SHD Landeron 149 Chronographe

Thank you Alan, wear it well!

This is a beautiful gold plated vintage SHD Landeron 149 Chronographe from the 1950’s, and it is in fantastic condition. SHD? It stands for Société Horlogère du Doubs.

In today’s “Big Watch” culture, most people opt for a steel or even titanium finish to their watches. However, in the 1950’s, there was only one choice and that was Gold. I mean, who has ever heard of a “Long Service” Titanium watch!

For a watch which is almost certainly over 60 years old, it’s doing rather well for itself. The case has a deep shine with minimal scratches to its surface, with only minor discolouration to its side edge at 9 o’clock, where the watch has been set onto a table over many, many years.

The original white face is untouched and again our photographs don’t do it justice. Yes, there is foxing to the face and blemishes where dirt has got in; but rather than detracting, it creates a lovely cream patinated face. The hours are indicated with gold Dauphine indices and Arabic numerals against a raised 9 ring background. To its outer edge are the usual Tachymeter scale and another calibrated to the mysterious 20/60th’s but this time indicating a measure for Km’s. A tachymeter for measuring slow speeds perhaps? On closer inspection, you will also notice tiny raised black dots at each hour point. These are in fact luminous markers, but their glow disappeared long ago.

All the hands are gold finished, and again, are Dauphine in style. That is, except for the minute sub-dial hand, this is an arrowhead.

The pushers look to be original, but the crown, not. The crown has been replaced at some time as the gold plating is just slightly different in hue. It’s over sized too, so looks very “Heuer Carrera” and is easy to wind with a good positive action.

The Stainless Steel screw down back is in equally good condition with very light swirl marks to its entire surface; what we like to call, enjoyment scratches! The centre is stamped with a serial number 644 with three stars beneath.

Inside our watch is a Landeron Cal.149 movement. This movement had a long production life from 1937 to 1970 with in excess of 3,500,000 units being produced; indicating it was a strong and stable unit. It is a cam-lever chronograph and one of the few Landeron calibres with a traditional operation, i.e. the top pusher starts and stops the chronograph and the lower pusher performs the reset. The more commonly used landeron 48, 51, 148 and 248 calibres were designed such, that the top pusher starts the chronograph and the lower pusher is used for both the stop and reset functions. A small difference, but it’s like driving a right hand or left hand drive car; it’s the same, just different or strange.

SHD were based in Besançon, close to the border of Switzerland. Besançon is the capital of the department of Doubs and the former capital of Franche-Comté, a region in eastern France. The history of watchmaking in Besançon began at the end of the eighteenth century, when Swiss watchmakers set up the first workshops in the capital of Comtoise. Besançon was announced as the “French Capital of Watchmaking” at the International Exhibition of 1860, which was held at Labourey Place.

The city remained a dominant force in watch making, until the crisis of the 1930s. It recovered before the Second World War, but the sector decreased its share of activity after the end of this conflict. There is still a tiny watch making presence in the area today, but the number of workshops is low, with only 89 establishments listed; with just over 2000 salaried jobs associated with the industry throughout the region.

Besançon nonetheless keeps indelible traces of this rich past; the Dodane watch making factory, the Musée du Temps, the monumental clock at the Viotte railway station and not forgetting the Ecole d’Horlogerie, in Besançon itself. This has become a nationally recognized institution, with such eminent companies as Lip, Yema, Zenith and Maty being Patrons.

We have looked at this watch many times, but each time we do, we notice another little detail that adds to its story. As I write this, it’s just happened again! Looking at the new black leather strap, I see, it too was made in Besançon. How cool is that!

So, this watch is great for wearing either with jeans, or better still, with a business suit or dinner jacket. It’s not flash, it’s elegant and catches the night’s light in soft yellow tones. You will love it.

Stand out from the crowd and wear a gold watch!

Specs