Zenith WW! officers watch very rare Circa 1915 military Start Price USD 399.00 Current Price USD 399.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, September 02, 2008 End Time Tuesday, September 09, 2008 Location Oxford, Connecticut See more about 'Zenith WW! officers watch very rare Circa 1915 military' Description I ship worldwide I am having a problem with changing this option. For auction with no reserve and a very low starting bid of only $399.00 a very rare WW1 Zenith officers watch with white glass enamel dial signed Smith Patterson & Company. The dial has Breguet numbers fine point original hands and has no cracks. Smith Patterson Company was a high-end retailer in Newport, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts during the 1800s and early 1900s. This watch is larger than the one with the dial signed signal corp. This watch has a much harder case material made of nickel not silver and this one measures 35mm not 31mm like the signal corp. version. I have not ever polished the case so it has a layer of tarnish. If polished it will look like sterling silver. In today’s collecting that makes this watch much more desirable because this watch is a size you will like to wear. Many men’s wristwatches from this early period are very delicate and quite small like Patek vacheron and piguet were usually 31-32 mm this watch is 35mm. The case lugs are all original and are the swivel type. This watch keeps perfect time and both case backs snap shut tight. I am not sure if this watch has 15 or 17 jewels and the jewels are all in settings like in a high-grade pocket watch. There is no rust on this movement. There is a precision regulator and the S/N 1742933 dates the watch to between 1914 and 1916 also making this quite possibly the oldest mans wrist-watch being sold here on ebay.about 93 years old. I see the numbers 27541 on the regulator. The movement is gold guilt not nickel. The case has a series of numbers 488433 and 5795. It is also marked metal Blanc Garanti and is signed Zenith as is the movement. The winding stem is difficult to pull out and set the hands. It should be adjusted and oiled. One tiny screw is missing from the movement you can see in the pics but does not seem to bother anything. I purchased this watch many years ago in a estate sale right here in Connecticut and have just always kept this watch because it is so old for a watch. These watches are almost impossible to find not as they are all in collections. Auction estamate based on historical data is $800-1200. My starting bid is hundreds below that so good luck and happy bidding. Please ask any questions. I recommend a servicing as the winder is tough tpo set the hands but other than that the watch is excellant especially for it's age. I don’t ever recall seeing one for sale on ebay so that tells you how rare these really are. Don’t miss this chance to grab this one. I have a number of other watches and clocks I will be selling in the next few weeks I will be listing several railroad grade pocket watches and an 8 day gubelin clock with an alarm and date made by lecoultre, a chronometer a divers watch a longines chronographs and a pilots watch. Thanks for checking out my auction Dan Place a Bid!