A rare and beautiful unpolished solid stainless steel chronograph by Croton of Switzerland in an “clamshell” style early waterproof case with stunning original dial and Venus caliber 210 movement freshly serviced within and keeping excellent time. To achieve a waterproof case design was an enormous accomplishment back in the 1940 and this sandwich style design was the first truly successful model on the market. Used by many of the top manufactures at the time such as Gallet and Cyma/Tavannes the seal is created by housing the movement and dial in a deep sealed case back with gasket protected pump pushers and crown. The bezel is tightened over a special flanged crystal and corresponding gasket to sandwich the back to the front using 4 screws on the back of each lug. This example is in truly superb cosmetic and mechanical condition proving that the design not only worked by stood the test of time. It is possible this particular case was produced by the famous house of Spillman as the sharp, faceted lug design is typical of other well known Spillman model case designs. An exceptional all original timepiece in unpolished lightly warn condition with near mint original factory dial from the famous house of Croton, Switzerland!
Circa: 1940’s
Style: Sport
Case: Solid stainless steel 2 piece case measuring 35mm in diameter excluding the original crown and pushers with sharp faceted lugs and 18mm lug spacing. Signed on the back Croton, Waterproof, Shock Resistant, Stainless Steel, Incabloc, then inside Croton Watch Co Inc, Base Metal, Swiss, Brev+ 189190 (the registered Swiss patent number for the case). While this case was most certainly waterproof after manufacturing it should not be considered now that the original gaskets are very old and brittle. The watch comes on a very nice soft, high-quality 18mm blue textured leather strap with generic buckle.
Dial: Gorgeous near mint factory printed silver dial with outer base 1000 meter tachymeter, red 1/5th seconds track printed over white and inner mile counter with constant second sub-dial at 9:00 and 30 minute counter at 3:00. Signed Croton, Swiss. The original dauphine hands have a light patina with excellent luminous fill matching the dial
Movement: Super sharp and clean, high quality Venus caliber 210 manual wind chronograph movement in excellent working condition following a full service here at Meticulous. Signed Croton Watch Co Inc, 17 Jewels, VLI C2421. Comes with our full 1 year mechanical warranty.