We are delighted to offer this beautiful men's 1956, 68 year old Benrus gold dress wristwatch.
The rolled gold Tonneau case with hooded lugs measures 37.6 mm X 20 mm, excluding crown, and surrounds a crisp white dial complimented by black hour and minute hands, black Arabic numbers, black outer chapter, and sub-second dial @ 6 o'clock.
The 17 jewel Swiss, cal. BB2 movement, has been recently serviced, it sets and winds as it should, is running strong and keeping very good time.
It has a snap-down case and is matched with a brown genuine leather strap with gold buckle.
Note: I just noticed when listing this watch that one of strap pins was too long. I have replaced it with a correct, smaller size.
This watch has been very well preserved with only some light brassing on the case and only light surface scratches to the crystal.
STOCK CODE: B-18
ABOUT THE BRAND:
Benrus Watch Company was an American company. It was a family company.
Founded in New York City in 1921 by three brothers - Oscar (d.1990),
Benjamin, and Ralph (d.1960). The ambitious brothers were Romanian
immigrants. The name "BENRUS" was a combination of Benjamin
Lazrus first and last names. Hence "BEN"jamin
laz"RUS".
Since it's invention in
the 16th centurey the only choice in watches was the pocketwatch. But in
the early 1900's watch manufacturers and jewelers were soldering solid lugs to
small pocketwatches, adding straps, and wearing them on the wrist. A new
type of watch was born; the wristwatch. The wristwatch gained very
quickly in popularity, to the point that by the early 1920's worldwide
pocketwatch manufacture and sales were on the decline. It was at that
time that three young brothers saw an opportunity to begin a wristwatch company
that produced moderately priced watches for the common-man; BENRUS.
On 14 May 1923, Lazarus
acquired the legal protection of the trademark Benrus from the Swiss federal
office for intellectual property.
Oscar Lazrus was the
eldest brother. He was an attorney, and he was in charge of the
advertising and finances for the company. The next oldest was Benjamin
Lazrus where the company name was derived. Benjamin attended Columbia
University, and fought in World War I. He was in charge of the operations
of the company. The youngest of the brothers was Ralph. Ralph was a
salesman at heart and so handled the sales aspect of the business. Over
the life of the company the three brothers, at one time or another, ran the
company as President.
The original company
headquarters were located in the Hippodrome building on 44th street in
Manhattan. While some watch assembly took place there, the bulk of the
manufacture took place in Switzerland. Benrus owned a factory in la
Choux de Fond where watch movements were assembled.
(An interesting side
note: This factory was run by the first woman in Swizerland to run a
major Swiss company).
At the time all Swiss
watches and parts were controlled by the Swiss watchmaking cartel who provided
Benrus with the movements and parts. Benrus also had a factory in
Waterbury CT which is where they made the cases for Benrus watches. The
company would later own factories in France, St. Thomas, and Virgin Islands in
the late 50's early 60's.
(Another interesting
fact: Benrus once purchased watch movements from Seiko long before Seiko
watches were allowed to be imported into the USA).
The WWII years were a
period of gigantic growth for Benrus. Contrary to popular belief,
Benrus, like many other watch manufacturers of the time, manufactured watches
for WWII servicemen. Most US companies (including watch companies) were
brought into the war effort to produce items for military use. Benrus was
no different. Indeed, Benrus was manufacturing items toward the War
effort. They had top secret government contracts to manufacture timing
devices for use in bombs and weapons. They also continued to sell watches
to civilians as they were still able to ship their Swiss movements by sea via
Lisbon. The extremely limited supply of affordable watches meant big
profits for the company as consumers snapped up whatever watches Benrus could
make.
When the war was over,
some other family members would join the company. Jay Kay Lazrus and
Julian Lazrus were Oscar Lazrus' sons. Julian would go on to run the
Waterbury plant and would later become President of the company. Jay Kay
graduated from Exeter and Harvard. He served in the Airforce as a
communications specialist during WWII - he was a Lieutenant., and would
eventually would become Executive Vice President of Benrus.
Production steadily
expanded throughout the 1940's. Post-War, Benrus designers went to work
fashioning beautiful and dazzling watches that expressed post war civilian
life. Supplies of high quality Swiss movements were not only readily
available, but were also inexpensive for Benrus to buy. This was due to
high volume and a strong relationship with the Swiss cartel. Benrus even
had a German company supplying ebauche movements and parts. The company
was positioned perfectly... just as with cars and houses, America was ready to
buy a new watch.
