Bring a Loupe: An 18k Chaumet Jump Hour, A Blancpain 3H Bund, A Juvenia Arithmo, And More

Pull up a chair, Ballers. You’re at another week’s finish line, and we’ve got some watches to tide you over through Watches and Wonders. Happy Angine de Poitrine week to all who recently found themselves shaking it to weird microtonal instrumental music, and congrats to the long-suffering Michigan men’s basketball fans who’ve been waiting on this NCAA championship since the early ’90s.

Scorekeeping last week’s picks: the ship-of-Theseus Minerva sold for €4,096 including premium, the Omega 2699 remains available, and the Certina regatta sold for €3,500.

Strays

When the Hodinkee x Autodromo Group B Chronograph was released, I already owned too many watches powered by the Sellita SW510M, so I passed. If you’ve been lamenting a similar missed opportunity, here’s a very nice one on eBay. Heritage Auctions has some fantastic options in its upcoming sale, and if you’re after modern-ish Patek, there’s a 3940P or, if you’d like something with a bit more outsider charm, a great Neptune 5085/1A. A close cousin to my beloved Wittnauer 6002/05, the Mathey Tissot, as shown below, looks like a knockout, or, if you’re after more whimsy, there’s also a Genta Octo Bi-Retro. 

Given that it’s Universal Genève week, here’s a tattily charming black-dial Polerouter and a Clapton worth a long look. Finally, if you’re like me and have long had a crush on the Movado Super Sub Sea chronograph powered by the Zenith 146, this is one of the better examples I’ve seen in a while, even with the darkened lume on the dial. And while this white-dial Heuer 1163 with orange accents lacks the wild story of the one noted a few weeks back, it’s still a looker for a 50-plus-year-old watch.

Onto the headliners.

Chaumet Jump Hour 10A

This watch deserves attention regardless of the current trend in jump hour watches, if only because, like the Cartier Tortue Monopoussoir from a few weeks back, it’s another watch François-Paul Journe was involved in creating.

You’re forgiven if Chaumet isn’t a brand you know well. Founded in 1780, the Maison has a rich history — it served as jeweler to Emperor Napoleon and Joséphine Bonaparte — but in the current horological era, a company better known for tiaras than watches may not be on enough radars. Chaumet acquired Breguet in the 1970s, joined the LVMH group in 1999, and is, in short, one of those brands you’ve probably encountered in some form, even if you didn’t realize it.

The 18k yellow-gold case is 35mm wide with hidden lugs and, yes, a crown that bears more than a passing resemblance to what you’d expect on another famous French brand. While the listing doesn’t say whether the strap is original, the 18k buckle presumably is. The case itself appears to be in very good condition, with clear etching on the caseback and no marks that jump out even when you zoom way in. It’s also unclear from the pictures whether the marks on the hour and minute windows are on the crystal or the discs beneath. Bidding was up to $5,500 at the time of writing, and the watch is part of Heritage’s auction, which commences on April 24.

Doxa Synchron

Someone smarter than I should write a book or essay about the common phases most of us experience as we tumble down the horological rabbit hole. There’d be the Rolex phase, the Speedmaster phase, maybe a G-Shock dalliance, and then some vast vintage realm from which many of us never quite escape.

And, of course, there’d be the diver phase.

I’ve never cared much for the who-got-there-first aspect of most things outside of sports, which is my way of acknowledging that, no, Doxa wasn’t first in dive watches — I’ll leave the Rolex/Blancpain/Zodiac debate to others — but it’d be impossible to argue that the Doxa 300 didn’t fundamentally reshape how dive watches looked. And, for those who do care about such things, Doxa was the first company to offer a decompression bezel on a dive watch.

This Sub 300T is from the Synchron era and looks to be in good, used condition. Yes, the flat mineral crystal is scuffed, the lume has obviously aged, and the paint that should fill the numerals on the bezel has largely worn away, but it sure appears to be an honest example of a legendary vintage diver. Of note, for anyone who hasn’t worn one, Doxa 300Ts wear surprisingly well. No, you’ll never forget it’s on your wrist, but for a legit and capable dive watch, they feel great. With a minimum bid of €1,200, this watch will be sold on April 18.

Omega Seamaster 2757, circa 1954

Vintage dress Seamasters were the first models I really fell hard for, and I spent years gathering examples. I presume my wife and most of my friends thought me more than a little unhinged as yet another package arrived in the mail and I went breathless over minute differences, from dial furniture to the shape of the “S” in Seamaster, the form of the crown, or the specifics of the lugs and their bevels. I couldn’t begin to defend the obsession; it was as if I woke up one morning with some alien programming nestled deep inside, urging me onward.

I’ve mostly moved past that phase, but if I hadn’t, this is a watch I’d be chasing aggressively. Of the many cases in the vintage Seamaster lineup, one of the loveliest and most celebrated is the so-called beefy-lug style, the most common example being the 2846/2848 (no date for the ’46, date on the ’48). While I’ve never seen evidence that proves it conclusively, the 2757 looks almost identical, with the big lugs you’d expect and, in this case, seemingly unpolished ones, given their bevels.

This watch has clearly been cared for. At some point, the original clover crown was replaced, and the beads-of-rice bracelet, while Omega-signed, is a later example than what would’ve been available in 1954 when the watch was made, based on its 14M serial number. Neither ultimately changes the calculus much, because what you’re really after here is that lovely black dial, which looks excellent. True, it’s powered by a bumper movement, which isn’t as efficient or robust as a full-rotor automatic, but you’ll be waiting a long time for another steel-cased, black-dial vintage Seamaster in this shape. Currently without bids, this watch sells on April 22.

