Jewellery, Watches, Antiquities and Objects of Vertu

A gentleman’s stainless steel wristwatch, by Wittnauer, 1960s, the signed textured silvered dial with applied baton hour markers and subsidiary seconds dial, jewelled movement, stainless steel case stamped ‘Use All Proof 1200 wrench’, with signed crown, on a black leather strap, in red plastic case, interior signed ‘Wittnauer, a Longines-Wittnauer product’, dial diameter 30mm. £240-£300

Wittnauer Watches was founded in New York in 1880, by the Swiss emigré watch maker Albert Witnauer. Their watches were manufactures in Geneva, but specifically designed for the US market, and emphasised innovation and performance. In 1918, after testing involving being dropped from airplanes, thrown from the Empire State Building and subject to the rigors of both the Amazon and Himalayas, the Wittnauer Watches All-Proof made its debut as the first waterproof, shockproof and anti-magnetic watch in the world.

Even more unusual, perhaps, was the company's leadership - in 1916, (a full four years before women were given the vote in the US and more than 50 years before women could vote in Switzerland), Martha Wittnauer, Albert's sister, took control of the business, and headed the company for the next 20 years. In 1950 the firm was brought by the Swiss watchmakers Longines.