Meylan patent 5 Minute Repeater Movement as sold to an English
Jeweler
Inner tin Front, Inner tin back, Inner name 1, Inner name 2, Inner name 3, Inner patent marks, Outer tin label, Outer tin marks, Outer tin parts, Movement back, Movement edge view, Movement front view, Movement front edge 1, Movement front edge 2, Movement front edge 3
This item may be unique in that it is a complete example of the movement as sold in the English market. The English preferred their own dials and cases, which could be obtained less expensively on the local market and more to the style of the English buyer.
This example has never had a dial or case fitted and is complete with all the components of the standard shipping tin including the case tensioning spring that is often gone missing.
The movement is serial number 3,793,851. According to Malcom Gardner's records from the period he owned this movement it was sold to the English jeweler in 1902. The handwritten records show it in a run from 3,793,401 to 3,794,200 marked AWWCo and Am'n W. Co. made between September 1888 and July 1889. There is a note in the record that the watches are repeaters. The record lists the run as plain jeweled, so presumably the jewelling and repeating works were both added in the New York office. This is a good example of the amount of time it took to move expensive watches.
This movement is an example of the Charles Meylan patent 390,501 issued October 2, 1888. As in the Aubert example, it might seem from the patent date and serial number that the movements were stock on hand when fitted with the repeating mechanism. The note in the record might be explained by the fact that many of the movements were still in stock when the handwritten ledgers were created.
