Vintage Chronograph SOTC

[11erv]

I decided to take an afternoon off, fettle around with my small collection of vintage chronographs and relax in the garden whilst posting another small collection within a collection SOTC.

Lots of vintage chronographs have come and gone over the years (oh how I wish I’d kept some of those vintage Daytonas). I find that I don’t tend to wear a chronograph very often for some reason, but a few have remained...

1940’s Omega 2451-1

This has an early iteration of the Omega cal.321 movement. Red tachymetre scale and a lovely warm patina across the dial.




1960’s Omega De Ville ref 145.017

An unexpected opportunity came up recently to pick up this beautiful 1960’s De Ville. It’s a cal.860 (of which only a small number were made compared to the 861). The inverted grey panda dial is a bit of a chameleon, changing from almost black to ghost shades of grey. I love the red detail print on the left sub dial.






1940’s tropical gilt dial Heuer

Another chameleon dial. The gloss gilt dial on this 1940’s Heuer changes from black to brown depending on the light, but the subdials always remain a darker shade than the rest of the dial. I’ve had this watch for quite some time and it’s one of my firm favourites.






1960’s Heuer Carrera 2447s

2nd execution 2447s (which I prefer to the 1st execution because of the crisp dial lay out). I bought this one from Abel Court five years ago in pretty much mint condition and I’ve only worn it circa five times since.




1950’s Leonidas (pre Heuer) three register chronograph

Heuer acquired Leonidas in the 1960’s hence this is a so called ‘pre-Heuer’. It shares the same Valjoux 72 movement as the 2447. Another one acquired from the venerable Abel Court.




1950’s Leonidas two register chronograph

A ‘big eyes’ two register version...




1970’s Aquastar Regate

This has a Lemania 1345 fly back chronograph movement. The big orange paddle shaped constant running sweep hand and colourful regatta count down discs make me smile each time I wear it. The black dial version is much less common than the silver dial. I’d like to add a silver dial to go with it.

[unclealec]

Oh how wrong can you be?
Oh to fall in love
Was my very first mistake
How was I to know
I was far too much in love to see?
Oh jealousy look at me now
Jealousy you got me somehow

[Dave O'Sullivan]

DeVille = Devine.

[Snoodles]

Beautiful line up there John!

1940’s Heuer & Aquastar are the standouts for me.

[11erv]

Beautiful line up there John!

1940’s Heuer & Aquastar are the standouts for me.

Cheers Vince. The Autavia that you posted in yesterday’s Friday thread looks rather nice too

[11erv]

DeVille = Devine.

Thanks Dave. I agree, probably the most striking Omega in my whole collection

[Sinnlover]

That’s a nice line up.
The 40s Omega and 40 Heuer are very very nice watches.

[ac11111]

Big fan of 1960s chronos, dressy-sport hybrid and very versatile for straps

[Slevin Kelevra]

Nice line up!

I wish I still had that little Leonidas you were kind enough to sell me a while back. I stupidly sold it to a mate, who still has it.

[learningtofly]

All lovely, John, but I have to say that the Omegas are particularly enticing!

[CatalystGuy]

Lovely set of chronos, I wonder how resilient the faces of modern watches will be and the materials used compared to what was possible in the past.


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[Hennersf]

Wow!!!

I thought the collection of 2639s was impressive enough, this is spectacular - brilliant work and cannot echo enough the sentiments on that de ville - is definitely my grail watch!

[11erv]

Nice line up!

I wish I still had that little Leonidas you were kind enough to sell me a while back. I stupidly sold it to a mate, who still has it.

I liked that that much that I bought another one!

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All lovely, John, but I have to say that the Omegas are particularly enticing!

Thank you Tony. There’s no doubting it, Omega made some lovely watches over the years

[11erv]

Wow!!!

I thought the collection of 2639s was impressive enough, this is spectacular - brilliant work and cannot echo enough the sentiments on that de ville - is definitely my grail watch!

Thanks Henry. The De Ville certainly attracts some attention wherever it goes

[learningtofly]

Thank you Tony. There’s no doubting it, Omega made some lovely watches over the years

i wouldn’t kick that three-register Leonidas out of bed, either.

[sweets]

That is a lovely collection, really lovely, but the 2451 takes the prize. By miles.
Age, elegance, movement. Best of the lot.
Was it stripped of Radium, I fancy I see a trace of it left on the 2 and 5????

Dave

[Robbo12]

Stunning I am very jealous.

What a great collection . I would have trouble picking a favorite !

Can I ask which one gets the most wrist time ?
Rob

[dandanthewatchman]

Absolutely stunning. The deville also stands out for me


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[colin t]

1960’s Omega De Ville ref 145.017

For a while there I thought these were two different watches. Very, very nice!

[11erv]

That is a lovely collection, really lovely, but the 2451 takes the prize. By miles.
Age, elegance, movement. Best of the lot.
Was it stripped of Radium, I fancy I see a trace of it left on the 2 and 5????

Dave

Thanks Dave. There is no radium in the dial as far as I am aware, it is 100% lume free after being exposed to light. I think the specs you refer to are small marks on the dial, only really visible with a loupe or under photo magnification.

[11erv]

Stunning I am very jealous.

What a great collection . I would have trouble picking a favorite !

Can I ask which one gets the most wrist time ?
Rob

Thanks Rob. The 145.017 is the one that gets the most wrist time currently, probably because it is the most recent addition.

[11erv]

Absolutely stunning. The deville also stands out for me


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Thanks Dan. I am rather smitten with it. Hope all is well.

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For a while there I thought these were two different watches. Very, very nice!

Thanks Colin. It certainly is a chameleon

[watch-nut]

There isn’t a single one of these I wouldn’t want to own. The Deville’s though are stand out. The grey dial in particular.

Here’s my 320 caliber from early 50's, gonna be for the chop soon (thats divorce for you)




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[crazyp]

So many interesting pieces! And the past shows it is possible to make some nice chronographs without them being so thick and massive.

The world deserves an affordable manual integrated chronograph caliber - off the top of my head, we really only have the 1861 in the speedmaster and the 7750 for automatic.

[Foxy100]

The De Ville is lovely. I had two 7763 Autavias (manual, two sub dials) and sold them both, each time because I already had two Val.72 Autavias with three sub dials. Stupid really and it was just as prices shot up (I think I sold the second for £1300 or something silly).

[Pagan]

I love that aquastar! Never seen one of those before.

[Neil.C]

What a beautiful collection. I love vintage chrono's.

Good to see your particular twin dial Leonidas, I have seen quite a few but never with the chrome ring on the chapter that ours has.

Here's mine.

[11erv]

What a beautiful collection. I love vintage chrono's.

Good to see your particular twin dial Leonidas, I have seen quite a few but never with the chrome ring on the chapter that ours has.

Here's mine.

Very nice Neil. Good to see another big eye twin dial Leonidas.

[Chiefs]

Stunning pieces, every single one! My kid of watches right there.

[verv]

They are beautiful. The omegas and tropical heuer particularly stand out for me.