SPECIFICATIONS
Beautiful Mappin with rectangular shaped steel “small tile” case with FHF 29 shaped manual wind movement from the 1930s.
Steel case measuring 22mm x 34.5mm
Original plastic glass
Original crown
Manual wind FHF 29 movement
ANALYSIS
This stunning watch has come from the 1930s to the present day in exceptional condition and certainly came from one of the two Mappin & Webb boutiques in London, one located on Regent Street and one on Oxford Street. The birth of this important tradition of jewelers took place in 1775 (this year will therefore be the 250th anniversary of its foundation) by Jonathan Mappin in Sheffield, who was a great and renowned silversmith together with his brother. In the following years, his great-grandson John wanted to continue the family tradition but this time in London: together with his brother-in-law George Webb, they founded Mappin & Webb in 1860, and two years later they opened the first high jewellery boutique in Oxford Street. Today Mappin & Webb are known by collectors of vintage watches who love the double signature on the dials but not many know that the jeweler commissioned parts of watches to sell them also with their own name on the dial.
This example is a wonderful example.
The dial is made with a play of two-tones, which alternate between the rectangular lines of the minute track and those of the inner band where the Arabic numerals stand out with the oversized 3, 9 and 12. The hands are sinuous and tempered in an intense blue. This dial is strongly characterized by the small second hand placed very low: it is undersized and occupies the center-periphery interrupting the rectangles of the minute track and the hours. A very intelligent graphic solution, because it makes the composition very airy, separating the hours from the seconds by a lot of space.
This solution is also due to the movement used, which was produced by the Fabrique d’Horologerie de Fontainemelon. In fact, the caliber 29, with many of its variations, was used for the setting of the Duo-Dial, Jumping Hours and other variations (the movements take different names but the base is the same).
The two-piece case in the shape of a “small tile” is very particular. It is rectangular with two very pronounced and polished lateral bevels, which play with the horizontally satin-finished sides. Also very interesting is the indication “Staybptie” (and not the more common name “Staybrite”), which is recorded on some rare Omega (and Tissot) Marine of the same years.
