Ladies Wristwatch, West End Watch Co.
Overall view of West End Watch Co. “Secundus” ladies wristwatch with articulated bracelet
The full wristwatch is shown with rectangular gold-plated case, silver-toned dial, and linked bracelet exhibiting substantial wear, patina, and plating loss from decades of continuous use.
Name/Title
Ladies Wristwatch, West End Watch Co.Entry/Object ID
172Description
Summary Petite Swiss-made ladies mechanical wristwatch manufactured by the West End Watch Company under the “Secundus” model line, likely dating to circa 1958–1960. The watch was given to Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna by her father as a gift during a period when imported Swiss watches represented meaningful aspirational luxury within middle-class Indian households. Worn extensively throughout her adult life and repeatedly repaired during decades of service, the watch ceased functioning by approximately the mid-1990s and was later transferred into The Vijaya Kumari Art Collection in 2012 shortly before Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna’s passing. ⸻ Detailed The watch is a small rectangular ladies wristwatch with a manually wound Swiss mechanical movement housed within a gold-plated case attached to a matching articulated bracelet. The dial is silver-toned with applied baton and dot hour markers and bears the printed inscriptions “WEST END WATCH Co” at center, “SECUNDUS” in blue beneath the hands, and “SWISS MADE” at the lower edge of the dial. The case has softly stepped shoulders terminating in pointed upper and lower lugs linked to a bracelet composed of alternating rounded and rectangular gold-plated links. The bracelet appears original or near-contemporary to the watch and exhibits substantial wear, plating loss, abrasion, and accumulated patina consistent with prolonged continuous use. The reverse of the case is engraved with the numbers “8237” and “4245.” Additional marks appear on the lugs, including a “W” within a circular cartouche and the number “20,” likely indicating a 20 micron rolled-gold or gold-plating specification. Comparable surviving West End Watch Company ladies watches from the period frequently used 20 micron rolled gold cases or plating systems. The watch belongs to the “Secundus” line produced by the West End Watch Company, a Swiss manufacturer established in 1886 with especially deep commercial and cultural ties to India, Bombay, and broader South Asian markets. The company became particularly well known throughout the Indian subcontinent during the first half of the 20th century for reliable Swiss watches marketed to both military and civilian consumers. Within India during the late 1950s, ownership of a Swiss wristwatch—particularly for a young woman—represented both practical modernity and aspirational cosmopolitanism. Imported Swiss watches were relatively expensive consumer goods and often marked educational achievement, adulthood, or paternal affection. In this case, the watch was gifted by Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna’s father around 1959 and remained in active use for nearly three decades. The evidence of repeated repairs reflects a period when mechanical watches were maintained and serviced continuously rather than treated as disposable consumer products. By approximately the mid-1990s the movement had ceased functioning and was no longer repaired. In 2012, shortly before her passing, Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna transferred the watch to the present owner for preservation within the collection. The object therefore survives not merely as a timekeeping device, but as a material record of post-independence Indian middle-class aspiration, paternal gifting culture, female education and adulthood, and decades of disciplined daily use. Within Bangalore House, the watch belongs to the collection’s intimate biographical layer alongside the mangala sutra, inherited earrings, and other objects whose significance derives primarily from continuity of use, memory, and familial transmission rather than decorative scale or market rarity.Category
Permanent Collection