Like to own a unique masterpiece?
Here is your one-of-a-kind timemachine..
PAUL DITISHEIM | High Grade Swiss Made
Solid 18k White Gold Dresswatch
1920s
For your collection of incredibly important historic dresswatches, there is this masterpiece made by Paul Ditisheim in 1924, with the finest materials available at the time. Equipped with a highest grade manual movement, produced and compounded by Ditisheim, into this excellent unique masterpiece, signed Paul Ditisheim.
Important to know is that the manufacturing and assembly of such a unique masterpiece, at that time, took more than a year of work - made with attention to detail for eternity.
Paul Ditisheim was an important horologist and founder of several well-known watch manufactories (...but more on that later in this article). Under his own name “Paul Ditisheim”, he produced highly special, outstanding watches and unique timepieces.
In this case, a Dresswatch from the 1920s. Made from 18-carat solid white gold, with a case whose elegant flowing lines are more reminiscent of Art Nouveau than Art Deco - beautifully and exquisitely handcrafted. With an easy-to-operate crown set, topped with a Sapphire cabochon in the brilliant color "ink blue". The silvered dial has a rails decor, also known as railroad minuterié and is equipped with the so-called double bar for the minute scale. This dial is handmade, hand-painted, signed “Paul Ditisheim” and still 100% complete in its original condition!
Dials like this one were made by hand, polished, silvered and then hand-painted and finished. The horologist needs very fine circles and even finer ink nibs. And he must have an understanding of how to preserve this sophisticated craftsmanship.
This unique wristwatch is a one-of-a-kind contemporary witness to the highest craftsmanship of the 1920s and more than that, it is still completely original after 100 years!
Incredible, and it speaks not only for the materials used - some of which are also delicate - but above all for the exceptional quality and manufacturing skills of this watchmaker, especially the drive of all good entrepreneurs: always invent something new & create something even better.
It hardly gets any better than this Paul Ditisheim Dresswatch made in year 1924.
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Paul Ditisheim, a Swiss horologist and chronometer maker of significant importance to the watch industry, who was born in Chaux-de-Fonds in 1868 and died in Geneva in 1945.
He was born the son of the Alsatian watchmaker Gaspard Ditisheim and his wife Julie. His father Gaspard and his uncle Maurice Ditisheim founded the well-known Vulcain company, one of the many watchmaking firms founded by Jewish families in the region. The Ditisheim family belonged to the watchmaking elite in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Paul Ditisheim studied at the "Ecole Industrielle" and at the watchmaking school in La Chaux-de-Fonds. He began his training as a watchmaker in 1884 at the local watchmaking school and graduated with honors in 1887. He worked for the Vulcain family business until 1892 and then founded his own brands Solvil and Titus. Ditisheim completed his training with various watch manufacturers, including a tourbillon manufacturer in Les Ponts-de-Martel. His further training also took him to Berlin, Paris and Rotherham in Coventry. He then returned to Paris. He was married to Marguérite Etlin from Paris.
He was one of the most important Swiss watch and chronometer manufacturers, who researched and published primarily in the field of precision time measurement.
In 1892, he founded the watch manufacturer Solvil et Titus in Sonvilier, which also produced marine chronometers from 1895. Together with Charles Édouard Guillaume, Ditisheim worked on the development and testing of temperature-independent metal alloys from 1898. He was the first clock manufacturer to use these in his chronometers. He also invented the pendulum for monometallic balances (affix balance).
In addition to marine chronometers, he also produced miniature calibers for wristwatches and ring watches as well as watches with electromechanical contacts. He took part in many exhibitions with his watches and was very successful in the construction of pocket chronometers, mainly with lever escapement. Among other things, he developed a marine chronometer with an interchangeable escapement system.
His chronometers won numerous first prizes in competitions organized by the Neuchâtel Observatory, the Kew Observatory in England and in tests conducted by the US Navy. In 1900, Ditisheim was made a Chevalier of the French Academy and a Fellow of the British Horological Institute. In 1912, he set the world record in chronometry at the Kew Observatory.
From 1925 to 1935, Paul Ditisheim worked as a partner of Paul Woog in Paris on the development of new, improved lubricants for watches. Paul Ditisheim helped epilamization achieve a breakthrough in watchmaking. Jules Andrade said that “the work of Paul Ditisheim represents the greatest advance in modern chronometry”.
When the National Socialists reached Paris in 1940, Ditisheim was still working there. As a persecuted Jew, he fled from Paris to Nice and returned to Switzerland in 1944. He died the following year at the age of 76 in Geneva.
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This Paul Ditisheim wristwatch was overhauled in 2024 by one of our master watchmakers, who is trained in historical watches and has a lifetime of experience. It was treated with the utmost care, no components were replaced - the watch is in 100% original condition. It works superbly with an amplitude of 288 degrees and a rate deviation of only approx. +11 seconds per day.
On request, we can recondition and polish this Dresswatch for the buyer and new owner - but we strongly do not recommend that! This historical watch is a unique piece of contemporary history that should definitely show its 100 years of history - it absolutely deserves it.
This Paul Ditisheim is looking for a watch lover of the finest craftsmanship, a connoisseur who wants to appreciate the depth of a vintage timepiece on a daily basis, because this watch is absolutely made for everyday use - even today!
We deliver this watch to you with its vintage box and with 3 different bracelets: First, a new modern orange canvas strap - Second, a vintage handmade pull-trough leather strap in brown color - Third, a classic, handmade leather strap from old and traditional production in the color black.
Manual movement
Diameter 37 (30) x 20 mm without crown
Technical indications | Keeping time +11s sec/day
Serviced 2024
Differential taxation according to § 25a UStG. No taxes included. | Differenzbesteuerung nach § 25a UStG. Kunstgegenstände und Sammlungsstücke, Sonderregelung.
