Benrus Shock-Absorber - 1950 - Two-Tone Copper Dial - Brushed Center - Horned Lugs

By the early 1950s, American design had lost its restraint. The country was prosperous and sure of itself, and the confidence ran through everything it built: cars wore chrome and fins, furniture stood on splayed legs and sharp angles, and the dress watch turned ornamental. Lugs grew elaborate, dials were finished in two colors and warm gold, and a watch was made to be admired as much as read. This Benrus was built around 1950, and the look of that decade is in everything from the cut of its lugs to the warmth of its dial.

It is a two-tone dial. A ring of polished gold runs around the outside, set with applied gold batons, a small radium dot beside each, and raised gold numerals at twelve, three, six, and nine. Within that ring the surface steps down to a brushed center turned in fine concentric circles, and the years have warmed that center to a deep copper, rosy and pale where it meets the gold, darker and richer toward the middle, so the whole face seems to hold light rather than reflect it. The hands are broad gold dauphine, faceted along their length, their radium still seated in the channels. At arm's length the dial looks like a single field of gold; only when it is close, and turning in the light, does it surrender its color and its depth.

The case is round and substantial, ten karat rolled gold plate over a stainless steel back, with lugs in the horned style of the period, heavy and sculptural, curling up and outward from the body as though cast rather than cut. It is the sort of flourish American makers reached for around 1950 and largely set aside afterward. The back is engraved around its rim with the promises of the day, waterproof, dustproof, shock absorbing, and at its center, in a flowing script, a former owner once had his name set into the steel, as men did with a watch they meant to keep. The gold has worn thin in places along the lugs and edges, honestly and without apology.

Benrus was a New York house, founded in 1921 by three Romanian-immigrant brothers and grown within a generation into one of the major American names, spoken of with Bulova, Elgin, and Hamilton. It bought its movements from Switzerland and cased them at home, and the twenty-one jewels named on the dial mark this as one of its better grades, a step above the seventeen it more often used.

Swiss manual wind twenty-one jewel movmenet. 

The watch has a brown, alligator-grained leather strap with a gold folding clasp.

The watch is running and keeping time.

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.

I am happy to service any unserviced watch listed on the site, please inquire about service charges when purchasing.

All sales final.