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Heuer pocket watch, circa 1970-1980 — view 1 of 2
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Pocket Watches · Pocket watch

Heuer pocket watch, circa 1970-1980

DocumentedDocumented from an auction catalogue; attribution as stated by the auction house.
Maker / attribution
Heuer (brand / maker)
Date
c. 1970-1980
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Pocket watch
Materials / technique
stainless steel
Lot
Lot 341-25
Credit line
Auction lot record: LOT 25, Monaco, July 21, 2021
Catalogue title (original)
Heuer Six pocket-timers; stainless steel or chromium-plated metal or gilded metal or plastic (English)

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

Record summary

Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 341-25), this is a pocket watch by Heuer, made in Switzerland, dated c. 1970-1980. The Atlas places it in the Quartz Revolution period (1969 – 1990) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: stainless steel. The record is illustrated with 2 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

Antiquorum catalogue description

A collection of six stainless steel or chromium-plated metal or gilded metal or plastic, open-face keyless-winding, round-shaped, pocket-timers (1/5 or 1/10 chronograph)

Lot specifications (Antiquorum)

Model: various (“Can-Ham”, “TV Film- Master”, “Sulky”, etc.); Reference: 512-402, 572, 603-301, 608-423, 633-101 and 652-307; Caliber: various (including 7710); Dimensions: various; Signature: dial, case and movement; Accessories: original fitted boxes (6)

Inscriptions & marks

dial, case and movement

Historical context

Quartz Revolution (1969 – 1990)

Seiko's Astron begins mass quartz timekeeping; traditional industries contract sharply.

Quartz pocket watches and inexpensive novelty watches appeared, while traditional mechanical pocket watches survived mainly as collectibles and gifts.

Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Modern Mechanical Horology

Atlas type guide

Timers, stopwatches, chronoscopes and time recorders

Instruments for measuring short intervals or recording when something happened form a large and practical branch of horology. Sports stopwatches and split-seconds timers, laboratory chronoscopes (such as Hipp's, which measured thousandths of a second for psychology and ballistics experiments), metronomes for music, watchmen's clocks that recorded patrol rounds, and the time recorders that clocked factory workers in and out all derive from clock and watch technology.

These objects matter historically because they show timekeeping leaving the observatory and the drawing room and entering industry, science and sport. Many were mass-produced, and their dials, scales and patents chart the rise of electrification and industrial management.

What to look for

  • Scales graduated in fifths, tenths or hundredths of a second, or decimal minutes for industrial use.
  • Start, stop and reset push-pieces; a second hand that can be stopped independently (split seconds).
  • Recording devices: paper discs or tapes, printing mechanisms, keys or punches.
  • Patent numbers and dates on the dial or case, which give a terminus post quem.

Dating clues

  • Hipp chronoscopes were made from the 1840s into the twentieth century.
  • Employee time recorders spread from the 1890s (Bundy, IBM, International Time Recording Co.).
  • Quartz and electronic timers replaced mechanical stopwatches in sport from the 1970s.

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 chronograph

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