Photos Can Anyone Identify This Watch? (Now Est. Pre 1924) Now The Cool Man's Investigation!

Hi everyone,

While I'm not going to have time to go into town very soon, I was wondering if anyone could help me identify this watch in the meantime. We were having a rummage at Grandpa's and came across what is a very old lady's watch. No idea of the era, but the casing is very intricate.
The only branding on the watch is on the face, where at the top it says "H.F" and at the bottom "Swiss". I put this information on the Google and there are no results for such a watch, or a brand. Here are some pictures:




New picture:

And another:


So, anyone got any ideas?
Cheers.

 

www.reddit.com/r/watches

Someone there will know!

 

Probably is Huguenin Freres, of Le Locle, Switzerland. They are the only one I know to use HF initials

 

looks like some sort of swiss art deco ladies watch.. if you removed the back you'd know for sure

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20s-Lady-...862283844?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item2a1c3b7044

 

It's difficult to tell from the pictures but i'd try the watches sub-reddit they'll know.

IF the watch face has a slight glow when in the dark, I would suggest that you don't take it apart and don't scrape any loose bits off.

Watch makers in the old days had a disturbing habit of using radioactive elements (mainly radium) in watches.

Radium has a long half-life and is chemically similar to calcium as a result ingesting/inhaling near exposed watch elements can carry some risk as it can accumilate in bone and replace existing calcium.

Not meaning to scare you and it might be completely fine just thought i'd give you a heads up.

 

Cool! Edit: The hands have a blue glow, in the dark, and in light.

Thanks everyone, have also asked on Reddit so I'll see what comes up there.

 

Update for Reddit:
The watermark says "Ariston", here's a better picture.

 

Try and take a sharper picture of the internals from the top down (not at an angle).

Right now the shallow DoF and that large plate are blocking any potentially useful things. Not too sharp either.

 

My old man will know straight away. Not seeing him till next week though lol. Good luck

 

I left the plate on because that's what seems to have any of the different brandings on, I'll see what Reddit says too.
Thanks for the advice.

 

typed Ariston into google and one of the results was a forum called watch freaks maybe they might know.

link is:

http://www.watchfreeks.com/

 

A bit more google-fu seems to indicate that Ariston was a brand manufactured by Fabrique d'Horlogerie in Bettlach, Switzerland. Not sure if that helps things along or not

 

OP updated for Reddit again.
And here's another picture:

 

I would wager that nhojnomis got it right - looks like an Ariston handwind finished up by Huguenin Freres.

Can you find any date inscriptions on it? Might help to narrow it down to a specific calibre.

 

Cool, thanks!
No date inscription or hallmark that I can see though.

 

Have a very nice update.
Was just on the phone to Grandpa who gave me some information about one of the engravings. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the gold plate from the back of the watch has the engraving "A Cook". This was my Grandpa's Aunt. If she bought the watch new, then we know the watch could be anything from 1910 to 1950. If she bought it second hand, we could have a turn of the century or older piece.
Also, the H.F on the watch face has also revealed some interesting information. If the watch is pre- war era, we could be in luck. Research has revealed that H.F made watches for WW2 officers and similar positions. If it's any earlier than 1930, it's likely that this is an old nurse's pocket watch.

 

Having the two strap brackets would make me seriously doubt it to be any form of pocket watch.

 

Perhaps, but all research on anything similar shows that this may well be a pocket watch.
Just more to potentially discover.

 

I thought it was a ladies watch, nice to know it for certain. It cannot be any later that 1924 as by then most people had stopped using the phrase "warrented 20 years"

 

Yep, we know it's a ladies.
So it's earlier than 1924, awesome, keep finding more out!