Gunmetal Minute Recording Chronograph, circa 1910 — view 1 of 3 — View 1 of 3 · Image: Pieces of Time · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

View 1 of 3 · Image: Pieces of Time · original image source (opens another website in a new tab)

Pocket Watches · Pocket watch

Gunmetal Minute Recording Chronograph, circa 1910

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.

Maker / attribution: Unrecorded in source
Date: c. 1910
Historical period: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
Country of origin: Unrecorded in source
Object type: Pocket watch
Materials / technique: gunmetal
Dealer: Pieces of Time (dealer), London
Stock no.: A1317
Credit line: Dealer listing, Pieces of Time (A1317)
Catalogue title (original): Gunmetal Minute Recording Chronograph (English)

View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction

Record summary

Catalogued by Pieces of Time (dealer), London (stock number A1317), this is a pocket watch, dated c. 1910. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gunmetal. The record is illustrated with 3 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 — Pieces of Time

An early 20 th Century Swiss thirty minute recording lever chronograph in a gunmetal open face case. Gilt three quarter plate keyless movement with going barrel. Grained steel flyback chronograph work above the plate. Plain cock with polished steel regulator, uncut bimetallic balance with overcoil hairspring. Club foot lever escapement. Signed white enamel dial with subsidiaries for seconds and thirty minute recording, flyback centre seconds, Roman numerals, blue steel hands. Plain gunmetal open face case, gunmetal cuvette, gilt bezel, hinge, thumb piece, winding button and bow.

Historical context

Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)

The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.

The pocket watch reached technical maturity and then began to give way to the wristwatch after the First World War. Complicated watches for collectors such as Henry Graves Jr. and James Ward Packard, railroad watches, and slim Art Deco dress watches are characteristic.

Read the period in the timeline More pocket watches from this period Earlier: 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.

Mechanisms mentioned

Detached lever escapement — Escapement
Chronograph — Complication
Balance spring (hairspring) — Component
Compensation balance — Component
Going barrel — Component
Plates, cocks and bridges — Component
Keyless (stem) winding — Component
Flyback chronograph — Complication

Record completeness

Maker or attributionNot in source
DateRecorded
Place or countryNot in source
MaterialsRecorded
DimensionsNot in source
Narrative descriptionRecorded
Inscriptions / marksNot in source
ProvenanceNot in source
Several photographsRecorded

Editorial status: Documented — facts as published by the source; not independently verified by Atlas editors.

Explore further

Sources & image rights

Record source: Pieces of Time (dealer), London (opens another website in a new tab).

Image rights: © Pieces of Time — dealer photographs; permission required (opens another website in a new tab).

Images are hosted by the Atlas for study and credited to their owner. Rights holders may request correction, credit changes or removal, or grant permission, via the editorial office.

Cite this record

"Gunmetal Minute Recording Chronograph, circa 1910." Pieces of Time (dealer), London, A1317. Catalogue record in The Horology Atlas, WatchMuseum.org, https://atlas.watchmuseum.org/museum/gunmetal-minute-recording-chronograph-circa-1910-ed543a.