My favorite local jeweler/watchmaker, who is well into his 80's, has been systematically digging out watches from his stash of stuff he used to carry, but never sold, when he first opened his store in 1962. This was my source for a shopworn but never owned Longines Flagship from the late 60's. Today, the catch was an early 60's Universal Geneve dress watch.
The proprietor told me that this was the watch that you would wear with your tux, and while lounging after the opera with friends, sipping a martini, you would casually let the sleeve ride up see if anyone would notice you wearing your poor man's Patek Philippe.
Universal Geneve was very highly regarded in those days--the "poor man's Patek" was not an empty boast--and one can see why. They are most famous for their Compax chronographs (Bi-Compax with calendar, Tri-Compax with full calendar and moonphase), but they made superb simple and elegant dress watches.
The case is steel. The movement is a caliber 800, and 8.75''' handwind with two hands (caliber 820 had a sub-seconds dial). The silver dial is brushed vertically and has applied markers at the cardinal points and painted markers in between. This is a classic look of the period.
This movement is actually very nicely finished, with anglage, decouverture, shock protection on the escape wheel, black polished screw heads and regulator, and a gilded Glucydur screwed balance. This version has the fixed stud carrier, which means I won't be attempted to correct the moderate beat error that I saw on the timing machine. I'll leave that for its next service, which will be soon--the timing trace was sloppy. The inside of the case shows no service history--it is new old stock. Probably dry as a bone, but it might only get used three times a year so there's no real rush. But the regulation is quite good and it keeps more than good enough time for a two-hand watch.
But this watch is (unusually) in a Swiss case, suggesting that it was sold in fairly small quantities here, and not worth trying to get around import tariffs by using an American case.
When I bought it, the store owner said, "I have a surprise for you." And he brought out the original box, with display price tag. This watch was priced in his store for $95 in 1963--about the same price as a Rolex Submariner at the time. He sold it to me today for the marked price. I didn't ask for a discount, heh.
Even the strap is original, a 19mm (3/4") supple leather strap that is too short for me and too long for my wife. The only wear on the strap is where it rubbed on the edge of the slot through which it is threaded in the box. The buckle is steel and stamped "UNIVERSAL GENEVE" on the underside.
The only bummer is the size. It's just downright tiny. The size is rather typical for dressy square watches in the day, where smallness was a sign of quality. But much as I'd love to, and as much as I'm happy to wear watches down to 34mm, I just don't think I can pull this one off. The case is 24mm wide and 32mm from lug tip to lug tip.
And even on the last hole, the strap causes circulation problems. On a bigger watch, the strap might actually work (and I'm half-tempted to try it out on my similar vintage Ebel, which also uses a 19mm strap and is enough bigger that it might fit on that watch).
It it looks fantastic on the Redhead's wrist, so I'll need to source a strap that is sized for ladies.
Rick "wondering what my jeweler friend will find next" Denney
The proprietor told me that this was the watch that you would wear with your tux, and while lounging after the opera with friends, sipping a martini, you would casually let the sleeve ride up see if anyone would notice you wearing your poor man's Patek Philippe.
Universal Geneve was very highly regarded in those days--the "poor man's Patek" was not an empty boast--and one can see why. They are most famous for their Compax chronographs (Bi-Compax with calendar, Tri-Compax with full calendar and moonphase), but they made superb simple and elegant dress watches.
The case is steel. The movement is a caliber 800, and 8.75''' handwind with two hands (caliber 820 had a sub-seconds dial). The silver dial is brushed vertically and has applied markers at the cardinal points and painted markers in between. This is a classic look of the period.
This movement is actually very nicely finished, with anglage, decouverture, shock protection on the escape wheel, black polished screw heads and regulator, and a gilded Glucydur screwed balance. This version has the fixed stud carrier, which means I won't be attempted to correct the moderate beat error that I saw on the timing machine. I'll leave that for its next service, which will be soon--the timing trace was sloppy. The inside of the case shows no service history--it is new old stock. Probably dry as a bone, but it might only get used three times a year so there's no real rush. But the regulation is quite good and it keeps more than good enough time for a two-hand watch.
But this watch is (unusually) in a Swiss case, suggesting that it was sold in fairly small quantities here, and not worth trying to get around import tariffs by using an American case.
When I bought it, the store owner said, "I have a surprise for you." And he brought out the original box, with display price tag. This watch was priced in his store for $95 in 1963--about the same price as a Rolex Submariner at the time. He sold it to me today for the marked price. I didn't ask for a discount, heh.
Even the strap is original, a 19mm (3/4") supple leather strap that is too short for me and too long for my wife. The only wear on the strap is where it rubbed on the edge of the slot through which it is threaded in the box. The buckle is steel and stamped "UNIVERSAL GENEVE" on the underside.
The only bummer is the size. It's just downright tiny. The size is rather typical for dressy square watches in the day, where smallness was a sign of quality. But much as I'd love to, and as much as I'm happy to wear watches down to 34mm, I just don't think I can pull this one off. The case is 24mm wide and 32mm from lug tip to lug tip.
And even on the last hole, the strap causes circulation problems. On a bigger watch, the strap might actually work (and I'm half-tempted to try it out on my similar vintage Ebel, which also uses a 19mm strap and is enough bigger that it might fit on that watch).
It it looks fantastic on the Redhead's wrist, so I'll need to source a strap that is sized for ladies.
Rick "wondering what my jeweler friend will find next" Denney