Vintage Gruen: 1930's » Techni Quadron

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Techni Quadron [message #18380]

Sat, 10 June 2023 18:39

Jenneke
Messages: 1904
Registered: May 2013
Location: Netherlands

Gruen Authority

Model name: Techni-Quadron
Type: wristwatch
Period/date: 1929-1935
Gender: male

Case Maker: ?
Case Material: 0.900 silver
Case Serial: 405025
Case Style no: - Alpina Gruen

Caliber: 877S
Movement Maker: Aegler
Movement Serial: 1839128

Bracelet: vintage Monopol strap with stepped clasp

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10556&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10556&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10557&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10559&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10560&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10561&private=0

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You can only waste time if you forget to enjoy it - Loesje

[Updated on: Sat, 10 June 2023 18:42]

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18381 is a reply to message #18380]

Sat, 10 June 2023 18:45

Jenneke
Messages: 1904
Registered: May 2013
Location: Netherlands

Gruen Authority

Truth has to be said, it didnt start this way.

The dial did have radium on it from first owner. Technician working in the dark?
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10563&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10563&private=0

And… the original case is this:
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10562&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10564&private=0

Case Maker: wadsworth?
Case Material: 10k gold filled
Case Serial: 2444894
Case Style no: -

The dial has a patent from Fred Gruen:
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10565&private=0

/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10565&private=0

And the movement from Aegler:
/vgforum/index.php?t=getfile&id=10566&private=0

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You can only waste time if you forget to enjoy it - Loesje

[Updated on: Sat, 10 June 2023 18:58]

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18385 is a reply to message #18381]

Sun, 11 June 2023 19:06

JackW
Messages: 1931
Registered: May 2013
Location: Denver

Gruen Authority
Head Janitor
Site Admin

Jenneke wrote on Sat, 10 June 2023 12:45

Case Maker: wadsworth?

The case markings are more consistent with being made in-house with Gruen.

All I know is based on hard work & writing by others. I can only aspire to augment this body of knowledge. If I am wrong it is because of my own failings. -me

"If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." - Newton

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18392 is a reply to message #18385]

Mon, 12 June 2023 18:03

afire
Messages: 1331
Registered: May 2013
Location: Wisconsin

Gruen Authority

Personally I have no doubt that this is a Weber case. The serial number suggests as much and this is a style of case that Weber definitely made. Here's the same base case (rounded shell with incised lines) but with added crown guard elements in 14k that is marked Gruen-Weber:

https://i1.wp.com/www.vintage-wristwatches.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DSCN3836.jpg?fit=1000%2C1450&ssl=1

https://i2.wp.com/www.vintage-wristwatches.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/DSCN3837.jpg?fit=1000%2C1383&ssl=1

I'm not in a position to say anything conclusively, but I now believe that aside from the occasional American gold filled cases exported to Alpina, Weber was Alpina's sole supplier of cases for the Alpina-Gruen line of watches. If it wasn't Weber exclusively, it was darned close.

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18393 is a reply to message #18392]

Mon, 12 June 2023 20:03

JackW
Messages: 1931
Registered: May 2013
Location: Denver

Gruen Authority
Head Janitor
Site Admin

Just to be clear.... I think the goldfilled case that was "original" was Gruen made. The marking "Cased and Timed" says to me that this was a US made case.

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18394 is a reply to message #18393]

Mon, 12 June 2023 20:46

Jenneke
Messages: 1904
Registered: May 2013
Location: Netherlands

Gruen Authority

Quote:

Here's the same base case (rounded shell with incised lines) but with added crown guard elements in 14k that is marked Gruen-Weber:

That looks stunning. Kinda, sorta was thinking the silver one was Weber. What I dont understand is why would they put weber inside the solid gold one and not in the silver one. Is there some trend?

You can only waste time if you forget to enjoy it - Loesje

[Updated on: Mon, 12 June 2023 20:46]

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18395 is a reply to message #18393]

Tue, 13 June 2023 14:47

afire
Messages: 1331
Registered: May 2013
Location: Wisconsin

Gruen Authority

JackW wrote on Mon, 12 June 2023 15:03

Just to be clear.... I think the goldfilled case that was "original" was Gruen made. The marking "Cased and Timed" says to me that this was a US made case.

Got it. I was overlooking the original case.

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18396 is a reply to message #18394]

Tue, 13 June 2023 15:32

afire
Messages: 1331
Registered: May 2013
Location: Wisconsin

Gruen Authority

Jenneke wrote on Mon, 12 June 2023 15:46

Quote:
Here's the same base case (rounded shell with incised lines) but with added crown guard elements in 14k that is marked Gruen-Weber:
That looks stunning. Kinda, sorta was thinking the silver one was Weber. What I dont understand is why would they put weber inside the solid gold one and not in the silver one. Is there some trend?

There seems to be somewhat of a pattern, but nothing that I can really nail down with any certainty. You rarely, maybe even never, see the Gruen-Weber marking on a silver Alpina-Gruen case. You often, but not always, see the Gruen-Weber marking on solid gold Alpina-Gruen cases. I have two solid gold Alpina-Gruen Techni-Quadrons, one case is marked Alpina-Gruen, the other Gruen-Weber. But why?

The closest I can get to a rational hypothesis is this. If a run of cases was intended for potential dual use as both an Alpina-Gruen model and a Gruen Import model, they would be marked Gruen-Weber. If a run of cases was expected to be used strictly as an Alpina-Gruen model, then they would be marked Alpina-Gruen. This would also be a plauisble explanation for why silver cases never bear the Gruen-Weber marking. With one exception that I can think of (the brancard), Gruen didn't offer any silver Techni-Quadron models. So it would make sense that none of them have the Gruen-Weber marking if they were only used for Alpina-Gruen models.

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18397 is a reply to message #18396]

Wed, 14 June 2023 18:18

Jenneke
Messages: 1904
Registered: May 2013
Location: Netherlands

Gruen Authority

Sounds plausible.

In my excel and online search all silver technoquadrons have gruen alpina.

Was silver less in vogue in america compared to europe? Or… silver is ok for simple case designs, but elaborate cases need to be gold or gold filled? And taste is europe had been more conservative.

You can only waste time if you forget to enjoy it - Loesje

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Re: Techni Quadron [message #18398 is a reply to message #18397]

Thu, 15 June 2023 15:40

afire
Messages: 1331
Registered: May 2013
Location: Wisconsin

Gruen Authority

Jenneke wrote on Wed, 14 June 2023 13:18

Was silver less in vogue in america compared to Europe?

I think the answer is undoubtedly yes. In the 1918 book, silver is still the usual choice for a less expensive wristwatch case. By the 1920s silver is almost entirely replaced by gold filled cases. And not just Gruen. Elgin, Hamilton, Waltham. Even Rolex in Canada. For some reason all of North America settled on gold fill while Europe continued to offer silver cases as the less expensive alternative to solid gold. What I’m unsure of is whether there is some regulatory explanation or if it was simply a matter of regional taste.

[Updated on: Sat, 17 June 2023 04:09]

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