Helvetia History- Helvetia History
Early Helvetia 'Aeroplane' Watch?
From at least the early 1930s Helvetia supplied watch movements and cases to the London company G & M Lane for their 'Aero' and 'Aeroplane' line of watches (see 1930s Sports Watches and 1930s Pilots Watches in the menu above for more information).
Adverts do exist from the 1920s for G & M Lane 'Aeroplane' watches but the only actual example of a watch I have seen contained an Arcadia movement so I don't know if the relationship with Helvetia stretched back this far.
However recently I discovered the watch pictured below. It contains an early Helvetia trench watch movement (see Helvetia In-House Movements) and is Hallmarked for 1924. The Helvetia serial number also dates it from this time.
The dial is not marked 'Aeroplane' or 'G & M Lane' but the dial of the watch in the advert above is not either. The fact that the watch was offered for sale in the UK, the similarity to the watch pictured in the advert, and knowing Helvetia did supply watches to G & M Lane for their 'Aeroplane' range at least from the early 1930s I think points strongly to this watch being an early Helvetia supplied G & M Lane 'Aeroplane' watch from 1924.
What do you think?