Mystery late 1950’s or early 1960’s man’s budget-priced wrist watch for every- day use. This is a rather obscure brand. There is no information whatsoever on the World Wide Web... It is just another fine example of an affordable watch sold through Sears or Simpson’s catalogues in the Canadian retail market. Japan CBM Corp. was established in 1964, and started selling watches under the Q&Q brand in 1976. They released the Q&Q branded watches in October 1976 to the world markets. They were designed to be a mass market brand that made extremely affordable, and decent quality watches, especially considering the prices. My impression is that Q&Q represented different things to different markets depending on where they wanted to position themselves relative to rival brands. "Q&Q" apparently stands for "Quality and Quantity", and the "CBM" in "Japan CBM Corp." stands for "Citizen Business Machines". In 1999, Q&Q sales reached 20 million pieces in quantity and are today one of the biggest watch brands in the world. In 2002 they became entirely owned by Citizen Watch Co, and from April 2009 their operations were absorbed into Citizen Watch. Japan CBM did not actually build anything themselves, but simply subcontract, generally within the Citizen Group, although some of their mechanical models for the Indian market featured Chinese movements. Vintage Q&Q mechanical watches were made by Citizen Subsidiary “Premier Precision Ltd.” in Hong Kong and South Korea. Strangely, Premier Precision are a quartz LCD module manufacturer. The watch featured here today is a manual wind with a tiny mechanical Citizen movement in its mid-size case. It is an early model and was most likely manufactured during the "quartz crisis" era as an attempt to complete with the onslaught of Quartz watches flooding the market by making a low-cost watch using existing mechanical technology. “For some years now I have been considering the idea of making a watch that our agents could sell at a more modest price than our Rolex watches, and yet one that would attain the standards of dependability for which Rolex is famous. I decided to form a separate company, with the object of making and marketing this new watch. It is called the Tudor Watch Company.” The announcement above was made on 6 March 1946 by Hans Wilsdorf who, having created Rolex in the first decade of the 20th century, was already a leading figure in the upmarket Swiss watchmaking world. It marked the birth of both the TUDOR brand and its production and communications strategy. Hans Wilsdorf’s intuition was as simple as it was ingenious. At that time, the development of wristwatches was in full swing and today’s widespread drive to optimize resources, which is currently behind so many major financial and brand mergers, was still in the far-distant future. The public was ready to recognize and appreciate a product whose technical, aesthetic and functional qualities, as well as its distribution, were guaranteed not by a newcomer on the market but by the Rolex brand, which had already earned worldwide renown for the high quality of its timepieces. This announcement was not merely words said for effect. It was Wilsdorf’s genuine commitment to a program. Between 1947 and 1952, therefore, TUDOR devoted itself to launching first the TUDOR Oyster model, followed by the TUDOR Oyster Prince collection, reflecting the successful marriage of precision and reliability, style and technique and high-quality production. That period also saw the emergence of the first advertisements devoted exclusively to TUDOR, in which Wilsdorf expressed pride and satisfaction regarding his personal involvement in creating this new brand. This certainly was a privileged and auspicious start for the TUDOR brand, originally represented by a decorative rose, the famous symbol of a once long-reigning dynasty in England, the Tudors, who inspired Hans Wilsdorf to give their name to his new company. This famous name, however, never led the company to rest on its laurels. From the very beginning, this was a story of technical developments, like the waterproof Oyster case and the adoption of a self-winding movement, which were not relegated to mere functionality, but turned into stylish features of watches designed in both performance and appearance for modern, dynamic men. With Rolex to usher it into the world and accompany its first steps, the TUDOR brand very quickly carved out a niche for itself, quite independently of the brand with the five-prong crown. If we look closely, early traces of TUDOR and its creations can be found as far back as 1926, the year the brand was registered by the Swiss watchmaking company “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf. In 1936, Wilsdorf took it over himself, and went on to found the company Montres Tudor SA in 1946. It was, however, the products and advertising campaigns of the 1950s that really gave the brand its definitive strength and distinctive personality. The year 1952, in particular, saw the launch of the TUDOR Oyster Prince, accompanied by a press campaign that was very intense, strong and original for the period. The advertisements not only showed and described the watches, as was customary at the time, they also underlined the qualities of resistance, reliability and precision, with both detailed text