Under a thick, domed acrylic crystal, the smooth white porcelain is smooth as Wedgewood china, and adorned with classic, pad-printed black numerals. This is about a feeling, and the fact that in our mad, obsessive and brand-addled times, craftsmanship is perhaps the new luxury. The feeling of timeless quality is awe-inspiring.īut this is not about the telling of time, just as much as you don’t buy a $600,000 perpetual calendar to remember your appointments. Pry it open and you’re met by large mainplates covering a sturdy movement, the typical turn of the century engraved balance cock, and a large balance wheel as its beating heart, with a life of unknown service history and an unbelievable +/- 30 or so seconds a day. This is a prize that would remain on the dust covers inside Zenith pocket watches well in the sixties. With an evocative ‘GRAND PRIX PARIS 1900’, it reminds us of the honours awarded to Zenith at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair. The 19’’ Zenith lepine caliber within is a large, simple piece of engineering, you’ll find it under the double protection of case-back and a polished dust cover. The production year was confirmed by Zenith (grazie, Vittoria) in Le Locle leafing through their heritage archives as the year 1915. A couple of turns of the large onion crown will instantly turn back time to the days of proud craftsmanship, and a feeling of having time on your hands, rather than chasing you like a demon, never resting, never relenting. My soft stress ball remains un-squeezed, as even a quick fondle of this 115g pebble installs a sense of meditative calm. It’s like a loaded, compressed piece of history a century old, a talisman perhaps? The Zenith was bought on a whim, and now I can’t keep my hands off its smooth case. There are plenty more available, too.įor some reason they all remind me of the old, strong guard dog that sits unadopted at the rescue centre, too proud to beg, while yelping puppies and lap dogs are picked up within days. The price was so low it took me all of five seconds to click and buy it. While I love their modern Chronomaster Sport and exuberant DEFY Extreme, I was intrigued to delve into the brand’s past.Ī perfectly proportioned, Ferrier-smooth, steel-cased Zenith pocket watch was for sale in pristine condition with an Italian dealer. What happened was this: while perusing Chrono24 looking at Zenith vintage watches with the fun “lowest-price-first” filter, a century old 53mm pocket watch had me inexplicably smitten. Being reminded of this merely underscored the intrinsic value of my newly arrived, perfectly smooth and deeply unfashionable piece of stress relief. One of the few worldly possessions of Mahatma Gandhi was his beloved Zenith alarm pocket watch that the social visionary used to make sure he didn’t miss prayer times. I/trending 19965 Why I bought a Zenith pocket watch that’s 106 years old Thor Svaboe
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