Nivada/Croton

By Bruce Shawkey

Chronomaster

 Mention Nivada to the average wristwatch collector, and it may not ring a bell. Mention Nivada to chronograph collectors, and most will instantly recognize the name. The Nivada Chronomaster, and all its variations, are some of the hottest selling watches on the vintage market today. They are so coveted and hard to find, that many collectors are buying the current-day re-issues of the Chronomaster on the company's website at https://nivadagrenchenofficial.com/. They are true to the originals and have modern movements, and cost less than the vintage originals to boot.

What many do not know is that Nivada has a long history, going back decades before the '60s, before most of their famous chronographs were introduced. They also enjoyed success in America with their Croton counterpart starting in about 1940. Back then, Nivada and Croton-Nivada watches were simply time only, which are overlooked by many Nivada collectors in their quest to collect only chronographs. So let's take a closer look at this Swiss company and its watches, chronographs and all.

The roots of Nivada are a mystery. Kathleen Pritchard, in her two-volume encyclopedia of Swiss watch manufacturers, states the company was founded in 1878 in Grenchen, Switzerland. However, we know almost nothing about the company's early activities. It's not uncommon to find Swiss watch companies that lay dormant for years or even decades after their founding. Often, it's the result of bad economic times, or family squabbles about who gets to run the company, or lack of sufficient funds.

Whatever the reason, the company didn't really come alive until 48 years later in 1926 when Jacob Schneider began operating the company under the name Wülliman Schneider Nivada S.A. The story goes that Swiss officials mandated that the word "Grenchen" be added on their watch dials after the signature "Nivada" so that the brand would not be confused with the similar-sounding "Movado," which had been started some years back by Achille Ditesheim. The Ditesheims were a prominent watchmaking family in Switzerland in those days and no doubt exerted influence in assuring no one would confuse Nivada with Movado. It’s apparent that enforcement of this “rule” was not consistent, as many early Nivada watches can be found without the “Grenchen” suffix, as seen below.

From the start, Schneider (or perhaps Wülliman) decided their company did not want to build its own movements, but rely on ebauches (rough movements) from ETA, Phénix, A. Schild, and others and finish them inhouse. We know little of Mr. Wülliman; it appears Schneider was the senior partner in the venture, as his son, Jacob, eventually took over the company and was running it as late as 1976.

Pritchard reports that Nivada exhibited at the 1939 Swiss National Exhibition, around the same time as it began its affiliation with Croton. Again, there are conflicting reports as to how this affiliation came about. Some say that Croton, based in New York, was already an established company. Others sources say Nivada created Croton expressly to distribute their product in America. Either way, Croton-Nivada did very well in America, right up until the quartz crisis of the '70s, especially the chronographs of the '60s. Nivada and American counterpoint Croton watches had almost identical movements, with the exception of movement markings. Watches sold in the U.S. were branded as Croton Nivada, Croton Nivada Grenchen, or simply Croton.

 

The Watches

Early Nivada wristwatches, though not especially rare, are not especially plentiful either. A couple of examples are shown at left.  The absence of “Grenchen” on the dials illustrates the inconsistency of early dial signatures. While priced reasonably, early watches from the brand nevertheless exuded class and elegance, thanks to svelte design and art deco styling cues.

Other notable models included the manual wind Buccaneer (below right ), the Alerta (also below right), an alarm watch featuring the newly developed A. Schild Caliber 1475, the Discus (marketed for its “flat, thin elegance”) and the Cape Horn.

And then there was the "Reglavit" (below) that had a screw head on the back connected to the regulator so that minor timing adjustments could be made without opening the case. I don't think it sold very well, because most people didn't understand that the screwhead was only for minor adjustments and was no substitute for cleaning when timing started going off by more than a few seconds per day.

Reglavit

But Nivada/Croton really began to hit its stride when it gave the U.S. Navy team lead by Admiral Richard Byrd watches for their "Operation Deep Freeze" expedition to the South Pole from 1955 to 1956. At the time, the watches were named the "Aquamatic" model, but were quickly rebranded the "Antarctic" model to capitalize on the publicity of having survived the cold temps of the South Pole. Today, the Antarctic

Antarctic

is considered one of Nivada Grenchen’s signature models. Nivada hit another success when in the early '60s it rebranded the "Alerta" model to the "Wanderer," marketing it to jet-setting travelers and containing Vulcain's caliber 120 "Cricket" movement.

