Urania

[Achraf]

stie cineva ceva despre?

[Achraf]

Are acum un facelift, coronita, minutar ...
Surprinzator ca nu are secundar ....
Si carcasa pare a fi de otel (nemarcata insa ...)

[stefand600]

Sunt ceasuri facute pentru casa de bijuterii WEMPE. In general comercializeaza ceasuri ff bune, comandate la producatori consacrati. Pe forum s-a mai discutat despre un ceas de mana Urania si am gasit informatii complete gratie lui Lucian Marcu.

[Achraf]

puteti sa-mi indicati si mie sursele de informatie despre Urania? Multumesc.

[Achraf]

Am descoperit cu surprindere ca acest ceas "Urania" foloseste unul din primele mecanisme Universal Geneve. Ma face sa cred asta logo-ul/ sigla identica de pe cele doua mecanisme. Ce parere aveti?

Articolul prezinta si o scurta istorie a "Montres Universal Peret Frères, Genève", pe scurt cunoscuta drept "Universal Geneve"
https://www.specialistauctions.com/auct ... id=1072820

This stunning Watch is signed UWC Universal Watch Company. Its all origional and quite a butch piece. Origional hands, wire lugs and origional crown give it a classic style. A bit of history: Universal Geneve. This company came about from a failed partnership in 1894 between Numa Emile Descombes and Ulysse Georges Perret ( Descombes & Perret) in Le Locle. In that year they were awarded patent No. 8014 for a 12 and 14 hour watch with instantaneous jump mechanism. This company was setup to make watch cases, dials and movements etc. In 1897 the company registered as Perret & Berthoud as a merger with Louis Edouard Berthoud after the death of Numa Emile Berthoud at the age of 34. Georges Perret and Louis Berthoud, and set up ‘Universal Watch’ in 1898. The company specialised in complicated watches and chronographs. Shortly after 1917 the firm opened a head office in Geneva as that town was better placed to gain access to international markets. The company was suffering during the depression in the 1930’s. However they managed to secure a cash injection from a group of investors. In 1933 Ulysse Georges Perret died and his son Raoul Perret had taken over the management of the company. In 1934 they exhibited as Basle for the first time under the new name of Universal Watch Co. Ltd. From this time they frequently signed watches Universal-Geneve In 1917, they introduced the first wrist chronograph, in 1937 Universal registered a patent for the first chronograph movement with a 12 hour elapsed time counter. Later they also made the first Automatic Chronograph. The Company name changed again to Manufacture Des Montres Universal, Perret and Berthoud SA, Geneve in 1944. Louis Edouard Berthoud died in 1947. During 1951 the Company was just listed as Universal, Perret & Berthoud SA.. In 1954 the Company name was again changed to Manufacture Montres Universal, Perret Freres SA, Carouge-Geneve. In 1955 Universal patented the ‘micromotor’. This enabled them to produce the worlds slimmest automatic watch movements. The company went on to produce the worlds thinnest Quartz analogue movements of the time. From 1967 the company left the Perret family hands as the family sold it to the Bulova group who kept it for 10 years. After this time the company was sold to a group of investors headed by Montres Universal S.A until they sold out in 1986 to the Stelex Group, an oriental holding company, and had been now known as Universal Geneve since 1973. . In 2002, Stelex is still the owner of this brand.

[montana]

