Election Chronograph

There is perhaps no more versatile complication than the chronograph.  From race cars to rocket ships, boats to battlefields, you are likely to find a chronograph being employed to measure a plethora of tasks and times. From the Greek khrónos (“time”) and gráphō (“to write”), a chronograph is a watch that has the ability to record time, generally via the addition of small sub-counters that register minutes and hours.  Though many storied brands produced notable chronographs during the complications heyday from the 1930s through the 1970s, numerous other firms fell by the wayside during the Quartz Crisis, folding completely and disappearing or being rolled up into conglomerates that pillaged their stores of parts.  This particular chronograph was produced by Election, a defunct Swiss firm that won the Berne Grand Prix in 1914 and whose ladies' watches were the first to achieve the Kew certificate at England's famous observatory. Measuring 40mm in stainless steel and featuring dual pump pushers, an unsigned crown, a stepped bezel, and an acrylic crystal, it boasts a stunning grey dial with an outer pulsations scale in black, a 1/5th-seconds track, dual chronograph totalizers, stylized 'Arabic' numerals, and a luminous 'syringe' handset. Powered by a hand-wound Valjoux movement, it notably features a screw-down caseback — a relatively rare feature for a chronograph from this era. Paired to a taupe leather strap, this beautiful tool watch is everything you could hope for: Well sized, equipped with a reliable movement and a handsome dial, and in excellent condition, it's a perfect entry point into vintage timepiece collecting.