Angelus Ad From 1946

Angelus is still around today, but they make watches much different than the one showcased in the ad below.

The compnay began manufacturing its own ébauches, or movement blanks, as far back as 1904. By this time, it was also already making complicated watches. This included repeaters and chronographs – the chronograph especially being one of Angelus’ specialties.

The ad displayed in this post is for a complicated triple calendar chronograph watch. About four years before this ad was released, in 1942, Angelus actually released the first series chronograph with a calendar complication. Angelus called it the Chronodate initially, but by 1943 was calling it the Chrondato (as it’s called in the above advertisement).

1945 Breitling Advertisement

I shared this one already in my post The Wakmann Watch Company: An Answer to Post-War Protectionism?, but it’s so cool, I think it’s worth sharing here again.

The above ad is for the original Duograph, a model that Breitling recently re-released. It’s a split-seconds chronograph, which is even cooler than your normal run-of-the-mill chronograph.

World War 2 came to a conclusion during the end of 1945, which is around the same time the above ad was released. The US watch industry, which was only producing watches for the military, had already lost a large amount of market share to the Swiss by this time.

After striking a deal and creating the joint venture with Breitling, Wakmann was an American company importing and co-branding clocks with its new partner for US military (and civilian) aircraft. For more on this subject, you can revisit my earlier post by clicking here.

Heuer Advertisement From 1945

No chronograph post from the 1940s would be complete without Heuer. Unlike regular watches, chronographs specifically were considered “war material” by the surrounding Axis Powers. Exporting them outside of Switzerland was difficult, so Heuer concentrated more on its own domestic, Swiss market.

After World War 2 was over chronograph sales exploded, and Heuer was a major beneficiary. Chronographs specifically were associated with heroic war veterans during this boom period in sales, but by 1949, these sales started to rapidly decline.

Kelbert and Tourneau Watch Ads from 1945

According to Fratello, Kelbert was founded in 1938. It was an importer of Swiss watches, but resided in New York itself.

Besides this basic information provided by Fratello’s article, I can’t seem to find much else about the company. The above ad dates to around 1945.

Tourneau is another non-manufacturer that seems to have provided chronographs with its name on the dial in the 1940s. Tourneau is a retailer that’s still in operation today.

The company was purchased by European retailer, Bucherer AG, in 2018. Tourneau was originally established all the way back in 1900, selling watches in the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution, the founding family briefly fled to Paris, before arriving in New York in 1924.

Universal Geneve Advertisement From 1945

Another cool ad from the 1940s comes from Universal Geneve.

This one is advertising for the timing and registering up to 45 minutes in 1/5 seconds. A little odd when it comes to the increments it can time for, but that’s what makes it cool.

Conclusion

The 1940s was an interesting time for chronograph wristwatches. They were important for militaries in WW2, and were popular after the war’s conclusion. The 1960s would see a resurgence in chronographs, which will be the subject of a future post.

According to Heddels History Of The Chronograph, the first modern chronograph was created in 1816. It would be Breitling, however, that would be responsible for the first wrist chronograph with two pushers – which is the archetypal image of modern chronographs today.

Before this innovation, chronographs operated with a single pusher. Breitling filed this patent in 1934, and by the 1940s, we can see clearly through these ads that this was the predominant configuration that almost the entire industry would adopt going forward.

Know more about Angelus, Breitling, Heuer, Kelbert, Tourneau, and Universal Geneve and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

While there’s definitely other brands (that aren’t Swiss) that you could argue are right up there with the Holy Trinity – such as A. Lange & Söhne, F.P. Journe, Breguet, etc – for the purpose of this post, we’ll be focusing on the classics.

The classic big three have many things in common, including but not limited to: high-complications, iconic Gerald Genta designed sports models (at least for Patek and AP), and an extremely long, uninterrupted history of producing watches.

The historical track record is one of the main arguments backing up the current composition of the trinity members (versus a brand like A. Lange & Söhne that wasn’t reestablished until the 1990s when Germany was reunified). Other high-end brands like Blancpain were out of business for a time, so they can’t claim the same continuous record of the Trinity watchmakers.

Audemars Piguet Ad From 1959

Starting in alphabetical order, we have this really cool ad from AP. I love the emphasis the ad places on the watch’s movement. It’s a finely crafted, small batch watch for the “true connoisseur of fine watches”.

It’s hard for me to imagine AP without the Royal Oak, but this ad was released over a decade before that iconic watch even existed. The Royal Oak remains the best selling watch in Audemars Piguet’s stable today. It was designed in 1970 by Gerald Genta, but wasn’t actually industrially produced until 1972.