Salutare Anchraf,
vin si eu cu intarziere cu cateva informatii despre Urania!
Foarte probabil ca sti deja aceasta istorie cu referire la un ceas de buzunar dar o pun aici pentru o eventuala referinta ulterioara:
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The manufacturer of this lovely pocket watch is the company Andreas Huber in Munich, Germany, Urania (BTW the name of the muse of astronomy in the mythology of ancient Greece) was the name of their manufactory for PWs and also their brand name.
Some facts about the history:
Andreas Huber, son of a family with a farm, butchery and an inn, learned and worked for a low budget at a watchmaker, sited in the city of Munich. In 1856, at the age of 25, he inherited 3.000 Gulden(usual currency in the German states, here: Kingdom of Bavaria, before the German Empire was founded in 1871 and the Goldmark as general currency replaced the old currencies in 1873). So he married the love of his life, Xaviera and opened his own watchmaker store and workshop in Munich at the Karlsplatz(better known as Stachus) - at that time a suburbian site. His workmanship had been excellent and his wife had been very competent in finding and keeping contacts to the high society, so inner a decade, he got a very good distinction. He delivered Remontoir-PWs and prestigious clocks to the bavarian royal family and to king Ludwig II..
In 1880, his son Joseph took over the company at the age of 19. He was very ambitious and in 1885, he opened an own production for PWs from silver and gold in the university district of Munich under the name Urania.
In 1912 he received the title "Königlich bayerischer Hoflieferant"(official supplier of the royal court of Bavaria).
The company had been very successful with their annual clocks, which had been delivered all over the world(after Joseph Huber bought a patent for construction and production) and with their military wristwatches in WWI and became larger and larger with dependances in other large german cities like Berlin, Düsseldorf, Nürnberg.
In 1920, his son Andreas II. took over the company with large debts, he consolidated the company and specialised in wristwatches, special clocks for time management e.g. in streetcars and stop watches. In 1930, the brandname Urania came back as top brand of their wrist watches (with IWC-movements, a jubilée-edition is still available). In 1936, the company became official timekeeper of the Olympic winter games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. During WWII, the company produced for A. Lange & Söhne parts of the legendary military timepieces like the B-Uhr. In 1944, through the bombs of WWII, production and shops were completely destroyed.
1949, Andreas II. rebuild the main house in Munich and reopened the watchmaker store and workshop. 1966 he died and his son Martin took over the company, well known as author of watch related books, one about A. Lange & Söhne and two about Patek Phillipe. He has no children and in 2002, the shop with meanwhile 2 dependances in Munich was sold to the Bucherer-group.

To the PW of your friend:

http://www.fototime.com/BFCDD7A6BAA32BD/standard.jpg

Engraved on the back, we find "Andreas Huber, Hoflieferant, München" - Andreas Huber, (official) supplier of the (bavarian royal) court, Munich. The company recieved the right to advertise with this title in 1912, so the PW was made 1912 or later.

http://www.fototime.com/2E25CDBFF07AD76/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/67CAC9DC94B818E/standard.jpg

The dial looks like the dial of a similar Urania-PW, I found in their official history. Obviously, the second scale in blue(13 - 24) was printed additional, belated on the dial. Probably the watch was used or destined as military timepiece and that´s the sense of this additional scale. Only the german airforce and marine had officially ordered and signed military watches at that time, members of the army had to use their own ones. So the watch should be made between 1912 and the beginning of the war, 1914/15. Later, wristwatches became more popular and the quality went down because of the absence of material, which had been needed to produce war-important goods like guns, rifles and munition.

Sources:
Andreas Huber in Uhren-Wiki ( http://www.zeitgefuehl.de/uhren-wiki/in ... d38af6a804 )
Andreas Huber official website ( http://www.andreas-huber.de/jubilaeum/jubilaeum.html )
Andreas Huber official history and jubilée catalogue(1856 - 2006) ( http://www.andreas-huber.de/Jubilaeumskatalog.pdf )
Bucherer group ( http://www.bucherer.ch/de/standorte/sta ... hland.html )
Konrad Knirim: German military timepieces before 1945 ( http://www.knirim.de/deutsch.htm )
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Urmasii lui Andreas Huber au colaborat cu nume grele iar la pagina 25 din al III-lea link, explicit:
IWC und Huber = Urania
asadar nimic nu e exclus mai ales ca in acele vremuri sursele de mecanisme de calitate trebuie sa fi fost limitate.
Mi-a placut totodata ca am regasit in bibliografie ceasuri Urania "de mana" inca de foarte devereme, din 1915, cu celebrele ''grilaje" care protejeaza cadranul, in mod evident ceasuri WW1.

[Achraf]

Multumesc mult, Montana, excelente si binevenite informatiile de la tine!