpty_Rises]

Models sold in India bore the double stamp West End Watch and Jaz on the dial, as they would later bear the intermingled Favre-Leuba and Jaz marks.

In this letter dated March 10, 1942 to the office of the Superintendent of Gondal, we can read that the sender refers to page 30 of the catalog to advise the new Jaz.

Source: https://jazlebontemps.com/2017/10/07/west-end-watch-co-importateur-jaz-aux-indes/