LECOULTRE 10KGF “Arabic Two-Tone” Dial 1940s

The watch presented here is a LeCoultre rectangular watch in a 10K gold-filled case, made in the 1940s. The dial is two-tone. A brushed silver outer section carries applied Arabic 12, 3 and 9 with tapered baton markers, and a champagne centre panel is framed by a fine hatched border. A small seconds dial in gold sits at 6 o'clock.

Inside is the hand-wound Cal.438, signed LeCoultre Co. with 17 jewels. It was introduced in 1940 and is based on the Cal.410, the rectangular movement LeCoultre developed in 1933. The 410 became the main calibre of the Reverso and of LeCoultre's triple calendar and moon phase models, and it was also the origin of the Cal.806, later used in the 1949 homage model to Jacques-David LeCoultre.

The finishing shows why LeCoultre was known in the trade as a movement maker. The edge of each part is bevelled, a process called anglage, and the bridge over the gear train is cut in a broad, smooth curve that is easy to see when the caseback is opened.

The case records a less familiar part of the company's history. In the 1940s, LeCoultre movements were shipped to the United States and sold through Longines-Wittnauer, which had American firms make the cases. Most of these cases are stamped with a case maker's name, such as the Star Watch Case Company. This caseback is stamped only "Cased and Timed in U.S.A.", "LeCoultre" and "10K Gold Filled", a marking particular to the early 1940s and rarely seen. LeCoultre had its first branch in New York but no factory there, so the case is American made, and it is a small record of how these watches reached the US market.

For anyone who wants one of LeCoultre's great rectangular movements together with a piece of its American history, this is a watch to consider seriously.

- wrist size in our picture is 17cm circumference -