1950's Vintage Alsta Date-Chrono Watch Chronograph Landeron 159

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Alsta made beautifully-engineered high quality wristwatches for stylish men and women of intellectual and creative substance. People who required precision and robustness; scientists, engineers and industrialists as well as style-setters and the self-made. Alsta Watch Co succumbed in the late 1970s, along with many independent watchmakers, to the “quartz crisis” of the early 1970s which saw hundreds of watch and component manufacturers go out of business as the world feared the end of the road for quality wristwatches. Fortunately, mechanical watches survived.

Alsta, Le Jour and Yema were three brands that shared a lot in common, and often times, the exact same watch can be found with different logos on the dial. This chronograph is a model that is rarely seen, since it has date at 6 O'Clock not chronograph hours. 

Landeron was a Swiss watch movement maker in Le Landeron famous for chronograph movements.

History

The company began in 1873, formed by Charles Alfred Hahn and his brother Aimé Auguste Hahn, and called Charles Hahn & Cie. They produced watches at first, but moved into watch movement production in the 1920's.

In 1924, Charles Hahn (son of the founder, who died in 1875), acquired the patents of Anatole Breitling and began producing chronograph movements. This movement production company took the name, Landeron. In 1925, Landeron merged with Fabrique d'Horlogerie de Fontainemelon (FHF), being renamed Fontainemelon et succursale du Landeron. FHF/Landeron became a founding member of Ebauches SA in 1926.

Landeron's column wheel chronograph movements were famous, and the company supplied these movements to many militaries. Examples include Cal. 11 and 13 and the state-of-the-art Cal. 39. Because they held the Breitling patents, Landeron was the exclusive supplier of column wheel chronograph movements until their expiration in the 1930's.

Just before World War II, Landeron developed the first cam actuated chronograph. Their Cal. 47 had three pushers: One to start, another to stop, and a third to reset the counter. They refined this movement to become the two-pusher Cal. 48. This would become one of the most popular chronograph movements ever made, with more than 3.5 million examples produced between 1937 and 1970. The lower price of production compared to a column wheel model meant an average person could afford a chronograph for the first time.

In the 1960's, Landeron produced the first Swiss electric movement, Cal. 4750. It featured a battery-powered balance wheel rather than a mainspring.

The original Landeron 48 featured a deep, curving hammer, a feature carried on to the 54, 56, and 58. The Landeron 51/151 features a conventional "boot" hammer, as does the 55, 57, 59/159, 80/180, and 81/181. 

This is a old beauty with lots of characters. Please read all specification, and movement notes. The condition of the watch is the same as it appears in the photos.   Contact me if you have any questions first.