Of course another member of the Holy Trinity, Patek Philippe, would also work with Gerald Genta. The rest is history, as they say. The iconic Nautilus was debuted a few years later, in 1976. The Nautilus is still a very popular model today, especially if the dial is Tiffany Blue.

Patek Philippe Ad From 1956

This Patek Phillipe ad is more artistic than the one from AP. It looks more like a painting. One of the “World’s Foremost” watches is shown in a style that could have easily been released in the 1940s with its Tank-style case.

During the war, Patek Phillipe actually sent a stainless steel reference 1461 to Charles Woehrle. Mr. Woehrle was a prisoner of war at the time in a German POW camp. He’d filled out a mail-in coupon from a Patek Philippe promotional pamphlet, with a note saying that he’d pay for the watch when he got home after the end of WW2.

Woehrle wore the watch for over thirty years before it was stolen as a result of a home burglary. There is a happy ending to the story, however, involving a golden replacement from Patek Philippe themselves. Check out the full story and an interview with Charles Woehrle himself, over at Hodinkee. It’s a great read and a really fascinating story. It also makes me a big fan of Patek Phillipe as a company.

I know the title says that there will be three ads from the 1950s in this post, but since we’re on the subject of WW2 – here’s a bonus one from the early 1940s. This ad was pulled directly from an Esquire magazine found by a friend at a thrift store, which is dated December 1942 (right as the US entered WW2) .

Vacheron Constantin Ad From 1958

The final ad in this post comes from Vacheron Constantin. Like the ad from AP, it’s advertising to the “connoisseur”. You’ll see “IN GENEVA SINCE 1775” at the bottom, which makes it older than the United States.

Vacheron Constantin was founded in 1755, or two decades after Blancpain. Unlike Blancpain, however, Vacheron Constantin never shut its doors. That means it can rightfully claim to be the oldest watch manufacturer.

Conclusion

The 1950s were the decade when the world, and the watchmaking industry as a whole, were changing dramatically. It had been over a decade since the end of World War 2 when these ads were released.

Companies like Rolex and Blancpain were introducing the first purpose-built dive watches with rotating bezels. Omega would introduce the world to its Professional line of watches in 1957, which included the Seamaster 300 and Speedmaster. In other words, the foundation for the steel “sports watch” was already established by the time the 1960s started to roll around.

Iconic sports watches like the Royal Oak and Nautilus wouldn’t be introduced until the 1970s. This marked a change in the way even the Trinity did things, since these now-iconic sports models were introduced in steel.

That was a big thing at the time, since most of the finely-finished watches being manufactured by Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, and Vacheron Constantin were previously crafted from precious metals. By this time, steel sports watches, especially dive watches and chronographs, had hit their stride – but the industry as a whole was striding right into one big Quartz Crisis.

The Holy Trinity survived the Quartz Crisis, and continue to thrive today. Back in the 1950s, they were marketed as the finest watches in the world, so you could argue that not much has changed when looking at their positioning in the watch hierarchy today.

Know more about the “Holy Trinity” and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

The Big Crown is one of the most classic Oris models in my opinion. Maybe it’s not as popular as the Aquis, but it’s been a staple in the brand’s lineup for a long time. It was also its first pilot watch. Oris introduced its first “Big Crown” pilot’s watch in 1938, but the watch in this review is a new, unique take on this classic model.

The Oris Big Crown, With A Twist

This model is different than most Oris Big Crowns. The stark white dial (which appears to be lacquered), gives it an almost enamel-like finish. It’s a little different, but isn’t necessarily out-of-the-ordinary. What makes the watch special is the princess cut diamonds that are placed above each of the applied indices and Arabic numerals on the dial.

There’s actually 13 diamonds on the dial in total, since Oris placed two at the twelve o’ clock position. The diamonds jumped out at me right away, because I knew they’d match the princess cut of my wife’s engagement ring.

The white dial and diamonds made the watch unique and special enough that I knew it was “the one”. The watch does share some features of the other Big Crown watches made by Oris, too. This includes the signature fluted bezel, which gives the watch a little something “extra”.

The bezel actually makes the watch more interesting. A regular old smooth bezel would’ve made the watch look a little boring overall. There’s also another nice little detail if you look closely, which is the flat, highly-polished inner bezel. It’s an added touch that I didn’t notice at first, but it helps hide scratches. Due to the high-polish, it also looks black at certain angles.

The fleiger-style hands are filled with a generous amount of lume that glows blue. All of this is protected behind a sapphire crystal. The Arabic numerals and Indices are also applied, but it’s a very thin, almost printed application.

A Watertight Case With Classic Proportions

One of the best features of the watch is the water resistance. It boasts 100 meters water resistance and is aided by a screw-down crown. That makes the watch a perfect go anywhere, do anything watch in my opinion.

