For sale we have a beautiful little 9ct gold dress watch from Jaeger LeCoultre. It dates to 1951, with hallmarking from Birmingham assay office for 9ct gold. It is a quality Dennison case, Made in England. It has an exquisite, hooded lug design, with a circular central section of the case. Although originally a gents watch, it is on the smaller side, measuring 30mm wide x 34mm in length. The lugs do however add presence to the watch on the wrist. The dial is signed Jaeger-LeCoultre, with co-signing for Pidduck & Sons LTD of Hanley. Inside, the Jaeger LeCoultre calibre P480/C, is in good condition. It is manual wind, with a jewel count of 17. It has a daily variation of +10 seconds a day. 
 
It was commonplace during the 1950s and 1960s that movements would be imported without cases to avoid import duties on precious metals. Makers such as Dennison made high quality cases which would be paired with the movements and sold under license through UK jewellers.
 
Henry Pidduck & Sons were a goldsmiths, jewellers, Opticians and watch/clock maker, who opened their first shop in 1841. Their main premises were on the Market Square in Hanley, but they opened a second shop on Lord Street in Southport. The Hanley shop consisted of 2 retail floors with a workshop above. They sold their own goods and goods made by other manufacturers. Their founder Henry went on to be Mayor of Hanley in 1864.
 
The company developed a name for quality and was visited by many touring celebrities, such as the Three Degrees. 
 
They designed the Blue Riband, the award received by the ship with the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing. The firm was asked to make The Hales Trophy, which was made of solid silver and heavy gilt, and stood at four feet tall, weighing nearly 100lbs. It cost over £3,000 to make. 
 
Overall we enjoy this watch for its well-balanced dial, gold case with hooded lug design, and its high quality LeCoultre movement calibre.
 
Full condition report below. Please see the images as these compliment and aid the description provided below.
 
Dial: 
The dial is original and is in good overall condition. It has a silver tone with a matte finish. It has some marks associated with age, two more noticeable. One by 5 O’clock and one by 8 O’clock. The hour markers are good, with a good shine. The signing is very clean.
 
Hands: 
The hands are a gold tone and are original, in good condition. They have some slight marks.   
 
Glass: 
The acrylic crystal is a replacement and is in good condition. 
 
Crown: 
The crown is original and has some slight wear to the plating.
 
Case:
The case is 9ct gold and is in decent condition. The polished finish is good with light surface scratching. The lower lug has a slight dent pushing outwards. 
 
Caseback:
The 9ct gold solid case back is in good condition. It has a polished finish and has light scratching and marking associated with age.
 
Strap: 
The watch comes on a new genuine leather strap.
 
Movement: 
The movement is a Jaeger LeCoultre calibre P480/C. It is manual wind, with a jewel count of 17. 
The movement service history is unknown, but it is in good condition. It’s keeping time to within +10 seconds deviation a day, with an amplitude of 270 degrees and a beat error of 0.9m/s.
 
Case dimensions: 
Case width: 30mm
Case width with crown: 31mm 
Case length: 34mm
Case Depth: 9.25mm
Lug width: 15mm