Wittnauer Electro-Chron Presented For Charity Auction

A NOTE ABOUT HOW THIS AUCTION IS BEING RUN:

When you click "Place A Bid" you will be prompted to send us an email. Kindly list your bid amount in round numbers (increments of $50 at minimum, please!), full name, address, and phone number in your message, or we will not be able to process your bid. We will update the listing regularly with the current high bid. As this is auction is for charity, we will be running this in an Open English Auction format, so we will not be taking proxy bids. Please place your bid accordingly, and check back often to see the current highest bid! No fees will be added to the total price, aside from shipping costs or New York State Taxes if applicable.

The Auction will run through Friday, May 20th, at 5:00PM Eastern Standard Time.  

100% of proceeds will be donated the Horological Society of New York. Thank you for your support!

In 1960, about a decade before the Quartz Crisis changed the face of horology forever, Bulova produced a watch that eschewed the traditional balance wheel in favor of a 360-hertz steel tuning fork, powered by electromagnets attached to a battery-powered transistor oscillator circuit. Designed by Max Hetzel, the Accutron made waves. It became the first wristwatch to be precise enough to be qualified for U.S. Railroad certification, guaranteed to be accurate to about one minute per month, or about two seconds per day.

The Accutron's success prompted Swiss brands to introduce their own versions of the technology. Universal Geneve released their first--and only--electric watch, the Ultrasonic, in the early 1960s. Like Universal Geneve, Wittnauer (then known mainly for their chronographs and their association with Longines) was an early adopter of this new technology. 

R&D on what would become Switzerland's first electric movement began in the 1940s, spearheaded by designers André Breyer and René Besson of Ébauches SA. ESA secured the patent (numbers 345611 and 346828) for their electric movement in 1959. The movements--L4750/51--were assembled at ESA's manufacture at Landeron and used WD-5 batteries manufactured by Leclanché. Unlike its American counterparts by Bulova and Hamilton, the L4750 contained no magnets. Instead, the L4750 relied on the electric impulses produced by the contact wires reacting with the steel balance plate. 

The first Wittnauer Electro-Chrons with the Landeron 4750 movements rolled off the production line at the close of 1960, and debuted at Basel in April 1961. Thirty different brands utilized this movement, among them Benrus and Gruen. But it's the Wittnauer Electro-Chron--with its distinctive hands shaped like lightning bolts--that remain among the most collectible, relics of an era just a few short years before the introduction of the industry-changing Quartz technology.

All this technical bit aside, the Wittnauer Electro-Chron also has another fascinating connection: to Major League Baseball. In the early 1960s, Wittnauer Electro-Chrons were presented to former Major Leaguers by the Cleveland Indians and the New York Yankees. This particular Electro-Chron that we are auctioning belonged to none other than famed (or infamous) shortstop "Rowdy" Richard Bartell. 

Dick Bartell's career in the Major League Baseball began in 1927. In the nearly twenty years Bartell was in the Major Leagues, he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Detroit Tigers. He played in three World Series and the first-ever All-Star game in 1933. At the time of his retirement in 1947, Bartell led the National League in double plays and had a batting average of .284 with an impressive 79 home runs. He is ranked at the 38th Best Shortstop in Major League Baseball history.

This watch was presented to Bartell by the owners of the New York Yankees at Old-Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium, July 28, 1962. Analog/Shift located and presented it to former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and now, Mayor Giuliani has partnered with us to auction it for charity - and what better charity than the Horological Society of New York?