Ok, The Services Watch Co., Ltd was founded in Leicester by a Frank Liquorish sometime in 1926/27, it was dissolved on 26/11/2002 although I gather from Steve Burrage who used to work for the company that Services watches stopped being produced in the late 1970s.The company never actually made watches themselves instead they either had them made by other firms or bought parts in which were then assembled in the Services factory.
The earliest Services watch I`ve so far come across was made in 1927 using a 15 jewel movement made by the Fleurier Watch co., Switzerland it was fitted in an Edinburgh hallmarked silver case. However during the early years & up to WWII one of their main suppliers appears to have been Thiel Brothers of Thuringia who made complete watches (pocket & wrist) for them. At first these appear to have been marked on the dial as `German Made` changing over to `Foreign` or `Foreign Made` probably by the end of the decade. So far the German Services watches of this period I have come across seem to have simple but sturdy unjeweled pin-pallet movements. In addition to Thiel Brothers sometime in the early/mid 1930s Services appear to have begun sourcing watches from The Oris Watch Company Switzerland this arrangement continued into the 1950s, there may have been other suppliers but I can not confirm that at this time, some were marked as being `Swiss Made`others were like those from Thiel marked `Foriegn`. Despite the company name I have so far come across any indictation that Services watches were actually issued to any members of the armed forces although some `Transpost` models were used by the Air Raid Precaution wardens during WWII.
Initially after the end of WWII the company continued to source from Switzerland (the Oris Watch Company), these for some reason these continued to be marked as `Foreign`. Possibly due to restrictions on importing `luxury` goods during the early 1950s Services switched to UK based suppliers such as Louis Newmark Ltd., Perfect Works,Stafford Road, Croydon, Surrey (marked Made in England`) & later by the Anglo-Celtic Watch Co.Ltd., Gurnos Works, Ystradgynlais, Wales when they are usually marked as being `Made In Gt Britain` (or similar).While most Services watches from this period used un-jewelled movements a few there were a few 5 Jeweled models. From around the early/mid 1950s Services begain again sourcing from abroad, their range including a chronograph using a 17 Jewel Venus movement (there had been at least two other Swiss made chronographs made in the 1930s). From the 1950s until Services ceased production they produced watches sourced or using parts from Switzerland, Britain, France, East & West Germany, Russia & Hong Kong
