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From Switzerland To India & Back, The Fascinating History Of The Vintage "West End Watch"




A few months ago, I came upon this beautiful vintage watch that was sold in Hungary.

I was very confused at first, the dial of the watch gave the impression of a very British sounding name "West End". However, it also indicated that the watch was "Swiss made".


To Make matters even more confusing: The watch came with an "Extract from the Longines archives" from 2019 published in Saint-Imier (Switzerland) indicating that it was manufactured by Longines in 1915 (!!) and sold to their "Indian agent", the Company "Drotz-Amstutz & Co.".


What does this all mean? I was perplexed. This watch was manufactured over a century ago in Switzerland and sold to India. But why does the dial indicate the British sounding name "West End" if it was made by Longines as indicated clearly in their extract? Who are Drotz, Amstutz and company?





My confusion lead me to immediately research the watch a bit further and get to the bottom of this 'strange' watch and its history. What I came upon, as is often the case, with vintage watches was an Odyssey into a complex but fascinating history.


To understand the rich history of this unique watch we need to go back a bit into the fascinatingly rich and history of the city of London, England. It is beyond the scope of this article to understand the details of this complex city, however, here is a brief overview:


London The Complex City

Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus in 1949Photo by Chalmers Butterfield


The name "West End" comes from a district in the west of London, north of the river Thames. Medieval London comprised two adjacent cities – the City of London in the east, and the City of Westminster in the west. Over time they came to form the Centre of modern London, although each kept its own distinct character and its separate legal identity (for example, the City of London has its own police force and is a distinct county). Lying to the west of the medieval City of London, the West End is largely contained within the City of Westminster (one of the 32 London boroughs). It is close to the Palace of Westminster (now home to Parliament) and Westminiter Abbey as well as well-known sites as the Trafalgar Square and of course the Piccadilly Circus and is largely contained within the City of Westminster (one of the 32 London boroughs).


Now back to the history of the Longines and West End Watch Co. and their relationship.  


The Complex History of the "Watch Company", from St. Imier, Switzerland to Bombay, India 

The well researched article by David Boettcher (Ref.3) gives the most detailed understanding of the events that lead to the creation of the branding and use of the name "West End".


In 1864, Alcide Droz and Henry Perret of Saint-Imier in the Swiss Canton of Berne founded the watchmaking company Droz and Perret. Saint-Imier is a municipality in the Jura Bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern (one of the 26 Cantons) in Switzerland. Since 1848 the Swiss Confederation has been a federal republic of relatively autonomous cantons, some of which have a history of confederacy that goes back more than 700 years, putting them among the world's oldest surviving republics.


The company subsequently went through several changes of names and registrations and trademarks giving the Watch and brand "West End" a complex historical background until in about 1886/87, MM. Amstutz and Droz, the owner of Alcide Droz & Sons, started to use the trademark, "West End Watch Company". 


The complicated history continues in 1883 when the company changed its registered name to Alcide Droz & Fils (Alcide Droz and Sons). On 16 October 1885 they registered a trademark of an eagle carrying a watch in its beak with above it the name "West End Watch". It seems like the company’s creators were moving fast, expanding their business.


In 1884 a watch business was then started in Bombay, India, by Alcide Droz and Arnold Charpie. Some reports say that Charpie was the Indian representative of Droz, however, there is no clear documentation on this. The company seems to have been a joint venture between A. Charpie and Alcide Droz,

with the intention of mainly, but not exclusively, importing watches manufactured at the St Imier. It is then St. Imier which brings Longines in contact with the "West End" brand.  








Before we get to the municipality of interest in Switzerland let's take a deeper look at the events in India. 



India, the crucial market

In 1887 Alcide Droz & Fils underwent another change of name, becoming Droz & Cie (Droz and Co.). In the same year 1887, it is thought that A. Charpie retired from the Bombay firm, and it became wholly owned by Droz. And also in the same year of 1887, the Bombay firm was then renamed the "West End Watch Co". The name of the Bombay branch of the company before the retirement of Arnold Charpie is not known, but it was evidently not "The West End Watch Co". It appears likely that when Charpie retired in 1887 and Droz & Cie took over completely, they took the opportunity to rebrand the company "The West End Watch Company", using the trademark name that they had already registered in 1885.


Arnold Charpie is, however, credited to have realized that the Indian buyer  and Indian market was more likely to buy a more "British sounding" brand. Either way, "The West End Watch Company", the name inspired by the above-mentioned district of Central London, was established in India with branches in Bombay and Calcutta. The "West End" brand gave the Swiss made watches a distinctly 'imperial feel', and the clever juxtaposition of Swiss precision engineering and an Empire brand name was a hit. It enabled the brand to tap into the extensive Indian market and the British Empire.


