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Gruen Spider "10K GF", 1940s — view 1 of 6
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Wristwatches · Wristwatch

Gruen Spider "10K GF", 1940s

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Gruen (maker)
Date
1940s
Country of origin
Unrecorded in source
Object type
Wristwatch
Stock no.
GRNSPR10K
Credit line
Dealer listing, Craft & Tailored (GRNSPR10K)
Catalogue title (original)
1940s Gruen Spider "10K GF" (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 GRNSPR10K), this is a wristwatch by Gruen, 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

As an American watch company based in Ohio, Gruen produced cleverly designed timepieces that housed Swiss-made movements, and the brand was once the largest watch company in the entire United States. Gruen's catalog was extensive, diverse, and at some points eccentric - and this 1940s Gruen "Spider" has a bit of it all At its core, the Gruen Spider is nothing more than a simple time-only watch with a small circular case. However, it is surrounded by an almost free floating cage then is attached by gorgeously twisted, narrow lugs. The end product is a truly unique case with a silhouette that is reminiscent of a spider, and the model is easily one of the most distinct pieces from Gruen’s archives. Stock # GRNSPR10K Brand Gruen Style Spider Model N/A Serial N/A Size Men's Material 10K Gold Filled Dial Silver "Aged" Millimeters 30x30 Strap 2pc Leather Strap CASE & BRACELET Without a doubt, the party piece of the Gruen Spider is its stunning case, and this example is in excellent overall condition. Every point of space along the watch’s 10k gold-filled case draws your gaze to the next in a nearly never-ending flow from curve to curve, and all of the watch’s intricate lines remain crisp with its brilliant gold coating fully intact. Completing the watch is a simple and classic black two-piece leather strap. DIAL & HANDS The dial is a lightly aged champagne color with applied teardrop-shaped hour markers and a milled sub-seconds register. The hour and minute hands are stretched, tapered sword shapes that match the indexes in a truly unique way and compliment the watch’s unique and intricate case shape. Neither the dial nor hands features luminous material, which leaves clean polished gold surfaces that match the 10k gold finish of the case. ACCESSORIES None. The watch is running, previous service history is unknown.

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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