Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Baume & Mercier wristwatch, ref. 1919, Chronograph Triple calendar, circa 1940’s
- Maker / attribution
- Baume & Mercier (brand / maker)
- Date
- c. 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- stainless steel
- Dimensions
- diameter 36 mm
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 347-6
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 6, Monaco, January 18, 2022
- Catalogue title (original)
- Baume & Mercier. Ref. 1919, Chronograph, Triple calendar, Astronomic, Stainless-steel (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 347-6), this is a wristwatch by Baume & Mercier, made in Switzerland, dated c. 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: stainless steel. Recorded dimensions: diameter 36 mm. The record is illustrated with 2 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Antiquorum catalogue description
Fine and rare manual-winding chronograph wristwatch in stainless steel with moon-phase. Snap-in case back, acrylic glass, stepped bezel, brushed and unpolished lugs on the outer parts, rectangular push-button chronograph. Silvered dial with luminescent Arabic numerals. Subdials for the seconds at 9 o'clock, the 30-minute register at 3 o'clock and the 12-hour register at 6 o'clock. Aperture for the day of the week and the month at 12 o'clock and the moon phase at 6 o'clock. Central blued chronograph baton hand and arrow hand for the date, luminous sword hands for the hours and minutes.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Model: Astronomic; Reference: 1919; Case No.: 436022; Caliber: Valjoux 88; Diameter: 36 mm.; Weight: 43.6 gr. (approx.); Signature: Case, dial and movement; Accessories: Box, Certificate of guarantee unreferenced
Inscriptions & marks
Case, dial and movement
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Chronographs and split-seconds watches
A chronograph is a watch with an additional seconds hand that can be started, stopped and returned to zero independently of the timekeeping. Louis Moinet built an early example in 1816 and Nicolas Rieussec a recording 'chronographe' in 1821; Adolphe Nicole's heart-shaped reset cam (patented 1862) made the modern return-to-zero possible. Split-seconds (rattrapante) chronographs add a second hand that can be stopped for intermediate times; flyback chronographs restart instantly.
Chronographs were essential tools for doctors (pulsometer scales), artillery (telemeter), engineers and sport. In wristwatches, Valjoux, Venus, Lemania and later the automatic chronographs of 1969 (Zenith El Primero, the Chronomatic Calibre 11 group and Seiko 6139) are milestones.
What to look for
- Push-pieces on the case band or a single button in the crown (monopusher).
- Subsidiary registers for minutes and hours; tachymeter, telemeter or pulsometer scales.
- Column wheel versus cam control visible in the movement.
- Calibre markings of specialist makers (Valjoux, Lemania, Venus, Landeron).
Dating clues
- Pocket chronographs with heart cam reset: after 1862.
- Wrist chronographs: from c. 1910; two-button designs from the 1930s.
- Automatic chronographs: from 1969.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Flyback chronographChronograph
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