Swiss steel attractive black dial chronograph Circa 1930

Highly attractive luminous chronograph
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A highly attractive chronograph with black dial, made by  Lemania Watch Co. in L’Orient, Switzerland, circa 1930. The watch presented here features a numbered steel case with oval pushers. The dial features a glossy black finish adorned with patinated, cream coloured luminous Arabic numeral hour markers and gold toned cathedral or syringe style hands. Its complex layout incorporates an outer tachymeter scale reading “BASE 1000” for speed calculations, paired with dual vertically aligned sub registers tracking elapsed minutes at the top and running seconds at the bottom. The numbered movement is a vintage Lemania Caliber 15TL manual wind chronograph, which is regulated by a traditional Swiss lever escapement. Famous for serving as the base architecture for the legendary Omega 33.3 movement, it features a finely detailed gilt finished baseplate and bridges, a traditional column wheel mechanism that controls the start, stop and reset functions and exposed steel chronograph levers and springs. The architecture also includes a balance wheel with timing screws and distinct ruby jewel bearings supporting the gear train pivots.
The dial is signed.
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Diameter: 41,5 mm
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Weight: 54 g
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Signed: Lemania
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Lemania Watch Co.

Lemania, a highly regarded Swiss watch manufacturer and movement specialist, was founded by Alfred Lugrin in 1884. Known for its exceptional chronograph movements, the company no longer exists as an independent brand.

Its legacy continues under the Swatch Group’s Manufacture Breguet as it officially retired around 2010 when the Swatch Group fully integrated the company into Breguet, another historic brand they own.