1945 WWII GARLAND BY BALL WATCH COMPANY WITH AVIA 17 JEWEL MANUAL WIND MOVEMENT

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Date/Report Number …..111911.FN61Y0.04 Item: 1945 WWII GARLAND BY BALL WATCH COMPANY WITH AVIA 17 JEWEL MANUAL WIND MOVEMENT

Description of item: 1945 WWII GARLAND BY BALL WATCH COMPANY WITH AVIA 17 JEWEL MANUAL WIND MOVEMENT 31 x 38 MM CONDITION IS EXCELLENT.

.Estimated Retail Replacement Value $ 799.00

Reports are supplied at the request of the customer and it is for the customer's exclusive use. Reports express an opinion of the time of the examination of the jewelry. This report is for customers use only for the following two purposes, indicating estimated retail replacement value to obtain insurance coverage, or for the purpose of providing geological information. goldsmith Works does not guarantee that the appraisal valuation will result in a sale at the price. Estimated retail replacement value is arrived after analyses of what the approximate high retail cash asking price is for labor, materials, and design. These prices may be substantially higher than actual transaction or warranty with regards to any item described in the report, since jewelry grading is not an exact science, this report represent the best opinion of the company. GoldSmith Works is in no case responsible for differences that occur by repeated grading by other experts in the field and/or use of other standards, norms, methods or criteria other than those used by GoldSmith Works. GoldSmith Works is expressly held harmless by customers including, but with out limitation for any claims or actions that may arise out of negligence in connection with the preparation of this laboratory report, or actions based upon the customer's use of the report. The information on the carat weight, clarity grade, color grade on the report is approximate due to the limitations in jewelry grading. The item was tested, graded, and examined under 10x magnification using the techniques and equipment available to GoldSmith Works, including fully corrected triplet loupe, binocular microscope, master color comparison guides, diamond color comparison tools, electronic carat balance, non-contact optical measuring device, and ancillary instruments necessary at the time of Exam

After the Ball Watch Co. moved from Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL, their headquarters were located in the Garland Building in downtown Chicago. "Garland" soon became a name used on wrist watches imported by Ball Co from Switzerland for sale by the Ball Watch Company.

AVIA WAS THE SWISS COMPANY THAT MADE THE WATCH AND BALL WATCH WAS THE COMPANY GARLAND WAS THE BRAND WITH BOULEVARD THE MODEL.

MANUFACTURER
The manufacturer Avia was Degoumois & Cie in Neuchatel, La Chaux de Fonds and the date of registration is 1910. Up until 1910 timekeeping was primarily based around pocket or fob watches. AVIA became an innovator in the development of the wristwatch

DISTRIBUTOR
The US distributor of AVIA was M.A. Mead & Co in Chicago, Illinois. Ball Watch Co distributed watches made by AVIA for Ball Watch Co and sold them branded as GARLAND.

WWII
During the war years AVIA manufactured and Mead marketed many WWII watches, including a military timer that was utilized by air crews searching for submarines. It employed a highly accurate Timer and Stop Watch. A famous add for a Hamilton version read "He's looking for a U- boat.. in the sky!

Though Webb C. Ball had been involved in the American watch business by the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the first Ball watch company appeared in the early-1890s.

A succession of Ball firms marketed Railroad Grade Watches (the last being Wrist Watches), and other, non-railroad, watches over a period of about seventy to eighty years.

The Ball Watch Co. never actually made watches. Movements and cases were made under contract to Ball's specifications by various watch manufacturers, with final adjusting by Ball Company; and, besides a few advertisements in the beginning, Ball never identified who the original manufacturer of his watches were. The public believed that the Ball Watch Co was the maker.

CASE BACK SIGNED

STAINLESS STEEL
SWISS MADE
WATERPROOF
ANTIMAGNETIC
SHOCKABSORBER

The Ball Company was a wholesale jewelry business set up in Chicago by Webb C. Ball c.1915. He bought the existing Chicago wholesale jewelry firm, Norris, Alister Co.. He then moved his Cleveland wholesaling operations to Chicago and combined them with Norris, Alister to form the Norris, Alister-Ball Company, and sent his son, Sidney, to Chicago to run the combined operations. Other firms were acquired, but around 1930 the firm became simply the Ball Company. They were also distributors of the famous Ball railroad watches.

AS 1194

Features
manual wind
sweep second

Data
11.5''', Dm= 25.6mm
H= 4.9mm
15/17 jewels
f = 18000 A/h
power reserve 43h