Breguet Type XX “Esso”

I’m going to quote the listing on this one, because its description is more succinct and clearer than anything I’d come up with. The watch was “sold by Breguet to ESSO STANDARD on 21 November 1957 for 44,100 FFR. A total of 35 watches were sold to ESSO between 1955 and 1963, a sponsor of car rallies, to be presented to the winners. This watch, No. 3067, was given to the father of the current owner, who, although not a winner, took part in the XXVIII Monte Carlo Rally in 1959 with a Citroën ID19, finishing in the middle of the standings. That year saw Citroën’s 1st victory in the Rally with the driver Coltelloni, who received watch No. 3065 as a gift, a piece now in the Breguet Museum collection.”

The watch itself is tricky in that it’s both a) historic and b) not quite correct. Those hands have clearly been replaced, and the dial is damaged at the minute track near 3 o’clock and just above 8. Would it still be something worth highlighting if it weren’t an Esso watch? I honestly don’t know. It’s a Rorschach watch in that way: when I look at it, I see a model I love — the Breguet Type XX is deservedly legendary — in a condition I couldn’t personally live with. That said, surely someone out there has been hankering for one more piece of automotive ephemera, so consider this a public service announcement if that’s you. The watch sells on the 16th with an estimate of €6,000 to €8,000, and if this particular one doesn’t float your boat, the same auction also has an incredible Movado triple-date calendar with lugs that could bring a grown man to his knees.

Juvenia Arithmo

Among the least contemporarily useful complications on a watch, a slide rule has to rank near the top. In the same way my daughters will never know the teeth-grinding pleasures of utilizing a TI-82 for AP Calc, I grew up mystified when older folks would lament how nobody was being taught how to use a slide rule anymore. Given my fondness for old mechanical things, I’m a little surprised I’ve never bothered to learn.

If you’re in anything like the same boat, perhaps this Juvenia Arithmo could scratch that itch. Juvenia is a fascinating brand that generally focused on design-forward watches, with a particular specialization in computing watches — the Arithmo, in fact, is considered the first “computing” calculator — though they did a bit of everything, from regular chronographs to split-seconds chronos to, of course, the Sextant.

The folks at Fab Suisse leave a bit to be desired here: they list the brand as Rolex and claim the case, which looks steel entirely in the photos, also has some 18k gold somewhere. Based on the pictures alone, though, the watch looks wonderful, with minor marks on the dial, bright hands, and a working bidirectional slide-rule bezel. The case looks incredibly sharp, though in fairness, if this watch was used as intended by its likeliest owner, the greatest danger it probably ever faced was the occasional desk ding. At $7,685, it’s on the pricier side for the model, but it also comes with its original instruction book and, apparently, its original buckle, though neither is pictured in the listing.

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 3H “Bund”

This is one of those watches that’s almost harmed by the fact that it’s so often described as rare and uncommon. In point of fact, there are presently at least five examples of this exact model available to anyone interested, which is to say it’s not all that rare or uncommon, and yet, almost universally, once you start looking into it, that’s exactly how people describe it.

The example on offer, however, is unlike any of the others I’ve found in that it’s about as close to a full set as you could ask for. I neither speak nor read German, but the third picture in the listing shows a stack of paperwork, along with the original numbers-matching box, that presumably came with the watch when it was issued to a member of the West German Bundeswehr Kampfschwimmers. Sorry to bury the lead there if this watch isn’t familiar: it’s an issued watch, developed by Blancpain specifically for the Kampfschwimmers, a branch of the German military.

Aside from being a full set, this example appears to be in truly incredible shape — good lume aside from some cracks, a sharp case, intact bezel. These watches, like so many other issued pieces, were apparently often destroyed or relumed, meaning that if you chase this thing — with no bids as of writing and an opening bid of €9,000 — you’re ultimately getting something that arguably shouldn’t even still exist, like a mythical creature.

If this watch isn’t quite your jam, I can’t stress enough that the entirety of the Dr. Crott auction it’s part of is worth a long study, with highlights including a positively bonkers Gubelin-signed Touchon & Co. perpetual calendar minute repeater moonphase pocket watch, an IWC Ingenieur Bundeswehr, and an 18k gold Omega BA 145.022.

Buyer Beware: Omega Speedmaster Ultraman

The more esoteric and mysterious offshoots of the classic Speedmaster — I’m talking soleil dials, racing dials, blued bezels, and the Ultraman — have always carried a powerful allure, and when this watch was posted, I got very excited. If you know your Ultramans, you know that the central chronograph hand is unique and specific to them — it’s longer than the standard central chronograph hand on Speedies — and this example initially looked great. The rest of the watch also seemed to point toward something original and likely correct.

However, the auction house more recently posted additional pictures and… hoo boy. I know I regularly hector everyone to make friends with their local independent watchmaker, but this looks like the sort of watch that would severely test any such friendship, whether incipient or well established. While there’s no picture of the movement itself, what you can see is enough rust to make anyone’s blood run cold, to say nothing of the fact that, unless I’m missing something, one of the photos appears to show someone with their fingers directly on the dial and hands. Usually, Buyer Beware watches are those that aren’t quite right for some sneakier reason, having been redialed or relumed. This one is simpler: it’s a rust-bucket, and it will almost certainly require all sorts of donor parts from another cal. 321.