The Benson Electra
June 30th, 2009 | 
Author: Once in a while I see a design that I like regardless of working order. This is one of them. A Benson Electra which I’m guessing is a dollar watch from J.W. Benson in London. The case is a little chewed on and it’s a one jewel pin lever wonder but I really like the Mod look of the dial and bezel match. The markers are inlaid into the crystal so it’s a survivor of sorts. When I opened the case I could immediately smell oil so it’s obvious someone thought soaking it in 3-in-1 would get it’s little heart beating again. Similar to a cardiac surgeon recommending a large helping of poutine before going in for that triple bypass. It didn’t work. It will sit in my work drawer until I get the time to give it a spa treatment.
Strapped and posed.
After a sponge batch and a good blow dry
Movement before a surface cleaning
Dial and bezel before the sponge bath
Movement and bezel after the sponge bath
If it never runs again it will have a safe place to sleep until it’s passed on to the next collector or, it will make a great winter project for next year.
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That’s a pretty nice looking dial. It doesn’t realy look cheap at all. Good snag Rob.
Thanks Frank. The more I look at it the more I like it. It may be quite a bit older than the 60’s. It’s reminiscent of the Pie Pan dials from the forties and fifties so I’ll have to show it to a few collectors and get some opinions. Even with the grease packing the pinions and arbours it’s struggling to tick out about three minutes a day. It’s bloody amazing. It might be worth having someone micro weld the case back to shape and have it re-plated.
That one is really pretty, when did you get it? Why didn’t you show it to me?