Queen Anne-Un reloj y una historia

8/10/2019 Queen Anne-Un reloj y una historia

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West End Watch Co was founded in1886 in Bombay by the Swiss companyDroz & Amstutz. This company acted asdistributor of the watches manufacturedby Alcide Droz & Fils in the Swiss Juraand sold in India under the West Endbrand name.

In 1917, the Socit des Montres WestEnd SA was formed in Geneva in orderto promote the marketing of the brandname throughout the world.

In the course of the following decades,West End established itself as anoutstanding brand of Swiss watches,producing millions of wristwatches formarkets ranging from the Red Sea toChina.

In 2001, the brand was taken over andtransferred to Leytron, in the Canton of

Valais, in the heart of the Swiss Alps.


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The name of Queen Anne wasgiven to this wristwatch in homage to

the last queen of England andIreland of the Stuart dynasty, whosereign, from 1702 to 1714, was markedby the ascendancy of the British navyover the oceans of the world and bythe birth of the United Kingdom

through the union of Scotland withEngland and Ireland.

This watch proved itself worthy of itsname, so dear to the British, by itsexceptional qualities of reliability andresistance to all the trials of everydaylife - like Queen Anne herself.

Q

A


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Queen AnneQueen of England and Ireland

1702 - 1714

West End Watch

Queen Anne 18 Ct White GoldSunray Silver Dial Edition


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In India, West End watchesproved their excellence in their use

from the end of the 19th centuryby all the staff of the main railwaycompanies, the post and telegraphoffices, the police, the ports andthe Indian and British governmentadministrative services.


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The elite corps of theImperial Army of India had

already been able to test out andappreciate the robustness andreliability of West End watches inextreme conditions.

It was due to this good reputation

that during the First World WarBritish Army troops, includingelite Indian corps, who werebased in the Middle East with theaim of breaking up the German-Turkish coalition, necessarily wore

West End watches.

No less than 50,000 West Endwatches were in fact acquired bythe British Army to equip itstroops, notably Lawrence of

Arabias famous Camel Corps and

the Royal Air Force.


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An old catalogue ofthe West End Watch Co,from the middle of the1930s, described the Queen

Anne watch in these words:

The Queen Anne, the first

watch with metal brackets for awrist strap, has gained inpopularity from year to year sinceits creation more than twenty yearsago. Up to now some hundredthousand watches of this type have

been worn in India and theirnumber grows day by day.

All categories of users agree inrecognising the extreme robustness ofthis watch and its reliability even inthe most adverse conditions. We have asproof of this the fact that more than50,000 Queen Anne wristwatcheswere ordered to equip the troops of HisBritannic Majestys troops on activeservice during the Great War.


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The Queen Anne, createdin the first decade of the 20thcentury, was one of the most highlyreputed and the most notableproducts of the West End brand.

Here is a testimony dating from

that time, from among the lettersfrom satisfied clients, which wasfound in the companys archives inthe middle of the last century:

When I was inIndia between 1916 and1918, I bought one ofyour Queen Annewristwatches which I havekept for a very long timeand which has been exposed to all sortsof weather conditions, from the great

heat of India to the extreme cold of theEnglish climate. Even under canvas,neither sand nor dust affected it. Irecommend everyone I know to invest ina West End watch, if they wish to wearit for the longest possible period during

their lifetime.

West End Watch

Queen Anne18 Ct White Gold

Pure White DialEdition


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West End Watch Co, Bombay office, 1939


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Right from the beginning WestEnd watches were very often thefirst to adopt the new technologiesdeveloped by the watchmaking

industry, for example:

The production of the firstwaterproof watch in 1886under the name of theImpermeable

The adoption of the wristwatchand the luminous dial from 1914

Increased resistance to shockthrough the adoption of the newSwiss anti-shock system,Incabloc,since its invention in 1938

Resistance to adverse conditionsthrough the use ofEverbright

stainless steel since 1940.


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To mark the one hundred andtwentieth anniversary of the brandname, West End Watch Co has decidedto relaunch this outstanding watch in anew contemporary edition, while stillretaining the pure lines and specialfeatures of the original, in particular its

arched brackets and its thick flatbevelled glass, which today is formedfrom scratchproof sapphire crystal.

Technical features of the Queen Anne watch:

18 ct solid gold case, diameter 42 mm, water-resistant to 50 m

Extra-thick scratchproof sapphire crystal with anti-glare coating inside

High-quality alligator leather strap with 18 ct solid gold buckle

Swiss made automatic movement with luxury decoration,

regulated in 5 positions and in temperature Luxury box made of European wood


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West End WatchQueen Anne18 Ct Red Gold

Pure White DialEdition


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With 15 million watches soldthroughout the world during the more

than 120 years of uninterrupted activitysince its creation, West End is today oneof the most highly esteemed Swiss watchbrand names in the world.

This worldwide reputation has essentially

been built on the high level of customersatisfaction with the brand, especially inIndia, the Middle East and China.

2009SocitdesMontresWestEndSA,Leytron,Switzerland

Designbytgdesigner.comandprintedin

Switzerland


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Socit des Montres West End SA

Rouatope 24

1912 Leytron - Switzerland

Phone +41 27 305 66 66Fax +41 27 305 66 77

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Queen Anne-Un reloj y una historia