Breitling Geneve Calatrava - Masonic Dial - Ref. 2906-29 - Circa 1952

There was a second America in the years after the war, running quietly beneath the ordinary one. By the early 1950s some four million men belonged to a single secret brotherhood, gathering behind locked doors in every town from coast to coast, bound to one another by oaths and signs and a private alphabet of symbols. Its members had included presidents, generals, and a good many of the men who founded the country. The brotherhood was at its largest in the very years this watch was made, and has all but vanished since.

The dial of this watch is written in that alphabet. A builder's square and a pair of compasses sit at the top, closed around a single letter, the one emblem most people would recognize. The other hours are stranger, small tools and tokens in faded red and black, each a word in a language meant for brothers and no one else. The face has gone the color of old paper, spotted and dark toward the bottom, but the whole of the code is still there to read.

Under that dial is a Breitling. The house was founded in 1884 to build precision instruments, gave the chronograph the two-button form it still has today, and spent the first half of the century making the cockpit timers that air forces and pilots flew by. The very year this watch was made, 1952, the house gave aviation the Navitimer. This one is a quieter model, a steel watch for the wrist rather than the cockpit, but it came off the same benches and carries the same name. The case, the movement and the back are all original. The dial is not. It was painted and fitted later, almost certainly for a member who wanted to wear his world on his wrist.

The movement is signed Breitling across the bridge, seventeen jewels and Incabloc shock protection, and it runs. The back is stamped with the Breitling name, the reference 2906 and the serial 700765, and its inside is scored with the marks of every watchmaker who has had it open across seventy years.

The case is small and cleanly cut, its lugs long and faceted under a high domed crystal, the size a man's watch was built to be in 1952. It comes on a blue suede strap. That world is gone now, but it survives on this dial, in symbols almost no one is left to read.

Terms: This is a vintage timepiece, and as with all vintage watches, accuracy, reserve, and water resistance are not guaranteed. Performance can vary with wear, temperature, and position. Please review all photographs carefully, as they form part of the description, and ask any questions before purchase.

I am happy to complete a full service on this watch prior to shipping, please inquire about service charges.

All sales final.