Tourist

Tourist Everlight made by Adoph Alleman Co., introduced in 1957. Anyone ever seen one of these? Bulb was incandescent, pre-LED. Adolf Allemann was an active watch company in Moutier, Solothurn and Welschenrohr, Switzerland. They supposedly came out with many models, though the Everlight is the first and only I have ever heard of. Anyone else seen Adoph Alleman Co.? Please comment and post pics! There is an excellent article on the Fratello web site on this watch here:

Everlight

It's a great article (2-parter) and covers the topic exaustively.

Here is an ad and also a writeup for the watch from Swiss Horological Journal. This is from my collection of old advertisements:

And here's a photo of one Everlight in the flesh that was painstakingly restoresd :

Image by Tomas Rosputinsky used with permission

Another weird watch from Adolf Allemann was the "Radio Top" dead seconds watch. The seconds hand moves in one-second ticks rather than a sweep. One has to question the usefulness of such a feature, but apparently there was a perceived market for such a watch. Other manufacturers had such a watch including Doxa (the Lunesol model), and Rolex made a dead-seconds called the Tru-Beat. Here is the link to the article on the radio Top:

Radio Top

Anyway, the Alleman watch company went out of business in 1963, having been founded in 1893. Alleman is said to have produced 100,000 Everlights, but many were returned to the factory due to leaking batteries. Hence, they are rare to find, and many collectors have specimens where the watch runs, but the light does not light due to a dead battery. And battery replacements are practically non existent. Nevertheless, "tech" collectors like them as showpieces because the watch is a great example of an early solution to a problem -- in this case seeing a watch dial in the dark!

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Thanks for looking!

 

Blancpain

 By Bruce Shawkey

I love old watch advertisements. Here's one for an early Blancpain 50 Fathoms, introduced in 1953. This ad is from the mid '50s. There have been numerous iterations of the 50 Fathoms since then. It remains one of Blancpain's most popular models almost 70 years later. Vintage specimens often go for thousands of dollars.

The mention of Rayville in the ad is an interesting twist on Blancpain's history. Rayville is an anagram for Villeret which is Blancpain's hometown. For a more thorough discussion of this, I invite you to see the following link:

Rayville and Blancpain

The model pictured in this mid '50s ad is billed by Blancpain as the "world's first modern diver's watch" though one could argue the UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) watches by Elgin and others made toward the end of WWII were dive watches. I suppose what makes this a "modern" dive watch is the addition of the turnable ring which gives the diver an independent timer to time the duration he is submerged so as not to run out of oxygen. The UDT watches did not have a bezel ring. Further, the 50 Fathoms has always, to my knowledge, had an automatic movement, which further supports the claim of a "modern" dive watch.

The early military-issue models of the 50 Fathoms also utulized a highly radioactive paint for luminouse dials. For the civilian version, the dials for a time carried a yellow dot with the words "NO RADIATION" to put consumers' minds at ease.  These early models with the yellow dot are especially prized by collectors and command a premium.

If you own an early 50 Fathoms, consider yourself fortunate. They are quite scarce and difficult to find in nice condition because so often they were worn hard by their original owners.

Here's another interesting watch from mid-1960s:

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Do you love watches from the golden age (1950s) of Swiss watches? Then check out my book:

Golden Age of the Swiss Wristwatch

It's chock full of over 300 pages of the neatest, coolest watch advertisements you ever saw! Plus there's an index giving a history of all the quirky companies that made the watches.

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Hey, folks, as you may know, I suffered a major stroke back in January. It impacted my left side and I am partially paralyzed in my arm and leg. A good friend of mine has set up a go fund me page to help with my medical expenses. If you would be willing to help me, please go to this link:

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