The movement is the mechanical heart of a watch, but choosing one is not simply a matter of selecting the calibre with the longest power reserve or the highest specification. Reliability, dimensions, serviceability, availability of spare parts, supply continuity and compatibility with the design of the watch all matter just as much. Several manufacturers have…
The 1950s and 1960s occupy a special place in the history of the wristwatch. In the years after the Second World War, Swiss watchmaking combined increasingly sophisticated mechanical movements with a remarkably restrained approach to design. Longines, Omega, Universal Genève, Zenith, IWC and many other manufacturers produced watches whose elegance came not from size or…
Long before the wristwatch became the natural place to read the time, the watch belonged in a pocket. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Swiss pocket watches had evolved from prestige objects into everyday instruments, produced in many different qualities and price ranges. Their large cases, clear dials and robust movements reflected a well-established…
The front of a watch belongs to the world. The caseback belongs to its owner. Towards the end of the 1960s, a curious detail began to appear on the casebacks of some Conteas watches: an engraved heraldic emblem. Unlike the Conteas crown, which had already been used as the brand’s logo since the 1940s, this…
A dress watch is one of the simplest types of wristwatch. That simplicity is also what makes it difficult to design well. Every proportion matters. For decades, the best dress watches shared a common philosophy. They were slim enough to disappear under a shirt cuff, balanced in diameter, and designed around a clean, highly legible…
For much of the 1940s and 1950s, a gentleman’s wristwatch was considerably smaller than those worn today. Diameters between 32 and 36 mm were common, and even chronographs rarely reached modern proportions. What mattered was balance: the relationship between the dial, case, lugs and wrist. In the 1960s, watches gradually gained more presence as sports…
Some logos are created. Others are inherited. The Conteas crown belongs to the second category.As we researched the history of the brand and assembled an archive of original Conteas watches spanning more than six decades, one fascinating detail emerged. While cases, dials and typography evolved with changing tastes, one symbol remained at the heart of…
Some stories begin with a business plan. Others begin with a discovery. The return of Conteas started with a simple question: who was Conteas?For decades, the name appeared on Swiss-made watches produced throughout the twentieth century. Pocket watches from the late 1920s, elegant dress watches from the 1950s, chronographs, divers and quartz models from later…