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Dr.Sascha
·I've been spending a lot of time over the past few month looking into the mid-range tool-watch and sports-chronograph makers from the 1950s and 1960s. This started with the purchase of a Yema Meangraf Super, which I have since sold, using the proceeds to buy an early-year Rallygraf Super. I've also been looking at Ollech + Wajs, Helsa, and a few others. This led me to Le Jour, which is an odd duck. For those of you unfamiliar . . . Yema was a mid-range maker of cases and dials that was marketed in the States as Le Jour (presumably b/c the latter sounded more French). But Le Jour also produced watches using Yema/Le Jour dials on a range of very nice movements and cases. The rise in value of Yemas, the Yachtingraf and Rallygraf in particular, has generated more interest in Le Jours, and the watches themselves are often very nice in their own right, demonstrating a characteristic French flair. They're not Breitlings or Heuers, by any stretch, but if Yemas are on the order of Wakmann, then Le Jours might be favourably compared to Tressa, Helsa, the aforementioned Ollech Wajs or perhaps even LIP. I am still tracking down the details, but it also seems that Le Jour, like Wakmann, was involved in distributing Breitlings both under the Breitling name and rebranded for the mid-level market with Le Jour dials. Any more information anyone has on this would be most appreciated.
Anyway, I saw a Le Jour pilot's chronograph w/ a Valjoux 7730 mvt. that I liked on eBay, checked against some reference dials, then made a relatively low offer. Much to my delight, the seller accepted and sent the watch on. When it arrived, I opened it up not only to find a pristine and well-maintained movement, but one that was, instead of the expected Valjoux 7730, a Venus 188! I feel kind of like I bought what I thought was a four-cylinder Mustang from the mid 60s and instead ended up with a V-6 model from the late-50s. I immediately wrote the buyer, let them know the discrepancy (an easy mistake to make, given the 7730 is modelled directly on the 188), and thanked them again for selling it at such a reasonable price.
Of course, now I feel _compelled_ to replace the original crystal (which is a bit scratched) and get a much nicer strap for it . . . 😀
Anyway, I saw a Le Jour pilot's chronograph w/ a Valjoux 7730 mvt. that I liked on eBay, checked against some reference dials, then made a relatively low offer. Much to my delight, the seller accepted and sent the watch on. When it arrived, I opened it up not only to find a pristine and well-maintained movement, but one that was, instead of the expected Valjoux 7730, a Venus 188! I feel kind of like I bought what I thought was a four-cylinder Mustang from the mid 60s and instead ended up with a V-6 model from the late-50s. I immediately wrote the buyer, let them know the discrepancy (an easy mistake to make, given the 7730 is modelled directly on the 188), and thanked them again for selling it at such a reasonable price.
Of course, now I feel _compelled_ to replace the original crystal (which is a bit scratched) and get a much nicer strap for it . . . 😀
