Post by marsss25 on Sept 28, 2020 10:36:59 GMT
This is a modified version of the post I had on WF-WF
As some of you may know, Eatons was a Canadian mail/phone order catalog store with some brick and mortar stores in larger municipalities. They offered a wide range of products including, for the purposes of this article, timepieces. Eatons had a wide variety of inexpensive timepieces from many brands, but also included their own "Solar" name.
These watches were commissioned by Eatons from makers such as Omega, Rolex and Gallet. Omega and Gallet were making the pocket watches while Rolex and Gallet made the wristwatches. Since I own one of each of these wristwatches, I thought I'd show the differences between the two, in photos.
My Rolex made "Solar Aqua" dates from about 1939 and would have appeared in the 1939-40 Eatons catalogue much like this:
The text reads:
Manufactured by the makers of Rolex. Watch is shockproof, dust and climate proof, and antimagnetic. Case and bracelet of stainless steel; luminous hands and numerals. 17 jewel movement. Delivered $25.00.
At least now I had an idea of the bracelet that was offered. I've found the proper bracelet now and know that the watch itself would have looked like this:
And alongside the ad....
It seems pretty obvious that this is an Oyster case. The crown is gives it all away.
But when the caseback is removed, the whole truth is revealed...
The crown is present, the R.W.C. Ltd and the Oyster Watch Company are all present. The movement is a Rolex 59, a movement only used by Rolex for its Canadian watches (including those for Canadian and British forces), even though produced by the ebauche manufacturer Fontainemelon (FHF).
My Gallet "Solar" would have appeared in the 1948-49 Eatons catalogue like this:
Delivered, the watch would have appeared like this:
The crown mimics the Oyster style but doesn't screw down, the case back is still a screw down, but very simple by design and even inside the is very spartan.
It only mentions the maker and the case style.
The movement, however, seems to be on par with the Rolex- again without all the frills.
This is either a Fontainemelon (FHF) 150-1 or 152-1. Both movements look the same and both seem to be solid workhorses. Ranfft site states that they were available in 10.5 and 11.5 ligne versions and had date pointer complication available.
There is also the Solar with a Durowe 1258 movement- dating from the 60's.
Sadly, the watch was not in my possession for very long.
So, there you go, three wonderful watches (IMHO) and a bit of history.
As some of you may know, Eatons was a Canadian mail/phone order catalog store with some brick and mortar stores in larger municipalities. They offered a wide range of products including, for the purposes of this article, timepieces. Eatons had a wide variety of inexpensive timepieces from many brands, but also included their own "Solar" name.
These watches were commissioned by Eatons from makers such as Omega, Rolex and Gallet. Omega and Gallet were making the pocket watches while Rolex and Gallet made the wristwatches. Since I own one of each of these wristwatches, I thought I'd show the differences between the two, in photos.
My Rolex made "Solar Aqua" dates from about 1939 and would have appeared in the 1939-40 Eatons catalogue much like this:
The text reads:
Manufactured by the makers of Rolex. Watch is shockproof, dust and climate proof, and antimagnetic. Case and bracelet of stainless steel; luminous hands and numerals. 17 jewel movement. Delivered $25.00.
At least now I had an idea of the bracelet that was offered. I've found the proper bracelet now and know that the watch itself would have looked like this:
And alongside the ad....
It seems pretty obvious that this is an Oyster case. The crown is gives it all away.
But when the caseback is removed, the whole truth is revealed...
The crown is present, the R.W.C. Ltd and the Oyster Watch Company are all present. The movement is a Rolex 59, a movement only used by Rolex for its Canadian watches (including those for Canadian and British forces), even though produced by the ebauche manufacturer Fontainemelon (FHF).
My Gallet "Solar" would have appeared in the 1948-49 Eatons catalogue like this:
Delivered, the watch would have appeared like this:
The crown mimics the Oyster style but doesn't screw down, the case back is still a screw down, but very simple by design and even inside the is very spartan.
It only mentions the maker and the case style.
The movement, however, seems to be on par with the Rolex- again without all the frills.
This is either a Fontainemelon (FHF) 150-1 or 152-1. Both movements look the same and both seem to be solid workhorses. Ranfft site states that they were available in 10.5 and 11.5 ligne versions and had date pointer complication available.
There is also the Solar with a Durowe 1258 movement- dating from the 60's.
Sadly, the watch was not in my possession for very long.
So, there you go, three wonderful watches (IMHO) and a bit of history.