1920"s Art Deco Gruen Quadron

Creator: Gruen
Case Material: Gold-filled
Movement: Manual Wind
Case Dimensions: Width: 0.95 in (24 mm) Diameter: 1.5 in (38 mm)
Style: Art Deco
Place of Origin: Switzerland
Period: 1920-1929
Date of Manufacture: 1920s
Condition: Good Replacements made: Dial Professionally refinished. New Crystal New Watch Band Case gently hand polished Complete mechanical service. Repaired: Dial Professionally refinished. New Crystal New Watch Band Case gently hand polished Complete mechanical service. Polished. Minor losses.


My shop was recently selected to supply vintage American watches for a premier movie starring some major actors and a world famous director. They were looking for authentic watches that would represent the time period from 1915-1926. I was selected because of my attention to detail and originality. It is a true story of events that took place during the 1920?s. This would of been a perfect watch style for the film.
Gruen "Quadron Model 63" Art Deco design wristwatch in 14K yellow gold fill, circa 1930.
This Quadron model has a large stepped case with a recessed crown. It was priced at $52.50 in 1930. It is in excellent condition showing only a few tiny specks of brassing to the bezel corners and a little to the tips of the lugs. The case back is excellent and unengaged, it does have a tiny flea bite. Dial is very good. Case measures 38mm long and 24mm wide. The watch is powered by its correct 15-jewel Gruen grade 157 Quadron manual wind movement, just serviced and running strong.
In years from the 1920s through the 1940s, the Gruen Watch Company of USA & Switzerland was one of the leaders in wristwatch design and quality, even working together with Rolex.
In 1925, Gruen introduced the Quadron. Similar in concept to the Cartouche models, these were rectangular watches containing very high-quality 15-j or 17-j tonneau-shaped movements. A larger movement is generally more reliable and accurate, and is generally more rugged, than a smaller one of the same quality, so the Gruen Cartouche and Quadron, with their case-filling, purpose-built movements performed much better than the small, round movements used by most of their competitors at the time. Round movements were still used in the less expensive rectangular Gruen wristwatches.
According to their advertising, Gruen submitted a consecutive run of 200 ordinary Quadron movements for observatory chronometer tests in Switzerland. There was not a category for wristwatches in 1925, so they were tested to pocket watch standards. Each of the 200 were granted a certificate for timekeeping excellence, which Fred Gruen believed to be a record at the time. These were the earliest American wristwatches to qualify as serious timekeeping instruments on par with a pocket watch. The efforts of companies like Gruen during this era helped change the publics negative attitude towards wristwatches.
If you research my selling history you will find that the ?Quadron? is my number one selling style of watch. It is simple, I am a history nut and I appreciate the huge risk that Gruen took in the 1920?s to introduce a rectangular movement to the wrist watch work, in addition, it was as accurate as a pocket watch. Now that is what I call innovation. Gruen had a purpose to build a better watch
The Quadron series featured these movements:
The Quadron collection consisted of the following calibers as the years went by.
117 17 jewel
119 17 jewel
123 17 jewel
157 15 jewel
325 17 jewel
3251 21 jewel
877 Techniquadron
The dial was refinished. Imagine ?Liquid Beige Silver? that is what this dial looks like. Silver hands and hour markers.
The watch has the original crown. Look at picture 10, Gruen created a dust and moisture collar to help prevent dust and moisture from seeping into the movement. What an ingenious and clever design touch.
This was has had the following:
A complete tear down service
New Stem
New Old Stock Crystal
Dial refinished
Case gently polished
New black leather band with period correct white top stitch
Look at the case detail; notice the case corners are sharp and not rounded. Look closely, This is hard to come and very rare in a gold filled case that is almost 90 years old.
The case measures 24 MM wide (without crown), approximately 38 MM long (with lugs) The case back is clean, bright and wells preserved!
The band is a 19MM black band
Use the pictures are part of the description. I have tried to take close ups of the watch. The pictures do represent the watch very well.
My handling time to ship is approximately 10 days as I travel a lot. Please keep that in mind. The watch are being sold as is, keep that in mind. If you have a concern, please email me and I will try to work with you. I may not be a frequent seller and buyer, but I am honest and value my reputation as being forthright. Vintage watches are vintage watches; they can be like a vintage sports car. They can be temperamental at times. For accuracy, the case bezel has one or two wear nibbles

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