Important Modern & Vintage Timepieces

Monaco, Jan 18, 2022

LOT 30

Record Watch Co..
Splits-seconds chronograph, Minute and hour counters, Date, Moon phase, Yellow gold

EUR 15,000 - 30,000

USD 17,000 - 33,900 / HKD 134,000 - 266,000 / CHF 15,600 - 31,200

Sold: EUR 28,600

18K yellow gold, manual-winding, round-shaped, large gentleman’s wristwatch, snap-on case-back, stepped lugs, two-tone silver dial with subsidiary seconds at 9 and six horological complications:
• 1/5 second chronograph (activated by the two rectangular- shaped push-pieces located on the caseband)
• Split-seconds (activated by the round-shaped push-piece located on the winding crown)
• Half-instantaneous 30-minute counter (subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock)
• 12-hour counter (subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock)
• Half-instantaneous date of the month (subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock)
• Phases of the moon (aperture at 12 o’clock)


Grading System
Grade: AAA

Excellent

Case: 2

Very good

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Brand Record Watch Co., Geneva

Reference 6036

Year Circa 1945-1950

Case No. 14 001 (by Stila S.A., La Chaux-de- Fonds)

Material 18K yellow gold

Bracelet Black leather strap; gilded metal buckle

Caliber 14’’’, (based on Vénus 185 ebauche by Berret & Schmitz, Moutier, Bernese Jura)

Dimensions 37.4 mm. / Thickness 14.4 mm.

Signature Dial, case and movement

Notes

Lot in temporary importation and subject to additional fees (see our general terms and conditions of sale)

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Record Watch Co.
Watch manufacture founded in 1903 in Tramelan-Dessus (Bernese Jura) by a group of local industrialists, including Ariste Chatelain (1843-1928), first chairman of the board of the Record Watch Co.
The primary purpose of this company was to produce the “Sector” watch (1903-1908); the first triangular watch with retrograde hands, which caused a certain sensation at the time. The company was immediately equipped with machines for mass production and production was diversified to various types of gentlemen’s and ladies’ watches from 1906.
In 1908, the town council of Tramelan-Dessus sells the factory to the owners of the Record company, who expand it in 1910. Despite the abandonment of the “Sector” watch, the production of more classical watches by Record experienced a great expansion.
In 1915, the company was re-founded, or rather became a holding company, the Record Dreadnought Watch Co. (RDWC), with a share capital of 1.5 million francs. This was the result of the merger of the Record Watch Co. with three other companies, Z. Perrenoud & Co. (La Chaux-de-Fonds), Chatelain Léal & Co. (London, sales company) and Stabilis (La Chaux-de-Fonds). At the end of the First World War, the production area was doubled.
In 1920, Beaulieu Watch (Geneva) was added to the company as well as Record Meret (Tramelan-Dessus) in 1923; the latter left the business in 1924. That same year, Stabilis remained in La Chaux-de-Fonds, while the RDWC headquarters moved to Geneva.
In the 1940s, the company continued to expand. In addition to its calibres and pocket watches, gentlemen’s and ladies’ wristwatches, chronographs, self-winding watches, moon phase watches, etc., the Record also manufactures platform escapements for electrical control devices.
In the 1940’s (before 1947), the manufacture took on the name Record Watch Co. and in 1949, the Record Watch Co. S.A. became independent.
In 1961, the company became part of Longines, Saint-Imier (Bernses Jura) which bought a majority stake in the company in order to increase its production capacity. The purchase of the Tramelote factory to make it a subsidiary of Longines was the work of the latter’s director, Frédéric Ahles (1914-1990).
In 1973, Longines stopped buying movements from the Record Watch Co. following the arrival of Ebauches S.A. in the capital of the Saint-Imier manufacture. In the same year, the operation of the Longines-Record brand was discontinued, and the commercial department of Record was closed and integrated into the commercial department of Longines. From then on, Record devoted itself essentially to the manufacture of micro-mechanical parts for quartz watches and calibres produced by Bernard Golay S.A. for Longines. Started in 1972, this production ceased in 1975 with the bankruptcy of Bernard Golay S.A. and caused insurmountable difficulties for Record.
Record lost its status as a manufacture in 1975 and the company, which had remained in Tramelan, was now managed in Saint-Imier. However, the factory had to close its doors in 1983, victim of the watchmaking crisis, but production continued for a time in Saint-Imier, where the staff of the Tramelan workshops was transferred. The building remained empty until 1987, when it was bought from Longines by the architect Hannes Strebel, who transformed it into lofts. The work took place from 1988 to 1990.