Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Bovet "Mono Rattrapante" Waterproof Large Chronograph Ref 5347, 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Bovet (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 38 mm
- Stock no.
- W-2609
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Bulang & Sons (W-2609)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Bovet "Mono Rattrapante" Waterproof Large Chronograph Ref 5347 (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen (stock number W-2609), this is a wristwatch by Bovet, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 38 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 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
Dealer description — Bulang & Sons
This is a very cool Bovet Mono-Rattrapante Chronograph from the 1940s, featuring a rare split-seconds complication. The innovative Mono-Rattrapante mechanism, patented in 1936, allows the wearer to stop the second hand for reading time with one pusher and then catch up to the elapsed time, a very technical innovation for the time. The 38mm steel case is in good condition. The watch houses a multi scale, multi coloured dial that has a blue tachymeter scale, red telemeter scale and a minute track in black on a matte silver base with gloss silver numerals at 12 and 6. The watch will come on the pictured Bulang and Sons leather strap and the manual wind Bovet calibre 84 movement has been fully serviced by our watchmaker. Vintage chronos have always been a big love of ours. Come and pay us a visit or arrange a call to do a deal on this beauty! Specifications: - Bovet Chronograph - 38mm steel case - Dates to 1940s - Multi scale dial - Bovet calibre 84 movement (based on Valjoux 22) - Bulang and Sons pictured leather strap - Fully serviced by our watchmaker - Includes a handmade leather watch pouch
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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