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 are 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!

allemann

Adolf Allemann was a quite 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 seen.

 

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:

Automatic Watch Winder Blast from the Past

By Bruce Shawkey

You'd think with the hype surrounding automatic watch winders, that they were a fairly recent invention. You see them advertised everywhere, priced from ten bucks, and I've see some as high as $60,000. Here's one priced at $10,999. It holds up to 12 watches and is made of burlwood.

OK, I found a watch winder advertised in a March/April 1957 issue of Swiss Horological Journal. The price wasn't listed, but the interesting thing about it was that it was marketed to the watch trade, NOT watch collectors!

It looks like a beast! It must weigh a good 10 pounds or more, and it holds just four watches! Here's the scoop on it from the Journal:

Machine for winding and testing self-winding watches 

Communicated by Bergeon & Co., Le Lode (Switzerland) 

In recent years the self-winding watch has taken on a great importance in the sales and repair program of the retail watchmaker. In consequence, it has become essential to be able to check the functioning of the self-winding work. The machine developed by Messrs. Bergeon for winding self-winding watches will prove of considerable value to the watchmaker and jeweler. It is possible to mount four watches --with or without their bracelets—on its table, which is inclined at 30°. The table rotates clockwise at 35 revolutions per minute. Tests have shown that a higher speed is not desirable, since the swinging weight might be held in an extreme position by excessive centrifugal force. The uniform speed of rotation of the table makes it possible to wind the watch for a given length of time (for example, 5 minutes) ; after this it can be allowed to run until it stops, and the duration of the run will be an indication of the effectiveness of the self-winding mechanism of a particular caliber.

This machine will simplify considerably the daily winding of self-winding watches which are undergoing test, the watches held in stock, those which have been repaired, and those, again, which are intended for display in the window. Almost all self-winding watches have watertight cases. Owing to the fact that a gland must be provided on the winding stem, the button is somewhat difficult to turn, particularly in the case of small modern watches (this is so because the button should not normally need to be used except for hand setting). Since manual winding is rather slow and tiresome, this new piece of equipment will therefore be found most valuable. An important point to remember is that hand winding would here be to no purpose. The watch is wound, but that does not mean that it is wound automatically. This machine is of simple exterior appearance. The base is of varnished wood, the colour being beige. The rotating table is finished in dull chrome, while the spring clips are of steel, hardened and tempered blue. The synchronous motor which drives the assembly, will operate on either 110 or 220 volts, as required. Whether used for winding or testing, this device will be found most valuable in any organization which handles self-winding watches.

This is from 64 years ago! Just goes to prove that old saying: Everything old is new again! 

Elgin

Br Bruce Shawkey

Elgin created the "Series" concept in the late 1920s to denote a certain number of models grouped around a theme or price point. The "States" series was priced in the $40 to $50 range and included many beautiful Art Deco models, including the 679, 204, 682, 459, 944, and probably most famously, the 226, aka, "Skyscraper." The Skyscraper was originally priced at $50, which was a chunk of money in its day, especially at the dawn of the Great Depression. Fifty dollars back in 1929 is worth about $750 in today's dollars. That's about what they are worth today on the rare occasion that they come up for sale.

The watch featured today from my personal stash is the "States" 670, which appeared in Elgin's '29 jeweler's catalog at a retail price of $42.50, about $637 in 2020 dollars.

My example has a 14kt all white gold filled case that I would classify in excellent condition (minimal wear for its age), measuring 27mm wide by 35mm long lug tip to lug tip. This gives it a very nice presence on the wrist, recognizable to collectors even at a distance, and even garners attention from Muggles who at least pay attention to the unusual in men's jewelry and fashion accessories. The black inking in the channels has long since been worn off, but this could be easily remedied if the new owner so chooses. The space between the lugs is 16mm, which is a nice in that it gives the collector a variety of band choices to go with it.

The band on mine is vintage (probably '40s), curled and darkened from sweat. Since I never seem to recover the cost of a nice replacement band, I'm leaving this band on it, and the new owner can splurge on whatever kind of band he or she wants.

The dial is in well aged, but original, condition. There are different schools of thought on whether this detracts from, or adds to, a watch's appeal from a collector's point of view. I for one prefer a well aged original dial to a refinished dial. Nothing says "cheesy" to me like a 90-year old watch that looks like it just came out of a gumball machine with a freshly minted refinished dial. As long as a dial is readable and has no major stains or missing print, I much prefer to leave dials alone to preserve the overall character of the watch. 