The case is slim and allows the watch to wear nice and slim. It measures 38mm across and it’s about 12mm thick. The lug width is only 18mm, which makes the watch wear slightly smaller than say, a Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical in 38mm. The Hamilton has a 20mm lug width, as well as a longer lug-to-lug width – so it definitely seems to wear larger than this Oris.

The case itself is almost entirely brushed. The lugs curve down nicely to fit snugly on the wrist, and the angular end parts are actually polished. This is really the only polished part on the watch except the crown and inner bezel.

The strap itself is a taupe color and I think it suits the watch. It’s a color you don’t really see very often, if at all. It’s complimented by white stitching and a tan underside. It seems to be a leather strap with alligator print, not genuine alligator, but it gets the job done and has broken in nicely over time.

The exhibition caseback displays the Selitta SW-200 movement with the signature red rotor Oris is known for. It also carries over the pattern of the bezel to the outer caseback, which shows the attention to detail over at Oris.

Conclusion

I think this women’s version of the classic Oris Big Crown is hard to beat. The complimenting colors of taupe, silver, and white – coupled with the tastefully placed diamonds – really make the whole package come together. It’s a unique take on the Big Crown, and I don’t think there’s anything else like it in the Oris catalog. It’s also a great GADA watch, or even a “one watch”, for people like my wife who aren’t as into watches I am.

When I asked my wife about any negatives about the watch, the only thing she could really think of was the lack of a date window. I actually like the symmetry of the dial without the date, but my wife prefers the functionality of a date complication – especially at work. She also tends to favor metal bracelets, but her Seiko SARB035 covers both those bases. So between the Seiko and Oris, along with her Apple Watch, she’s got a nice “three watch collection”.

As a result of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act, LeCoultre watches were cased domestically in North America. The cases were also locally produced, with the finished watches being sold under the LeCoultre name. These watches were sold by the Vacheron & Constantin-LeCoultre company.

This happened from approximately 1932 to 1985. After the LeCoultre trademark expired, however, the name Jaeger-LeCoultre was used globally. That clears up a little of the confusion, but also raises more questions than it answers.

Vacheron Constantin and JLC: A Partnership Through A Shared Partner

Records indicate that the last movement to power an American LeCoultre watch left the factory in 1976. Some say that Vacheron Constantin and LeCoultre shared a relationship centering on the right to import and distribute LeCoultre watches.

This relationship likely has roots dating back to the 1930s, starting with “Allied Watches” as the distributor, which later changed to another company. There is some documentation to support this, advertising Vacheron & Constantin and Allied watches, showing both LeCoultre and Vacheron et Constantin watches.

If you’re wondering what’s up with the “et” and the “&” between Vacheron Constantin, that’s another story. Vacheron et Constantin would remain the firm name until the late 1960’s. The “et” would later be dropped and replaced by “&”. The “&” would also later be dropped, most likely sometime around the late 1970s, truncated to the now modern name – Vacheron Constantin.

Vacheron Constantin and JLC share a mutual parent today of course, as they’re both owned by the Richemont Group. Before they were stablemates at Richemont, they were linked through an unlikely third party, though. That third party was Longines-Wittnauer.

Where Does Longines Fit In With All Of This?

Another interesting thing about the ad from 1964 is the text below that reads “Division of Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company”.

Longines purchased Wittnauer in 1950, and the Longines-Wittnauer group became the North American distributor for LeCoultre shortly after. Longines-Wittnauer was also distributor for Vacheron Constantin watches. So through a link through Longines (now owned by Swatch Group), Vacheron & Constantin-LeCoultre Watches, Inc was a division of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company.

Vacheron Constantin-LeCoultre: Cased And Timed In The USA

This interesting arrangement also led to some really interesting watches, such as the LeCoultre Galaxy. These mystery dial watches are double signed, with LeCoultre on the dial and Vacheron & Constantin, or Vacheron & Constantin-Lecoultre stamped on the caseback.

Here’s one that was listed for sale on Hodinkee, and you can see the dual-signatures. You can also see the inside of the caseback, which reads “CASED AND TIMED IN U.S.A. BY LECOULTRE.” The Galaxy Mystery is the only time both companies collaborated on a product together, according to Hodinkee. This was also an exclusive collaboration specifically for the US market.

Another Interesting Alliance: This Time With Cartier

During the 1940s and 1950s, Jaeger LeCoultre also had some type of arrangement with Cartier, according to blommanwatchreport.com. Under this arrangement, Jaeger-LeCoultre watches were labelled Cartier, or dual-signed Cartier/LeCoultre, and sold as such. This may have even included JLC Atmos clocks.