At this point, we’ll take a break and look at some vintage ads for Nivada and Croton watches. 

From a 1941 newspaper ad. Though never an official Ordnance supplier to the Defense Department, Croton nevertheless advertised its watches as suitable for servicemen. Thanks to fellow collector Jack Wood for sending me this image.

Ad for Depthomatic, circa 1960. 

Various ads for Croton/Nivada

 

Nivada's next big success was its signature Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver, introduced in 1961 (far left). It would become the brand's most iconic model. Suitable for use on land, air, or under sea (water resistant to 200 meters), the model featured a number of movements over the years, including the Venus 210, Valjoux 92, Valjoux 23, Landeron 248, and the Valjoux 7733. It had almost anything a professional would need. The dial featured a tachymeter for measuring speed, and the totalizer dial at three o’clock could be used to count up to 30 minutes of elapsed time, or, with its red highlighter on the minutes counter, could be used to count down the last five minutes before an event, such as a regatta. Buyers, especially divers, appreciated the oversized lumed arrowhead on the hour hand as well (above).

In 1964, Nivada followed with the Depthomatic (above middle). Also water resistant to 200 meters, the Depthomatic was truly a watch for divers, and was one of the first watches on the market (along with the Favre-Leuba Bathy) to feature a depth gauge. The Depthomatic worked by means of a glass tube around the circumference of the dial containing a liquid. Upon a diver’s descent, the liquid would react to increasing pressure by turning red in color and traversing the circumference of the dial where it could by read by numerals on the outer chapter of the dial or on a metal bezel ring. Vintage examples are rare; I've seen specimens go for $3,000 and more.

Nivada completed its trifecta of famous dive watches with the Depthmaster, introduced in 1965 (above right). Water resistant to an astonishing 1,000 meters, the watch was marketed as “probably the world’s most waterproof watch.” By comparison, the Rolex Sea-Dweller would not surpass the Depthmaster’s water resistance capabilities until 13 years later with the 1,220-meter water-resistant Reference 16660. Such depths, of course, are rather superfluous in terms of "free diving," since even experienced SCUBA divers rarely go deeper than 130 feet (about 40 meters). But knowing that your watch can survive depths many times greater than your actual dive gives peace of mind that your timepiece will survive unharmed.

As the infamous quartz crisis began to cripple the Swiss watch industry in the 1970s, Nivada managed to at least make it through the decade on the back of prior hits and a few noteworthy, collectible models. Nivada eventually split off the Croton brand and it was eventually acquired by a Chinese company. Today, the Croton brand is considered substandard by the collecting world. Their watches are sold to department and discount stores, often pre-discounted on the packaging.

Nivada, meanwhile, was spared a similar fate and emerged a prestigious brand, apparently perceived no longer a threat to Movado which, by this time, was drawing heavily on its income from its famous "Museum Watch."

The Travelmaster (left) followed up on the success of past Alert and Wanderer models and featured a mechanical alarm movement, this time the A. Schild caliber 1568. It improved on the functionality of the Wanderer by providing both a date function and a rotating 24-city GMT bezel. The Travelmaster was available in both traditional round cases and a rarer Submarine World Time version (left) with a tonneau-shaped case.  This case style would also be used in other models, such as a 43mm model with “Pepsi” GMT bezel and a manually-wound Valjoux 724 chronograph caliber and a Chronoking diver’s chronograph.

What followed next is a confusing series of sellouts as the Swiss watch industry reeled from the invasion of quartz and throw-away timepieces. The brand was reportedly sold to the Kim Suk Keun Watch Company of South Korea which couldn't find a niche for the brand and quickly resold it to a Mexican business firm, Industrial Omega SA de CV. Registering the company in Mexico as Nivada Swiss, the firm re-invented the brand for the Mexican market. Still operating to this day, the Mexican version of Nivada produces mostly quartz

watches with model names like Rockefeller, Diplomat, Skymaster, Moonmaster, and Millionaire (right). The brand’s watches range in price from 130 to 935 Euros and are not to be confused with the traditional Nivada watches with Swiss mechanical movements. That is probably why the website for traditional Nivada watches is named nivadagrenchenofficial.com.

