Bring a Loupe: A ‘Disco Volante’ Movado Chronograph, A Polerouter Rarity, And A Swatch
Happy Friday, and welcome back to Bring A Loupe! Imagine your surprise, driving down the interstate in Alabama, you look to your left and see a kangaroo hopping along the median. This happened, marking my favorite news story of recent memory. Her name is Sheila, and her owner is Patrick Starr; these are just the facts. Anyway, when I see something like this week’s Polerouter while scrolling through eBay, it’s a bit like seeing Sheila on I-85.
But first, results. Our lead pick from last edition, a Cartier “Reverso,” did well over at Lyon & Turnbull, selling for £41,450. The Patek Philippe Solar Desk Clock ended up at $3,000, and our humble Rolex Oyster Perpetual found a new home for £1,950. Reminder, the Abercrombie & Fitch Seafarer, made by Heuer, will be auctioned off on Sunday at 11 AM ET — the current bid, at publication, is $40,000.
1940s Movado M90 Ref. 19004 ‘Disco Volante’ With Pulsations Dial
Referring to and calling vintage Movado “underappreciated” or “undervalued” is probably least appropriate when discussing M90 and M95 chronographs made before the 1970s. The time-only Movados, like those regularly featured here on Bring A Loupe, most of them from eBay, sure, those are underappreciated in my eyes. But by now, a good portion of vintage collectors are familiar enough with Movado’s work in chronographs to properly appreciate just how great a watch like one we have here is.
That wasn’t always the case. One of the first articles I wrote in watches, nearly six years ago now, covered the range of M95 chronographs with cases made by François Borgel. I still receive messages from someone who has stumbled upon an old Movado chronograph, looking for information. In the years since writing that wannabe Reference Points, appreciation for and values of Movado’s in-house caliber-powered Chronographs have both come a long way. Today’s M90 is as rare as they come, the only known to the market in this configuration and with all of the mid-century charm a gal could ask for.
The M90 two-register chronograph movement began production in 1938 as the world’s first two-button modular chronograph caliber. Integrated chronos might be all the rage today, but the modular nature of the M90 was celebrated back in the day, lauded for ease of servicing. Among M90s and M95s, this “Disco Volante” cased reference is among the least common. Including examples with refinished dials, about 15 exist. This is the only known example with an original pulsations track dial. It’s 34mm in diameter and, speaking from experience, wears wonderfully.
Not only does the dial have that pulsations track, but it is also retailer stamped, Grandin Le Phare in Le Havre, France. To top it off, the 60-minute register at three o’clock features a “kris” or “snake” hand — a must-have for Movado chronographs at this level. If there were build sheets for vintage Movados, this one would have all the boxes checked except for maybe “Breguet numerals,” but we’ll let the original owner slide on that mistake.
The seller, Dylan of Goldfinger’s Vintage in New York City, has posted this Movado to his site just yesterday, and the asking price is $18,995. Check it out in full right here.
1950s Universal Genève Polerouter Ref. 20217-8 ‘Broad Arrow’
If you’re the kind of person and vintage collector who wants to go really, really deep on one model, there are few better fitting the bill than the Universal Genève Polerouter. I know many watch enthusiasts who, after years of broad collecting, sell everything but their examples of Gerald Genta’s original design and lock in. And if you were to poll real Polerouter heads, the elusive “Broad Arrow” would probably sit atop the grail list. Because there are so many Polerouter variants and, frankly, large production numbers, prices for any common example aren’t too egregious, but when it comes to these special references, collectors tend to pay up.
The Broad Arrow Polerouter was produced in a handful of references, two being stainless steel. This is the ref. 20217-8 being the earlier, powered by the UG caliber 138SS “bumper” automatic. It was among the first Polerouters made, with production beginning in 1955. Interestingly, this is only two years from the Omega Trilogy of Speedmaster, Seamaster, and Railmaster, which all employed similar hands. The Broad Arrow was probably made to be the sportiest of all Polerouter options with liberal application of radium luminous material filling the outer ring, referred to as a “nitelite marker ring” in period advertisements, to go along with the more proud and more luminous handset.
