Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Ulysse Nardin pocket watch, circa 1920s
- Maker / attribution
- Ulysse Nardin (brand / maker)
- Date
- circa 1920s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- 18k yellow gold
- Dimensions
- 50mm ; weight 85.9g
- Auction house
- Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
- Lot
- Lot 389-122
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: LOT 122
- Catalogue title (original)
- ULYSSE NARDIN, CHRONOMETRE, RETAILED BY JUNOD FRERES LAUSANNE, 18K YELLOW GOLD
Record summary
Catalogued by Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva (lot Lot 389-122), this is a pocket watch by Ulysse Nardin, made in Switzerland, dated circa 1920s. 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: 18k yellow gold. Recorded dimensions: 50mm ; weight 85.9g. 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
EUR 1,700 - 3,400 / CHF 1,600 - 3,200 / USD 1,950 - 3,900 / JPY 296,000 - 600,000 A fine and rare, 18k yellow gold keyless open face pocket watch with chronometre movement, white enamel dial with black Breguet numerals, outer minute track and subsidiary seconds. The back cover features an ornate engraved interlaced monogram, the inner cuvette engraved "JUNOD FRERES, LAUSANNE, Chronometre No18099, Ulysse Nardin Locle & Geneve."
Lot specifications (Antiquorum)
Caliber: 18'', rhodium-plated, fausses cotes decoration, 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring with overcoil, swan-neck micrometer regulator.; Case No.: 333083; Movement No.: 18092
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 timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: 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.
Related records
Pocket Watches · circa 1880
Ulysse Nardin pocket watch, circa 1880 (Antiquorum Lot 374-168)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1880
Ulysse Nardin pocket watch, circa 1880 (Antiquorum Lot 374-197)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1920
Ulysse Nardin Chronometer, circa 1920 (Antiquorum Lot 374-162)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1920
Ulysse Nardin Chronometer, circa 1920 (Antiquorum Lot 374-169)
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1900
Calame-Robert Chronometer, circa 1900
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · circa 1900
Patek Philippe Chronometro Gondolo, circa 1900
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · 1900
Pocket watch by A. Sandoz-Boucherin, Switzerland, 1900
German Clock Museum
Pocket Watches · 1900
Pocket watch by Armand Schwob & Frère, Switzerland, 1900
Science Museum Group, London