and illustrations. These illustrations depicted men at work wearing a TUDOR in extreme conditions, doing strenuous work on a road or in a mine, for instance, and not strictly in sports settings, such as motorcycling, playing golf or riding horses, which were also effective test situations but far more conventional. The images, together with the, by then, widely recognized soundness of the product, helped give TUDOR watches a style and personality associated with concepts of modernity and reliability, and launched it well beyond the particular context in which it was being shown. It is significant that 30 TUDOR Oyster Prince watches were included in the British scientific expedition to Greenland organized by the Royal Navy in 1952. In the wake of its technological triumphs and the success of its image, brought about by its participation in the Polar explorations, the TUDOR brand in the 1960s became involved in a project to develop a professional underwater watch that could become a piece of official military equipment. A TUDOR Prince Submariner was produced for the US Navy from 1964 to 1966, followed in the early 1970s (and until 1984) by the “Marine Nationale” model, which was officially adopted by the French Navy. THE EVOLUTION OF THE LOGO For obvious, image-related reasons, great importance has always been accorded to the logo that generally appears with the brand name on a watch dial. TUDOR is no exception to this rule. Indeed, it has paid attention to its own logo, adapting it over the years in response to specific communication needs. The very first watches produced in the 1920s and 1930s simply bore the name TUDOR, as a kind of birth certificate. A few rare models associated the name TUDOR with Rolex, corresponding to the fact that Rolex originally guaranteed the technical and aesthetic quality of TUDOR, which the brand later went on to develop autonomously. It was around 1936 that a graphic symbol first appeared, the delicate TUDOR rose, emblem of the long-reigning English dynasty to which the brand owes its name. The rose was shown on a shield, as if to symbolize the invincible union of strength and beauty. In 1947, just a year after TUDOR was officially launched, the brand name on the dial was accompanied by the rose alone, highlighting TUDOR’s consummate elegance and style. Between 1969 and the present day, as the requirements of classical aesthetics were definitively met and TUDOR production focused increasingly on technical aspects, the rose disappeared and replaced by the shield, which remained on the dial as a powerful symbol of resistance and reliability. The invention of the “Swatch” watch: One of the most popular watch brands in the world today, Swatch is based in Bienne (or Biel), Switzerland — the country known in the world for its timepieces. These colorful, fun and unique designs have helped Swatch find a place in the world of watch fashion. Dr. Ernst Thomke (who was then the CEO of another watchmaking company ETA SA) and his small team of watch engineers invented a kind of watch that used far fewer components than the traditional mechanical watches. This was in 1983, and the new watch they invented was called “Swatch.” (a coined name from the words “Second Watch”). The same engineers had also invented the thinnest wristwatch in the world at that time, the Concord Delirium. 1983 – The Birth of Swatch: On March 1st 1983, in light of the Swiss watch making crisis, the first ever Swatch watch was born from simplicity with a unique twist of social etiquette and a desire for something different. Swatch jet streamed their way into Switzerland, Austria, the UK, France and soon the rest of the world, setting a tone of original affordable luxury which had never been experienced before. At that time Switzerland was mired in a watch making crisis, due to the advent of the quartz watches in the 1970s that mostly originated from Japan (such as Citizen and Seiko). The popularity of the quartz eventually eclipsed those of the Swiss mechanical watch, which left Swiss watchmakers and companies struggling. The birth of Swatch came as a right smack because by that time the crisis had reached a severe and critical point. Swatch as a major factor of the Swiss’ resurgence in the global wristwatches market: Leabnese-Swiss businessman Nicolas G. Hayek enters the picture. He was asked by a group of Swiss bankers to oversee the liquidation of the two failing watch companies ASUAG and SSIH, which led to the merger of Société de Microélectronique et d’Horlogerie. This merger which Hayek spearheaded coincided with the invention of the Swatch watch that Dr. Thomke invented; Dr. Thomke was later made as the first president of the newly formed conglomerate. Hayek and his other group of investors took a major shareholding of the Swatch Company in 1985, and the SMH would later be re-named the Swatch Group. Under Hayek’s decisive leadership and brilliant, innovative marketing strategies as well as the watches themselves, the Swatch watch helped the Swiss recover from its sluggish performance in the last few years. These Swatch watches were used with fewer mechanical components as well as outer synthetic parts such as the plastic watch cases and watch straps which came in a wide array of colors, designs and artwork — even some of the world-renowned artists have