Baume & Mercier Chrono – 18K YG - Landeron 48 – 1950’s - Serviced

Vintage Baume & Mercier chronograph with light gray color dial and gold Arabic numerals for hours. The watch has an outer blue tachymeter graduated up to 1000. The watch has two sub dials, minutes at 3 o’clock and seconds at 9 o’clock. The hands are in gold with stick shape. The watch has a 18K yellow case with engraved outside “18K - .750 – 3920” and inside Baume & Mercier Geneve Suisse – 107485”. The watch has a cuvet between the case and movement. The watch comes with a manual winding Landeron with caliber 48 and 17 jewels. It has a brown leather strap. The watch has been serviced.

History

The company was founded in 1841 by Florentine A. Jones in the small town of Rummey in the United States. When he turned 14, Jones moved to Boston to work with watchmakers and then move again in 1868 to Schaffhausen. His goal was to make cheap pocket watches for the US market using the industrial techniques. In 1869, he signed a lease with Johann Heinrich Moser where 2 years later the first pocket watches were produced. 1875 was the year of the first company bankruptcy followed by a second bankruptcy in 1879. Then the company is acquired by the Swiss industrial family Rauschenbach. In 1978, Instek AG bought the company. In 2000, the company is sold again to the Richemont group. Calibers of the brand are mythical as the “Jones”, “Mega” or “Pellaton”. IWC brand is particularly known in the world of aviation with the model “Mark 11”. IWC has also worked with “Porsche Design” and today IWC is particularly famous for this “Portuguese” model.

Technical details

Manual winding Landeron movement with caliber 48, 17 jewels and 18,000 A/h. The power reserve is approximately 41 hours. It was produced from 1937 to 1970 with over 3.5 million unites. The movement is serviced.

Measurements

Diameter excluding winding crown: 34mm


Length including lugs: 41mm