18ct Gold, Art Deco Enamel Dial, with Period Chain, c.1920s

This is a mid-size open-face Movado in solid 18k yellow gold, dated to the 1920s by its dial style and case construction. The dial reads "MOVADO SUIZA" in a neat serif script, with "Suiza" being the Spanish word for Switzerland: a marking that places this watch's original sale in Spain or Latin America, rather than the French, German or English-language markets that account for most surviving Movado pocket watches from the period. It is an uncommon variant.

The case is plain polished gold, cleanly proportioned, with a thin bezel, short pendant and a flush-closing back. The back is completely plain: no monogram, no engine-turning, no engraving of any kind. The gold has the even, light wear of a piece that was carried but not mistreated. Inside, the hallmarks are all present and legible: the 0.750 fineness mark in a rectangular cartouche, a Swiss gold assay stamp, serial 374455, case number 3713, and a C+C case maker's stamp on the bow.

The white enamel dial is one of the strongest features. It is intact, free of hairlines, chips or restoration. The numerals are sharp-angled Art Deco Arabic figures in black, printed at geometric angles that were particular to the 1920s and fell out of use by the mid-1930s. These are not the round, traditional Arabic numerals found on most pocket watches of the period: they are graphic, angular, unmistakably Deco, and they give the dial a clean visual weight. The hands are Art Deco pierced steel with open rectangular apertures, oxidized to a dark tone that reads clearly against the white enamel. The subsidiary seconds dial sits at six o'clock with its own fine minute track.

The movement is nickel-finished with Geneva stripes, signed "MOVADO" on the barrel bridge. It is clean and unworn, the stripes still sharp, and it runs well.

The watch comes with a two-tone bar-link gold fob chain, alternating yellow and white sections, with a spring ring clasp. The chain is a period piece but not original to this watch.

The marks, the movement and the condition are set out in the drawers below.