Garrard & Co.

1982 Garrard 9k Gold with box and papers

Garrard are the jewellers to the Queen, and were *the* go-to company for presentation watches like this from 1982. HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH? From the engraving on the case back we can accurately date this watch to being presented in 1982 from British Gypsum to F O Smith for 25 years good service. CONDITION This watch is unusual in two areas. Firstly, it is made of gold in 1982 when even Cartier were making gold plated watches. This was because in the previous 10 years gold had jumped from 60 pence per gram to £6.58 per gram – nearly an eleven fold increase in a decade. This made gold watches very expensive. Secondly, the watch has a manual wind movement when quartz was the favoured movement by nearly all watch companies – especially if producing a slim dress watch like this. Garrard got around this by fitting a very nice Peseux 7001 movement, a movement that can still be found in many good watch brands as it is only 2.5mm thick. The square case wears larger than the dimensions suggest, partly due to the wide lugs. The dial is very good, the movement running nicely and the case is pretty good but there is a small ding on one side. The leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour if preferred. This watch will be supplied with the original presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.