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Enicar Sport "Enamel Dial", 1940s — view 1 of 6
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Wristwatches · Wristwatch

Enicar Sport "Enamel Dial", 1940s

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Enicar (maker)
Date
1940s
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Wristwatch
Stock no.
ENSPT
Credit line
Dealer listing, Craft & Tailored (ENSPT)
Catalogue title (original)
1940s Enicar Sport "Enamel Dial" (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 ENSPT), this is a wristwatch by Enicar, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. 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

Stock # ENSPT Brand Enicar Style Sport Model N/A Serial N/A Size Men's Material Stainless Steel Dial White Enamel Millimeters 34 Bracelet 2pc Leather Strap CASE & BRACELET The wonderful case has been lightly polished in the past and retains strong dimensions with light signs of honest use. The crown is likely an early replacement. The case back remains in excellent condition. The watch comes supplied on a 2pc leather strap. DIAL & HANDS The white enamel dial is beautiful and remains in lovely condition for its age, there is a light crack that is visible on the right side of the dial. The original radium lume Arabic numerals have aged to a dark coloration and display light degradation in some of the numerals. The original hands have been professionally restored with radium to match the dial patina. ACCESSORIES

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

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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