Found: A Movado Calendograph Formerly Owned By Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was an exceptional leader and a complicated man. Both adjectives could also be applied to his watches. Churchill loved watches, yet was always late. His great-grandson, Randolph Churchill, tells a story of his private secretaries setting his house clocks 15 minutes forward in hopes of correcting this regular tardiness, yet they could never get a hold of Churchill’s personal watch. He showed up to appointments when he pleased anyway.
Churchill’s most historically notable watch was his Breguet minute repeating rattrapante chronograph pocket watch, Breguet number 765, which he affectionately called “Turnip.” The Breguet proudly remains in the possession of his family, but luckily for us, Turnip was not Churchill’s only watch.
Breguet number 765 or “Turnip”.
Throughout his life, Churchill was gifted timepieces consistently, which must be quite nice. Especially nice when, in 1947, Hans Wilsdorf himself wrote to Churchill wanting to gift the 100,000th Rolex Chronometer ever produced, a Datejust. Churchill kindly accepted the gift but not without requesting rose gold and his coat of arms to be engraved on the caseback!
Other Churchill-gifted watches have appeared for sale over the years. My favorite being a Louis Cottier and Agassiz and Co. “Victory” world time pocket watch, versions of which were also presented to each of the allied leaders – Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Harry S. Truman, and Joseph Stalin – by notable citizens of Geneva. Sotheby’s sold Churchill’s example in 2015 for 485,000 GBP.
Churchill’s “VE Day” Louis Cottier and Agassiz and Co. featuring Saint George in cloisonné enamel on the dial. Image: Sotheby’s
In 2017, a gold Lemania chronograph surfaced and sold for 162,500 GBP by, again, Sotheby’s. The Lemania was gifted to Churchill by the Canton de Vaud while on vacation in Switzerland in 1946. And earlier this year, a Sir John Bennett minute repeater pocket watch gifted by Herbert Henry Asquith for Christmas in 1905 sold for 76,000 GBP at Dawsons.
The latest Churchill provenance watch to be offered for sale is a Movado Calendograph in 18k yellow gold dating to September 1946. Starting with the watch itself, the Calendograph was a flagship model for Movado in this period – a period in which Movado was producing watches rivaling nearly any other Swiss brand (more on this claim soon in another article). Churchill’s Movado was gifted by Beyer in Zurich, a retailer of only the best Swiss watches, and Beyer did not shortchange the then-former Prime Minister. This particular Calendograph reference, 44820, has the most interesting case shape of the model’s many variants with shaped “turtle” lugs.
Condition is never first on the mind for a watch with historical provenance like this, but it remains important to note that the watch appears to be original. While we don’t have photos of Churchill wearing the watch or what it looked like when he received it, I can say the dial shows some wear but is not refinished. The case is in excellent condition and is the star of the show here, with a prominent caseback engraving. It reads, translating to English, “To Winston Churchill as testimony of the admiration and gratitude of some Swiss citizens, September 1946.”
Image: Peter Harrington Rare Books
Now for the history: this Movado and the previously sold Lemania chronograph were gifted to Churchill on the same trip to Switzerland. Traveling with his wife Clementine, the trip from August 23 to September 20, 1946, included a longer stay at a mansion on Lake Geneva, a stop in Bern (receiving the Lemania as a thanks), and culminated in Zurich. Traveling aboard an SBB Red Arrow (now known as the “Churchill Arrow” and still available for private bookings!), the trip was not all leisure, mansions, and fancy trains. On September 19th, 1946, Churchill delivered one of his most memorable post-war speeches, calling for a “United States of Europe.”
When Sotheby’s offered the Lemania, much of the interest focused specifically on the historical ties to this Zurich speech and the idea that Churchill was writing the speech during his time in Bern. I can only assume that this is the reason a frankly unremarkable Lemania sold for 162,500 GBP.
The ref. 44820 Movado Calendograph features a 34mm diameter case. Image: Peter Harrington Rare Books
The Movado Calendograph is offered at a fixed price of 150,000 GBP and remains available to “add to basket.” As an unabashed vintage Movado lover, I can admit there is some sticker shock here, but in comparison to Lemania, it might be reasonable. The provenance is even stronger. Having been gifted to Churchill in Zurich the day before his speech sounds better to me than simply while he was on his way to Zurich. Plus, I’d much rather have a Movado Calendograph than a Lemania chronograph.
Winston Churchill’s 1946 Movado Calendograph is on offer by Peter Harrington Rare Books in London. The watch is accompanied by a copy of a substantiating letter from the Churchill Archives, which comes from the collection of publishing executive Steve Forbes.
Hodinkee
