Tavannes Watch Company Serial Numbers
Tavannes Watch Co. Established in 1891 Swiss Made Watches. Discover our fine Swiss Made watches for Ladies and Gents. America movements are often branded as by The Tacy Watch Company being the first two letters of TAvannes & CYma. 'Admiral' is. Marked with a US patent 24 May 1904 so the batch probably mainly for the American market, dated from the serial number to 1913 give or take a year. Ultrasonically cleaned and.
Perhaps someone can provide some information about this ladies Tavannes wrist watch. The inside of the case is marked; Tavannes Quality 14KT Gold Filled; 10 1/2 Ligne. The movement is marked Tavannes Watch Co.
Tavannes Watch Co
Swiss; 15 Jewels and the serial number 7682855. My questions are: Would the 14KT gold filled apply to the entire case and if so, white gold given the color? Would the 10 1/2 Ligne equate to the diameter being approx. What would you consider the design to be, 'Deco' Approx. I found a site on Google entitled Tavannes serial numbers which I downloaded but don't have the appropriate software to open.
Any thoughts as to value? It runs, but only about an hour and a half before it stops. Your help very much appreciated.
Tavannes is a decent middle of the road Swiss maker, but GF lady's watches of the period, about 1940-50, could be a bit earlier, are not at all popular. They usually have stainless steel backs, although there are exceptions, a safe rule of thumb is that only 'all gold' cases have gold backs, which makes picking out any gold ones in a job lot of assorted jumbled junk easy if you know this. 'Lignes' is a measure of size.
Tavannes Watch Review
I suspect with a picture that was in focus there would be engraved detail on the edge which is not a deco motif, which is based on plain and geometric shapes and strong colour with lack of shading. The brief running could be caused by a broken mainspring at the barrel end, the watch will wind a bit then slip, wind and slip. Or it could be just crud in the movement. No significant value. Women do not collect watches, old watches anyway, they have an insatiable appetite for new ones dripping with gold and diamonds, but that is more saving for retirement than collecting.
Men do not generally collect women's watches. The case style of your watch dates production to the very end of the 1920s or the first half of the 1930s. There is no Tavannes serial number production database that I am aware of and the 'Tavannes Serial Numbers' page on the web that you mentioned looks like a virus download to me. I would steer clear. The case on your watch is white gold-filled throughout. These style cases didn't have an inner cover and were the same material front and back. Although this watch was definitely produced during the Deco era (1920s-1940s), it doesn't really represent what most collectors think of as 'deco' except perhaps for the hexagon shape.
Deco designs tended to have very bold geometric designs and lots of enamel work on the case. Your watch probably has engraved floral patterns on the bezel and millgrain pattern on the edges. Despite the age, these types of watches are actually very common on eBay.
In non-running condition, they usually fetch around $25-$50. The ligne (pronounced 'line') is a unit of measure used for Swiss and French watches.
One ligne is equal to 2.2558291mm or 0.088812168 inches. There are 12 ligne to one French inch ('pouce', French for thumb) and 12 pouce to a French foot ('pied'). A watch movement is measured across the pillar plate (the metal plate immediately below the dial) to determine it's size in lignes.
Tavannes Watch Company Serial Numbers Lookup By Name
A 11-1/2 ligne movement would measure approximately 25.94mm across the pillar plate.