J W Benson were sellers and manufacturers of watches in their own name mainly from 1850 to 1973, when they were bought by Garrards. They were a highly respected company with a manufacturing (assembly) facility in Ludgate Hill in London and later sales from 25 Old Bond St. in London.
 
This is a particularly fine 9k gold example in excellent condition. It was probably manufactured as a "man's" watch in the early 1940s. With a diameter, excluding the crown, of 28mm this would be very small by todays standards however, as you can see from the picture of it on my (small) wrist , it doesn't look lost. I guess unisex would best describe it today
 
It has a lovely technical dial with each second index being sub-divided by five markers. There is some print loss and ageing but it remains really attractive. The hour indexes alternate between dots and Arabic numerals and when flashed in the light they change from black to copper colour. The hour and minute hands are black however the signs are that originally they were gold or even copper coloured. They could easily be restored to original. The contrasting black seconds hand has a pretty counter weight similar to those seen on most Omega medicus watches. 
 
The case and case-back are made from 9k gold and were manufactured by Edward Browning Eustance in the UK. On the inside case-back it's marked Patent Applied For and this would have related to the swing action lugs. The full patent was later granted in 1946. It is marked .375 (9k gold) and again on the side of the case. There are no significant dinks or scratches to the case.
 
The watch runs very well - approximately two minutes per day slow. It might be improved on with a service. The movement is extremely clean and is a reflection of a well cared-for watch. Benson did not manufature their own movements in the later years and it's likely that this was made for them by Cyma or Longines.
 
It comes with a used brown leather strap.