In 2018, two entrepreneurs (Guillaume Laidet, a French entrepreneur, and Remi Chabrat, an entrepreneur based in Hong Kong with a successful record of building a number of luxury brands) secured a deal for the return of Nivada-Grenchen to its Swiss roots and cater to the brand's vintage cult following. They quickly revived three of the brand's most iconic models, Chronomaster, Depthmaster, and Antarctic. They remained so true to the originals that even die-hard collectors have trouble distinguishing vintage from re-issued. What I like most about the new Chronomaster is that they remained true to the case diameter of the original (38.3 mm) and resisted the urge to "super-size" the case like so many others have done with their classic revivals to cater to the current trend of "big watches." I personally don't like watches the size of manhole covers, and I believe this trend is (thankfully) reversing itself. About the only thing they altered on the re-issues was the ability to order the watches with a choice of bands/bracelets: leather, rubber, Oyster style, or "beads of rice."

The company also sells a book that looks in depth at a single watch, the Chronomaster. Nivada/Croton made so many distinct varieties of the Chronomaster with a number of different movements from 1963 up until the '70s, a collector could make a career of nothing else but Chronomaster varieties.

here is more info on Croton and Nivada Grenchen:

 Nivada Grenchen has been in the watchmaking industry since 1926, the year when Jacob Schneider founded the brand in Granges (Grenchen). Here are a couple of early ads for their watches:

And here is an image of a watch from a 1942 ad in Europa Star magazine (Latin America edition)

Here are some images from the watch collection of my friend Mario Mardones.

The 1950s saw Nivada Grenchwn shift gears and introduce more sporty watches that could stand up to harsh environments. The results were some of Nivada Grenchen's most iconic watches. One of the first was the Chronomaster, introduced in 1956:

The Chronomaster came in two versions, one with straight stick hands (above) and, my personal favorite, one with a broad arrow hour hand.

I own a copy of  the modern version of this watch, still with the same movement that powered the original: the Valjoux Caliber 92. 

The 1950s saw Nivads Grenchen concentrate on sports watches that could stand up against harsh environments, both above the surface as well as below. One of their most famous watches was the Antarctic, which, as the name suggests, accompanied some of the Byrd's expeditions to the South Pole. An ad for the watch is seen below. 

For those adventurers seeking thrills under water, Nivada created the Depthmaster, the only watch with a built-in depth gauge, a circular tube that turned red as water entered, giving the diver the correct depth as read on the scale printed on the dial. An ad for the watch is seen below:

The 1960s saw Nivada Grenchen continue to cater to the sports market, with such models as the Chronosport and Antarctic  (now with an automatic movement) both are below:

Still, Nivada did not completely abandon the sports market. One of the watches they introduced was an alarm watch, called the Alert:

Alert

But Nivada's emphasis was still on watches that stand up to harsh environments, though were still dressy enough to take out on the town. Some of the models from the 1960s are pictured below:

Other models maintained their popularity, including the Buccaneer and the Discus, marketed for its “flat, thin elegance":

Discus

Although early on, the model mainly featured a manually-wound movement, the industry-wide trend toward automatic movements was not lost on the brand, and the Discus later featured a self-winding caliber with center seconds.

In 1965, Nivada Grenchen introduced the 1965 Depthmaster (seen below), advertising it as “probably the world’s most waterproof watch." The Depthmaster featured a 38mm case, water resistant to an astonishing 1000 meters. The Depthmaster’s 38mm cushion case was fashioned from a single block of Swedish steel, particularly renowned for its hardness and lack of impurities, and the 60-minute rotating bezel featured a “permanent lubricating system” and “indelible markers.” The watch utilized an automatic ETA movement, both with and without date function.

Waterproof" watches were also becoming increasingly important to consumers. Though today, we refer to watches as “water-resistant,” at that time, “waterproof” had a much more powerful marketing punch, and Nivada adopted the terminology in short order while making the brand’s cases more water-tight.

