I was lucky to pick up a really nice Majetek recently, and I’ve just bought a couple of straps that hopefully look similar in style to the one in the old Czech advert.





This now leaves me on the hunt for a buckle. On a Czech website there’s an example of a civilian Majetek that’s apparently on its original strap and buckle. Here’s a picture.



Now I’m trying to find something similar, but so far no luck. Can I ask you guys a) if you think this is genuinely a correct 1940s buckle, and if so b) if you have any ideas where I might find something similar. If you reckon it’s not right then any tips on what might be ?

 

Really nice straps, especially the two brown ones, where did you get them from? And even more importantly....where's the watch?

 

Here’s some watch pics. Need a better crown and the hands reluming, but apart from that it’s lovely !



And here’s the extract:

The original serial number 6'643'351 identifies a wristwatch in stainless steel bearing the reference 3582 and was called "Majetek". It is fitted with a Longines manually wound mechanical movement, caliber 15.26. It was invoiced on 17 November 1943 to the company Weinstabl, which was at that time our agent for Czechoslovakia and was dedicated to the Czechoslovakian Army.

I’ll take some better pics of the straps when they arrive and I’ll PM you the details.

 

So digging around I found a second example of a Majetek with the same buckle claiming to be original, plus Phillips sold a Lindbergh Hour Angle that was described as all original and also had the same buckle.


https://www.phillipswatches.com/longines-lindbergh-hour-angle/

All that just makes me want one more . Now I accept it's going to be impossible, but there’s surely something similarish out there.

 

Do you know if it's a fixed buckle or springbar?

 

A good question, and I’m not sure.

It seems to be closed at one side (the side visible in the Phillips picture), but there’s a photo of a Majetek with a bit of an angle from the other side, and there it looks like there’s a hole.



So it could be a springbar that releases from one side, or could there be a thread on the far side, and a long dowel with a threaded end that screws in from the near side. I don’t know...

 

Ok, probably springbar since there is a hole

Good luck in your search.

 

I’ll be sure to update the thread if I find one, so realistically you can expect an update, erm... never

It’s another thing to keep an eye out for though.

 

And on the original Swiss Air too....

http://davideparmegiani.ch/watch/longines-14/

 

Could also be a batch someone made at a later point: just get someone to produce it and you’re in business.

Apologies for being so blunt but this seems a wild goose chase. Getting a nice 1940s or 1950s buckle that is stylistically correct will be hard enough, aiming for an original seems way more trouble than it’s worth.

 

I have a feeling they’re legitimate. The hypothesis about the Swiss Air watches seems to be they were built using left over bits from the 30s and 40s aviators. Plus the Majeteks in the Czech Republic feel unlikely to have been messed around with. I’ve asked Longines today if they know something about the design.

If I had one I might be tempted to talk to a manufacturer, but it’s too hard to get it right from a few blurry photos.

 

I get your point and that is interesting -

edit / add I had not seen your Swissair post with the same buckle when I initially replied. For sure the fact the same buckle would be found on those different watches of different sources and periods is interesting .

 

Well they have the same strap and the same buckle, one’s still boxed and appears to be almost unused. The Phillips Hour Angle appears to be a full set in good original condition. The Swiss Air watches are hypothesized to be made up from old stock parts from the 30s/40s, but I only picked that up from, pardon my language, Hodinkeee .

I don’t know, but my gut feeling is they’re original. I don’t see them in many places and they tend to be on full-set watches or ones with original straps. I tried to see if buckles were visible in old shots of Czech pilots but found nothing. Let me dig around a bit more.

 

There seems to be one on the museums own Lindbergh.

https://www.watchprosite.com/horolo...e-restoration-department/17.996973.7010723/0/

 

Straps here. They’re a bit too thick to be period correct, and the stitching is perhaps also slightly coarse, but I’m still quite happy with them (plus I didn’t specify either thickness on stitch size anyway). One black and one dark brown.

 

And just for fun...

 

Very nice piece! Finding the original buckle seems to be a wild ride. Good luck with it, and please continue making pictures of it.

 

Hi @Seiji

Did you see my PM ?

 

I’d say more like