
Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Ulysse Nardin Dress Watch, 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Ulysse Nardin (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 31 mm
- Stock no.
- Product 764321136727
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, S.Song Watches (product 764321136727)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Ulysse Nardin Dress Watch (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle (stock number Product 764321136727), this is a wristwatch by Ulysse Nardin, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 31 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 — S.Song Watches
While big watches have been very trendy in the past few years, what I have noticed both as a vintage collector and dealer, is that tastes are slowly shifting towards more elegant, smaller sizes. The Ulysse Nardin dress watch, sized at 31mm is a good example of where the market is heading, especially in Italian and Japanese collecting circles. Ulysse Nardin today is a completely different brand to what they were in the mid-century, as they made some beautiful and elegant dress watches and chronographs. The biggest thing this watch has going for it certainly lies in its dial. It is a stunning two-tone dial with Arabic numerals and it has aged to a very warm champagne tone. The hour ring is metallic and contrasts well with the matte dial and nicely proportioned numerals. With a sub seconds at six o’clock and a dotted minute track, the look is completed to make a very classy dress watch.
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.
Related records
Pocket Watches · c. 1880
Ulysse Nardin pocket watch, c. 1880 (Antiquorum Lot 374-168)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · c. 1880
Ulysse Nardin pocket watch, c. 1880 (Antiquorum Lot 374-197)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · c. 1920
Ulysse Nardin Chronometer, c. 1920 (Antiquorum Lot 374-162)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · c. 1920
Ulysse Nardin Chronometer, c. 1920 (Antiquorum Lot 374-169)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Wristwatches · 1931
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Wristwatch by Certina, Switzerland, 1900–1999
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