Lanco “Monaco” 1970s Chrono
Here we have for your delectation and delight, an absolutely beautiful, Lanco “Monaco” Valjoux 7733 1970s Chrono!
In our humble opinion, there is no better complication to collect in the vintage watch world than the chronograph. There’s a strong hint in our name….
Yes we all know that having a stopwatch function on your wrist is now largely redundant (some would argue that the same holds true for the watch itself), the chronograph be it a three register or in this case with 2 sub dials makes for a great looking watch.
Sadly the Lanco brand is one of the numerous Swiss victims of the quartz crisis that decimated the world of mechanical watchmakers over 40 years ago. The company had originated in the mid 1800s, going through several iterations before it started to use the name Lanco (for Langendorf Company) sometime in the 1960s.
The company remained in family hands until 1964. A group of employees took over the company and joined a conglomerate of watchmakers (Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Uhrenindustrie AG) in the face of weakening business in 1965.
In 1971 Lanco became part of the Omega-Tissot Group. After 1973, a number of movements from other suppliers were used for Lanco chronographs, the most famous calibers stemming from Valjoux and Angelus. A Lanco watch with the futuristic Tissot Astrolon movement (caliber 2250) was also produced in the 1970s.
The watch you see here:
For its age, the tonneau case is large for a vintage wristwatch, but average in size when compared to modern watches.
Our vintage Lanco panda chronograph has a small 60 second register at the 9:00 position and a matching 45-minute register at 3:00.
The case, caseback, dials, pushers, crown and crystal are all in very good condition. As we always say, check the photographs to see how clean this example is. It comes on a later (we think) but original Lanco steel bracelet that is still in keeping with a watch of this age and style. Comfortable to wear too. And the added bonus of also coming with an original box.
This Lanco uses a manual wind, 17 jewel, Valjoux calibre 7733 movement. The affordable Valjoux 7733 family of movements (which included the 7733, 7734, 7736 and 7737) was produced from 1969 until 1978. They were used in wristwatches from many different manufacturers, including Breitling, Heuer and Tudor. Illustrious company no doubt.
Vintage chronograph wristwatches will always be desirable due to their aesthetics, iconic beauty and the design of their amazingly engineered mechanical movements. Also, Prices have risen strongly in recent years as the more established, bigger brands have become crazy expensive and should almost certainly continue to rise in the future. This little known Lanco is therefore a great value proposition of such a piece.