A solid fourteen carat yellow gold, screw back automatic dress watch made by Movado for Tiffany & Company. This is a beautiful watch with an even more beautiful personal engraving on the back. There are many vintage watches that pass through our hands with messages engraved into their case back's. Many of which are simple; "To Jack Mum & Dad". Every now and then there is a very touching and loving example. This very much sits in that category. Hand engraved into the back it reads; "To My Pilar Of Strength May 7, 1960". Beautiful sentiment indeed.
Aside from this touching personalisation, this is a gorgeous example of post World War Two dress watch design. The dial is very classic Movado. Movado should not be compared or even thought of in the same category as the company that exists today. At this time, and long before, they were making some, not only great designs, but also some of the most complicated watches on the market.
The watch is powered by an automatic caliber A Schild 1580, called “Maximatic” which debuted 1958. It had a self-winding mechanism, which was partially integrated and wound in both directions. The “Maximatic” caliber was used in at least three families until it was surpassed by the series 1716. These three families were the 1580-series, the 1680-series and the 1700 series. The 1581 caliber simply saw the addition of the date complication. This movement was utilized by a number of smaller Swiss watch companies such as Enicar and Bucherer.
Not only is the rotor signed Tiffany, but there is also a quite unusual Tiffany import mark stamped into the movement "TZY" showing original importation into the United States. This also confirms the originality of the Tiffany signature, often faked or added at a later date. Certainly an appealing detail to the watch; the retail signature of Tiffany & Co.
Movado had a long lasting relationship with the luxury American jewellery company that dated back to the early part of the twentieth century. It ranged across the board from making clocks, watches and jewellery with time pieces set into them. As the years passed this grew to more affordably priced and daily wearing watches such as this. This is a Tiffany case back stamped case, but the dial maker and case maker would have been Movado since they are very classic design cues seen throughout their range of watches at the time.
The case is in excellent overall condition showing no signs of polishing over the years. The fine guiding lines from the engraving can still be seen on the case-back meaning it was not even worn excessively! The crown does feature an "M" logo. However, it is not the classic Movado logo, so it is possible that this has been replaced at some point. The original dial is in superb condition with a pie-pan style slope to the outer edge with the beaded minute markers running along it. The gold Arabic numbers and arrow head hour markers are raised off of the glossy eggshell coloured dial. The printing to the Tiffany & Co. and Automatic stamp is clear and perfect as is the Swiss signature at the foot of the dial.
A watch that is easy to dress up and down, and is so simple in design it leaves nothing to not like about it. Add to it the addition of the Tiffany retail signature and you have the cherry on the cake of a classic 1960's timepiece
