Vintage Gruen
The forum for Gruen watch enthusiasts.

Home » General Talk, Buying and Selling » Open Discussions » not a curvex
not a curvex [message #4658] Sat, 29 November 2014 05:22 Go to next message
JackW is currently offline  JackW
Messages: 1862
Registered: May 2013
Location: Denver
Gruen Authority
Head Janitor
Site Admin
Went to the museum today to see the Cartier exhibit. Lots of impressive jewelry but I was also pleasantly surprised to see featured a number of the clocks and watches Cartier produced. There was a strong focus on the 1920-1940s; seemingly this was the hey-day of beyond opulent jewelry.

There was a number of pocket watches but also some wrist watches. At one point in the audio tour I had, it flatly declared that Cartier invented the wrist watch in 1914. Anyone that follows the vintage section of WUS may raise an eyebrow at that.

Of the handfull of wrist watches were some of the "tanks" that Cartier produced in the 1920s. Very nice and they look identical to some of the "Tanks" Gruen once advertised. Then I saw this....
index.php?t=getfile&id=1903&private=0
Quite the curvey shape to it. I couldn't help but to think of this discussion from some time ago at the NAWCC forums LINK. The label in the case called it a tank and is from 1936. I'm curious on the construction within; is it a full size movement or as early Curvex ads show a tiny movement to accomodate the curves of the case. I've seen the Curvex Majesty and this one would match the long arcs of the case. Anyway, food for thought and discussion.

Pending contact from the lawyers, in 3....2....1.....


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

[Updated on: Sat, 29 November 2014 05:25]

Report message to a moderator

Re: not a curvex [message #4659 is a reply to message #4658] Sat, 29 November 2014 16:07 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Gary
Messages: 2108
Registered: May 2013
Location: Left Coast
Gruen Authority
Cheerleader

Tank you for sharing Jack! I would be surprised to see a curvy movement under there. Looks too thin to hold any structure; even a 440 like movement would have a hard time fitting that one.

Reminds me of a modern Casio solar watch I opened up the other month. I was curious to see the power supply. Popped the cased back and what the...

A woman!!!

index.php?t=getfile&id=1904&private=0
  • Attachment: solar.jpg
    (Size: 108.35KB, Downloaded 901 times)
Re: not a curvex [message #4661 is a reply to message #4659] Sun, 30 November 2014 19:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Thojil is currently offline  Thojil
Messages: 650
Registered: May 2013
Location: Concorès, France
Gruen Master
The Cartier looks very elegant though.

By the way, Gary can you resize your image. I need a 90inch screen to see it... Laughing
Re: not a curvex [message #4662 is a reply to message #4658] Sun, 30 November 2014 20:42 Go to previous message
C. Hurt is currently offline  C. Hurt
Messages: 243
Registered: May 2013
Gruen Guildsman
That's a Tank Americaine, and it should have a small round movement, probably 8 1/2 or 9 3/4 lignes. These are still in production today, in essentially the same form, using both quartz and automatic movements. I like them, and they have a more substantial feel than a contemporary Curvex. Quite a bit more expensive though.

[Updated on: Sun, 30 November 2014 20:42]

Report message to a moderator

Previous Topic: Wristwatch Era Over?
Next Topic: Gruen 460 Auto Bumper
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri Mar 29 10:50:36 UTC 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01996 seconds