The resulting designs
from Benrus were unique and exaggerated. Designs from this period, with
fancy bezels and lugs. The company produced memorable watches like the
"Embraceable" - a one piece watch that was slipped on like a bracelet,
and also the "Citation" which was named after a famous racehorse of
the time. The "Dial-o-Rama" which is probably the most
recognized of all of the jump hour direct read watch which is highly
collectible today. It was a very exciting time for the Benrus Watch
Company who played a large role in the Retro-Modern period as we know it.
Watches from this period are becoming very collectible today.
Hamilton v. Benrus
By the beginning of the
1950s, Benrus' had overtaken Hamilton and had grown to become the 3rd largest
watch company in the United States, behind Bulova and Elgin (who each were
larger than Benrus and Hamilton combined). They were a mid-priced watch
company and that relied solely on using swiss movements. They had no
watch with more than 17 jewels and generally marketed their watches with a
retail price between $24.75 and $71.50.
Hamilton, in contrast,
had a reputation of producing a higher quality watch and had factories
manufacturing watches entirely made in the USA. They also imported swiss
movements which they marketed under the Illinois name. Hamilton retailed
their watches at $49.50 and up.
In 1952 a proposal by
the U S Tarriff Commission had recommended an increase import duties on swiss
watch movements. This would prove to be quite damaging to Benrus
who relied solely on swiss made movements. In contrast it would prove to
be beneficial to a company manufacturing watches in the US.
What Benrus did next was
controversial. Benrus appeared to have its sights on taking over Hamilton
Watch Company. Beginning in 1952, Benrus had begun purchasing shares of
Hamilton Watch Company stock on the New York Stock Exchange. By mid-1952
Benrus had acquired 10% of Hamilton stock. By early 1953 Benrus owned
over 90,000 shares or 24% of Hamilton's outstanding stock. This large
stake in Hamilton's company allowed Benrus to have a such a large voting share
that it would be capable of appointing one director per year to a three year
term on Hamilton's board of directors.
At the same time Benrus
held patents for an automobile clock that they were eager to market but did not
have the manufacturing capabilities in the US to capitalize upon. Benrus,
with it's influential block of Hamilton stock approached Hamilton and suggested
a mutually beneficial deal be arranged.
Hamilton was feeling the
pressure. They believed Benrus was attempting to obtain enough stock in
an effort to carry control over the company and sued Benrus claiming violation
of US anti-trust laws. Benrus contended that the shares represented an
investment as a hedge against the proposed tarriff . Regardless, in 1953
Hamilton won an injunction against Benrus.
A few pieces of interesting history
The company was the
first paid sponsor of a TV program - "the Wizard of Oz"
They were one of the
first companies to develop a completely waterproof watch.
They manufactured the
popular Dick Tracy watch and also made some Disney watches.
Other brands that sold
under the Benrus name were SOVREIGN and BELFORTE. These were Benrus' less
expensive lines.
The Decline of an Era
By the late 1950's Ben
and Ralph Lazrus were in their 70's and ready for retirement. Oscar
bought out his brothers shares to become the sole owner of the company.
Ralph died shortly thereafter in 1960.
By this time they had
operations in the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and also a brand new factory in
Ridgefield, CT where the new Main offices would be located. The
Waterbury CT plant was closed and operations were moved to Ridgefield.
The company was sold in
1967 to Victor Kiam, of Remington Razors... Victor Kiam was made famous in his
advertisement "I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company".
Unfortunately, this was the era of the cheap Japanese Quartz movement and
inexpensive Timex watches which hurt most US producers of mechanical watches.
Under new ownership the company was stripped of it's most valuable assets
which were sold off. "Benrus" was used primarily for it's
strong brand name recognition.
In the 1960's through
the late 70's, Benrus made military issue watches used by the Army and Navy.
These were issued to servicemen fighting in the Vietnam War.
By the mid to late 70's
Benrus Incorporated was a diversified manufacturer of a number of consumer
products. Companies included: Benrus Watch Co. - Watches,
Wells, Inc. - Jewelry, and Destino, Ltd. - Christian Dior Products. An
attempt to consolidate all the various manufacturing enterprises under one roof
proved to be a much more expensive move than anyone calculated, and a final
blow to the company which subsequently filed bankrupt in 1977.
The company was then
sold, and after passing through several more hands, came under the ownership of
the Hampden Company, which also owned "Fantasy Diamonds", with
factories in both the Virgin Islands and Chicago. An attempt was made to
bring back the Benrus brand under Hampden/Fantasy, which was somewhat
successful but short lived. Among others, a reissue of Vietnam service
watches proved very popular.
Oscar Lazrus died in the
early 1990's (he was in his 90's). His son Julian Lazrus died Aug. 14,
2004 at the age of 85.
We are Stonehenge Watch Company and have been selling vintage timepieces and new watches on the internet for over 17 years with hundreds of happy, satisfied, often repeat, customers.
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