The back is nice and clean with no personalized engraving (not that engraving bothers me as long as it was done professionally),

and the inside back back indicates that this case was supplied to Elgin by the Star Watch Case Co., of Ludington, Mich., which supplied many cases to Elgin.

Powering this watch is Elgin's 15 jewel, grade 428 movement, a fairly common 6/0-size movement of which there were literally more than a million made. This particular movement was made circa 1929, and was one in the 99th batch of 340,000 movements of a total of 106 batches made of this movement.

So while not an uncommon movement, the States 670 is an uncommon watch. I wouldn't call it "rare" by any stretch, but you do not see them come up for sale all that often. Especially not one in this nice of original condition, AND with original presentation box.

For years, Elgin has been regarded as sucking hind tit by vintage watch collectors, due to the volume in which they were produced and the number of surviving examples. That may be true for models produced in the 1940s and '50s when wristwatches really hit their stride over pocket watches. But surviving examples of 1920s and '30s Elgin models are scarce and getting scarcer as more and more collectors jump on the "Art Deco" train. These early Elgin watches are finally getting the respect (and pricing) they deserve, considering their relative scarcity.

Several vintage watch dealers today are even specializing in these beautiful pieces, such as Bryan Girourard and his website, artdecowatches.com. Elgin watches from this period are scooped up almost as quickly as Bryan can list them. He is known to have a waiting list for certain Elgin models, such as the 226, so they almost never appear on his site.

My States 670 is priced at $475 (including the presentation box) and is available here. I will also consider trades for this piece. I am especially in the market for vintage stainless steel Swiss chronographs and dive watches right now. Yes, I realize both of these are "hot" right now. But I also know that these watches are not everyone's cup of tea and you might have one gathering dust in your collection. But I will at least consider any reasonable offer.

The history of Elgin has been well documented and will not be repeated here. 

Here are more articles I've written about Elgin:

I normally do not get very excited about Elgin wristwatches, unless they are from the 1920s Art Deco period. But I just had to post this circa 1950s "Alden" because it is so damned minty, and I love the "lugless" design, where the watch appears to have no lugs. Actually, the lugs are on the back of the watch.

The Alden first appears around 1954 in various advertisements. It is housed in an all gold-filled one-piece hermetic case, 35mm in diameter, where the movement lifts out through the front of the watch, after removing the crown and crystal.

The manual wind movement I assume is the 19-jewel grade 714 because the dial is marked as being part of Elgin's "19" series. If the watch had a sweep seconds hand, it would be a 717, but the Alden has a sub seconds.

There is some debate as to whether the caliber 714 was made by Elgin USA. Mr. Ranftt's Pink Pages lists this as an American made movement.  Other sources list  the grade 714 as a German movement, and others as a Swiss movement, FEF (Fleurier) caliber 370. Elgin was beginning to use non-domestic movements during this period but generally speaking their factory book states whether a given movement is domestic or imported, and the book lists the grade 714 as a domestic model, so let's go with that.

Anyway, the movement sets and winds perfectly, and keeps time to within 2 min/day, but I do not know when the movement was serviced. And in situations like this where the movement is keeping reasonable time, I leave well enough alone.

Another nice feature of this particular specimen is that the previous owner fitted this watch with a very nice vintage signed Elgin leather band and signed buckle.

The  picture of this watch I have from a 1954 advertisement shows this model with a scissors expansion bracelet:

However, the leather band works just fine for me. In fact, I prefer leather bands on watches with gold or gold-filled cases. Metal bracelets tend to wear down the lugs.

I have a feeling that the Aldin is not particularly rare, but this particular specimen is certainly "rare" in terms of its condition. This is what I call a "one-in-100" watch. For every 100 of these models that have survived, I am of the firm belief that only one is in this nice of condition!

 From my collection: Elgin reference #1001,  17J ,18/0 size baguette movement, no seconds. 14kt white gold filled with yellow gold filled accents. Contoured back. 

Offered in the 1930-31 dealers' catalog for $50.00 retail. Similar in shape to the Firestone, but more diminutive and adds an accent color (yellow gold filled) to the bezel.

Here's a 1960s ad for the Elgin Yachtsman series:

Here are pages from a 1976 history of the company, composed largely by Mike Alft, an Elgin historian:

FIRST WOODEN BUILDING  

The first watch factory was a wooden structure three stories high of flimsy construction which was erected on the river edge. When the machinery which was being built and tested made the building shake, the structure was steadied by wooden props nailed to the side.