I actually own an ad for a Cartier Futurematic (which is also shown in the blommanwatchreport.com post). You can see the Cartier looks eerily similar to the LeCoultre Futermatic in the feature image of this article.

The Cartier ad dates to 1951, and although it’s hard to read, the dial is dual-signed with LeCoultre. It appears that this relationship might have been a US market exclusive arrangement as well, since most of the surviving ads appear to be associated with LeCoultre, not JLC.

Conclusion

The relationship between Vacheron Constantin and LeCoultre, established by the arrangement with Longines-Wittnauer, is one of the more interesting historical tidbits I’ve learned about so far. I’m pretty sure I’d ever even know about it if I hadn’t stumbled upon these random ads from the 1950s and 1960s that peaked my curiosity.

The Longines-Wittnauer relationship ended in 1995 when Swatch purchased Longines, with Swatch taking over Longines distribution as well. Wittnauer was subsequently bought by Bulova in 2001. There’s some really interesting history behind collaborations that were directly related to US tariffs, which led to some very interesting watches being made exclusively for the US market.

Know more about Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Longines, and Wittnauer and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

The Impulse Purchase That Sparked My Love Of Chronographs.

After a couple days into the Hawaiian trip, we decided to go to the mall. I caught sight of some watches displayed in jewelry store window, so naturally I had to go in for some browsing. This inevitably led me to an impulse buy. The jeweler, Na Hoku, had a large display in the center of the store with all sorts of “in house” watches – or watches with Na Hoku on the dial.

A chronograph with a sunburst brown dial and applied indices jumped right out at me. Despite its massive case size, which I think is 44mm or maybe even 45mm, it didn’t seem that big on my wrist (at the time anyways). It was also powered by a Swiss quartz movement, which I later found out it was a Ronda quartz movement.

I kept wearing the SKX for the rest of the trip, because I didn’t want to ruin the nice alligator strap that came attached to my newly acquired chronograph. When I got home, I did wear it quite a bit, but after a few months the battery died. It’s pretty much been sitting in its box ever since.

I still keep it around because of the memories it holds, however. There’s also a good chance it will soon be passed down to one of my younger family members as a gift.

My First Chronograph

The thing I loved most about the Na Hoku chronograph was playing around with the pushers. As weird as it sounds, I loved timing random things. I also loved resetting the central chronograph hands and watching it “rewind” all the way back to the twelve o’clock position.

This functions different than a mechanical chronograph, where the central chronograph hand “snaps back” into position. When I purchased my first Valjoux 7753-powered chronograph, it took me a little by surprise. I wasn’t expecting the central chrono hand to snap back (because I was used to the quartz chronograph’s way of resetting).

I’d always been a fan of Omega, and after realizing how cool chronographs were, this confirmed that my “grail” piece had to be a Speedmaster. There would be another chronograph purchase along the way, though.

Enter the Baume & Mercier Capeland

Fast forward about a year. After a big personal accomplishment, I finally decided to step up to a mechanical chronograph. That watch would be a Valjoux 7753-powered Capeland chronograph made by Baume & Mercier. It wasn’t technically my first “good watch”, but it was the first good watch that I purchased after careful research.

I knew that it could exist alongside a Speedmaster if I did end up obtaining one someday. The Capeland is an automatic chronograph with a white dial, which is quite the contrast from the black-dialed, manual-wound “Moonwatch”.

As I said in my review of the watch itself:

I’m still in love with the Capeland Chronograph after almost a decade of ownership, despite recently gravitating towards smaller, thinner watches as I’ve refined my taste over the years. I love pretty much all of the design elements of the watch itself; especially the way it can look and feel modern, but also subtly and seamlessly hint at design cues from the past, too.

Even though I loved my Capeland (and still do), I still really wanted a Speedmaster.

Grail Acquired: One Of The Most Iconic Chronographs

I was finally able to purchase a Speedmaster at the end of 2018. It was my biggest purchase yet, and came at a time when my life was changing quite a bit. I had a newborn at home, my first, and I was getting ready to start a new job in a new industry. I had recently purchased my first home. It was a time of “firsts”.

The Speedmaster isn’t quite as sentimental a watch as my Capeland chronograph, which I wore on my wedding day and on the day my son was born – but it’s still a very sentimental watch for me that I’ll never sell.

A 3 Watch Collection – Chronograph Style

I have all my bases covered when it comes to chronographs: a quartz, a manual wind, and an automatic. I still wear the Speedmaster probably more than any other watch during the colder months of the year, while the Capeland still gets brought out every now and again when I get the itch to wear it. All three watches have great memories associated with them. Each watch has some of my personal history embedded inside of it, too. I think that’s one of the best things about watch collecting.

