There’s something about Art Deco watches and enamel that just go so well together and as I was digging around in my Wife’s collection I found these.
A nice little trio of Elgin Parisienne models from the 1930’s, each of which is a neat design of watch and coloured hard enamel decoration. Brought out as a marketing idea by Elgin, these were designed by mostly Lucien LeLong and were giver specific names of Haute Couture designers of the day in Paris
Names such as Louisboulonger, Agnes, Jenny and Premet etc. and some whilst featuring wonderful designs of hard coloured enamels also were often cased in 14k Gold filled cases, sometimes with semi-precious gems added within the overall design. And they sold really well in those days and quite affordable too, even then.
These are usually powered by the Elgin 488 mechanical 7 jewel movements with Breguet hairsprings and my Wife has maybe six of the Elgins, plus a few Gruens, Bulova, Fortis, Benrus and if I recall right, Mildus? and a few others whose names escape me entirely, but all of them are decorated with coloured hard enamel.
What always fascinates me is that as watches, they all still work and work rather well and the enamel colours are as bright today, as the day they were made. After all most were made around 90 – yes 90 years ago, rarely serviced and they’re still ticking along – Wow!
In short supply these days and if I have the, I should take the time collate them properly and manage a Post featuring all of them, which should look pretty good. I hasten to add that at some point, she wears each and every one of them, though the Pandemic lockdown situation currently has curtailed her social activities somewhat.
But once we’re out of this nightmare, then perhaps the ‘Parisiennes’ and others of the day, will be on proper display again.
Anyway, just to brighten up the site, I thought I take a quick snap of this trio, as they were the nearest to hand. I think they look good and so wearable even today, as I find many of the current ladies models look rather dull and lacking any pizzazz, so nice to get them out every so often, just to remind me of past times.
Watch space 