Antique Way

Antique Wrist Watches

This seems to me the ideal occasion to introduce not just the work but also the man. Louis Cottier was an extrovert, a kind man, a ¡°Sunday painter¡± as he called himself, a constructor of automata and singing birds and of the shadow theaters called ¡°ombres chinoises¡± in French, a lover of mecha-nical music, and a restorer of clocks and watches so talented that Alfred Chapuis, the well-known horological historian, recommended him to Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, who entrusted him with antique watches the restoration and maintenance of his collection of antique watches.

Louis Cottier was born on September 28, 1894 in Carouge, a small Sardinian enclave which dates from the reign of the Bourbons. Even today Carouge¡¯s architecture, town squares, churches, and even its inha-bitants, reflect the Italian influence of its origins. The antique watches atmosphere is indeed quite different from the Calvinist mentality that has so influenced Carouge¡¯s larger neighbor, Geneva.

Cottier came by his talents naturally. His father Emmanuel was known as a maker of watches and automata and had a workshop in the rue Saint-Victor. Louis attended the Geneva school of horo-logy in the rue Necker, in the class of another impor-tant figure in Genevan horology, Henry Hess.

The teaching of this master profoundly influenced the young man and proved to be of great help to him in later years, particularly during the difficult time of the Great Depression. Once his training was completed, he worked as master horologist in seve-ral local factories. The economic crisis forced com-panies to drastically reduce production, certain of them closing down entirely.

It is at this time that Louis Cottier decided to go into business on his own, working for 13 years in the back room of a book and stationery shop which his wife operated at rue Vautier 45 in Carouge. In this modest atelier he began his activity as a maker of desk clocks, pocket antique watches, wristwatches and hand-made pro-totypes. In the beginning, he made wristwatches without hands, and watches with jumping digital hours, as well as watches with automata and jacque-marts. It was in this workshop that his first World Time pocket watch was made in 1931 for Beszan-ger, a well-known local jewelry and watch shop.

The Rolex Submariner

As the Rolex Submariner celebrates its 50th anniversary, we can trace it roots back to the very first waterproof Rolex Oyster. However, the appearance of the model 6204 Submariner in 1954, signaled the dawn of what we have come to identify as the ultimate sports tool watch.

The Rolex 6204 was fitted with a Rolex caliber A296 semi-bubbleback automatic movement and was waterproof to 600 ft. This model was followed by the 6200 and the 6205.

In 1957, these models gave way to the Submariner models 6538 and 6536/1, which also had the new caliber 1030 movement and a larger case and better crown, which boosted the depth rating to 660 ft for the 6538, but dropped the 6536/1 to 330 ft.

The late 50? was a transitional period for Rolex and the Submariner, as they introduced updated models using the 1500 series of movements running concurrently with the short lived caliber 1030 series. The first Rolex Submariner to use the caliber 1530 was the model 5510, using the oversized crown of the model 6538. This model 5510 is one of the rarest of Vintage Rolex? and was only produced for a year or two.

The Rolex model 5512, also using the Rolex automatic caliber 1530 and depth rated to 660 ft, quickly replaced the 5510. The 5512 was the watch that gave the Rolex Submariner its most identifiable face, with the crown guards, Mercedes hands and large waterproof case. This model was put up for sale alongside the replacement for the Rolex model 6536, the model 5508 which still did not have crown guards and was only depth rated to 330 ft. When the 5508 was retired, the 5512 was fitted with a chronometer rated Rolex movement, the caliber 1560 and a new model, the reference 5513 was introduced using the venerable Rolex caliber 1530. The Rolex 5512 was marketed until the late 1970? and the 5513 was finally retired in 1990.

All the previously mentioned vintage Rolex Submariners were no-date models, a Submariner model with a date window was introduced in 1965 with the debut of the Rolex model 1680.