1950s Serviced Vintage Marvin Tropical Valjoux 72C Triple Date Chronograph Watch

Chronograph Watches

Having a love for complications and complicated watches, makes me love Chronograph watches. At first two register chronograph for simplicity of the dial and providing chronograph functionality for the most. Then the three-register chronograph for the complication of movement and the history of the movements, like of the iconic Omega Ref. 321, Ref. 861 (used in famous moon landing), Zenith El Primero, Venus mostly used in Breitlings, Landeron, and one of the most well-known movement makers Valjoux. With their famous Valjoux 72 put in the vintage Rolex Pre Daytona’s and of course the big dog Patek Philippe reference 2499 using Valjoux 88 my favorite which sold in auction for $3.30 Million in 2018.  I also love the Heuer Caliber 11 first micro automatic chronograph movement with date.

A Chronograph is simply a watch that combines the function of a stopwatch with a timekeeping display watch, by utilizing an independent sweep second hand. Chronographs often have complications on the face of the watch which can be used to record different time measurements, moon cycles, heart rate and more. Chronographs have usually have a separate buttons to stop, start, and reset (unless it is an monopusher) the stopwatch complication, with the start button typically at the two and four o’clock position.

The name Chronograph is derived from the Greek words ‘Chronos’ – the personification of time – and ‘graph’, meaning to write. The first modern Chronograph was created in 1816 by French watchmaker, Louis Moinet. Invented solely for use in union with astrological equipment, Moinet’s Chronograph could measure time accurate to 1/60th of a second – an unrivaled degree of precision at the time of its creation.

"poor man's" Heu-ers represent an interesting facet of Heu-er's history and also provide a sensible way for individuals to collect these chronographs on a more reasonable budget. The term "Poor Man's Heu-er" only to refer to chronographs manufactured by Heu-er for other brands one of which is Zodiac & Clebar, which is one of my favorite brands. Please note on ebay there are few brands that are not made by Heu-er and still refer to as Poor man which is not true.

History

A beautiful and Rare Vintage Marvin Chronograph c.1950s - Swiss manual winding movement, cal. Marvin 775H (Valjoux 72C)

The Marvin Watch Company was founded in 1850 by Marc and Emmanuel Didisheim in Saint-Imier. In 1894 the company moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds.

In 1917 the three grandsons of the original founder Marc Didisheim took over the company. Despite moving predominantly towards wristwatches, the production of fine manufacture movements was maintained. Besides their own movements, Marvin also used Rolex movements for a short period.

From 1940 the company began alliances with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Ferrari, Mercedes, Jaguar, Fiat, MG, Rover, and Chevrolet. By 1950, at their 100-year anniversary, Marvin would enjoy a global distribution network that stretched across 70 countries.