Wittnauer Tank - 17 Jewel Swiss Movement - Illinois Watch Case Co. - 10K Rolled Gold Plate - Circa 1938

In 1938, as Europe moved toward war and American men still dressed with care and intention, the rectangular dress watch was the form that serious watchmaking took. Round watches belonged to soldiers and workmen. The tank form, with its architectural proportions and Art Deco geometry, belonged to the office and the dinner table, and the finest examples of it combined Swiss movement quality with American case craftsmanship that collectors recognize today. Wittnauer had been importing and assembling Swiss watches in America since 1880, building a reputation that reached from naval navigation instruments to the instruments aboard Amelia Earhart’s transatlantic Lockheed Vega in 1932. By the late 1930s the company was casing Swiss movements domestically to avoid tariff costs, and the stamp inside this caseback records that practice directly: CASED AND TIMED IN U.S.A. BY WITTNAUER / 10K ROLLED GOLD PLATE / 7471A / ILLINOIS WATCH CASE CO. / case serial 1837832. The outer caseback reads I.W.C.CO. / 10K ROLLED GOLD PLATE. The Illinois Watch Case Company of Elgin, Illinois was one of the largest American case manufacturers, having produced over 30 million cases by the 1920s and earning an Army-Navy excellence award for wartime production during World War II. Their cases are collected in their own right.

The case is a large for the time period with bold stepped beveled sides, substantially proportioned for its era and wearable today because of it. The dial has aged to a warm even patina, gilt hands intact, Arabic numerals at the hour positions with baton markers between, and a subsidiary seconds register in the lower left portion of the dial, an unusual placement for this type dictated by the form movement inside. The movement is signed WITTNAUER WATCH CO. INC. / SEVENTEEN JEWELS / SWISS / UNADJUSTED. The watch is running and presented on a brown crocodile-pattern leather strap. 

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.