Wittnauer Genève Tank - Tiger’s Eye Like Dial - Early 1960s

In the iron country of South Africa’s Northern Cape, the ground makes a stone with light caught inside it. Cut and polished, tiger’s eye holds a band of gold that lives not on its surface but in its depth, and when the stone moves, the light moves with it, sliding across the bands the way sun crosses a field. For most of history it was cut for amulets, and a stone that seemed to look back was thought to guard whoever carried it.

In the early 1960s, watchmakers began cutting dials from stone itself: onyx, lapis, and tiger’s eye, sliced thin, polished flat, and set under crystal. Wittnauer, which shared a company with Longines during this period, placed stone dials in a number of their watches. This dial has the look of tiger’s eye, though its banding runs so perfectly even that I believe it was finished by hand to the stone’s effect rather than cut from the stone, and it is sold as that. The bands run vertically, honey through deep bronze, and the light inside them slides as the wrist turns, brightest down the center and darker at the shoulders. Applied gold batons with white centers mark the hours, the name sits in white below twelve with Genève in script above six, and slim gold hands ride over the surface.

Inside is Wittnauer’s hand-wound caliber 8K/1, seventeen jewels, small and simple. It asks for a wind in the morning and nothing else.

The case front is gold-plated and stamped base metal bezel, and the back is stainless steel. The plating has worn through at the lug edges to the brass beneath, honest for its years. It comes on a black leather strap. The watch runs, and its service history is unknown.

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.

All sales final.