contributed to the designs of these Swatch watches. These very materials made Swatch watches less expensive to produce, therefore translating into higher profitability. Because of these factors, Swatch became really popular with the lower end of the wristwatch market which the Swiss eventually managed to re-capture after having lost it to the Japanese makers. Although Swatch watches were primarily seen as casual fashion timepieces because of their colorful, fun designs, the company would otherwise like to maintain that their watches themselves were serious products of craftsmanship. Hayek’s determination and innovative leadership, as well as the company’s unique marketing expertise brought Swatch as one of the biggest wristwatch makers in the world. The success of the company also restored Switzerland’s position as a major global player in the wristwatch market. Swatch had also begun manufacturing stainless-steel watches and chronographs in addition to their famous plastic wristwatches. The legacy of Swatch: Hayek became Swatch’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO in 1986. His son Nick Hayek took over the CEO position in 2003, while the senior Hayek remained as Chairman of the Board until his death on June 28, 2010. Only two days after his death, his daughter Nayla assumed the Chairman of the Board of Directors position. The history of this great plastic Swatch watch has left lessons of perseverance, ingenuity, overcoming difficulties, and the fact that originality and luxury doesn’t have to come with a big price. When you think of a fun and colorful casual watch, you’d automatically think of Swatch. The types of Swatch design styles:
Mystery military Swiss watch with a 1 jewel movement stamped “Mohertus Trading Co.” It has a beautiful black military dial with contrasted white hands. The case is really well designed, and looks great from every angle. This is just pure minimalism in watch art. History: Mohertus Trading Co. sold relatively low grade movements Swiss or Austrian Made or other places in the 1960’s. They were around as recently as the 1970s. The company is also known to watch collectors as the vintage licensee for various “Dollar” fun watches displaying Disney’s ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Tinkerbell’ figures, for Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker watches, for Babe Ruth watches, and as a U.S importer and distributor of 'Engorsele Watches', 'Florin Watches', 'Rouan Watches', and 'Nouvella Clocks'. These types of watches and movements were designed for the "common man" with an eye towards rugged, simple and inexpensive. Like vintage Timex movements, they are hard to fix if they break, but if nothing is broken, they work with no problem. It certainly looks beautiful! During the 1960's and '70's, Sears marketed a line of upscale watches under the name Tradition. I happened to come across the one pictured here.
It has a 21 Jewel Swiss Made ETA 2472 movement. I have no idea about the significance of the "crown" is on the dial above the word “Tradition”. This is a beautiful dress watch with a brown dial. Sears offered a range in quality in watches and from what I've discovered, there were a lot of good watches, clearly made for Sears by very competent makers featuring ETA upgraded movements. Until the 1950s, Sears built many urban department stores and they overshadowed the mail-order business. Starting in the 1950s, the company expanded into suburban markets and later into shopping malls in the 1960s and 1970s. This is the period where we find most of the Tradition signed wrist watches were sold. Most watches are signed “Swiss Made” or “Swiss” and often had the 3-digit Swiss Identification Code in them. An indication they were produced in Switzerland for the North American Market. The “Tradition” brand featured dress, divers and chronograph watches. During the 1980’s and later we do not find watches with the Tradition logo anymore. Newer watches sold through Sears & Roebuck featured the name ‘Phasar’. These watches had a certain style and quality, though they did not rise to the quality and movement level of the ‘Tradition’ watches. “Clebar” is apparently slang in French for wet dog. I suppose that’s better than a cat, but it’s still not overly flattering. Either way, Clebar is also the name of this particular watch I am showing today. "Clebar" was a trademark of the “Leonidas Watch Factory” at the beginning of the 1960s. The brand name was used for the first time in 1925 but was registered as a trademark in 1948. The main line of products included stopwatches and chronographs. The place of manufacture of Clebar watches was mainly Le Locle. Clebar watches were marketed by Edward Trauner Inc., which also sold the Zodiac brand products. As part of the Zodiac clan, Clebar made great chronographs. Clebar also had a reputable history as a rally and stop watch producer. They really hit their stride in the 60's with several iterations of chronographs. With the merger of Leonidas with Ed. Heuer (1964) on the Heuer-Leonidas S.A. the 'Clebar' brand eventually disappeared. This particular watch appears to be from the mid to late 60's and features a simple manual winding 17 jewels Waterproof Swiss Movement. |
Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
Archives
September 2018
|