109th Auction
2023/11/18
Lot 380
Jules Jürgensen
An extremely rare, nearly unworn vintage wristwatch with chronograph for the US-American market
Sold
Chronographs of this size are extremely rare. This piece was fitted with calibre 69 with 10,5"' lines, which was launched in 1937 by Valjoux. The movement has a size of only 23,35 mm and is commonly used in watches smaller than 32 mm. It is a highly complex movement with an 8-columns wheel, which is typical for the Valjoux style timepieces with 30-minute counter and single or double pushers. Calibre 69 was used by various brands such as Breitling, Léonidas, Heuer, Rolex and Juvenia. Although it was in production for over 30 years, it was not used very often; as far as we know only such 4,000 movement were produced. Due to its small size calibre 69 was also used in square cases, for example by Eterna in 1939 and Breitling and Girard-Perregaux in 1940;however it was also used in rather large cases, which is somewhat detrimental to the appeal of these timepieces.