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ELECTRIC CLOCK
ZENITH MOVADO
MUSEUM
CIRCA 1960
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A table clock signed Zenith Movado elegant and rare on the market.
Movado is an American watchmaker, of Swiss origin, founded by Achille Ditisheim in 1881. It was bought by Zenith in the 1960s, hence the double signature on some models. Its emblematic model is the " Museum Watch ", a classic of modern design, historically the first watch designed by a designer and the first watch exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
This copy is from it.
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The company launched the Museum Watch, designed by American designer Nathan George Horwitt, in 1947. Influenced by the Bauhaus, the watch's dial features a very simple design defined by a solitary dot at 12 o'clock, symbolizing the sun at high noon. It was first manufactured by an American importer of Swiss watches called "Vacheron & Constantin-LeCoultre Watches Inc.", and later produced by Movado.
Horwitt's dial was selected for the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1960, making it the first watch dial to receive this distinction. Photographer Edward Steichen described Horwitt's design as "the only truly original and beautiful one for such an object".
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The dial is black here, as minimal as possible with the typical "Museum Watch" feature with a date at 12 o'clock.
The dial is stamped "Zenith-Movado-Swiss" on the lower part. The dial as a whole and in particular its gilded metal hands are very clean for the age of the object.
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The case, asymmetrical in height, is made of metal with a "hammered" effect in a golden color. There is some wear on the case commensurate with age, but nothing that detracts from the overall beauty. The clock was made in Switzerland. Given its weight of about 600 grams, it could eventually be used as a paperweight.
The watch is powered by an electric movement running on a 9 volt square battery. A setting is possible as indicated on the motor of the clock: 1 DIV= 5S/24H.
Overall, a beautiful and rare reference.
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