OMEGA 921 GOLD " AARON LUFKIN DENNISON " CA. 1952

American-born Aaron Lufkin Dennison began his career in the watchmaking industry in 1850, co-founding the Waltham Watch Company, which went on to become the largest American watch manufacturer of its day.

He moved to Zurich in 1863, having found that the Swiss were more advanced in the production of watch parts. There he joined the Tremont Watch Company, managing the manufacturing side of the business and contributing to the formation of the International Watch Co.

In 1871, A.L.D moved to England and after a short period in London, he decided to make Birmingham his home. A.L.D found a niche in the market for high-quality watch cases produced in large numbers, and patented numerous designs for air- and water-tight cases. He died in 1895, but left behind a very worthy successor, Franklin Dennison, who with his son founded the Dennison Watch Case Co. Ltd.

Over the next 60 years, the company would become England's largest watch company, recognized worldwide for its quality. Even with this success, the memory of the great founder has never been forgotten, with almost every Dennison product signed with the initials "A.L.D".

Dennison has designed and manufactured watch cases for world-famous explorers specifically for expeditions - in 1913 for Sir Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition on the ship "Endurance", and in 1953 for the successful Everest expedition of Sir Edmund Hillary and his team. In the same year, Commander Lithgow broke the world air speed record by flying over Tripoli, reaching a speed of 735.7 mph (1184 km/h), while wearing a Dennison Aquatite case watch.

During the First World War, Dennison manufactured highly durable wrist and pocket watches issued to the British Army, as well as military compasses and other rugged items. During the Second World War, Dennison temporarily ceased watch production and instead produced around 13,000 rocket projector beams for the Royal Air Force. The company's director at the time, Arthur Dennison, was also an RAF pilot.

In 1949, Dennison was back in watch production and once again collaborated with Omega to produce cases for the new Omega Seamaster Automatic.

Over the years, Dennison became best known for its close working relationships with watchmakers and retailers such as Rolex, Tudor, Omega, Longines, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Zenith, Smiths, J.W.Benson & Garrard. Production ceased in 1965.

Here we present a piece from this tradition of excellence, exemplary for the British market and made by Dennison.

This is the 921 model, in 9-carat gold with 14-carat gold reliefs. Reference 921 was available with a variety of different dial designs, such as the combined digital dial on the current watch or applied baton hour markers. The English "375" hallmark is also found on the reverse of one of the watch lugs.

This model is sober and elegant, with all the hour-markers and Roman numerals as well as the omega logo in 14-carat gold. The dial has a really nice, even patina throughout, which really gives it that vintage look. The watch is unpolished, with incredible shine and gold quality. The case back bears the original reference number 12302, and serial numbers 570783 on the case back dating this example to around 1952.

The case design is extremely similar to the Tudor Prince, Rolex Oyster and Breitling of the same era, most of which were also manufactured by Dennison. The similarity is sometimes uncanny.

The watch is powered by a Swiss-made mechanical movement: the Omega caliber 420 with 17 jewels. It is a reliable and durable movement that was used in many Omega watches of this era.

A rare example combining the fusion of two watchmaking greats, Omega and Dennison, a good movement in a good case.

Manufacturer: Omega / Dennison

Model: 921
Catalogue number: 12302/570783
Year: Circa 1952
Materials: 9-carat gold and 14-carat gold relief
Dimensions: Diameter 33.5 mm Height 40 mm
Caliber: Mechanical, hand-wound, cal.420 Omega
Strap: Dark grey alligator 18 mm
Box/paper: No