Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Universal Geneve Tri-Compax, 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- Universal Geneve (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Stock no.
- 40992706
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Analog/Shift (40992706)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Universal Geneve Tri-Compax (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Analog/Shift (dealer), New York (stock number 40992706), this is a wristwatch by Universal Geneve, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. 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 — Analog/Shift
In 1944, a watch was released at the Basel Fair that would forever change the watch industry: the Universal Genève Tri-Compax. Switzerland’s neutrality during the Second World War meant that the country could continue to export watches. Accordingly, watches made by Universal Genève found their way to the wrists of Axis and Allies alike. Hermann Göring, the second-most powerful man in Nazi Germany, owned one, as did Harry S Truman. Though the later 1960s models of Tri-Compax perhaps command the most collector attention out of all of Universal Genève’s chronograph offerings, there’s a quiet, dignified beauty about models from the 1940s and 1950s. This particular piece, a Reference 52202 dating from the 1940s, is simply elegant. While the Tri-Compaxes of the 1960s are known for their sporty, twisted-lug steel cases, this one is clad in 14K yellow gold and is powered by UG Calibre 481 movement. The soft hue of the case brings out the warm glow of the dial, rich with a creamy patina and featuring stunning Art Deco hour markers. The tri-compax pioneered the complicated chronograph that dominated midcentury watchmaking and has remained a fixture of the industry to this day. This particular example was also overhauled in 2020, with a freshly operating, serviced movement ready for a new wrist. With looks like this, there’s no question why the Tri-Compax was—and continues to be—such a universal favorite.
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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