Vintage Bovet wristwatch - 1940s-50s, Korea/Vietnam war

Description: Watch dates from the late 1940s or early1950s with the introduction of automatic movements to Bovet’s production. Sweeping red central seconds hand adds a pop of color, 60-second outer track on a lovely reflective ring. Arabic numerals with lume still in tact, syringe style hands. Oversized hand-winding crown, typical of military watches of the period. Dial is signed ‘BOVET – Self Winding – Waterproof – Shockproof – SWISS’. Case diameter is 32 or 33mm, with a 16mm lug width. Comes on black genuine calf skin strap. Caseback signed ‘BOVET Freres & Co., Swiss’ - Antimagnetic – Waterproof – Stainless Steel’ - Serial 207366. Movement (pictured) is a 17 jewel early ‘bumper’ automatic movement, signed ‘BOVET FRERES & Co SWISS’ This watch tells a really interesting story and is a fascinating piece of military history – while in impeccable condition, it’s clearly been worn, very likely on the wrist of a French soldier in the Korean or early Vietnam war. The case back has match strike marks, where it’s former owner would have pressed a match stick between his bundt strap and the case and yanked to light it. Only 3400 French soldiers served in the Korean war, while nearly 250,000 served in Vietnam. Automatic examples of these Bovet’s do not come up for sale often. Today, Bovet is an extremely high end, haute horology house which produces watches that retail in excess of $500,000. Great brand cachet! Seller has performed no restorative work on this watch – case is very lightly scuffed but in excellent condition considering the age and life of the piece, the movement runs and keeps time but has not been serviced by the seller. There is a small chip in the lume on the minutes hand but lume is otherwise perfect. Likely radium lume on numerals and hands. The case was cleaned but not polished.

Price: 600 USD

Location: New York, New York

End Time: 2024-12-26T20:40:33.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD