By Bruce Shawkey
For better or worse, many watch companies are known for a single watch, even though they produced many other models. For Breitling, it's the Navitimer. For Vulcain, the Cricket. For Doxa, the Sub 300T. And for Angelus, it's the Chronodato, the world's first serially produced chronograph with calendar function.
But collectors forget there is much more to the brand's history and products. Certainly, chronographs dominated their production and reputation, but they produced other kinds of watches as well, including complicated watches. In fact, some say Angelus was one of the most influential horological manufactures of the last century. Collectors also forget about Angelus because the brand lay dormant for 30 years when the quartz crisis put them out of business in the mid-1980s. It's only been since 2015 that the brand has been resurrected and introduced to a new generation of watch enthusiasts who may not be aware of the brand's rich heritage.
So let's take a closer look at this most interesting company.
Angelus was founded in Le Locle in 1891 by the Stolz brothers Gustav and Albert in Le Locle. They had studied under the well celebrated Henri Sandoz. who was director of the Tavannes Watch Company. After qualifying as a watchmaker, the third brother, Charles, joined Angelus in 1898 (left).
The brand name Angelus was reportedfy named for the Angelus ring of Catholic church bells, and can be seen in early Angelus adverts, in which church bells and towers are depicted.
By 1904, the brothers employed 15 skilled artisans, with more and more work being carried out in cottages and homes by freelancers. The brothers started building their own movements, including repeaters and chronographs. Their superb craftsmanship was recognized by prestigious awards at international fairs and expositions.
In 1914, Gustave Stolz in addition to his function in the Angelus firm, became director of the Le Phare watch company, which would supply many movements to early Angelus wrist and pocket watches.
World War I saw difficult times for Angelus. though they did come out with a pocket watch for blind and visually impaired people (many of whom lost their sight in the war). It featured a hinged lid which when opened revealed a dial with no crystal so that the hands could be felt, thereby revealing the time to the user.
An early Angelus wrist watch (1920s) featured an alarm function (right), beating Vulcain's claim to the first alarm watch, the Cricket, by several decades. Although to be fair, it was a large watch (at 46mm diameter) and used the same movement found in Angelus’ table and travel clocks of the same period.
In 1930, Angelus, in cooperation with Zodiac, came out with the world's smallest 8-day movement (above). The caliber SF-N 9, with reported accuracy of +/- 1 minute per week, found its way into several prestigious watch brands, including Tiffany.
But Angelus soon returned focus to chronographs, as evidenced by this early ad (right) showing a design with hinged case and single button. Other designs soon followed, with single and dual buttons with 30- and 45-minute timing capability.
The 1940s and '50s were golden times for Angelus. In 1940, the Hungarian Air Force chose Angelus as its supplier of chronographs. As mentioned earlier, Angelus came out with its famous Chronodate in 1942 (Chronodato from 1943 onwards). This remarkable chronograph is equipped with the 14 ligne caliber SF217, and features 17 or 19 jewels and a 45-minute counter. The Chronodato rapidly becomes Angelus’ top selling watch. Angelus
The 1950s continued to see innovation from Angelus, including the Datalarm (1956), the first wristwatch featuring both alarm and date function. Also, the Tinkler intoduced in 1958, (left) which was both the first automatic repeater wristwatch (quarter hour) and also the first repeater wristwatch which claimed to be waterproof. A cult classic (only 100 pieces were reportedly produced), one sold on eBay in 2013 for $10,355!
In 1960, Angelus made its final chronograph of the 20th century – a monopusher for doctors featuring scales around the periphery of the dial between 12 o’clock and 3 o’clock for measuring breathing and pulse rate, with the displays magnified by special optics integrated into the glass.
The ‘60s and ‘70s were not kind to Angelus, what with the advent of cheap American (Timex) and imported brands. But they did have one more trick up their sleeve with the introduction in 1978 of a 5-minute repeater (right). The movement was built in cooperation with Dubois Dépraz, the same company that helped Heuer and Buren/Hamilton develop the automatic chronograph. I’ve seen a couple for sale in the $11K area.