Another model is worthy of mention, the Datomaster, a 36mm bi-compax chronograph featuring a manually-wound Landeron Caliber 187 movement. It screams “1970s!” with its gray and white color scheme, orange chronograph seconds hand, and orange 5-minute countdown scale and orange 45 on the minute totalizer. It is shown below:

Today, Nivada Grenchen offers a variety of sport watches, emphasis on chronographs of course, but offers other sporty model as well. Some examples are shown below:

——-end

 

I would like to thank my good friend, Jack Wood, for helping me with this article. You can read about Jack's adventures with his watches by checking out his blog at https://sometimetospare.wordpress.com/

  

Luxor

By Bruce Shawkey

When I think of the name Luxor, I tend to think of the big casino just off the Las Vegas Strip. But of course being a horologist for the last 40 years or so, I also think of clocks, specifically table clocks from the '40s and '50s. I did not know that several companies tried to make a go of Luxor wristwatches over the decades, including Omega and Zenith.

None of them were particularly successful at it. First place would probably go to J. Harold Brunner (1907-1984) who registered the Luxor trademark (left) in 1940. We know almost nothing of Mr. Brunner. A search of Google turns up a lot of Brunner names (a common Swiss surname) but nothing on J.H. Brunner. The company, located in LeLocle, was most known for small clocks, pendulettes (small table clocks with fast-moving pendulums), alarm clocks. One of their novelty table clocks was not much larger (height and width) than an American quarter. They exhibited at Basel in 1940, 1950 and 1959.

For a brief time, they tried their hand at wrist watches. An ad from a 1950s Swiss Horological Journal (right)shows a "Brilux," model: A novelty watch with visible balance. I don't think the watch was a commercial success, because I have seen only a couple for sale or auction on the secondary market. The company more or less disappeared after the '60s.

Other Luxor trademark registrations appear on Mikrolisk.com, an online database of horological trademarks. Included are:

PW Ellis & Co. Import name; Toronto, Canada; founded in 1872;

Omega Watch Co. SA / Louis Brand & Frere Clockworks, cases, dials; Biel, Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland; registered in January of 1893;

Selza Watch Co. SA / Victor Gisiger. Clocks, clock parts; Biel, Switzerland; registered in October of 1926;

Schramberg, Germany; registered in March of 1927 by a co-watch factories in Hamburg and America;

Zenith International SA Le Locle, Switzerland; registered in September of 1981; and

Candino Watch Co. SA Biel and Herbetswil, Switzerland; registered in  September of 1986. (The company currently owns five watch brands: Festina, Lotus, Jaguar, Candino and Calypso.)

Of interest to me are the "Zenith years" when several models of chronograph and dive watch of good quality appeared on the market and fetch good money on today's vintage market. A few of those are seen below.

Today, Luxor watches are sold online via a website called getluxor.co (no "m"). The company bills itself as a “disruptive” supplier of “originally designed watches at radically fair prices” (typically under $100). Curiously, the name "Luxor" does not appear on any of its watch dials. Movements are exclusively quartz. I’ll let you decide how “originally designed” they are. (Personally, I think they are copycat designs of other more famous makers.) And though the watches look nice on their website, they have mostly been dismissed as "Chinese junk" by the online watch community.

So thus hangs the tale of Luxor watches. Though the name has a nice ring to it, it has never caught on in the world of watches. It is one of many “also-rans” in the watch world.

 

L to R: visible balance watch; multi-calendar model; world time watch modeled after a Luxor table clock, automatic w/date.

L to R: dive watch; dive watch (Look familiar … Doxa Sub 300 look-alike perhaps?); Luxor (by Zenith) chronograph; Luxor (by Zenith) chronograph. 

L to R: All Luxor by getluxor.co: Phantom, $79; Cheetah, $89; Bentley, $79; Excalibur, $79

L to R: All Luxor by getluxor.co: Cadillac, $78; “The Gold Watch,” $79; Lige Classic Leather, $77.

 

EBEL

By Bruce Shawkey

 If you do a Google search for “EBEL watch,” you are certain to see their "Wave" models come up at the top of the search. Introduced in 1977, it's one of few watches that seems to be named for its bracelet (with its signature wavy pattern) rather than the watch itself.

                 But that's kind of the way it's always been for EBEL watches since their founding in 1911 in La Chaux de Fonds. Collectors have long associated EBEL as a fashion or jewelry item more than a utilitarian watch. It's not a completely unfair assessment, since most EBEL watches through the decades have been fashion over technical achievement or substance. But to be fair, EBEL has manufactured everything from chronographs to military watches during its 110-year history. Let's take a look.

Ebel was founded in 1911 by husband and wife Eugene Blum and Alice Levy. As most EBEL-ophiles know, the name EBEL is an acronym of the initials of the couples' names, “Eugene Blum Et Levy." The photo at left, showing them later in life, seems to be the only known photo of the couple.