The toppling of the tower

On a Sunday morning, charges of dynamite were set off to do their work on the once proud tower that had represented Elgin, Illinois, for over a century. 

It fell slowly at first ... then with a final rush. The dynamite knocked the heart out of the watch tower the last structure of what had been the Elgin National Watch Company factory. 

A flock of pigeons frantically left their former home and a deputy fire chief began to look for the huge wooden clock hands that had signaled the time for Elginites for so many years.

 

Then there was silence. The dust settled and what had been a proud symbol of the City of Elgin was only a pile of rubble. 

MIMO

By Bruce Shawkey

MIMO was founded in 1889 by Otto Graef,  in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. MIMO is an acronym for the company's actual name, Manufacture Internationale de Montres en Or. For years, MIMO was an "invisible" company, supplying ebauches (rough movements) and components to the watch trade. By the 1920s and '30s, MIMO was coming out with wristwatches bearing the company name on the dials. The company had a number of innovative movements, including one with an 8-day reserve, and calibers with digital displays.

The company did so well, that some time in the 1930s (the exact year is disputed) the Graef family bought Girard-Perregaux. Both brands did very well, with GP selling primarily in the United States, and MIMO doing well in Europe.

Evidence suggests that Graef dropped the MIMO brand after WWII, presumably because it was not profitable, and concentrated on the GP brand. Demand for watches in the United States was extremely high after the war because Hamilton, Elgin, and Waltham had all been devoted 100 percent to making ordnance for the war. Further, the American companies had not yet produced an automatic movement, and GP had several calibers, including the highly successful Gyromatic, introduced in 1956.

But I digress. My theory is that the Graef family held on to the MIMO trademark, even though they didn't market it, or register it.

Here are some additional images of Mimo watches from the 1920s, including one with an 8-day run time:

We jump to the 1960s, and the Mimo brand reappears in this automatic watch:

I find it interesting that on this particular model, the company used a water-resistant case design that they had used all the way back in the 1940s with some of its GP models. The two-piece case uses a flanged crystal and gasket between the bezel and the case to keep out moisture. The case and bezel are held together under pressure by the use of four threaded miniature bolts that screw through the bezel just under the lugs on the backside of the watch. The screws make contact with the case and hold the entire watch tightly together:

The case back is stamped "7046" which is presumably a reference (model) number assigned to the watch.

This case design is based on the "Schmitz Freres" patent of 1937 for a waterproof case, and not coincidentally, was used by Girard Perregaux in the 1940s on several of its models.

In any event, it appears that the reintroduction of the MIMO brand was not a success. This is the only post-1940s example of a MIMO watch I have ever seen.

Venus

By Bruce Shawkey

Venus was founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1902 by Paul Arthur Schwarz and his wife Olga Etienne-Schwarz. Most any seasoned collector recognizes Venus for their manufacture of chronograph movements, sold to other watch companies. The Ranftt website records 22 separate Calibers of Venus chronographs made between the 1930s and ‘50s, some of which are still in use today.

But did you  know that Venus was also a manufacturer of finished watches signed with their own company name? They were regular exhibitors at the Basel Exposition in the 1950s, and ran ads in the trade magazines, notably Swiss Watch and Jewelry Journal. Here are a couple of those ads below.

I have seen numerous examples of many types of watches, including multi-date and even dive watches. Vintages can be seen all way into the 1960s. Below is a nice clean specimen from the late 1950s or early '60s. 

Cases are typically chrome or other type of base metal, but I have seen a few karat gold cases as well. Ironically, most movements I've seen in non-chronograph specimens are sourced from other ebauche suppliers, such as Fontainemelon and others.  Specimens typically reside in dealers' "bargain boxes" at watch shows and flea markets, so they can often be picked up quite inexpensively.

Venus eventually became part of the Ebauches SA consortium that was absorbed by the Swatch Group. The brand was brought back to life in 2011, with offices in Geneve, and watches (mostly with Ronda quartz movements, but a few mechanical) are showcased at www.montresvenus.com. Here is an example from the current day collection. Even though it's denoted as part of their "Classico" collection, you'll note the typeface bears no resemblance to the original. The "onion crown" also is not something Venus ever used on its wristwatches, at least to my knowledge.

The movement is an ETA Cablier 2824-2 automatic. Prospective buyers are directed to a network of retailers located in South America, Europe, and Asia.

Thanks for your interest, and look for more obscure brands in the future!

Bruce