This is a very nice example of a very rare watch indeed. It has a slight crack on the dial but despair not this could be cleaned and it would practically disappear. The case and lugs are quite beautiful. The movement case and dial are all signed Moser. But who was Moser?
Moser, Henry & Cie. This company was set up by Johann Heinrich Moser. They seem to have been trading about the 1824 to the 1980’s period. In 1824 he left Schaffhausen to travel to St Petersburg, Russia to set up one of the first watch making facilities. This was very successful and he set up workshops in Le Locle, his home town, under the name Henry Moser. In 1866 Heinrich (Henry), together with an American engineer Florence Jones, established a watchmaking facility on the Rhine, using water power, in Schaffhausen. This company later became the International Watch Company or IWC. Until the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Henry Moser company supplied movements for use in Fabergé and other high class makers watches. In 1979, Moser & Co. became part of the Dixi Group of companies
The Signal Corps watches are ultra rare and highly sought after and this really is a fine fine example in good running condition. |