The company was recognized for outstanding examples of Art Deco-inspired women’s watches at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes” in Paris in 1925. A couple of examples are shown at

right. Their designs caught the attention of both Cartier and Tiffany, which sold deco-inspired EBEL watches with their names on the dials.

In 1929, son Charles-Eugene Blum joined the firm, and EBEL exhibited at Basel for the first time. During the Great Depression, to stay financially afloat, EBEL sold movements to other larger watch companies.

In 1935, EBEL became the first company to use a Western Electric system for accuracy testing involving the use of highly specialized equipment.

In the late 1930s, EBEL won a contract to supply an Army Time Piece (ATP) for British army that was used up until the end of WWII. The watch (left) differs from most other military watches supplied to the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) in that it has a white dial (left) instead of the more familiar black dial. The EBEL is not one of the so-called "Dirty Dozen" British military watches, but nevertheless is highly sought by military watch collectors.

In the 1950s, EBEL introduced a purse watch that rivaled Movado’s “Hermeto” (right). It was sold through retailer Dunhill as well. EBEL also during this time tried to break into the mainstream market with such quirky models as the "Epsom" (with hidden crown) and the

"Videomatic" (left) with clearview back exposing the automatic movement.

Alice Levy remained the company’s creative director until 1960 when she retired. She served as chairman of the board of directors until 1968, when she was 88 years old.  Eugene Blum presumably died during this time, but I can find no mention of his passing on the Internet. The third generation of the family, Pierre-Alain Blum, took over the company in the midst of the “quartz crisis” and was one of the few who resisted the conversion to cheap technology and continued to develop the production of mechanical movements.

In 1977, Ebel released the Sport Classic collection with the famous wavy bracelets, which probably instantly identifies an EBEL watch more than any other design feature. In 1983, EBEL introduced a mechanical perpetual calendar, followed two years later by the famous Beluga. The Beluga design was mainly adapted to ladies’ models, but men’s models can be found in chronograph and multicalendar models. A year later in 1986 came its “1911” collection, named after company’s founding year.

In 1995, Pierre-Alain Blum left the business and sold the company to Investcorp, a corporation that had a rather sad reputation. They bought well-known watch companies (including Breguet) to try and flip them for a quick profit at the expense of technical and creative innovation.

In 1999 Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) acquired EBEL and unfortunately didn't do the brand any favors. It introduced weird color combinations, abundant quartz models, and risky case shapes which only diluted the brand. In December of 2003, LVMH sold EBEL to the Movado Group for CHF6.3 million (about $6.2 million), one of the few times the price for a watch company has been publicly revealed. They have done an admirable job of trying to restore EBEL's "look" and reputation with such lines as the Tekton and Brasilia (see below). But they remain, as before, in that "grey area" between watch and jewelry and thus are overlooked by many watch purists who say they are overpriced. Some of their models are shown below. They maintain a website at www.ebel.com.

L to R: Up and down, steel case. SS case, Lemania Cal 27, copyright finertimes.com, used with permission. Square 14kt gold, manual wind. large square 14kt gold, manual wind. Tekton chronograph, automatic, diamond bezel.

L to R: Voyager world time 21J automatic, steel and 18kt bezel, circa 2000. “Sonny Crocket” (Miami Vice) automatic chronograph, Zenith Caliber 400 automatic movement, Wave bracelet. 1950s bumper automatic, chrome case. Gold plated, SS back, manual wind. "Brasilia,” Steel with 18kt trim.

 

 

L to R: Classic Wave. Lady’s Beluga, steel with 18kt trim. Men’s Beluga chronograph, plated over steel. Beluga men’s multidate moonphase, 18kt gold. “1911” steel and 18kt gold.

 

 

Vulcain

By Bruce Shawkey

 Many watch companies are known by a single watch model, even though they produced many types of timepieces through the decades. Zodiac has its Sea Wolf, Doxa has its Sub 300, Universal has its Tri-Compax, to name a few. And for Vulcain, it's the Cricket.

