1955 LeCoultre & Vacheron 14ct White Gold Diamond Mystery Hour 33mm

Here we have the beautiful, rare 1955 LeCoultre & Vacheron Diamond Mystery Hour, featuring a 33mm 14ct White Gold case that gently sits on your wrist with straight drilled teardrop lugs. Its slender flanks lead to a comfortable lug-to-lug length of 41mm and a case thickness of just 9mm. On the right side, a coin-edged crown. The slim bezel holds a high-domed crystal above a stunning Mystery Discs dial. Applied white gold batons are filled with 35 shimmering diamonds, marking the hours, and the inner minute track surrounds two more diamonds representing the hour and minute hands, which give the impression that they are floating around the dial. The hour is connected to an inner disc that rotates one complete revolution every 12 hours. At 6 o’clock, we have the LeCoultre motif completing this incredible Mystery Hour timepiece. On the reverse, a solid 14ct white gold snap-off case back engraved ‘Vacheron & Constantin LeCoultre Watches Inc’ and a personal engraving in the centre. Inside a manually wound LeCoultre Cal. 810/AW, 17 jewels, beating at a leisurely 18,000 beats per hour. It comes paired with its 17mm well-suited quick-release strap and pin buckle.

This watch is sold with its original LeCoultre box. It comes paired with a quick-release aftermarket 17mm quick-release strap and pin buckle. The watch is from Circa. 1955 and is sold in worn, vintage condition. It shows signs of age throughout, but is overall in very fair condition, as you can see. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

I was fortunate enough to have sold one of these incredible watches many years ago, but it didn't have the diamond markers and hours and wasn't this good, so I am super excited to bring this one for sale. This is the 1955 LeCoultre & Vacheron Constantin 14ct White Gold Mystery Hour in 33mm, featuring elegant diamonds for the indices and for the mystery hour hands on their transparent discs. This example even features its original domed glass and a wonderful engraving on the case back. I would not hesitate to add this piece of combined brand history to your collection today; it is guaranteed to be a conversation starter!

Reference : 727-722-103D
Movement : Manually Wound LeCoultre Cal. 810/AW
Age : Circa. 1955
Year : 1955
Case Size : 33mm
Case Thickness : 9mm
Lug to Lug : 41mm
Lugs : 17mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box and Papers : None
Case Material : 14ct White Gold
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
The wrist model's wrist size is 7inch

Antoine LeCoultre founded LeCoultre in 1833 in the small village of Le Sentier, Switzerland. By 1866, LeCoultre’s workshop had grown from home-run manufacturers spread across Switzerland to installing modern steam-driven machines to power the tools of all of the watchmakers, moving them from their homes and bringing them together, in one central unit. Now named LeCoultre & Cie, the company became the very first manufacturer in the Vallée de Joux, Switzerland. Antoine and his son, Elie LeCoultre, employed more than 500 watchmakers in-house. In 1903, Edmond Jaeger, a watchmaker in Paris making watches for the French Navy, challenged the Swiss manufacturers to produce an ultrathin movement. Jacques-David LeCoultre, Elie’s son, rose to the challenge and created the world’s thinnest pocket watch, equipped with the LeCoultre 146 calibre, measuring just 1.38 mm thick. Over the following years, Jaeger and LeCoultre kept in touch, building a strong friendship, and in 1937, Jaeger-LeCoultre was founded. In 2013, they celebrated their 180th Anniversary. Creating iconic timepieces like the Reverso wristwatch to the brilliantly engineered Atmos clock. During the war years, the Mark VII pilot watches of the 1940s were so accurate that the Royal Air Force used them as aerial navigation instruments; later, they created the first automatic watch to house a power-reserve indicator in 1948 that was used by the US Army Air Corps. Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed and revolutionised the watch industry like no other manufacturer. Since 2000, they have been a fully owned subsidiary of the Swiss luxury group Richemont. This group includes Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, Piaget, Vacheron Constantin, Montblanc, Dunhill and Chloé. Born in Geneva, Jean-Marc Vacheron was the youngest of a master weaver’s five sons. Jean-Marc Vacheron created his watchmaking workshop at the age of 24. The company was founded on September 17, 1755. This makes it the world's oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation. In 1810, Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron took over the business. His impact on the company saw Vacheron enter the world of great watchmakers. At that time, his workshop began making intricate and ever more complicated pieces, such as musical watches that played two melodies. Commercially, the company soon developed and expanded beyond Switzerland’s borders, first in neighbouring France and then in Italy. In 1819, François Constantin met with Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron. Both men came from Geneva, sharing a passion for stylish and complicated watches. The "Vacheron et Constantin" company was soon to be created. The American watch industry became evermore a threat, therefore Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron decided to hand his business to his son in 1844. Charles-César Vacheron designed an efficient process for the factory and moved the business into new markets such as China, Spain, India and Cuba. 1906 saw the grand opening of the first Vacheron Constantin Boutique in Geneva. The great-grandnephew of François Constantin joined the business in 1914 after completing his studies at the École d'Horlogerie de Genève. It was during this time that the First World War broke out, and he was conscripted and sent to the northern border. Vacheron Constantin's models have been appreciated and worn by the Faruk of Egypt, the Shah of Iran and the Duke of Windsor, amongst many other famous characters over the years. In 1955, Vacheron Constantin celebrated its bicentenary and on this occasion introduced the world’s thinnest watch movement at 1,64mm. Vacheron Constantin became the first watchmaking company to collect the rare and highly desirable “Diplôme Prestige de la France”, which recognises their talent in craftsmanship and design in 1972. A new production facility was built in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, as well as a renovation of the brand’s historical headquarters, now known as the “Maison Vacheron Constantin”. In 2005, Vacheron Constantin celebrated its 250th anniversary.