
Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Bucherer Gold-Plated Oversized Square Watch, 1970s
- Maker / attribution
- Bucherer (maker)
- Date
- 1970s
- Historical period
- Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- gold
- Stock no.
- BUCSDW
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Craft & Tailored (BUCSDW)
- Catalogue title (original)
- 1970s Bucherer Gold-Plated Oversized Square Watch (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Craft & Tailored (dealer), Los Angeles (stock number BUCSDW), this is a wristwatch by Bucherer, dated 1970s. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold. 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 — Craft & Tailored
Considering the brand has been around in some form or fashion since 1888, Bucherer is one of the lesser-known Swiss brands out there. Initially founded by Carl-Friedrich Bucherer and his wife Luise, the brand started out as Lucerne's first watch and jewelry shop before adding a watchmaking extension in 1919. Like Turler, Tiffany and many other large-scale jewelers, Bucherer also did a lot of co-branding and white labeling of watches, like this gold-plated beauty. Featuring a striking, squared-off case with hidden lugs, a warm silver dial, and gold accents, this piece from the '70s is meant to be shown off. The Arabic numerals on the dial give it the slightest hint of sportiness, but it's otherwise a distinctly dressy watch that you're highly unlikely to see anyone else wearing. Stock # BUCSDW Brand Bucherer Style Square Dress Watch Model N/A Serial 30XXX Size Men's Material Stainless Steel Dial Silver Millimeters 35 X 35 Strap 2pc Bucherer Leather Strap CASE & BRACELET The gold-plated case retains sharp angles with light signs of use and no notable evidence of previous polishing present. It features its original Bucherer-signed crown. The case back is incredibly clean with almost no signs of use and the Bucherer medallion in the center. The watch comes supplied on its original two-piece signed leather strap. DIAL & HANDS The silver dial is immaculate with no signs of wear or age whatsoever. The lume-free dial has gilt Arabic numerals at 6, 9 and 12 o'clock, a date window at 3 o'clock, and gilt markers at the remaining hours, all of which are in immaculate condition. The gilt Bucherer seal is applied at 12 o'clock. The package is completed by gilt baton-style hands that, like the rest of the dial, are incredibly clean. ACCESSORIES None. The watch is keeping time, previous service history is unknown.
Historical context
Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)
Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.
Quartz and digital watches transformed the market after 1969. Swiss employment collapsed, Japanese and Hong Kong production soared, and the Swatch (1983) helped the Swiss industry recover; mechanical watches survived as luxury goods.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology
Atlas type guide
Wristwatches
Bracelet watches were worn by women from the early nineteenth century — Breguet made one for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810–12 — but the wristwatch only became a man's instrument with military use and aviation in the early twentieth century. Between the World Wars it overtook the pocket watch; the 1920s and 1930s brought rectangular Art Deco cases, water-resistant cases and the first automatic winding systems.
After 1945 the wristwatch became a carrier of identity — dress watches, sports and dive watches, chronographs, calendars — produced by Swiss, American, Japanese, German, Soviet and Chinese industries. The quartz revolution after 1969 and the mechanical renaissance since the 1990s, including the rise of independent watchmakers, complete the story.
What to look for
- The reference number (between the lugs or inside the case back) and serial number, the starting point for dating.
- The calibre: its maker and number are often stamped under the dial or on the bridge.
- Originality of dial, hands and crown — refinished ('redial') dials are common.
- Case material marks: 18K/750, 14K/585, stainless steel, gold-filled, plated.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug cases: before c. 1925.
- Water-resistant screw-down cases: from 1926.
- Quartz movements: from 1969; sapphire crystals widespread after c. 1980.
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.
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