new timepiece has joined the collection of the Eberhard & Co. Museum: a wrist chronograph from 1941, an exemplary witness to the first and remarkable era of the Maison’s chronographs.

The watch is powered by a mechanical hand-wound chronograph movement, calibre EB 1600 – 16’’’, featuring a mechanical device that allows the chronograph to be temporarily stopped and restarted without resetting to zero, thanks to the presence, at 4 o’clock, of a sliding pusher – a distinctive hallmark of Eberhard & Co. timepieces from that period. The 2 o’clock pusher controls the start, stop, and reset functions of the chronograph.

The case, with its harmonious lines, measures 40 mm in diameter and features a stepped bezel, along with pushers and crown in stainless steel. Its matte black dial, rich in detail yet perfectly balanced, showcases gold-tone Arabic numerals and indexes, two counters, an outer telemetric scale, a 1/5- second division around the minute track, and the signature spiral tachymeter scale at its center.

A true sport chronograph, this model perfectly embodies a period in which aesthetic refinement went hand in hand with technical evolution and with the Maison’s ever-present drive for innovation. It reflects the technical and sporting vocation instilled from the very beginning by Georges-Lucien Eberhard, the Maison’s founder, who led the company until his passing in 1942, when leadership passed to his son Maurice-William, who faithfully carried on the founder’s original vision.

The production of this chronograph took place during a significant chapter in the history of the Maison, already recognized as a benchmark of Swiss watchmaking excellence. Founded in 1887, Eberhard & Co. had already reached key milestones in its evolution – from early patents at the beginning of the century to 1919, the year it created the first single-pusher wrist chronograph, marking the beginning of the Maison’s great chronograph tradition. In the 1930s, Eberhard & Co. went on to produce chronographs that became a symbol of distinction among officers of the Royal Italian Navy.

In a time of historical and social complexity, the Maison maintained steady growth, driven by a continuous spirit of innovation. A testament to this relentless pursuit of progress came in 1942 – the year following the production of this model – with the presentation of the famous Magini System, a chronograph for celestial navigation that accompanied the first Rome–Tokyo flight by visual navigation.