The Want List / 003
Universal GenèvePolerouter
I have never seen one in person. That is the problem.
How I got here
I wanted one vintage watch that wasn't a Rolex or an Omega.
This one kept coming up. Then I found out who drew it.
Mostly under $5k.
Why this one
Gérald Genta drew it. That is most of the reason.
He was 23, and it was 1954 — twenty years before the Royal Oak. The job was a commemorative watch for SAS, who had just started flying over the Arctic.
It launched as the Polarouter. The A became an E within a few years.
Universal credit the design to him. No 1950s document names him, but the attribution has stood for seventy years.
Twenty years before the Royal Oak.
The part worth knowing
The good ones have a micro-rotor — a winding weight small enough to sit inside the movement instead of on top of it.
Universal called theirs the Microtor. Calibre 215, 1958: 4.1 mm, the thinnest automatic in the world.
They didn't invent it. Hans Kocher at Büren filed eleven months earlier. Both patents were granted the same day, which is why early examples are engraved “patented rights pending”.
Büren filed first.
What is stopping me
Nothing sensible. I still can't choose between gold and steel — black dial and no date either way.
And I have never handled one. Which is really what worries me: I suspect I will buy the first good one I see.
The watch
| Made | 1954–1969 |
|---|---|
| Launched as | Polarouter |
| Case | 34–35.5 mm · steel, gold-capped or 18k |
| Movement | Cal. 215 “Microtor” · 4.1 mm · automatic |
Where it sits
| Which one | Gold or steel |
|---|---|
| The dial | Black, no date |
| Why | Genta |
| Budget | Under $5,000 |
Afraid I'll buy the first one I actually see.
- Images.
- Photography — various sources.