This Gruen Power-Glide has a Borgel case that is collectible in itself, and is a good size for the time.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
By 1958 all Gruen family involvement in the business, and US factories, had ended and the watches were then made in Switzerland – just like this one. While Gruen did import some watches before this date they never had Geneve on the dial. That, combined with the movement, and the word VACUUM on the inside of the case back lead us to believe this was built at the end of the 1950’s.
CONDITION
The Gruen watch company is most associated with its American operation and models like the Veri-Thin. Like its contemporaries at Waltham and Elgin it struggled post war, and the original Grün family had sold up in 1954. The new owners looked to Switzerland, home of watchmaking, to have watches made for them. For the case they went to one of the best – François Borgel. Borgel have patents for waterproof watch cases going back to the earliest days – one of their patents was number 16 in Switzerland – the 16th ever patent there! They also made cases for Rolex before the Oyster came out. In the 1920’s Borgel cases, now owned by Taubert, patented the Decagonal screw on case back that this watch features. This was also used by Mido, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and a host of others. So we are in good company. The case is all stainless steel and has the number 2645 stamped between the top lugs.
The automatic movement is stamped Gruen Watch Co. calibre 560RSS, and has 23 jewels (this jewel count is also referenced on the dial). It is all working well. The grey dial has some dirt on it, and the hands have light corrosion, but nothing too bad. The signed crown is original and nice to see on a watch this old. The green leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour if preferred. Swapping straps is quite easy thanks to the drilled lugs.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
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SIZE
Width with crown 36.2 mm
Width without crown 35.1 mm
Between lugs 18 mm
Lug to lug length 38.8 mm
Case Thickness 11.4 mm
All sizes are approximate.
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