Curvex Gruen Vintage Watches
The Techni-Quadron, similar to the Quadron, had a rectangular face and was released in 1928. These Gruen vintage watches had two dials. The top dial had the hour/minute hands while the bottom dial, nearly as big as the top dial, only had the second hand.
The Techni-Quadrons were often referred to as “doctor’s watches” as the huge seconds dial was easy to watch while measuring a pulse. The watch was also admired by various technical professionals, especially, engineers. Note that, all the dual dial Gruen watches were not doctor’s watches. On a Techni-Quadron, the dial consisting of hour/minute hand is mounted above where the crown enters the case, contrary, to the centre of the dial. Some of them also had an expanding buckle which allowed them to slide up to the arm, resulting in the freeing of the hand and wrist.
The Carr, French for square, which was released in 1931, was a convenient square-shaped pocket watch. The 12, 3, 6 and 9 numbers were arranged in the 4 corners giving it the shape of a diamond. It could be used by both the genders and hence was marketed as a man’s pocket watch and a women’s purse watch as well as a portable table clock. A number of models came with luminous hands and numbers so that the they could be seen in the dark. The Carr was terminated in the year 1934 and cost around at $55 (~ $1400 at present).
The Curvex, released in 1935, was available as the Curvex Governor for men and the Curvex Queen (1936) for women. It is the most famous of the Gruen vintage watches and was the flagship watch until the late 1940s. The watch was produced until 1954.
Facts About Gruen Curvex Vintage Watches
An exclusive feature of the gruen curvex vintage watches was the watch and the movement inside it was, itself, curved. The technology these watches used was the patented movement (1,855,952) in which the gears were configured in a curved arrangement. Various other curved watches of the 1930s had to use smaller movements which were very fragile and did not have much perfection.
All real men’s gruen curvex vintage watches were Precision grade and had one of four movements. As a matter of fact What makes these watches unique is the movement, without it, it’s not a Curvex. The four movements are the caliber 311 (1953) – a long, thin movement, caliber 330 (1937) – a long, thin and curved movement (Custom Curved), caliber 440 (1940) – a short, square/oval movement, and the caliber 370 (1948) – a short and wide movement (Curvametric).
The Ristside, pronounced wrist side, was released in 1937 and was meant to be worn on the side of your wrist inline with your thumb. Although these are widely desired by collectors they one of the rarest as Gruen did not sell many. Also some collectors will try to sell any watch with hinged lugs as a Ristside. With the exception of the Fraternity (mentioned below) and one other very similar model all Ristsides are rectangular and have very curved cases.
The Curvex-Ristside watches are components of not only the Curvex family but also the Ristside family of Gruen vintage watches. The movement 330 that is mentioned above was the primary movement used in three different watches named, The Curvex Coronet, Curvex Lord and the Curvex admiral. The Curvex-Ristside Fraternity of watches comprised of hinged lugs and utilized the 440 movement.