A chromed elaborate telemetre; A Regina Omega, Regina Watch Co., stem wound stem set, Swiss, coin silver, open face with applied equestrian ornament, 55 mm; Jewels Huguenin, stem wound stem set, parcel gilt gold filled hunt case, 48 mm; A West End Watch Co. railway service, stem wound stem set, chromed case, original crystal, 48 mm; Angelo, alarm watch, an eight day hebdomas, gunmetal, 52 mm; Ulysse Nardin, chronograph, base metal, 45 mm; Vogt silver-toned open face, key wound key set, 45 mm; Gold filled by Tavinus, open face, ca. 1935, 17 jewels adjusted, #37831, 44 mm.
Provenance: From the Collection of Adam Wygnanski. Mr. Wygnanski, a Polish Jew born in Warsaw during WWI, was brought up to be ever vigilant and always ready to flee his home and community with little or no notice, and the advantage of wealth that could be stuffed into one’s pockets was ingrained from an early age. Jews like Adam Wygnanski came to believe in the importance of highly portable wealth more than ever during WWII and the Holocaust; entire families could be saved with a flashy diamond, a gorgeous trinket or a precious watch that did clever things. Mr. Wygnanski, his wife and child became refugees after the war, fleeing Poland for France before settling in French Canada. An educated and ambitious man, he had advanced degrees in chemical engineering and pursued careers both as an entrepreneur and an academic. At retirement, he began collecting the watches being sold today. “Fine watches held a very special place in the hearts of men of my Dad’s generation,” Wygnanski’s daughter, Rysia de Ravel, said, “Developing deep expertise in the intricacies of watches was a pleasurable intellectual pursuit and an expression of worldliness for my father, even as it tapped into values acquired in childhood.”

Telemetre dial damaged and missing crystal. Alarm watch with cracked dial. Nardin and Tavinus runs intermittently.