But the company lay dormant for the next 33 years until it was bought in 2011 by Manufacture La Joux-Perret. La Joux-Perret (formerly Jaquet SA or Jaquet-Baume) is a Swiss movement manufacturer, now owned by Citizen of Japan. They spent the next four years developing the next generation of Angelus watches, starting with the U10 Tourbillon Lumière (below, left), introduced at
Baselworld in 2015. At around $110,000, it’s the most expensive watch Angelus ever built. But if you ask me, it looks like a cheap fashion watch of the ‘70s. Different strokes for different folks.
Current model offerings include three versions of a revamped Chronodate (Gold, below, left), Blue Titanium, and White Titanium. Gone are the day and month windows of the old Chronodate. All that remains is the pointer date. There is a gold and carbon flying tourbillon, limited to 18 pieces, and reported to cost CHF 68,950, or about $71,600. An
“Urban Collection” consists of 14 variations on a theme. Basic models feature a flying tourbillon movement with hours and minutes. Deluxe models feature a flying tourbillon movement with 30-minute chronograph. Prices start at about $34,000 for a basic time-only model, and go up to $72,000 for a chronograph model. There are no Internet sales (except grey market), only sales through authorized dealers. All of which makes vintage Chronodatos going for around $2K on the secondary market seem like a pretty good bargain!
Here is another article I wrote on Angelus:
The brand was founded in 1891 by brothers Albert and Gustav Stolz in LeLocle Switzerland. From 1912, the company specialized more on complex watch movements with repetition and on chronographs, which were exported to Germany, Italy and Russia.
There is very little information or visual documentation concerning the first Angelus chronographs. We know that they emerged in the decade between 1925 and 1935. They were single-push-button chronographs with 30- and 45-minute counters. The calibres used in the 30-minute counter watches were Valjoux ébauches and those of the 45-minute counter watches were manufactured in-house. In the image below (perhaps the only known advertisement), we can see one of the first examples from the late 1920s.
In 1933, Breitling brought out its first dual-push-button chronograph. Not to be left behind, in 1935, Angelus completed the development of the SF 210 caliber, used in both single- and dual-push-button versions, and brought out its first chronograph with dual push buttons. In the right-hand-side image (or below if viewed on a mobile), we show the version of the watch issued to Hungarian Air Force pilots.
The success and reliability of its watches resulted in another golden era of economic expansion for Anfelus. In 1940, the well-known SF 215 caliber came out, adual-push-button chronographs, and was at the forefront of Angelus’s development in the 1940s. It was also the base for the SF 217 caliber used in the Chronodato. This 14-line, manual winding, 40-hour power reserve caliber, was used in a wide range of watches with various faces and case types.
In the 30s and 40s of the 20th century, Angelus earned a reputation mainly because of its chronographs. These were equipped with self-produced manufacture movements. Well known became, among others, the 1942 presented model “Chronodate” (since 1943 “Chronodato”), the world's first serially produced chronograph with calendar function.
However, it was not until 1942 that the Chronodato, possibly the most famous Angelus chronograph, emerged. The image below is perhaps the first known advertisement for the Chronodato:
In 1948 the “Chrono Dato Luxe” was launched, available in two frame sizes - the first chronograph with calendar, day display and moon phase. Approximately 1960 as last chronograph the the “Medical," a model for physicians, was brought on the market.
In 1967, Europa Star ran this article on the 36th anniversary of Angelus' eight day wristwatch:
The quartz crisis then meant the end for the brand. Its models are still desired among collectors and connoisseurs.
After lying dormant for more than 30 years, Angelus in 2015 is revived by Manufacture La Joux-Perret (Citizen Holdings), which has spent four years developing the next generation of visionary timepieces. The Angelus' manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds is just a stone's throw from where the Stolz brothers established their original manufacture.They registered in brand name "Angelus" in 1913. They remain of of the few watch companies to be independently owned and operated.
Every brand has a signature watch For Angelus, that watch is the two-register chronograph with triple date and moonphase, called the "Chronodato. that was introduced in 1948.
But they made many fine time-only watches as well.
Here is picture of a two-register chronograph, no date features:
Found this ad in the March/April 1958 issue of Swiss Horological Journal announcing an alarm watch, also featuring a date, called the "Datalarm," Angelus is probably best known for its multi-date chronograph model (the Chronodato), but they made time-only models as well.
Angelus was founded in 1891 by brothers brothers Gustav and Albert Stolz in Le Locle, Switzerland. After lying dormant for more than 30 years, Angelus was revived in 2015 by Manufacture La Joux-Perret, and they manufacture only chronographs.
