An old movement and dial in a new 36mm stainless steel case, this Fortis is attractive and in very good condition.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
This is difficult, as we know the case is not original to the dial ad movement. But in the Fortis 100 years jubilee book available online here, on page 27 there are stylistic clues of watches that are very similar, and contain the same ETA 1100 movement. So we concur that the movement and dial are from circa 1942.
CONDITION
Not everyone will like marriage watches, where old and new are combined. We are not sure why a good dial and movement needed recasing, but it could be that the gold case was scrapped, or as this was likely produced during the war it may have been in a chromed case that wore badly (stainless steel was not easy to get during wartime.) The most important thing with any marriage watch is that the seller declares it as such, and the buyer knows what they are getting.
Condition wise, there is little to dislike. We didn’t re case the watch ourselves, but is has been done by a well known Swiss watchmaker, from whom we bought a quantity of watches recently. He has done a nice job, with no slack even when winding. The water resistant case is good for everyday wear, and this is helped by incabloc shock protection on the movement. The dial is original and very attractive, with applied markers at every hour point and matching hands, as well as a 1/5 second markers on the outer edge of the dial. The ETA 1100 movement beats at 18,000 bph, or five times a second, so this matches nicely. The dial does have a slight bump on the right hand side that is visible in some lights. The unmarked crown is likely to be new, as is the leather strap.
This watch will be supplied with our Certificate of Authenticity.
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SIZE
Width with crown 39.1 mm
Width without crown 36.0 mm
Between lugs 19 mm
Lug to lug length 44.9 mm
Case Thickness 9.1 mm
All sizes are approximate.
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