Universal Genève Medico Compax, 1940s

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

Universal Genève built its reputation on the chronograph. During the 1930s and ’40s, the manufacture developed an extraordinary assortment of purpose-built wrist chronographs, creating watches for pilots, motorists, athletes—and, in the case of the Medico-Compax, the medical profession. Dating to the 1940s, this Medico-Compax Reference 22517 is a particularly beautiful example. Its 37mm stainless steel case is generously sized for the period, with pump pushers and sharply defined lugs framing a wonderfully elaborate silver dial. Two snailed registers sit at 3:00 and 9:00, while applied Arabic numerals and elegant blued hands provide an appealing mixture of refinement and legibility. The defining feature, however, is the pulsations scale encircling the dial. Rather than a conventional tachymeter, the Medico-Compax was calibrated to allow a doctor to determine a patient’s heart rate quickly. Start the chronograph, count 15 heartbeats, stop it, and the central chronograph hand indicates the corresponding pulse rate directly on the scale. “GRADUÉ POUR 15 PULSATIONS” printed prominently along the perimeter makes the watch’s intended purpose delightfully explicit. Inside is a manually wound Universal Genève chronograph movement, continuing the manufacture’s celebrated tradition of producing sophisticated chronographs during one of its most important periods. With box and signed steel pin buckle, there is something especially appealing about complications created to solve highly specific problems, and the Medico-Compax may be one of the best examples. Its medical functionality is fascinating, but even removed from its original professional context, this is simply an exceptionally handsome vintage chronograph. At 36mm in steel, with its beautifully balanced two-register dial, blued hands, and wonderfully specialized pulsometer scale, this Reference 22517 represents Universal Genève doing what it did best: turning a serious instrument into an extraordinarily elegant wristwatch.