Bring a LoupeA Skeletonized Chopard, An Honest Wittnauer Chronograph, And A Dishonest Heuer Carrera

With extended bidding not yet in place for eBay watch auctions, we'll focus this week's picks there, where the getting is still good. But first, results. Our 1941 Patek Philippe ref. 96 sold within 5 minutes of Bring A Loupe being posted, the asking price was $33,000. I think the buyer really scored here, especially because the dealer only realized the dial was co-signed by Eberhard after the sale. The St. Christopher-dialed Movado sold on eBay for a best offer below $1,500. Our two French auction picks have disappeared from the internet. I assume they sold, but if anyone can figure out for how much, feel free to comment!

And now, a fresh batch of picks!

Yes, the Chopard brand name is prominently displayed on this watch, but its history is more tied to Armin Strom. Before the modern brand you may know and love, Armin Strom, the man, started his career by pioneering skeletonized watches. He opened his workshop in Burgdorf, Switzerland, in 1967, and believed that a watch's beauty lay in its movement. By 1984, he created skeleton pieces branded under the Armin Strom name, but the core of this business was providing openworked and hand-engraved calibers to bigger brands. This Chopard dates to the mid-to-late 1980s, and by 1992, Strom was contracted by Omega to help produce the Speedmaster Jubilee 27 CHRO C12 Skeleton, ref. 3696.50.81.

This period of Chopard's watch history is marked by third-party manufacture, well before Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, demanded the brand become a "true" watchmaker, leading to the development of the renowned caliber 1.96 in 1996. Also, before the watch industry was obsessed with the idea of creating everything "in-house." Armin Strom existed to create the world's most beautifully skeletonized movements — why not contract him to do exactly that?

At just 30mm wide, this watch leans more "vintage" in its proportions than the 1980s production may suggest, but don't let that scare you. If you're a fan of last week's Patek 96, this one should wear quite similarly. The size contributes positively, in my eyes, to the level of craftsmanship on display here. Hand-engraved skeletonization has to be unfathomably more difficult on a caliber of this size versus, say, a Speedmaster Professional. The gold case keeps things classic, while the dial — or rather, the absence of one — offers a full view of the movement's delicate structure. Look closely and you'll spot floating indices on the underside of the crystal and even a tiny sub-seconds register hiding in plain sight.

While he was a pioneer in this area of watchmaking, Strom didn't work with all too many brands — Chopard was one of the few smart enough to collaborate with him back then. The resulting watch is a far cry from the modern, industrial openworks we see today — this is old-world finishing. A small detail that caught my eye is the "C," presumably for Chopard, integrated into the "mainplate" over the barrel.

The seller, Dusan of Discreet Peacock in Toronto, Canada, is offering this Chopard for $6,999. Click here to check it out.

This kind of vintage chronograph, the utility-focused, heavily-lumed, and Valjoux-powered ones dating to the 1940s and 50s, is a bit out of trend right now. While many collectors are veering towards dress-leaning pieces like the above Chopard, something like this Wittnauer presents a ton of value. As a vintage fanatic, there is something uniquely special about seeing a watch from this era and originally built for hard wear, in honest, untouched condition. On the surface, a vintage Wittnauer chronograph is honestly nothing special, but the condition makes this one an extremely rare find.

As someone who just made the same mistake in my previous sentence, I'll be the first to admit that Wittnauer doesn't always get the love it deserves. Yet for collectors who know their vintage chronograph calibers, this is a bit of a sleeper hit. Inside the "water-resistant" steel case beats a Valjoux 22, the legendary column-wheel movement that predates its more famous sibling, the Valjoux 72. It's manually wound, cleanly finished, and a joy to operate. The slightly smaller version of the Valjoux 22, the Valjoux 23, was used as an ébauche for Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, and Vacheron.