Where We Last Left Off…

In my last post, Before Quartz: Hamilton, Lip, And The First Electric Watch, I covered Seiko’s Quartz Astron 35SQ, which triggered the “Quartz Revolution”. The Quartz Astron went on sale December 25, 1969. Roughly a decade later, quartz was in, and almost everything else was on its way out.

Seiko is perhaps best known for its excellent (and affordable) quartz watches, but it also owns a very iconic heritage related to mechanical watchmaking as well. Like today, it also focused on producing tough, yet affordable, watches for the masses.

Pre-Quartz Vintage Seiko Ads: A Focus On Value, An Emphasis On Automation

It seems that Seiko always strove to offer above-average value to consumers. You can see it in the pre-quartz era ads below. Language in the ads such as “the automation-made watch” that “runs like the dickens” at only a fraction of the price of a watch made the “old-fashioned way” can be applied to modern, entry-level mechanical Seiko’s, too – at least in my opinion.

Automation in the late 1960s, as today, had its advantages. You could get a great watch at a much better price. Machines don’t take coffee breaks or get paid overtime, after all. I have a feeling that wouldn’t be the main highlight of a modern advertisement, however.

While Seiko does appear to be moving upmarket, I do also think it still offers value in relation to many of its Swiss counterparts. To be fair, a lot of its higher-end watches, even ones that cost a thousand bucks or more, still offer good value I think. I’d say that’s especially true for the models that are receiving Grand Seiko technology and features (like Spring Drive movements and Zaratsu polishing).

My Favorite Vintage Seiko Ads

My favorite pre-quartz era watches from Seiko are its tool watches. Especially its divers. Even today, you can purchase a mechanical Seiko dive watch that’s tough and dependable, without breaking the bank. I know, I own both an SKX009 and a Samurai model.

My favorite vintage ads from the brand, however, are definitely the ones for its World Time models.

Originally released in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics, it was relatively expensive at the time. Of course the company was behind Rolex and Glycine when it came to producing travel-time watches produced specifically for aviation purposes, which was still relatively new at the time. World time watches themselves were technically invented in the 1930s, however, but this was long before commercial airlines.

Conclusion

I greatly admire Seiko as a brand. The company known for quartz also has a rich heritage as a mechanical watchmaker. It introduced Japan’s first chronograph wristwatch, and possibly even introduced the world’s first automatic chronograph – depending on who you ask. Yes, possibly even before the Caliber 11 or Zenith’s El Primero made it to market, according to Hodinkee.

Its Laurel model was the first wristwatch in Japan, and Seiko produced Japan’s first dive watch in 1965. The 6139 Speedtimer, Seiko’s first automatic chronograph, may have hit the Japanese market as early as May 1969. Then on December 25, 1969 the whole game changed with the release of the first quartz watch – the Seiko Astron.

Not only are the vintage Seiko ads displayed in this post really cool, they’re also a window into Seiko’s “pre-quartz” past. Even all the way up until the release of the Astron, Seiko was putting out mechanical world timers and automatic chronographs – not to mention tough mechanical dive watches.

Not many watchmakers have such an iconic heritage, and even fewer are still fully-integrated manufactures. Seiko also offers watches all along the price spectrum – from entry-level to the higher-end. There’s no other brand that I can think of that’s directly comparable to Seiko as a brand. I think for these reasons, Seiko remains in a league of its own.

Know more about Seiko and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

The Merits Of The “No Date”

I like “no date” watches for two reasons. One, the lack of a date window keeps the symmetry of the dial in tact. It just looks better in a lot of cases. If Omega decided to jam a date window into the classic “moonwatch” dial – they’d be ruining a classic design.

I think the same could be said for the Rolex Explorer, or Tudor Black Bay. The same also goes for a classic dress watch, like the Patek Philippe Calatrava 5196P, for instance.

The second reason: I don’t have to set the date every time the watch dies. When I grab a “no date” watch that’s been sitting in my watch box unworn for awhile, I can just wind it up and set the time. That’s it, I’m done.

This is one of the reasons I recently dropped my search for a triple calendar watch. If I don’t wear it daily, it’s not just the time I’d need to reset. I’d have to set the month, day, date – and adjust a moonphase – every time the watch needs to be wound up. If I owned only one watch, this wouldn’t be an issue. I like the variety of owning multiple pieces in a collection, though.

When Dials With Date Windows Make Sense

If a watch isn’t an iconic “no date” design already, then I think date windows should actually be seen as a positive. I’m not talking about watches where the date window is awkwardly-placed and looks like an afterthought. I’m talking about the vast majority of watches where the date window really doesn’t look that bad, and doesn’t ruin the design.

The question of aesthetics comes into play here, too. How important are they to you? For me, I prefer a day and date on my official vacation watch – the Seiko SKX009 – because sometimes I forget what day it is when I’m on vacation. Maybe you have a better memory than me and don’t appreciate this feature as much as I do.

I also like the way the day wheel turns blue on Saturday and red on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, a “no date” SKX would look really awesome, but the day and date complication is worth it in this case. I also like this functionality when it comes to my Seiko field watch.

Sticking with Seiko, I also love what they do with their date windows on their SARB models. Seiko adds a nice little detail on these models with a framed date window.

This incorporates the date window into the design, and tells you that Seiko put the date window there not as an afterthought, but as an intentional design decision.

I appreciate a nice framed date window at 3:00, and find the addition of a nicely-done date window a plus, not a negative. Date windows placed at 6:00 usually look much better to me as well. They just appear more symmetrical, whether framed or not.

Best Of Both Worlds: Dials With Date Windows That Blend Right In

The best designs, in my opinion, are those that integrate the date window so that it’s not even noticeable unless you’re really looking for it. It’s the best of both worlds. You get functionality and aesthetic appeal in one nice package.

The Oris Sixty-Five is a master-class in this type of design. The date window is there if I want to know the date, but it blends into the design so well that it almost looks like a “no date” model.

When brands color match the date wheel with the dial, it’s a win. A white date wheel on a black or dark blue dial sticks out like a sore thumb. Not so much when a brand takes the extra step to match up the colors.

Conclusion

Comments like “if only they dropped the date window” are common, and from an aesthetic point, make sense.

I find it better to have a tastefully done date window personally. The added functionality is worth it to me, and I find it’s one thing I miss when I’m wearing my Speedy Pro or Black Bay 41 during the work week. It’s definitely not a deal breaker, though. These watches are way too good looking for me to actually want to break up the design with an ugly date window at 3:00.

The Oris Sixty-Five, on the other hand, is perfection. The date window is there when I want it, but not noticeable enough to bother me. It’s the best of both worlds.

The First Electric Watch: A Flawed And Transitional Innovation

Hamilton’s Electric 500 was announced in a press release January 4, 1957. It was the world’s first watch to be powered by a battery, and also never needed to be wound. Despite being first, Hamilton’s 500 wasn’t necessarily the best. It wasn’t as reliable as a traditional mechanical watch, needed frequent battery changes, and was prone to failure.

Research to produce the first electric watch actually started as far back as 1946. Apparently there were rumors that Hamilton’s rival Elgin was working on an electric watch at the time as well, but Hamilton was first – despite taking over a decade to bring its first electric watch to market.

Production of Hamilton electric watches stopped around 1969, though. By then, it was likely already accepted that quartz was the technology of the future.

LIP: Second Place In The First Electric Watch Race

LIP produced the world’s second electric movement, the R 27, in 1958, roughly a year after Hamilton.

It was also arguably the first “electronic” movement, because it contained a tiny diode to reduce sparking on the contacts, according to electric-watches.co.uk. The unit itself was bulky and required two batteries. Only about 7,000 units were produced, so to find one today is rare.

Timex Enters The Race

Many other brands and manufacturers wanted to be progressive and modern enough to introduce electric watches to the marketplace. Interestingly enough, this is most likely why US-based Timex ended up purchasing the German watchmaker Laco in 1959.

Ludwig Hummel sold Laco-DUROW to US Time Corporation (better known as Timex today) in February of 1959. This brought it under American ownership. Laco was developing electric watches at the time, something Timex was obviously very interested in.

The Laco-electric was introduced in 1961. Timex introduced its first electric watch, the model 67, in 1962. Shortly thereafter in 1965, Timex inevitably sold Laco-DUROWE, however.

And Then Came Quartz Along…

Seiko’s Quartz Astron 35SQ triggered the “Quartz Revolution” according to Seiko themselves. I guess one brand’s crisis is another brand’s revolution. The Quartz Astron went on sale December 25, 1969.

Roughly a decade later, quartz was in, and almost everything else was on its way out.

Seiko actually shut down its tuning fork project in 1968. This program was running parallel to its quartz project, but the company saw the writing on the wall early and wanted to bring the first quartz watch to market within a year. The name “Astron” was chosen to resonate with modern (at the time) space age language.

Tuning Fork Technology: A Fork In The Road

Many brands had taken a detour with tuning fork technology. Seiko abandoned it, but other brands kept it going through the 1970s. The most famous, and first, tuning fork wristwatch was created by Bulova. It first sold its Accutron watches in 1960, but it appears that Bulova stopped producing them by the mid-to-late 1970s.

