Here’s another watch with great local history. Fremes watches were created and sold in Canada by members of the Fremes family. The company was owned by Simon Fremes who was president of S.Fremes and Co. Ltd., manufacturing jewellers on Adelaide St. West. The business was based in Toronto, Canada. For the manufacturing of their watches, swiss watch movements were purchased in Switzerland and faces and cases were designed and built locally in Toronto. It wasn’t uncommon for local jewellery manufacturers in the beginning of the century to manufacture and sell watches locally. From the City of Toronto Archives we learn that the “Commodore Building” located at 317 Adelaide St. West, was built by Simon Fremes, a local jewellery manufacturer. The King Spadina neighbourhood, named for the intersection of the two major streets that cross it, took on its 20th century character after the Great Fire of 1904 destroyed the city's original Manufacturing district.. Among the first men to acquire property in King Spadina was Samuel Fremes, a local jewellery manufacturer who, in 1912, commissioned the Fremes Building on the southwest corner of Adelaide Street West and Peter Street. It is now designated as a heritage building. The business most likely shut down in the 1950's.
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Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
Archives
September 2018
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