Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Tiffany & Co. Yellow Gold Curved Rectangular Dress Watch, Silver 'Breguet' Dial
- Maker / attribution
- Tiffany & Co. (maker)
- Date
- late 1930s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Materials / technique
- yellow gold
- Dimensions
- Case 26 mm
- Stock no.
- OC3420
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Oliver & Clarke (OC3420)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Tiffany & Co. Yellow Gold Curved Rectangular Dress Watch - Silver 'Breguet' Dial w/ Extract (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Oliver & Clarke (dealer), United Kingdom (stock number OC3420), this is a wristwatch by Tiffany & Co., dated late 1930s. 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: yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: Case 26 mm. 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 — Oliver & Clarke
Patek Philippe 's relationship with New York's Tiffany & Co. spans roughly one hundred and seventy years and until this very day, is alive and well. In the early years of the wrist watch, many of the dials were devoid of the Patek Philippe script all together, bearing only a Tiffany & Co. signature. The rectangular dress watch that we have here is one such example. Dating to the late 1930s, this piece is reminiscent of what would later become the 'Gondolo,' but predates the model family. The solid 18k yellow gold case comes in at very large for the era 26mm x 37mm, and thanks to the gently curved caseback and short, 'officer' lugs, has an incredibly comfortable and svelte wearing experience. Inside that case, the silver dial shows light aging and is otherwise nicely preserved, with an excellent 'raised' enamel signature, printed black 'railroad' minute track, and recessed subsidiary seconds register. The highlight of this dial, of course, is the stunning applied yellow gold 'Breguet' indices, which are complimented by a matching yellow gold 'spade' handset. Naturally, this piece is powered by a manually-wound movement. There are watches, and then there are watches! This is one of the latter. *This piece has an extract on order from Patek's archives* Explore more pieces in our vintage watch collection .
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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