The Bulova Accutron’s movement utilized a 360 Hz tuning fork (instead of a balance wheel) as the timekeeping element. A Swiss engineer named Max Hetzel was responsible for miniaturizing a tuning fork movement for Bulova.

The Accutron, as well as other tuning fork movements, such as the one illustrated in the below 1970s Baume and Mercier advertisement, would eventually be made obsolete by quartz movements.

Quartz movements also technically utilize a tuning fork, but it’s a microscopic tuning-fork-shaped quartz crystal. They also utilize a different frequency.

Conclusion

Seiko fired the first shot of the Quartz Crisis (or Revolution, depending on who you ask). It released the first quartz watch in 1969, ironically the same year that iconic Omega Speedmaster would be worn on the moon. That was also the same year Zenith would debut the El Primero, arguably the first (Swiss at least) fully integrated automatic chronograph movement.

At what you could say was one of the high points of Swiss watchmaking – with the release of the first automatic chronograph – the quartz watch was quietly sowing the seeds of disruption with Seiko’s Astron. Ironically, Seiko would also release an automatic chronograph at this time as well. While it abandoned tuning fork technology, Seiko did continue to produce mechanical watches as well. It just really hopped on the quartz train and rode it all the way to market dominance.

Luckily, many brands produce mechanical watches today. Some, like Rolex, stuck to their guns and rode out the Quartz Crisis producing mechanical watches, almost exclusively. I say almost because even Rolex succumbed to quartz at one point – take a look at an Oysterquartz if you don’t believe me.

Sandwiched in-between the disruptive quartz watch and the modern mechanical luxury timepiece of today is the now almost forgotten electric watch. It was a transitional time in watchmaking perhaps; but it’s also a period of horological history that deserves to be preserved.

Know more about Hamilton, LIP, Bulova, Seiko, and electric watches and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

If you didn’t read the other posts in this series, you can access them below:

Part One

Part Two

For some background, these ads were pulled directly from vintage Esquire magazines that a friend found at a local thrift store. The magazines themselves date from 1941 and 1942.

Girard Perregaux Watch Ads From 1941 and 1942

With roots dating back to 1791, Girard perregaux is one of the oldest watchmakers that still exists. The Girard-Perregaux company itself was founded in 1856, when Constant Girard married Marie Perregaux.

The company still maintains its status as a manufacture today, and has recently become independent as well. Kering – the luxury group that also owns Gucci – decided to sell 100% of its stake in both Gerard Perregaux and Ulysses Nardin to current management.

The above ads are spaced roughly one year apart. We can see the shift in marketing mentality between the two ads clearly. The first ad (left) focuses on the beauty and precision of its watches.

The 1942 ad to the right is selling watches “just in time for Christmas”, but you can also see hints in the description that the company is marketing to soldiers. Take a look at the Sea Hawk model for instance, it’s “the watch for accurate and active service”. It’s not beautiful or fine – it’s waterproof and cushioned against shock.

Helbros Watch Ad: Time Counts

The Helbros Advertisement below is directly marketing to active servicemen and women, make no mistake. Check out the “Time counts – Buy U.S. War Bonds – NOW!” at the bottom.

Helbros was an American company founded in the early 1900s. It was a major company in the US during its peak, and William Helbein (one of the founders) was actually the first chair of the American Watch Assemblers Association. He was also a Director of the American Watch Association. 

After Helbein’s death in 1960, the company struggled. The “Helbros” trademark was apparently assigned to another iconic American watchmaker in 1968, The Elgin National Watch Company. It was then reassigned back to “Helbros Watches Inc” in 1974. The last registration linked to “Helbros Watches” was in 1991, and cancelled by 1998. Jules Jurgensen registered a new trademark in the 2000s, but it appears that the original company was long gone by then.

Mido

The last advertisement in this post comes from Mido. Founded in 1918, today Mido is owned by the Swatch Group. The below ad comes from 1942, shortly after the United States entered WW2. It illustrates all the “modern” features of Mido watches at that time: waterproof, shockproof, and non-magnetic. According to Mido, the watch practically thinks for itself because it winds itself!

“No watch is more modern” is what Mido says in the ad. Seems a little over-the-top maybe, but back in 1942, automatic wristwatches were still relatively new. Mido launched the MULTIFORT line in 1934 (roughly 8 years before the release of the above ad). It was “one of the first antimagnetic watches with a self-winding movement and built-in water- and shock-resistance” according to the company. It also launched watches with unbreakable mainsprings – the first company to do so in the marketplace.

Mido first started using its robot mascot in 1939, so he was only about three years old in the above ad. “Robi” was Mido’s symbol of progress and robustness, and the firm focused on being a modern watchmaker at the time.

