The present timepiece is one of the rare Grande & Petite sonnerie clock watches signed by the Army & Navy Cooperative Society Ltd. It combines a high quality complex movement, a heavy gold case and a dial made by the renowned Frederik Willis.

Grande and Petite Sonnerie clock watches are extremely rare, being one of the most difficult complications to build in a watch., automatically striking the hours and quarter hours at each quarter-hour (Grande Sonnerie) with options for quarter hours only (Petite Sonnerie) and silence option for the night time hours.

The Army & Navy Cooperative Society Limited
The Army & Navy Cooperative Society Limited was founded in London in 1871 and was the first and most successful cooperative retailer with branches throughout the British Empire and India.

The firm's goal was to offer "The Very Best English Goods" at reasonable prices. In the records of the Kew Observatory they are listed as makers of high-quality complicated watches which did well at the trials at the turn of the century. The present watch with its double overcoil hairspring most certainly participated at such a trial.