A classic style Fortis with black dial, moonphase, and triple date (day, date and month)- in Arabic.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
Ranfft suggests the movement dates to circa 1955, but we have found adverts for Fortis dating to 1956 with the older, cursive font logo and 1960 with the newer, capital letter logo. We have selected circa 1958 as a mid point between these two dates. Ranfft also suggests the movement is available in either 15 or 17 jewel mode, whereas this and other Fortis triple dates we have found all have 21 jewels.
CONDITION
This watch has two major advantages, depending on your language skills. If you speak Arabic then this is perfect for you. But, if like us, you don’t speak Arabic but love the look of a triple date moonphase dial then this has the advantage of not needing to set the full calendar up to be able to enjoy the look!
To set the calendar you have flush pushers at 10, 2 and 4 to adjust the day, month and date individually. The way the Venus 203 movement was designed the day and date changes around midnight, but the month always needed to be changed manually. All of the pushers work as they should. There is no quick set way to adjust the moonphase, but it the man on the moon has a smile on their face (see the enlarged photo for details). The dial appears original, with just a few marks that look far worse under the glare of photography lighting than in real life. The case is 20 micron gold plated and does show some wear, most notably around the crown which is exactly where you would expect a manually winding watch to show wear. The bottom right lug is slightly bent inwards, but we have not tried to straighten this. The strap is part worn – it was new, but BYW’s owner has taken a shine to this watch and is wearing it currently!
This watch will be supplied with our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail.
SIZE
Width with crown 36.7 mm
Width without crown 35.1 mm
Between lugs 19 mm
Lug to lug length 41.3 mm
Case Thickness 10.7 mm
Bracelet maximum length n/a
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us.