The case measures a nicely wearable 36mm, and this one has been worn but remains in what appears to be unpolished condition — the edges on the lugs look to be full and sharp. What sells it, though, is the dial: aged to a creamy tone overall and adorned with radium-lumed Arabic numerals. The syringe hands are filled with matching lume, which remains full. The patina is noticeable, but it's the good kind — honest and untouched. The lines and fuzziness you see are the result of crazing in the original crystal. Some collectors like the look, but a replacement can be sourced through a reputable watchmaker. And you're going to need to visit one of those, as the watch requires a service per the description.

An eBay seller in Front Royal, Virginia, has put this Wittnauer up for auction, ending on Tuesday, July 22nd at 9 pm EST. At the time of publication, bidding had reached $1,283. Get all of the details and photos right here.

Sneaking my favorite vintage brand under your nose, Ralco was a sub-brand of, you guessed it, Movado. Named after three Ditesheim family (Movado's founding kin) members — Roger, Armand, and Lucien — to put it into the most digestible terms, Ralco was Movado's Tudor. While the build quality and aesthetic weren't quite on par with The Crown's rose-logoed sibling, Ralco offered Movado-level cases and dials while utilizing third-party movements.

Let me get the bad out of the way first: this watch is a project, requiring a service of the finicky Swiss electric movement. That being said, there are watchmakers to be found on the World Wide Web who specialize in this forgotten horological tech. That said, the movement inside is historic. This is the Landeron 4750, Switzerland's first electric movement, released in 1961 as an answer to Hamilton's 500 series. Rather than full quartz and tuning fork, the Swiss found an electro-mechanical hybrid — an electric impulse regulating a traditional balance wheel.

Beyond the historical caliber, the look of this watch is worth saving as well. I quickly fell in love with the lightning bolt cardinal indices (shout out to Benjamin Franklin) and the 35.5mm super compressor case. The visual condition throughout is quite nice, with a patina to the lume, a slight radium burn on the dial, and a full, well-maintained case. I hope someone can find it in their heart to save this one.

An eBay seller in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom, has listed this Movado for a buy it now price of £199.99. Check it out in full right here.

Decimal chronographs, with Gallet's Multichron 45M version being one of the more popular, were designed in the 1940s for use in scientific, laboratory, medical, and time study applications. The large outer track, executed in red printing, can be used to time anything in 100-unit intervals. Made for a time when chronographs could be a professional necessity, decimal chronographs aren't something you stumble across often today, especially this, a later iteration of Gallet's with a 37mm water-resistant steel case.

Powering this Decimal is the Excelsior Park cal. 4, otherwise known as the EP 4. These weren't as popular of an ébauche pick as Valjoux, for example, but collectors have come to really covet Excelsior Park calibers for their dependability, pusher feel, and interesting bridge layout. Gallet chronographs can be found around the internet, but this is a rare variant not only because of the decimal scale but because of the larger, more stout case. In the 40s, when Gallet began production of this watch, the Decimal was offered in a 36mm case with standard, non-pump pushers.

While this is another project, it's, again, worth saving. The seller notes that the watch sets and runs, but it could likely use a service. Obviously, a pusher cap needs to be sourced, which can be done as well. The important condition aspects like the dial and case are seemingly crisp — all the rest can be fixed.

An eBay seller in Granville, Ohio, has put this Gallet up for auction, ending on Sunday, July 20th at 8 pm EST. At the time of publication, bidding had reached $1,475. Get all of the details and bid right here.

Put simply, this isn't what you want to see when shopping for a vintage manually-wound Heuer Carrera. The dial is at best a reprint, with some strange details like the graduation of the three o'clock 45-minute totalizer, not to mention the lume plots being much too large — I could go on. To my surprise, the auction has some action. I hope that current bidders either see this or know something about the remaining, possibly correct, parts to find value here, but over $3,000 feels like a lot, no matter what parts could be extracted.

I'm not loving the Heuer stamping on the movement bridge nor the markings on the inside of the caseback either. If I were being extra cautious, I would say there isn't much "real" here. This all comes as no surprise from an eBay seller hawking refinished Paul Newman Daytona dials, at least those are clearly disclosed as such.

Steer clear of this one, happy hunting.