This watch

Kays "Standard" Lever: A Product of Britain's Mail-Order Giant with a Railway connection
This Solid nickle pocket watch is signed Kays "Standard" Lever, and is a superb example of a branded timepiece sold by one of the United Kingdom's most successful and historically significant mail-order catalogue businesses: Kay & Co. Ltd. of Worcester. The perfect Enameeled / Porcaline dial is crisp and suggests some railway connection especially when we mention the screw front bezel and screw caseback. Along with that 2.5mm thick crystal glassa classic design for the era, featuring a highly legible white enamel dial with bold black Roman numerals, blued steel hands  spade style, and a subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o'clock. The dial is signed "KAYS 'STANDARD' LEVER" and "SWISS MADE", a reliable Swiss import retailed to the British public via the catalogue system.  Chain sold separately.

Extra Points

Kays of Worcester
The company was founded by William Kilbourne Kay in Worcester in 1889 as "Kay's of Worcester".

Kays was a pioneering and highly successful mail-order catalogue business. The target market was typically working or lower-middle-class people, whom Kays allowed to pay for goods on a weekly schedule after paying a deposit.

The original catalogues were primarily filled with jewellery, watches, clocks, and household items, reflecting William Kay’s original trade as a jeweller’s assistant and watchmaker.

In 1896, Kay & Co. Ltd. bought out the older firm of John Martin Skarratt, acquiring the contract to supply clocks and watches to the Great Western Railway (GWR), which was an important part of the company’s prestige and business.

 

What We Think

Like J.W. Benson and Winegartens, Kays did not manufacture the movements themselves. They sourced movements and complete watches from Swiss manufacturers and sold them under their own brand name. This is known as private label retailing. The quality of these pieces can often be superior to more well known watch maker brands.

dont be fooled by The name "Standard Lever"  it was a brand name given by Kays to this particular model, signifying that it contained a standard-quality, durable lever escapement movement, which was superior to the older, cheaper cylinder movements also sometimes sold by the company. Other Kays brands included "Masterpiece" and "Perfection".

Spec Stuff