Why We Love It
Many watch brands suffer from their modern image being at odds with their historic identity.
Movado isn't what it used to be. And thats sad - because once upon a time, the brand made some of the cleanest and most elegant timepieces on the market - even getting the notoriety of placement in some of the world's most prestigious retail shops; including the legendary Tiffany & Co., and even Cartier.
Although they no longer do this, the well-renowned French jeweler has had a long history of offering watches produced by other manufactures. The presence of Cartier’s signature on the dial, makes an already attractive and elegant steel dress watch that much more unique- and certainly much more desirable.
Featuring a 35mm steel snap-back case with a simple satin silver dial with applied Breguet indices, fancy blued-steel hands, and an oversized subsidiary seconds register, this is a handsome watch, no matter the brand.
The truth of the matter is vintage Movado is somewhat esoteric. There is a small but growing number of collectors who have been focusing on the deep well of unique and undervalued watches from the brand, but until recently, Movado has been somewhat under the radar of the larger collector world.
Pieces like this however- especially with the Cartier signature and mid-century classical styling- won't stay off the radar for much longer.
The Story
While Movado is now best known as a producer of fashion watches like the Museum Watch, Movado's roots go much deeper than that. The company’s history reaches all the way back to 1881, when watchmaker Achilles Ditesheim opened a workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds. His brothers Léopold and Isidore joined him in 1886.
Production from that point on proved how true the name brand was—it means "always in motion" in Esperanto. Throughout the 20th century Movado produced incredible mechanical timepieces. They gained notoriety for the sophistication of the equipment and technology they employed, including electric tools.
Unlike many of their counterparts, Movado's movements were designed and manufactured in-house.