Most of the Indian railway’s companies were then equipped with "West End" watches and clocks to help synchronizing what is, till today, the world’s longest rail network. The West End Watch Co. remained a wholly owned subsidiary of Droz & Cie until 1891, when Jacques-Arnold Amstutz became a partner. 


It seems that at some stage in the early 1890s the Droz brothers separated their business interests. Constant Droz joined with Jacques-Arnold Amstutz in India, forming a company called Droz and Amstutz.


Louis Droz remained at the factory in St.Imier with the company Droz & Cie. In 1893, The "West End Watch Cie". was listed as a brand of Droz & Amstutz in St Imier; a branch of a Bombay and Calcutta Company of the same name.

Remember the mention in the watches Extract from the Longines archives?








Now back to St.Imier where the dots connect Longines history with the "West End" history. 



St.Imier, Longines and "The West End Watch Company"

In 1832  Auguste Agassiz and his two partners named ‘Agassiz & Co.’, create in the village of ‘Les Longines’ in Saint-Imier, the same municipality where 32 years later in 1864, Alcide Droz and Henry Perret would find their watchmaking company "Droz & Perret" which the later became "Droz & Amstutz" which then establishes the "West End Watch Company". At the time, they produced timepieces under the ‘établissage’ system, whereby watchmakers worked at home and supplied their products to the trading offices. Agassiz was responsible for the assembly and sales of the watches. Only in 1850, when Agassiz nephew Ernest Francillon took over the running of the office, he implemented step by step all manufacturing methods in one area.


The founders of Longines, Agassiz and Francillon, the Factory in St.Imier in 1910 (from Ref.9).



The Swiss base of "West End" located in St-Imier, not far from Longines seems to have given birth to the relationship between the companies which lasted for many decades. It seems that Jacques-Arnold Amstutz had developed a good relationship with Longines. From the early 1910s Longines supplied watches to "West End" branded with the "West End" name and logo, the only company in the world to which this 'privilege' was granted and which contributed significantly to "West End's" reputation. In the 1950s the management of Longines reconsidered this arrangement and from 1955 only watches with Longines branding were supplied to "West End".


"West Ends" Military and Explorer Watches

By 1914, "West End" was offering solid, well made and cased Trench and Pocket Watches. Specializing in the Indian Military and Civil Services, "West End", with acceptance of the British Military, produced Trench Watches that were marked "C.S." for the Civil Service in India and for Indian Military personal under British control.



During the First World War, the company  was the first  distributor of Swiss watches for British troops stationed in the Middle and Far East. Therefore, these rarely preserved, restored early watches bearing the "West End" mark will generally have originated from the Indian market, where the company concentrated on British colonial officials and troops. During World War I, a large contingent of British and Indian soldiers was sent from Bombay to the Persian Gulf to reach Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), and the "West End Watch Company" accommodated these troops with 50,000 wristwatches.


Once again, as it is in many cases military watch history goes hand-in-hand with watchmaking history per se. 


In 1917, the West End Watch Company changed its name to "Société des Montres West End SA" and was registered in Geneva. At the same time the sub-brand "Sowar" (the cavalry man) was also registered. It is thought that the sub-brand was created in honor of the legendary Sir Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") who, along with his men, wore "West End" watches. Much of the credit for the spread of the brand's recognition has been attributed to his troops as well as the Indian armies, traveled from Tibet to Aden. How many Sowar branded watches were made before about 1940 is not known, since one authority dates watches so-branded as "mid-range from about 1940." It has been pointed out to collectors that "Sewor" is a modern Chinese brand of cheap watches, not to be confused with "Sowar" West End watches. 



The 1960 Chinese Mount Everest expedition was the first to successfully ascend Mount Everest via the North Ridge. Three members of the Chinese Everest Expedition Team, Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo, and Qu Yinhua reached the summit at 4:20 a.m., on 25 May.

The Chinese expedition left no photographic evidence at the summit and was

originally met with skepticism. However, the international mountaineering community has now generally acknowledged the result.

One of the members of this expedition, Wang Fu-Zhou wore a "West End Watch" when he reached the top of Mount Everest from the North Face. In 2005, the West End Watch Company celebrated its 120th anniversary of uninterrupted presence in Asia with the introduction of its "Silk Road concept". This concept came from the fact that the Silk Road crossed most of the regions where the brand has been distributed successfully.


The "West End Watch Company" continues to thrive today more than a century after their creation. The modern company produces a wide variety of Swiss Made watches for the global market, made from quality components and built in their factory in Leytron, Swi





Our watch is a functional, beautifully preserved, restored piece representing this fascinating, rich and complex history. As often with historical watches, a history of our ancestors connecting many aspects of "random existence" into a "cohesive presence". A "cohesive presence" that still reflects time, that still reflects history and simultaneously remains a working, functioning tool not to mention its artful beauty and mastery of mechanical timekeeping. 


References [if I have missed to mention an important reference please contact me through the website]




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