Nicolet Watch SA was founded in 1916, in Tramelan, Switzerland, under the name Charles Nicolet Tramelan. It took the company’s founder – the eponymous Charles – 29 years to realize how terrible of a name he had come up with, but in 1945 he finally renamed it Nicolet Watch SA. This improvement wasn’t sufficient, however, and in 1975 the company went into bankruptcy.
We’re joking, of course, at least about that last part – Nicolet Watch SA was one of the numerous manufacturers that succumbed to the dreaded Quartz Crisis. Before they did, though, Nicolet produced some excellent watches, including the one on offer here.
This chronograph dates to the late 1930s and is in remarkable condition.
The plating on the case shows minimal signs of wear, and the dial looks immaculate. The latter is adorned with thermally blued hands and features matching blue telemeter and tachymeter scales, which contrast the black minute scale. Notably, the tachymeter is curled around the dial’s center – a layout commonly referred to as “Snail dial”.
Behind the stainless steel caseback, the rare Landeron cal. 39 – modified with a Breguet spiral – is resolutely ticking away. It was just serviced by our in-house watchmaker in 06.2021 and is sounding very good.
The watch comes outfitted with a high-quality blue leather strap.
The watch is covered by 6 months of limited warranty from ChronoTimepieces.
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| Complications/Functions | Chronograph, Only Original Parts, Small seconds, Tachymeter, Tempered blue hands |