It was also the first manufacturer to introduce a central-read chronograph (the stopwatch function had all its hands arranged at the center). That was in 1945. By 1954, Mido released its POWERWIND winding system, arguably the world’s most efficient winding mechanism at that time.

Wrapping Things Up

Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned writing this series was related to Mido. I knew of the brand, but never really knew much about the brand’s history before.

To put things in perspective: Mido accomplished a lot of its innovations before Omega introduced the Speedmaster and Seamaster 300 in 1957. The very first sketch for IWC’s very first wristwatch wasn’t patented until June of 1946. IWC and Omega were both part of the “Dirty Dozen” during WW2, but provided hand-wound watches to the Allied Forces – not self-winding ones.

Mido had already been producing durable automatic watches for almost a decade – give or take. It’s a drastic change today, since Mido utilizes mostly ETA movements provided by its conglomerate parent company. Back in the day, Mido was an exceptionally modern watchmaker, and the advertisement from 1942 captures that spirit.

Know more about Girard Perregaux, Helbros, and Mido and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!

Many of these mid-century ads are for watch movements or even components. Some are just for watch accessories, like aftermarket bracelets. I like these ads because they come from a time when watches were bought to be worn – not sit in a safe or become part of a collection.

These ads were originated before watches were basically superseded by smartphones (and other electronic gadgets). I doubt you’ll see a movement-maker or a bracelet-maker advertise today, so when looking at the vintage ads in this post, I think you can literally say “they don’t make ’em like this anymore”.

Vintage Watch Ads From Ebauches SA And Unitas

Ebauches SA was a holding company created at the end of 1926. It existed all the way into the mid 1980s, until it was eventually consolidated into Swatch Group under ETA. Before its inevitable absorption into ETA, Ebauches SA itself was an amalgamation of many iconic movement-makers that are still familiar today. Peseux and Valjoux are some of the names that likely still ring a bell.

Ebauches SA joined ASUAG (a larger holding company) in 1931, making it one of the founding members. Eterna would join the next year in 1932. This would lead to the splitting up of Eterna and ETA. Eterna would continue to manufacturer whole watches under the General Watch Co, while ETA went under the Ebauches SA part of the company.

Another name you may be familiar with is Unitas, which joined Ebauches SA in 1932. It’s still owned by ETA today, mostly producing its caliber 6497/6498.

After numerous more consolidations and mergers – the modern ETA became part of the Swatch group in 1983 when ASUAG merged with SSIH (a group that was originally created when Omega and Tissot merged with Lemania).

Incabloc Vintage Watch Ads

Another company that produced some really cool “non-watch” watch ads was Incabloc. The Incabloc shock system was invented by Georges Braunschweig and Fritz Marti, a pair of Swiss engineers in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. That was in 1934, and the system is still widely used in modern watches today – even if these watches don’t advertise it on their dials anymore.

You can see the trademark “lyre-shaped” spring worked into the design of the first three ads above, as well as integrated into the actual movement in the ad on the bottom right. This is the spring that’s integral to the Incabloc system that protects a watch’s balance-staff pivots from shocks. There’s a high probability that if you collect Swiss watches, you probably have one with Incabloc in it.

Forstner Ad From 1948

The below ad is actually for an aftermarket bracelet manufactured by Forstner. The company invented its signature “Komfit” band in 1939.

The “Komfit” band was a revolutionary idea at the time, designed “to make a watch strap whereby the buckle and clasp could move along the length of the strap, and then be secured once the proper fit was located”.

The above ad from 1947 is very similar to the 1941 advertisement I featured in my recent post 4 Interesting Watch Ads From the WW2 Era (Part 2).

Leonidas Ad From 1955

Leonidas was founded in 1841, and was a well know manufacturer of chronographs and timers. It merged with Heuer in 1964, and the Leonidas name would only be used sparingly going forward. By the late 1960s, Heuer-Leonidas was the fastest-growing producer of timekeeping instruments, as well as the most dominant.

The above ad shows a watch, but Leonidas was really more of a movement-maker. After Heuer was acquired by the TAG Group (Techniques d’Avant Garde) in 1985, the Leonidas name was dropped.

Wrapping Things Up

Let’s face it, you don’t need a watch nowadays. Back in the 1940s and 1950s when these ads were released, however, it was a different story. If you were timing a horserace, you probably needed a chronograph. A mechanical one, too. Quartz watches weren’t even close to being invented yet, and there wasn’t an internet or website to check the official time.

Accuracy, durability, and functionality – not legendary history and celebrity brand power – were the main selling points during this era. State-of-the-art shock protection was probably more important than heritage. I think that’s what makes these ads so charming.

Know more about Ebauches SA, Unitas, Incabloc, Forstner, And Leonidas and want to add to the discussion? Please post a comment below!