Landeron, Triple Date Moonphase Chronograph Cal.186 18ct Pink Gold c1950

Landeron

Landeron was a Swiss watch movement maker in Le Landeron famous for chronograph movements. The company began in 1873, formed by Charles Alfred Hahn and his brother Aimé Auguste Hahn, and called Charles Hahn & Cie. They produced watches and watch movements as early as 1883 and won medals at Paris in 1878, La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1881, Geneva in 1896, and a gold medal in Paris in 1900 for their work.

Description

The watch we see here is a large 38mm, 18ct pink gold Landeron Triple Date Moonphase Chronograph with a rare, original honey dial. The watch dial is completely unrestored and untouched and is in wonderful unique condition. This watch houses the Landeron Calibre 186 movement, which is highly regarded for its accuracy and reliability. This watch is in excellent all-round condition and is ready to go, having just received a full overhaul and service from our vintage chronograph specialist watchmaker.

The Dial

Even though this is a over 70 years old, it has an original, twin register honey dial which has never been restored or retouched. Original unrestored dials of watches over 70 years old are subject to damage from a combination of sunlight, heat, condensation and pollutants which almost always causes fading, staining and oxidisation in the form of spotting or pitting. Other accidental damage often occurs when servicing a watch in the form of scratches and other marks. Here, the dial is in tremendous condition with a nice even patina.

This twin register chronograph dial with black Arabic (standard) numerals is complemented by the original, unrestored blued steel ‘leaf’ style hands, which are in excellent condition. The dial to the left hand side at 9, indicates the running seconds, independent of the chronograph movement and the dial to the right hand side by 3, indicates the elapsed time up to thirty minutes while the chronograph is running.

This dial carries an outer date track along with a Telemeter scale on the inner side, this is used to measure the distance between an event and an observer based on the speed of sound – typically in the field of battle referencing gun flash and the arrival of its sound. This dial also has two date windows at the top of the dial, the left window between 11 and 12 shows the day of the week in french with the window on the right hand side of the dial, between 12 and 1, is the months of the year. All of this provides the dial with a highly technical look and the style and combination of colours is totally charming and very much of its time.

Please note – it is not necessary, or wise, to leave the chronograph function running while the watch is in normal use, ie simply while wearing the watch. This is because the chronograph function is designed for measuring small time intervals and leaving this running will cause undue wear on a chronograph movement.

Usually, we restore the dials of the watches we sell, however, we decided in this case, due to its unique condition, to retain its originality and charm for the many collectors who prefer this. This watch has a clean original dial with a very even patina. It also helps to contrast with almost all of the other watch dials you see on our website, which have been restored.

Please note, studio lights, professional-grade digital cameras, and macro lenses can be very unkind to an unrestored vintage watch dial. Also the dial here measures less than 1.25 inches across, so the image you see here may be between 5 – 25 times larger than the watch itself. Therefore please keep in mind you are seeing many tiny flaws which cannot be seen, or will be very hard to see with the naked eye, even under close examination. Suffice to say, on the wrist, in natural light, this dial looks much better and carries a great deal more charm than the photographs portray.

The Movement

As mentioned above, this watch houses its original well-proven Landeron Calibre 186 antimagnetic, chronograph movement. This particular watch movement is in superb condition having been fully overhauled and serviced by our vintage chronograph specialist watchmaker. This involves the complete dismantling of the movement to each of its component parts, ultrasonic cleaning, microscope inspection and replacement of parts as required – only with new originals – then careful reassembly and oiling, ready for final testing and careful calibration.

Each of the chronograph functions operates perfectly and the centre seconds hand resets itself instantly on pressing the bottom pusher. The normal timekeeping function is also running perfectly, having been calibrated and timed at +14 seconds per day, which is truly outstanding for any watch of this age. The watch also has a power reserve of 41 hours in its fully wound state.

With care and with regular servicing, say every 4 years, we would fully expect this watch to run quite happily for many decades to come. Our watchmaker commented that he found the movement to be especially clean and in excellent condition. we are therefore more than happy to offer this watch with our 12 months’ warranty* and to assist with servicing again in the future.

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the list price is paid.

The Watch Case

The 18ct pink gold case is of a bold, three-piece design and at 38mm, excluding the correct crown, this is a very over-sized watch for the period. The case-back is of full thickness and has never been inscribed. This case has wonderful fancy lugs which stand slightly proud of the dial, this watch therefore sits perfect when on the wrist.

This watch case has been carefully inspected for fatigue marks and there are none. It has recently completed a full restoration by our team and is in excellent condition. Even under close examination, there are few scratches, dings or signs of wear visible to the naked eye, leading us to suspect that this watch has seen very little real use.

As ever, our standard advice applies: Vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Strap and Buckle

The strap fitted is a new conker alligator strap with a pink gold-plated buckle. If a different colour or style of strap is preferred, please let us know and we will do our best to oblige free of charge. We carry Tan, Conker, Dark Brown and Black in stock and in plain padded leather, or crocodile skin or lizard skin. For a wider selection, please take a look at the wonderful choice of straps offered by our suppliers Watch Obsession here. We will be pleased to order and fit the strap of your choice, within 24 – 48 hours.

Box and Papers

Although there are no original papers with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating this watch to c1950.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

The high quality hardwood presentation box shown in the photographs is included in the sale of this wonderful watch.

Payment and Delivery

If you would like to pay by bank transfer, we will be pleased to assist you with this. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and, unfortunately, out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges; however, attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those who happen to visit London on occasion, we are, of course, more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and hand your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no-quibble sale or return policy.

In Conclusion

A fascinating watch which will undoubtedly make an excellent financial investment as well as be something to wear, treasure and enjoy! It is also practical for use as an everyday wristwatch should you so wish and if it continues to be well cared for and serviced every 4 years, it will last another lifetime at least. This watch carries a great deal more style, individuality and panache than a new watch and to buy the same quality today would be very difficult.

However you may wish to view this watch, as each year goes by and the world market grows ever larger, the limited supply and high demand for the finest vintage gold watches means prices will inevitably climb ever higher!

A word on our prices – We always try our hardest to acquire the very highest quality watches we can find, before restoring them to the highest possible standards. We then offer these at the fairest prices we can, taking into account our pre and post-sales care and service. This approach means we will never be the cheapest, but nor will we be the most expensive. Indeed there are some well-known stores in West London which are highly successful charging between two to three times the price you see here. We, therefore, consider our prices to be fair, given the quality of watches we have to offer.

Please note, we also welcome part exchanges. If you have a watch or a small collection for sale, please contact us as we will be happy to discuss this.

We will also be happy to Service your watch, Repair your watch or Restore your watch, all at ‘sensible’ prices. Please see here.

If you have any questions please call us on 020 7727 7095 or if calling from overseas on +44 207 727 7095.

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