Introducing
Vulcain Cricket
Circa 1950s
Mechanical alarm watches strike a chord with me. It's an alarm clock on your wrist, made of more than 100 parts put together by skilled artisans, able to operate accurately on a daily basis, without battery change, for decades.
Isn't that just awesome?
The Vulcain Cricket was birth from its workshops in 1947 after five years of research. The challenge was to produce a wrist-sized movement that had a mechanical alarm function that is loud enough to wake someone up.
With an innovative winding system where one direction wound the watch barrel and the other powered the alarm barrel, the loud shrill of the Vulcain Cricket was so named because of its resemblance to the annoying twilight denizen.
The watch then gained international fame as the President's Watch when one was presented to Harry S Truman, thus starting a tradition where each head of state was gifted with a Vulcain Cricket.
Whether to wake him up from a nap or to remind him of a meeting, the Vulcain Cricket had found a legendary place in the White House on the wrist of the most powerful man in the world.
Believe it or not, this piece from my personal collection wasn't my first choice. The Vulcain that caught my fancy was actually a small seconds with date window - a lot dressier than this piece.
Somehow, the characteristic piece stood out over time, and its multi-faceted dial called out. There's something about that inner ring; there's something about the raised applique arabic numerals, that red seconds hand, the sharp hour and minute hands sitting comfortably inside the gold-filled case.
Long story short, I couldn't have made a better choice.
1950s Vintage Vulcain Cricket
Hour, minute and seconds hand
Multi-layered gold dial with gold appliqued numerals
32mm gold-filled stainless steel case
40mm lug-to-lug
18mm lug width
Vulcain Cricket calibre @ 18,800vph
Acrylic crystal
Aftermarket leather strap
Personal Collection
