A nineties revamp of the 1960’s Universal Genève White Shadow, in completely unworn condition. You will not see another.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
Like all proper new old stock watches, this was not sold so the paperwork is not dated with the date of sale – that would have made our lives easier! In 1989 the brand was revised by the parent company of Cyma, so it is after this date. The company didn’t last that long, but the closing date has not proved possible to find. The paperwork doesn’t have date codes on them but the UK official agents listed have a telephone number starting 01, which started in April 1995, so it has to be after this date.
CONDITION
The 1960’s Gerald Genta designed White Shadow saw Universal Genève compete for the title of the Worlds thinnest automatic watch, and this 1990’s White Shadow takes on that same principle too of being extra thin. Some watches had already been made that were under 1mm thick (or thin?), but while they work they are not strong enough to wear regularly. This White Shadow design is a compromise between impractical and still being durable, but still comes in at under 5 mm thin. The movement was a pleasant surprise in this quartz watch. Normally we would expect a decent ETA movement of some sort, but in order to make the case as thin as possible the signed Universal Genève 609 is a higher specification. How much better is it? Well, the only two other companies that use this movement are Cartier (calibre 608) and Audemars Piguet (2608), with just cosmetic modifications. We will install a brand new battery before sending the watch out to the new owner. The only negatives we can report is that the crown appears to have lost its gold cap, and the bracelet gold sections have dark areas which we haven’t attempted to clean off, in order to keep the patina. The bracelet is quite long and our sister website, SpareLinks.com, may have extra links if required.
This watch will be supplied with the original inner and outer presentation box, unstamped papers, a hangtag 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 32.8 mm
Width without crown 31.8 mm
Lug to lug length 32.6 mm
Case Thickness 4.8 mm
Bracelet will fit a maximum wrist size of 188 mm. The bracelet can be sized for you if you give us your wrist size when placing the order.
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.
