Well-proportioned Open-faced Silver Fusee Pocket Watch by the Halpern Brothers of Manchester 1899

A high-quality, heavy and well-proportioned late Victorian open-faced silver fusee pocket watch, by watchmaking brothers Simon and Samuel Halpern, of 79 Stanley Street, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, (then Lancashire). Named the “Improved Patent” model, (as seen on the watch’s dial), the watch would have been almost certainly made specifically for the railway sector due to its composition. • Silver hallmarked Chester 1899. • White enamelled dial, and subsidiary second’s dial with bold hand-painted black Roman numerals. • Gold main hands. • Halpern Bros. signed fusee movement. • Engraved Coventry ‘Star’ mark on the regulator scale, (the endorsement of exceptional engineering quality!) • Gold balance with ruby end stone. • Case maker was Samuel Yeomans (“S.Y”), of Spon Street, Coventry. • Case and movement serial numbers the same: “83439.” • Comes with a winding key, together with instructions on how to wind and set the watch time. Both born in Russia, (Simon in 1865, and Samuel in 1873), the brothers arrived in England as young boys with their father and mother (Jonahs and Anna), before the family settled in North Manchester, c1876. Eventually, and with the help and support of the large former Russian community that resided in Manchester at the time, the brothers (who became qualified watchmakers, silversmiths, and goldsmiths), were able to set-up their own prestige watchmaking and jewellery business from c1889, becoming widely well-known and respected in the region, as they undertook and developed their operations in the high-end of the market. Simon passed away on 17 August 1916, at 29 Heywood Street, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Samuel in the following year, also in Manchester, yet their prospering business, (by then a sole and large jewellery retailer), remained in good hands into at least the late 1970’s, being run and managed by joint family generations of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Note: This watch does not come with a chain or fob. If you require a silver chain/fob from our large stock, please contact us for advice.