An interesting Cunard White Star Line and Cunard Line Ocean Liner RMS Mauretania presentation Omega Ref. 720 circa 1950 steel manual vintage wristwatch, as presented to, and engraved on the reverse: ‘Presented to / Mr Frank Drummond / on his retirement / by the Engineer Officers / R M S Mauretania / April 1953’. A relic from the glory days of Trans-Atlantic crossings.
Condition: not checked if in working order, certainly in need of servicing, but all component parts as is, lacking the leather wrist strap, overall Fine.
This is a charismatic mid-century Omega model with unusual stylised Arabic numerals. There is a good lustre to the dial with light and even oxidation to the surface. Cased in steel, the watch has good definition to its angles and edges and retains its original unsigned winding crown. This model was Advertised in Omega’s catalogues for the UK market as a Ref. 720, the case was made for the watchmaker by the Dennison case company and is one of their most classic designs, featuring a polished chamfered bezel, gently down-turned lugs and flat, snap-on, back. Manually wound, the movement is a calibre 265 which is part of Omega’s highly regarded ’30’ series calibres.
The R.M.S. Mauretania mentioned on the back of this watch was the second named vessel to sail for the Cunard and White Star Line, which in 1950 became the Cunard Line. It is clear that Mr Frank Drummond was an employee of Cunard, most probably aboard the Mauretania, and was either a senior officer, or else a member of the Engineering Department aboard the vessel.
After a complete overhaul and refurbishment of the interior, Mauretania made her first post-war Atlantic crossing to New York City, departing on 26 April 1947. After using Liverpool as her home port for the first two voyages she was thereafter based at Southampton. Here she acted as the relief ship for Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, standing in on the transatlantic service when one of them was undergoing maintenance. By this time the London to New York service had been discontinued as Georgic, with which she had operated the service was in no fit state to resume passenger duties, while the other partner, Britannic, had been transferred to a new Liverpool to New York service. Later that year she began to be used as a cruise ship during the winter months to the West Indies and the Caribbean. These so-called 'dollar earning cruises' assisted the shattered British economy. In 1948 Mauretania was used to return home the Wright Brothers historic first aircraft, the 1903 Wright Flyer, where it had been on loan to the Science Museum since 1928. During the next decade she served on the Southampton to New York route during the summer months and operated on cruises from New York during the winter months.
