A wonderful condition Mondia chronograph with a legendary Valjoux 72 movement is an irresistible combination. Model reference 4213.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
Mondia were founded in 1935, and just three years later the Valjoux 72 movement was launched. In 1969 Mondia joined Zenith and Movado in a group, and it would make no sense to buy in the Valjoux movement when they used the El Primero movement from Zenith instead, particulary in America. So that, combined with the styling, make us think this is a late sixties watch.The Valjoux 72 movement stopped being produced in 1974, before the Zenith -Movado-Mondia group split, so the watch can not be later than late sixties.
CONDITION
We ought to start with the movement. The Valjoux 72 has been widely used and in all around three quarters of a million were made. But it is who and how the movements were used that made the difference. The most expensive Rolex watch ever sold at auction, the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona, used this movement (as did all Daytonas of the period.) Add to that the Heuer Carrera and Autavia, the Universal Geneve Compax, Breitling Navitimer, plus other watches from Gallet, Le-Coultre, Girard-Perregaux, Zodiac, Eterna, Enicar, Ulysse-Nardin and more and you have a who’s who of fantastic companies. The way you can identify a V72 easily is the gap between the crown and the top pusher is smaller than the gap between the crown and bottom pusher.
So onto the actual watch! The reverse panda dial is excellent and the lume plots very clean. The bezel has just a few marks, and doesn’t click and will turn in either direction. The red triangle at twelve compliments the red on the hour markers on the dial – a detail easily missed but shows signs of high quality. The unpolished case is good, and the screw down case back makes claims to being waterproof to 600ft (but never get any vintage watch wet!). Everything works as it should. The olive green leather strap is new, and could be swapped for a different colour if preferred.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
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SIZE
Width with crown 44.9 mm
Width without crown 42.0 mm
Between lugs 20 mm
Lug to lug length 45.5 mm
Case Thickness 15.1 mm
All sizes are approximate. The watch is photographed on a wrist of 190mm/7.5 inches.
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. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.
From 1st September 2021 we will be planting a tree for every watch we sell, working with the International Tree Foundation (Est 1922) to make this business positive on carbon. By buying anything pre owned you are effectively reusing what already exists, but this takes it further and makes us feel good.