Tavannes Watch Co. - Art Deco Case - 14K Gold Filled - Circa 1930

Produced at the peak of the Art Deco era, this Tavannes wristwatch carries everything that made Swiss design of the late 1920s and early 1930s worth collecting. The case with its chamfered octagonal corners is 14K gold filled by Star Watch Case Co., slim in profile, and engraved at each corner of the bezel with delicate foliate detail that catches light the way only hand-finished metalwork does. The aged cream dial carries bold Art Deco Arabic numerals in a flowing script, gold sword hands, the TAVANNES signature below twelve, and a subsidiary seconds register at six framed within its own rectangular cartouche border. The dial has developed an honest warm patina over the past ninety-odd years, the kind that comes from a watch that was worn and lived with. It sits on a black genuine lizard strap.

In 1930, the world had just lurched into economic crisis. Wall Street had collapsed the previous October and the Depression was spreading across the industrialised world like a slow tide. Yet Switzerland continued to produce some of the finest mechanical objects in human history, largely insulated by the precision of its craft from the disruptions engulfing its neighbors. The watch industry in the Jura mountains was doing what it always did: finishing movements to a standard that nowhere else could match, and shipping them to a world that still wanted beauty even in difficult years.

What most buyers of a Tavannes watch did not know then, and what most people still do not know today, is how deeply that name runs through the history of twentieth century horology. Henri-Frédéric Sandoz founded the Tavannes Watch Company in 1891 in the Swiss Jura, and within four decades it had become the fourth largest watch manufacturer in the world, employing over two thousand skilled watchmakers and producing four thousand watches a day. Tavannes was not simply making watches under its own name. Its movement manufacturing subsidiary, Lisica S.A., was supplying calibers to Jaeger-LeCoultre, Dunhill, Hermès, and Cartier, and it was Tavannes movements that powered the first production series of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. The watch on your wrist was made by the same hands that put the heart into some of the most coveted pieces in the collecting world.

The inner caseback is stamped TAVANNES QUALITY / 14K GOLD FILLED / STAR W.C. CO. / 9 3/4 LIGNE, with serial 78945. The movement is the Tavannes Watch Co. caliber, 15 jewels, Swiss, with a gold wheel train and ruby jewel settings in polished settings. The watch is running well.

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.