I was at a loose end on Friday and came across this on E Bay and with the auction about to end bought it for not a lot of money. Having bought it I spoke to the seller who was quite elderly and he said it had sat in his sock drawer for 30 years and previous to that had belonged to his Father It arrived today and to my amazement has run without issue for the last 8 hours and all functions work. It has clearly seen life but to me that adds to its charm I have had a good look at lots of old Leonidas pictures and I can not find a similar image albeit the hands and sub dial hands have appeared on a number of watches. I understand that Leonidas also used various makers movements but to my untrained eye matching this movement to the various images has got me no where. It is my intention to send it to my watch maker for a full service, not sure I want to do any cosmetic work unless the dial or case need it to preserve the structure. As you may tell I am quite struck by the watch but under no illusion that this is anything other than an interesting old watch but I would like to find out as much as I can about it. If anyone can help with any info or point me in the right direction than that would be much appreciated
These types of watches come up a lot and they're pretty interesting. I don't know how much you pay for it but if working and in good (not perfect) condition they'll fetch 200$ or more... I'd call it a watch from the Chronographe Suisse family. Chronographe Suisse used to make these watches but they also produced for other companies as well (most being more or less obscure swiss brands that no longer exist today or would only exist for a few decades back in the 30s-50s). I came across one or two Leonidas watches as well and I'm pretty certain it's one of those obscure brands that I was talking about. It looks great to me, except for a few dings in the case. Everything is original on it. Some would have 2 casebacks. A normal exterior one + another inner one that was supposed to be "dust proof". I don't know if yours has one. The hour and minute hands have probably been relumed at some point in time. Although many have survived in good shape they were supposed to be cheap back in the days and were marketed for those that wanted a cheap Swiss watch. Here is a picture of a Chronographe Suisse (these will usually sell for a slightly higher price than most other brands).
The Leonidas Watch Factory was founded 1841 by Julien Bourquin in Saint-Imier. 1912 Leonidas is purchased by Constant Jeanneret-Droz, one of the three sons of the Excelsior Park founder Jules Frédéric Jeanneret. This should therefore have been the reason that Leonidas produced quite outstanding chronograph movements, because Jeanneret-Droz brought the necessary know-how with him. But Leonidas also manufactured instruments used in the automotive and aerospace areas. 1964 the companies Leonidas Watch Factory and Ed. Heuer merge. For a long time the watches are sold under the name 'HEUER LEONIDAS'. After Heuer became TAG Heuer, the name Leonidas disappeared. (Credit - Google)