Minerva watches are very sought after of this period, particularly the chronographs like this one. Model reference 1335.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
In 1940 the movement design in this watch moved from being a monopusher to two separate pushers like in this watch. The watch could be later than 1940, but can not be earlier. If you have any further information on dating Minerva watches please do contact us. We have found a very similar watch to this one, but without waterproof on the dial, in a book that is credited to circa 1945 – but that can not be taken as 100% accurate either. A 1950 advert for Minerva looked different – case and hands as well as dial. That advert, along with a company history, can be found here.
CONDITION
This has an awful lot going for it, but let’s start with the movement. The manually wound chronograph movement is one designed and made by Minerva, calibre 13-20, and is the better column wheel design rather than the cheaper to produce cam switched type. It is running well, and also features Shock Resist balance protection. The dial is original, as are the radium filled syringe style hands. Being picky the centre chrono hand has a slight kink in it, so it points about half a second off 60. The dial also has the three minute markers on the 30 minute counter, so you could time your international phone calls which were expensive and charged in three minute sections. The case is stainless steel and very unusual in being waterproof – this was not often found in chronograph watches (and we would never suggest getting any vintage watch wet anyway). The case is also stainless steel, which was in short supply due to the war. The leather strap is new, in a pilots style, but different straps can be swapped easily thanks to drilled lugs.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail. All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.
SIZE
Width with crown 36.6 mm
Width without crown 33.5 mm
Between lugs 18 mm
Lug to lug length 42.1 mm
Case Thickness 13.4 mm
All sizes are approximate.
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