Abercrombie & Fitch Co. - Heuer - Chronograph - Valjoux 23 - Tachymeter Telemeter - Circa 1939-1944

By 1941 the world had been at war for two years, and the complications that found their way into the finest Swiss chronographs of that period were not chosen at random. Switzerland, surrounded by occupied Europe and insulated only by its neutrality, kept its workshops running, and the instruments they produced carried a weight they had never held in peacetime. The tachymeter, which measures speed over a known distance, and the telemeter, which calculates the distance of an artillery strike by reading the gap between flash and sound, were not abstract sporting tools in 1941. They were instruments with direct utility in a world at war, and their presence on this dial reflects exactly the moment it was made. This is not the Abercrombie & Fitch of the shopping mall. The company that commissioned this watch outfitted Theodore Roosevelt's African safari, Robert Peary's North Pole expedition, Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions, and Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic crossing, and counted Amelia Earhart among its clientele. Its twelve-story flagship at Madison Avenue and East 45th Street was regarded as the greatest sporting goods store in the world. Abercrombie & Fitch had been commissioning Swiss chronographs from Heuer since the 1930s, and the watches produced in those earliest years of that collaboration are among the rarest surviving examples of either name.

Heuer's relationship with Abercrombie & Fitch is documented from the 1930s, when Heuer began producing chronographs for A&F on a private label basis. In the earliest period of that collaboration Heuer produced watches that carried only A&F's name and the company's AXF Swiss export code. There was no Heuer signature on the caseback and no Heuer designation on the movement bridge. That convention of signing the caseback with Ed Heuer & Co. came later, in the 1950s, when the partnership was fully mature. The watches Heuer made for A&F before that signing convention are extraordinarily rare and this watch is one of them.

Every detail of this example confirms its place at the very beginning of the Heuer-A&F chronograph program. The movement bridge is signed ABERCROMBIE & FITCH / SWITZERLAND / 17 JEWELS / UNADJUSTED and carries the AXF export code on the movement plate, the same code documented on the earliest known A&F chronograph examples going back to the late 1930s. The case serial 58035 is a very low number consistent with early production. The arched configuration of the ABERCROMBIE & FITCH Co. dial signature is an early style that has not been documented on any other known surviving A&F chronograph example currently visible in the collector community. The Valjoux 23 is a column-wheel manual-wind movement produced since 1916 and used by Heuer across their most important chronograph references, but the dual-pusher architecture this example carries was only adopted after 1938 following Willy Breitling's development of that design, placing production precisely in the wartime early 1940s. The inner caseback is stamped ABERCROMBIE & FITCH Co / MADE IN SWITZERLAND / STAINLESS STEEL / 58035. Over the full 60-year production run of the Valjoux 23, it is estimated that only approximately 125,000 ebauches were ever made across all brands combined, averaging fewer than 2,000 per year. The number of those that found their way into pre-signature Heuer production for A&F is a fraction of a fraction.

The dial reflects the design language of its moment. A cream silver surface carries a tachymeter calibrated to BASE 1000 in blue on the outer ring, and a telemeter calibrated in miles in red in a concentric band inside it. The telemeter calibrated in miles rather than kilometers is the American market specification, consistent with A&F's New York retail position and with the wartime period during which this watch was almost certainly produced. Finding both scales on a single two-register A&F dial in color and in this early configuration is genuinely uncommon and has not been documented on any other surviving example of this era in the current collector record. The thirty-minute chronograph counter sits at nine o'clock and the running seconds register at three. The chronograph hands carry a warm amber tone. The central chronograph hand and sub-register hands are blued. The case is a substantial round form in stainless steel with two pump pushers and is presented on a period steel expansion bracelet.
The watch has been fully serviced. The movement was completely disassembled, pivots cleaned with pegwood, all jewels oiled including the balance jewels, and the movement reassembled and regulated. It is keeping excellent time and all chronograph functions operate correctly. The case shows age-related wear consistent with its era.

Terms: Please review all photos carefully as they are a part of the listing. This is a vintage timepiece. Accuracy, power reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Vintage watches may require periodic service. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position.

Because this watch has been fully serviced, I provide a one-year limited warranty on the movement. If the movement develops a functional issue under normal use within one year of purchase, I will repair it at no cost for labor. This warranty does not cover anything related to the case, dial, hands, crystal, pushers, crown, bracelet, strap, or cosmetic condition, and it excludes any issue caused by external factors including but not limited to impact or dropping, case damage of any kind, shock, improper use, tampering or attempted repair by anyone other than me, water or moisture exposure, humidity, condensation, magnetism, corrosion, or loss of parts. Please note that this movement was produced during an era when shock protection did not exist in watchmaking. Broken jewels resulting from impact are not covered under this warranty. Any shipping costs associated with warranty service are the buyer's responsibility unless otherwise agreed in writing.

All sales final.