When the Cricket was released in 1947, it was heralded as a grand invention at a time when the post-war economic boom was well underway. Businessmen could keep track of their meetings. Statesmen, scientists, and scholars could be reminded of their appointments. Even the Average Joe could set a reminder to pick up the kids at school. A Vulcain ad from the early '50s proclaimed the Cricket as "one of the greatest achievements in the whole history of watchmaking." You could buy a Cricket in a stainless steel case back then for around $70.00, equivalent to about $800 in today's dollars. Not cheap, but certainly within the realm of affordability.

Most every U.S. president since Truman has been gifted one, leading to Vulcain to name the Cricket “The Presidents’ watch,” a moniker which it uses to this day. But which presidents actually WORE their Cricket is another matter. Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon famously wore their Crickets.

President Lyndon Johnson was probably the biggest Vulcain fan of any U.S. President. He reportedly ordered 200 Crickets and gave them away as gifts. His own Cricket would reportedly go off during cabinet meetings, much to the chagrin of the Secret Service, who would sometimes mistake it for a bomb timer going off. Vulcain even has a letter of thanks from Johnson stating that he felt “somewhat less than dressed without it.”  Richard Nixon got one while vice president to Eisenhower. He received a Cricket after speaking in front of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors. As for which others wore theirs, I'll leave to the presidential trivia buffs to debate.

In point of fact, the idea of an alarm watch was not new. Alarm pocket watches are found going back to the 1800s. Numerous ideas for a wrist alarm were patented as far back as the early 1900s, but were not actually produced. One contraption involved placing the watch into a base unit, where the alarm bells were located. This, of course, precluded the owner from actually wearing the watch when the alarm activated.

More common were tactile contrivances where a claw or revolving button would graze the wearer's wrist. Spy movie fanatics may remember James Coburn's watch (right) that extended a small arm from the watch case that

wiggled the skin on the wrist in 1966's "Our Man Flint." Even though the Cricket was released almost 20 years earlier, Coburn's watch (actually a movie prop) of course did much more in the movie. The problem with an audible alarm (versus tactile) was a matter of physics. A wrist watch did not have enough physical size to produce an alarm of sufficient volume as to wake the average sleeper or even be heard by the wearer if he was in an area with even a minimal amount of ambient noise.

In any event, the Cricket so overshadowed Vulcain's history, that collectors often forget that they produced many other watches as well.

Vulcain's roots go all the way back to 1858 when the Ditisheim family -- Jacques and three sons Maurice, Gaspard and Aron -- founded the company in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The company was originally called "Manufacture Ditisheim." Ditisheim is a well known name found frequently in the world of Swiss watchmaking, resulting in confusion over which Ditisheim goes with what company. The brands Paul Ditisheim, Gallet, and Eberhard and more all have Ditisheims as parts of their histories.

In 1886, Maurice (left) bought the company from the other family members. By that time the company had grown from a small studio to a successful and well-known brand. Maurice won a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris 1889 for a self-winding pocket watch of his design.

In 1894, the company began offering pocket watches with the brand name Vulcain, with the company now under the leadership of Maurice Ditisheim's son, Ernest-Albert Ditisheim. In 1900, the company officially became "Vulcain" named for the Roman god of fire.

Unlike other watch companies, Vulcain was late to the party when it came to wristwatches. It wasn't until the 1940s, in the midst of WWII, that Vulcain turned to wristwatches in response to the increased popularity of wristwatches for the military.

 The road to an alarm watch

Vulcain's idea of an alarm watch began in early 1940s when, under the direction of another Ditisheim offspring, Robert, Vulcain experimented with various prototypes, leading to the Caliber 120 unveiled in 1947. When activated, a small hammer (gong) strikes a metal membrane approximately 1,300 times in 20-25 seconds, creating a cricket-like sound, hence the name for the watch. Twin independent mainsprings meant the alarm could run itself down without sapping power from the watch, which ran off the other mainspring. The wearer was encouraged in the owner's manual to wind each mainspring daily, one for the watch (winding the crown counter-clockwise toward the six o'clock) and one for the alarm (winding clockwise toward the 12 o'clock).

The problem with the volume of the audible alarm was solved by French physicist Paul Langevin, who developed a double-case design that allowed the chiming to reverberate, thereby increasing its volume, sometimes to the surprise and even annoyance of persons nearby.