This example is fresh from an estate, according to the seller, and looks to be in good condition compared to other known examples. Specifically on the dial, the lume here tends to flake off, but this one is relatively full in that regard. The watch has seen a polish or two over the years, evidenced by the faded reference and serial number engraving on the caseback, but the twisted lugs are still nicely defined. The crystal could use a long session with some PolyWatch — that’s the fun of an eBay find!
An eBay seller in Dagsboro, Delaware, has listed this rare Polerouter for auction, ending on Saturday, May 3rd at 8:00 PM ET. At the time of publication, bidding had reached $4,100, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the final price reach five digits. Get all of the details right here.
2025 Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 with Pistachio Dial
At risk of riling up my Bring A Loupe regulars, here is a Rolex released about a month ago at Watches and Wonders and sold 8 days ago. Say what you want about the simple fact that it is being offered via online auction, but as a nearly indisputable fact, it will be an interesting sale to follow. Rolex started having some fun with its Oyster Perpetual dial choices back in 2020 with the coral red, “Tiffany” turquoise blue, bright yellow, and candy pink options. This year, the Crown opted for a palette of additions that is, as Malaika Crawford put it in her Hands-On article, “less pop, more poise,” and collectors are quickly adding their names to various lists at retailers around the world.
The 41mm Pistachio variant is expected to be one of the more in-demand specs. We may not see the $50,000 asking prices that riddled Chrono24 during the COVID-19 watch internet frenzy, but, in reality, who really knows? Taking price out of the equation for just a moment here, the OP 41 is one of the best and most subtle everyday options in the 2025 Rolex catalog. With an interesting dial tone like Pistachio, it gives off a very “I know watches but I’m not too serious” vibe.
The auctioneer, Loupe This, is located in Los Angeles, and the current bid price at publication is already well over retail at $11,500. The auction is set to end on Thursday, May 8th, at 12 PM ET. Click here to watch or bid along.
1940s Marvin In 14k Rose Gold With Hidden Presentation Engraving
Sometimes, a great vintage watch comes with a brand name you might not fully understand or know, and that’s just fine. Before it succumbed to the impacts of the Quartz Crisis, Marvin was a great name in Swiss watches. Dating back to 1850 in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, the brand had a distinctive eye for detail.
For a simple 34mm manually-wound rose gold watch from the 1940s with an asking price under $1,300, there is a lot going on here. Starting with the obvious, the dial is not only a glossy gilt, achieved via a multi-step galvanization process, but Marvin went the extra step of making sure the gilt tint matched the case metal. This would have been more costly to produce as the same dials could not be swapped between yellow and rose gold variants of the same watch, something Patek even got lazy with at times (I’m looking at you, ref. 3428G).
The simple case has a nice lug structure, but I was really drawn in by the interesting execution of a presentation engraving inside the caseback. While I love vintage watches with presentation history, specifically because you can dig into the company, this one being a now-defunct department store in Pittsburgh, I’ve never seen the engraving done inside the caseback.
The seller, Cam, Tyler, and the team at Craft + Tailored in Los Angeles, has listed this Marvin for $1,250. Click here for more details and photos.
1991 Swatch ‘Black Friday’ Chronograph Ref. SCB100
Earlier this week, TanTan Wang and I hosted a couple of visitors to the Hodinkee office. In town from London, the father and son duo were a pleasure to chat with for the better part of an hour. The younger was after my own heart, wearing a 36mm Rolex Explorer, while the father, a man whose watch box includes pieces by Patek Philippe, George Daniels, and so on, proudly showed off this exact vintage Swatch chronograph.
A part of the first collection of Swatch chronographs, the “Black Friday” ref. SCB100 is among the more toned-down options with a design that leans more towards 1960s racing chronographs than it does bright Swatchy colors. I don’t mean to belittle this watch, but it’s basically a better, more interesting version of the MoonSwatch. Plus, the Black Friday has tritium lume which ages to a nice creamy patina — on a Swatch! I don’t think enough people realize you can pick these up on eBay, in whatever configuration suits your style, for just a couple of hundred dollars, new, in the box.
An eBay seller out of Western Springs, Illinois, has listed this Swatch for a buy it now price of $175 or best offer. The full listing is right here.
Hodinkee
