This has been mine since 1985. I bought it from my father in law who had had it a good while, he told me. I know it was made in Chester, the three wheat sheaves are very clear. The case makers mark is R.F I can find a couple of RF’s but not this exact mark. The baffling part is the date letter, it looks, to my untrained eye like it is 1727, but could be 1902. On the face it has Warranted English lever, it is in very good condition.
It has a silver hall marked chain, with a small silver hallmarked medallion attached. This has M&S. SAA. 1914 engraved on it. There is also a small key for winding the watch.
It is in working order.
Thanking anyone for help in anticipation.
Welcome to the forum, Dave.
The problem of Chester date letters being virtually identical in 2 different cycles, 1726-1750 and 1900-1925, crops up occasionally. The easy way to tell the difference is (a) that the form of the town mark is different and (b) that you will be very lucky to ever see anything from the earlier cycle - they crop up only very, very rarely. So I can say with a fair degree of confidence that you’ve got a 1902 rather than a 1727.
In order to make a positive identification a picture of the marks is essential, but I can say that there are a couple of RFs listed as casemakers in the standard Chester reference book. R.F incuse is Richard Fennell of Coventry, registered 1899, and RF cameo is Randolf Fischer of Birmingham, registered 1901.
For a good idea of value I suggest you check out eBay’s completed auctions. You should find a few silver cased watches in the antiques/silver section.
Many, many thanks for your prompt reply. It really is helpful. The most important thing is that I check out Randolph Fletcher. 1901 , makes more sense if the watch is dated 1901-1902.
I tried to put a photo on to the site, but it was maybe too big in size.
Thanks again,
Dave.
I would like to find out if anyone might identify these candlesticks. There are two and they can be used as singles or triples with the upper portion inserted. I have all four pieces to make two triple candlesticks
stonjohn4,
Please start a new topic for your query and be sure to add clear pictures of all marks.