The Cricket operates with a rather complicated process of setting time and alarm using a combination of crown and button. Also the hands can only be set in forward direction. Despite these idiosyncrasies (which befuddle users to this day), the Cricket was a huge success. And Vulcain advertised the hell out of the watch, almost to the exclusion of all its other watches. But collectors forget that Vulcain made other watches, too. A few of those are shown at right and at the end of this article. Many of these are certainly not original factory case designs; they can be found enclosing other brnads, including Longines and Universal Geneve.

Clearly, the Cricket took center stage and the next page shows some of the ads that Vulcain ran. The Cricket also served as an adventurers' watch, as the brand partnered with several mountaineering and jungle expeditions. A Vulcain advertisement from 1955 states that the “CRICKET was selected from the finest watches to equip many famous expeditions, the most recent being the Italian alpinists’ victory in the Himalaya—K2 (28250 ft.). The teams of all these expeditions have expressed their satisfaction and admiration of the record performance of their VULCAIN CRICKET, testifying that their running was as faultless and the ringing of the alarm as distinct on the summit of K2 as in the damp jungle of Equatorial Africa.”

Two vintage Vulcain ads from the 1950s

A special "Cricket Nautical" was launched in 1961 (left) with built-in decompression table on the dial accessible with a separate crown. Reportedly the watch alarm was audible underwater. And the Golden Voice, essentially a smaller version of the watch for women, was introduced in 1964.

In 1958, Vulcain added the Caliber 401 (below right). Though it had a seconds sub dial and a date function, it did so at the expense of a separate barrel for the alarm, which reduced the alarm time to just 15 seconds.

Refusing to adopt the new technology coming in from the east, the brand stuck with mechanical movements, contributing to their downfall. Even before the quartz crisis, the companies Revue, Vulcain, Buser and Phénix merged in 1960 to form the "Manufactures d'Horlogerie Suisse Réunis SA" (MSR). During the 1970s-'80s, Vulcain struggled as the market for high-quality luxury mechanical wristwatches collapsed. Vulcain still produced their watches for sister brands within the MSR group, notably the Cricket under the Revue Thommen brand.

That might have been the end for the Cricket, if it hadn’t been for a Finnish jeweler named Keijo Paajanen. He met with Robert Ditisheim’s son, Michael, in the 1980s and suggested restarting gifting a Crciket to American presidents during state visits to Finland. So in 1988, Ronald Reagan became the first U.S. presidents in two decades to receive a Cricket, followed by George Bush Sr. two years later. In 1995, Gerald Ford visited the country for the anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, and finally was awarded his own Cricket 20 years after his presidency.

At the end of the 1990s, MSR went bankrupt. In 2001, the brand was purchased by Production et Marketing Horologer, PMH. The company moved from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Le Locle. PMH reinstated production of the

Side by side views of the (old) Cal. 120,
versus the updated V10 with polished plates and blued screws.

 

Cricket, the machinery for which, incredibly, still survived. With modifications, the Caliber 120 was reintroduced as the Caliber V10 in 2002 (above).

PMH, in turn, was acquired by Excellence Holding in 2010. Located in the canton of St. Gallen, manufacturing remaining in Le Locle. Headed by Bernard Fleury, a long-time fan of the brand, Vulcain completed its goal of making the Cricket automatic. This resulted in the new Caliber V-21, released in 2010. While the changeover posed few problems in the timekeeping portion, getting the alarm to work took a complete revising. The new movement contains 257 components, 100 more than its predecessor, along with Vulcain’s Exomatic system with its ball-bearing mounted unidirectional rotor ensuring consistent amplitude for better precision.

The alarm was now provided by an arm striking an anvil supported by a balance spring. The entire movement is beautifully finished, in contrast to the rather utilitarian appearance of the original.

There is an interesting twist to the Vulcain story that I confess I don't totally understand and which has not been well explained in available watch media. Around the year 2016, Vulcain was reportedly acquired by Flavio Becca, a wealthy Luxembourg real estate investor with a penchant for luxury watches. Becca, a rather shady character, had been under investigation by Luxembourg officials for corruption, embezzlement, blackmail, operating a Ponzi scheme and money laundering. Finally, in 2021, 10 years after the investigation began, a Luxembourg court sentenced Becca to two years in prison and a €250,000 fine, plus the confiscation of 643 watches including 187 he gave to members of his entourage. The jail sentence was reportedly suspended, so Becca is still wheeling and dealing, much like our own Donald Trump. But by this time, ownership of Vulcain had apparently reverted back to Excellence Holding, which is currently listed as its parent company. If anyone out there can shed more light on this apparent hiccup in Vulcain's history, I'll be glad to do a follow-up story.

