One of my favourite vintage watches is this nice Art Deco Buren bi-colour Gold manual watch. Original untouched dial features an index around the edge, black Arabic numerals of dark blue steel hands and subsidiary seconds dial @6.
The case is predominantly Yellow Gold with extended White Gold lug/decoration. The lugs are also semi-articulating with solid screwed fixed bars to a high quality leather black strap and matching gold buckle. An un-engraved curved Gold ‘snap’ back opens to a very nice original Buren movement.
The watch dates from around 1936 when small seconds dials were a classic feature of the period (Buren introduced central seconds around 1944) and the overall watch is very slim indeed. The thin profile was another feature of many Buren models, which culminated I understand when they produced a couple of notable milestones in Automatic models in the early 1950’s.
This model whilst very slim indeed is not too small on the wrist however with a case diameter of 22.5mm and 45mm lug to lug and is a delight to wear.
For information on Buren and it’s English origins and history can be found here – https://www.time2tell.com/en/history-of-the-brands/496-the-true-story-of-buren-watches.html
As a collector though I have always liked Buren, as they were true innovators and so much so, that I now have a fair number and even as I have many modern models in my collections, I’m finding that I tend to wear these older vintage models today.
Most I wear are before 1955 and earlier models like this one from the Art Deco period which is one of my admired periods. And today even in my general antique objects collection (other than watches) are also harking back to those times.
Perhaps it’s the overall quality and inventiveness of the design of those periods that attracts me now – as ‘design’ these days seems to be a sadly maligned concept that lost it’s way somehow.
Indeed today seems an unfortunately reckless and throw-away society to me, which is the absolute opposite of a true vintage mechanical watch, which can be – well ‘timeless’ – which is a word that springs to mind and paradoxically perhaps is rather apt – an ‘oxymoron’ if you will.
Watch space 