Peter Harrington London, a leading rare book firm, is selling a very special vintage Movado.
Though it’s unusual for a company specializing in rare books to sell timepieces — especially considering the price tag of this one — perhaps the previous owner (Steven Forbes) traded it for rare books, or had other reasons for picking such a sales channel over auction houses with expertise in timepieces.
The 1946 Movado “Calendograf” comes in an 18K gold case with a bi-colored silvered dial with outer date chapter ring, month and day of the week shown in apertures, center seconds, signed “Movado”, reference no. 4820. Nickel-plated 10 1/4” Calibre 475 SC movement with lever escapement, 15 jewels. It reportedly has minimal scuffing and some flaking on the surface of the dial.
Case dimensions are not listed but 33-36 mm in diameter is a good guess considering the era.
Most notably, the watch was a gift from citizens of Switzerland to Winston Churchill, engraved on the caseback with: “Quelques citoyens helvétiques à Winston Churchill témoignage d’admiration et de reconnaissance Septembre 1946” (“To Winston Churchill as testimony of the admiration and gratitude of some Swiss citizens, September 1946”).
The Peter Harrington London sales page states, “Churchill visited Switzerland from 23 August to 20 September 1946. A letter preserved in the Churchill Archives (CHUR 2/239), sent by Beyer of Zurich (founded in 1760 and Switzerland’s oldest watch retailer), records the presentation. Addressed to Churchill on 18 September, while he was staying at the Hôtel Dolder Grand in Zurich, it reads, in our translation, “Dear Mr Churchill, We take the liberty of giving to you, with this letter, a gold Calendograf wristwatch as a souvenir of your visit to Zurich and as witness of our admiration and gratitude. We ardently hope that this watch will only record for you, your family, and your country, hours of happiness, joy, and prosperity”. One of Churchill’s staff wrote a note for him on the document: “magnificent watch which tells the month & day of week as well!”. A copy is included here.
Churchill’s visit was his sixth and final trip to Switzerland, following five visits between 1893 and 1910. The visit was defined by one of the most important post-war speeches Churchill delivered, given in Zurich on 19 September 1946. The speech, with its clarion call of “Europe arise” and proposal for the creation of a Council of Europe, is seen as a harbinger of future European federation: “we must build a kind of United States of Europe”. This united Europe was to be based on Franco-German partnership – Britain was to be a friend and sponsor of this organization, but not an integral part of it.
Movado is a leading Swiss watchmaker. This watch is a Calendograf type, which was introduced in 1938 and manufactured until 1954. The watch is described and illustrated, along with other watches owned by famous individuals, in Fritz von Osterhausen’s definitive history of the company, The Movado History, 1996, pages 188-90.
Another watch presented to Churchill on the visit, a Lemania watch given by the canton of Vaud, sold for £162,500 at Sotheby’s in 2017.”
The asking price is £150,000 British pounds (approximately $192,000).
Learn more at Peter Harrington London.
Photo by Peter Harrington London.
