Until this watch crossed my path. A year or so ago I came across an old watch ad pictured below. It showed a toolwatch I had never seen before; a compass and a watch combined. Sometimes when you see a particular watch, it triggers a chain of emotions. When I saw this it, it triggered an enormous amount of greed . I just had to have it. However all I could find on the internet was a picture of these ads and a picture of a Ductor Northline example in not the best shape. But nothing else. No information, nothing. I translated the ad with Google and it roughly says: “Ductor Northline The triumph of time and direction. Everyone wears a watch, preferably on the wrist. Add the compass and you are ready with the Ductor Northline for the great adventures and the noblest assignments. Unique in its kind for its originality, its aesthetic appearance and the safety of its mechanism. Provides you, at will, with the permanent means of knowing the time and determining the direction of the magnetic meridian, without even removing the bracelet. In all circumstances it shows you the route to follow. On land, at sea, in the air, attribute of your security, you wear on the wrist. Your victory over time. Your mastery of the elements. Your star and your salvation. All over. Night and day. Double action instrument. Rotor with watch and compass. Instant central reversibility. Line of sight for direction of travel. Fixed or retractable sights. Liquid oscillating brake compass. Movable telescope adjustable to the north bridge. Correction of declination. Global variation indices. Special waterproof box. Any counterfeiting will be rigorously prosecuted.” Pretty promising ad right? You would think they sold tons of them. But they did not. And just when I started to think that this watch was a myth, I ran into a very similar watch by accident on the big, well-known auction site. The dial wasn’t branded as Ductor, but as Opera, which I had never heard of and explains why I didn’t see this Northline configuration before. Maybe other brands used these as well. Apparently this Opera Northline has had several owners in the last two years and is the only Opera Northline I can find pictures of on the internet. The condition is crazy. It’s so sharp and looks so crisp. The 36mm stainless steel case works perfectly on my wrist. With its 12mm its relatively thick, but suits the elegant toolwatch vibe of it well. What’s interesting as well are the 21mm lugs. A size you don’t see very often. The glass on the compass side can be rotated and has fixed line on it to mark the cities for the GMT-like function. I’m not totally about its use though. The ad states that the compass contained liquid, but it has dried/leaked out. The watch side also has a cool feature. The dial contains the cardinal marks of the compass. Also not sure if they’re there for aesthetics or if they have a function of some sort. The same goes for the bezel. I am not sure how to read it and how it can be used. I hope you guys can enlighten me about that. Oh well, my apologies for the long read. But I do hope with all the knowledge combined on this forum, we can work out a bit of history on Ductor, Opera and the Northline watches. Thank you for reading!
Used for estimates of distance in the field typically for military purposes. No, I didn't know that, I had to look it up http://www.compassdude.com/compass-units.php +1 on coolness.
I suspect these numbers (or lack of) are the magnetic declination for the locations. For those who were never boy scouts, pilots or sailors that's the local difference between magnetic north and true north. That should enable us to date the watch because it gradually changes over time. https://www.magnetic-declination.com/what-is-magnetic-declination.php Current values One more point on the coolness scale!
Oh damn, seems like this watch was really useful rather than a gimmick. I recking it’s from the late ‘50s or early ‘60s given the style of the ad. But it’s a ballpark estimate.
What is the value for London? In early '60s declination was about 8 degrees or 142 milliradians. (Yes, I did know that at the time )
It says -160. I am trying to find historic data but have a hard time finding it. But that says more about my Google-skills...
OK, that might make it 1950s, the value was steadily decreasing then and is about 0 now. I've got a lot of old Ordnance Survey maps which have the value at date of publication and I'll dig some out. Can go back into the 1930s with luck. And can I please say dibs.