# Titus Geneve Cronograph 18k Rose Gold



## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

As you will notice I,m new to this forum so please excuse my ignorance and start me on the path of enlightenment.

For my years I've enjoyed browsing displays of vintage watches but never actually owned one (apart from my grandads which is the only watch I wear). I was very tempted a few days ago when I saw a Titus Geneve cronograph in a jewellers, I passed on it, as the shop was upmarket and I felt the price was possibly excessive. The watch was in very good condition and obviously fully working.

What I would like to know is what would be a resonable price to pay for a watch of this age and style? where should I be looking to find something like this? I should mention the watch dated late 1940. The asking price was in excess of Â£1500 resonable or not? Please tell me your thoughts


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## rdwiow (Aug 15, 2008)

steve t said:


> As you will notice I,m new to this forum so please excuse my ignorance and start me on the path of enlightenment.
> 
> For my years I've enjoyed browsing displays of vintage watches but never actually owned one (apart from my grandads which is the only watch I wear). I was very tempted a few days ago when I saw a Titus Geneve cronograph in a jewellers, I passed on it, as the shop was upmarket and I felt the price was possibly excessive. The watch was in very good condition and obviously fully working.
> 
> What I would like to know is what would be a resonable price to pay for a watch of this age and style? where should I be looking to find something like this? I should mention the watch dated late 1940. The asking price was in excess of Â£1500 resonable or not? Please tell me your thoughts


Hi,

And welcome! That price sounds a bit steep to me unless it has a very heavy case?

Cheers

Rob


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

steve t said:


> As you will notice I,m new to this forum so please excuse my ignorance and start me on the path of enlightenment.
> 
> For my years I've enjoyed browsing displays of vintage watches but never actually owned one (apart from my grandads which is the only watch I wear). I was very tempted a few days ago when I saw a Titus Geneve cronograph in a jewellers, I passed on it, as the shop was upmarket and I felt the price was possibly excessive. The watch was in very good condition and obviously fully working.
> 
> What I would like to know is what would be a resonable price to pay for a watch of this age and style? where should I be looking to find something like this? I should mention the watch dated late 1940. The asking price was in excess of Â£1500 resonable or not? Please tell me your thoughts


This is probably a similar watch:










It is an 18k solid Rose gold Chronographe Suisse from the 1940's with a Landeron 248 movement in it. I bought it and had it completely overhauled - total investment $1,000 (Canadian) which is roughly Â£500 .

So, at Â£1500 I think the price it too high.


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## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

martinus_scriblerus said:


> steve t said:
> 
> 
> > As you will notice I,m new to this forum so please excuse my ignorance and start me on the path of enlightenment.
> ...


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## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

Yes your watch is nearly the same, the one I viewed had a gold coloured face. It seems I may have been right to walk away from this purchase, where do I look for something closer to market value?


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

steve t said:


> Yes your watch is nearly the same, the one I viewed had a gold coloured face. It seems I may have been right to walk away from this purchase, where do I look for something closer to market value?


I bought my on eBay and had it overhauled by a chrono specialist in Oregon. It may take a while to find, but if you put in an ongoing search for "18k rose gold chronograph" you will find one at the right price.


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## Mothman (Oct 11, 2005)

There is one that looks similar on the bay right now No: 300268571235 only one hour to go, reserve not met, but location is Portugal.

Rich


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

That one on ebay is quite heavily used the pushers have worn through and are rounded. No internal pictures, don't know if the inner back is still there. Crown starting to wear smooth. i am seeing green corrosion on the back of one pusher. And the hour hand is bent. Seconds hand may not be correct

I would pay 2K plus for an absolute mint one. That ebay piece maybe worth $600 IMO


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## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks for the responses. I pressume you mean $2000, not pounds ? I will put an ongoing search on ebay.


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

yes $ and upwards, and that would be a mint piece which are usually only in collectors hands, have not seen one near mint for years and these chronos are what I mainly collect.

I have noticed now there are Landeron branded pieces made to look kind of vintage, they are Chinese and using the ST19 movement


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

When you check out eBay, be sure to check out eBay.de

While it is true that the listing will be in German, it seems to me that there will be a fair number of the watches that you are looking for there.

Check out eBay # 270295293253 for instance. You can't access this item from ebay.com, you have to go to ebay.de

This is the seller that I bought my chronograph from. I wasn't entirely happy (there were a few dents in the case that really didn't show in the photograph), but I really can't argue about the price. My watchmaker is also a metallurgist and he removed the dents in the case and did a complete overhaul. Now it is a fine working, good looking watch, with, as I said, a reasonable investment. I would deal with that seller again. And the seller shipped "Weltweit" (worldwide).

If you can't figure out German on your own, you may better puzzle it out by using a translation service online like Babel fish. I can't speak German, but could pretty well figure it all out without having to ask a German speaker. Do a search for "chronographe" and see what you can find. I think rose gold (or red gold or pink gold as it is variously called) is rosegold or rotgold in German.

Good luck.


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

martinus_scriblerus said:


> When you check out eBay, be sure to check out eBay.de
> 
> While it is true that the listing will be in German, it seems to me that there will be a fair number of the watches that you are looking for there.
> 
> ...


Aussi Francais.

Check out ebay.fr

item # 170274270251

It's a Titus rose gold chronograph, looks a little newer than 40's to me, but I'm not sure (Vendor says 1950).

Let me again wish you good luck. (and sorry that I double posted this)


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

The French one is 50's. Honestly I would want to see a picture of the back of the watch, these were delicate and depended on the inner case back for support. Just something looks wrong on the french one but some of the dials did not have the extra scale. Lugs dented but again were fragile

I cleaned the pics up a bit. Look at some of the numbers on the outer scale and the "antimagnetic, look pretty heavy in the lettering



















here are a couple daily war pieces i let go here that had original dials and were in pretty good shape

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?s...73&hl=titus

http://www.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?s...&hl=delbana


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## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks for all the helpful information. the titus picture James has posted looks just like the one I viewed, if it had been the price you were asking I would have purchased it, definitely. The other watch James posted is also very nice, thanks.


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## James (Jul 17, 2006)

That Titus pic above is the one you viewed on flrabay, I just cleaned the pic up so I could see some things better

The one I linked to has the extra scale and I let it go and the Delbana a bit back


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## steve t (Oct 28, 2008)

yes I understood , it was the linked one I was talking about


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