A jeweller's tank in solid 18ct gold from Adler of Geneva, around 1980: rope-twist rails, a black cabochon crown and a dial that shades from cognac to dark brown.
It is brushed metal lacquered a cognac that deepens to a dark band along the top edge, the fumé finish of the late 1970s, here on a surface barely two centimetres across. There is a single gold Roman XII, two slim gilt baton hands, the adler signature in lowercase at the centre and QUARTZ in small capitals at six. Nothing else: no minute track, no other numerals, no date. The crown at three is fluted gold with a black cabochon set in its end.
- 1Single gold XIIThe only numeral on the dial, a single gold Roman XII.
- 2Cognac fuméBrushed metal lacquered a cognac that deepens to a dark band along the top edge.
- 3The adler signatureIn lowercase at the centre, the same script the house put to its rings.
- 4QUARTZ at sixIn small capitals. No minute track, no other numerals, no date.
The tank is the oldest shape in the wristwatch, and this one was made by a jeweller. Adler took the rectangular case with its two long rails, the form Cartier set down in 1917, and cut the rails as a rope. The torsade runs the full length of each flank, rounds the corner at the lug and meets the strap, and it is held to the body with four screws left visible in the gold, two at each end. The case catches light along its whole length rather than on a flat bezel, and in the hand it reads as a piece of jewellery that happens to tell the time.
The watch is 21.6mm across and 29mm from lug to lug, a small case in the manner of the period, and it sits flat on the wrist with the rope rails as its whole presence. The high points of the torsade are sharp, the brushed back is unmarked and the dial carries no spotting. It comes on a dark brown crocodile strap with a gilt pin buckle, and a new battery was fitted this year.
The case is struck inside the back with the 18K and 750 marks in cartouche and the Helvetia head, the mark the Swiss assay offices put to 18ct gold until it was retired in 1995, together with a case maker's responsibility mark and FAB. SUISSE / SWISS MADE. The movement is signed ESA with the calibre number 950.001 on the plate, a six-jewel quartz introduced in 1978 and marked this way only until Ebauches SA was absorbed into ETA in the early 1980s. The dial carries the adler signature in the lowercase script the house used on its jewellery through the same years. Together the case marks, the movement and the signature place the watch in Geneva around 1980.
Adler, like the other jewellers of the rue du Rhône, bought its movements from the best of the city's suppliers and put its own effort into the case and the dial, which is exactly where this watch spends its gold.
- Maker
- Adler Joailliers, Geneva
- Model
- Torsade tank
- Reference
- Not visible
- Case material
- 18ct yellow gold, Swiss assayed
- Diameter
- 21.6mm
- Lug to lug
- 29mm
- Movement
- ESA cal. 950.001, Swiss quartz, 6 jewels
- Functions
- Hours, minutes
- Dial
- Cognac fumé lacquer, single gold XII, gilt baton hands
- Crown
- Fluted, black cabochon
- Strap
- Dark brown crocodile, gilt pin buckle
- Country
- Switzerland
- Date
- C.1980
- Hallmarks
- 18K, 750, Helvetia head, responsibility mark, FAB. SUISSE / SWISS MADE
- Serial number
- None
- Warranty
- 12 months, mechanical, through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery
12-month mechanical warranty through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery.
