
Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Omega Cioccolatone, circa 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Omega (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- ; weight 45gr.(approx.)
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 389-72
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 72
- Catalogue title (original)
- OMEGA, CIOCCOLATONE, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 389-72), this is a wristwatch by Omega, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: ; weight 45gr.(approx.). 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
Antiquorum catalogue description
EUR 1,150 - 2,000 / CHF 1,050 - 1,900 / USD 1,300 - 2,300 / JPY 198,000 - 356,000 A fine and rare, 18K yellow gold square self winding wristwatch with black dial and fancy lugs.
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 342; Case No.: 10886200; Movement No.: 11512350; Signature: dial, case and movement
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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