The manufacturing facility in LeLocle currently manufactures or finishes 11 distinct movement calibers/ebauches. In addition to several Cricket movements, there are straight timekeepers, a single-button chronograph, triple-date moonphase, and even a tourbillon (based on the Technotime TT/91.04 ebauche).

 Vulcain is currently described as a luxury watch company. It operates in Europe with a strong presence in the U.K., Switzerland, France, Italy and the Arabic countries. In the United States, Vulcain watches are available from several on-line grey-market resellers. I think this is hugely ironic that there are no authorized sellers in the United States, seeing as how the Cricket is labeled the "President's Watch." Anyway, grey-market Crickets start at around $3,400, about four times the price of a Cricket back in the late 1940s-early-’50s (equivalent dollars).  There are some Crickets with cloisonne dials and karat gold cases with asking prices of $50,000 and more. So obviously, Vulcain is aiming at quite a different market than in the ‘50s. Vulcain experts warn against purchasing such grey market watches because, while they are new-old stock, they are likely closeouts and overstocks made 5+ years ago and probably in need of servicing.

Meanwhile, vintage Crickets go anywhere from $300 to $700 depending on condition on popular auction sites, and so represent a good value, in my opinion.

 

L to R Current models top row: Cricket manual wind Cal. V40 with alarm display at 4:00 and constant seconds at 8:00;  Automatic Cal. V21, date at 6:00; time only Cal. V56 automatic; single button chronograph, automatic Cal. V57. Second row: Cricket World Time hand wound, Cal. V11, date at 6:00, world time adjusted with lock crown at 4:00; 18kt pink tourbillon Cal. V62; Triple date moonphase, automatic, Cal. V58; Cricket 18kt pink gold case, god of fire cloisonne dial,  Cal. V20 automatic movement, center seconds.

 

L to R: Chronograph, 45-min recorder, steel case, circa 1945. Hinged lugs, 14kt gold, circa 1945. 1-button chronograph, hooded lugs, circa 1935. Rectangle, hinged lugs, gold-filled case, circa 1930.

L to R: manual wind, 14kt case and bracelet. Single button chronograph, chrome/steel back, circa 1940s. Horizontal tonneau, circa 1920s, 18kt yellow gold. Analog digital, circa 1960s, chrome case/SS back.

 

L to R: Nautical chronograph, SS case, Circa 1972. “Grand Prix” circa 1945, SS case. Automatic, recessed cron, SS case. Rectangle, hooded lugs, 14kt gold, circa 1950s.

Here is another article I wrote on Vulcain:

Ran across this ad in the March/April 1954 issue of Swiss Horological Journal for the Vulcain Cricket. The Cricket was not new, of course. The watch had been introduced in 1947. While not technically the first alarm watch to the market, the Cricket was certainly the loudest by virtue of a chamber that allowed the sound to resonate. Dual mainsprings also allowed the alarm to oscillate for a significantly longer period of time than prior iterations. The alarm made a sound similar to that of cricket when it chirps. That is how the watch got its name. The Cricket was an instant hit, first worn by president Eisenhower, then by Truman. Every president for the next 60-odd years would receive a Cricket for a gift, earning the watch the nickname "The Watch of Presidents."

Another variation of the Cricket would soon appear with two buttons instead of one. The crown had multiple settings. And the crown had to be turned one way to wind the watch, and the other way to wind the mainspring for the alarm. This made the watch confusing for users to manipulate. Many business meetings were no doubt interrupted by the chirping of the alarm because to user couldn't figure out how to work the watch. Then, an automatic Cricket was introduced, eliminating the "chore" of winding the watch, but making the other settings even more complicated. Confusion persists to this day on how to work the various settings on the Cricket. There are even You Tube videos on how to do it.

Vulcain, of course, made other watches besides the Cricket -- chronographs, multi-dates, etc. But the Cricket was, by far, the company's most famous watch. The company was founded in 1858 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by the Ditisheim brothers Maurice, Gaspard and Aron. 

Vulcain made other watches, too. Here's an ad for a divers' watch featuring Jacques Costeau:

Some other ads for Vulcain over the decades: