Universal Genève Miscellanea

Did you get it? I noticed it was "sold" already 😁

This is something that I ended up with from my mothers estate some years ago.
I didn’t get to ask her where/how she got it but I suspect that it may have been her fathers. She inherited a variety of interesting items and curios from him, including a Paris made travel clock with a salmon guilloche dial in a green leather case that I gifted to a nephew on his 21st.

I assume that this was made as a guarantee holder or similar. The font and logo used don’t seem to align precisely with those on the UG info website, but the design seems closest to some of the 1930’s examples. I wondered if members here might share their thoughts

I recently acquired a pile of old UG-related papers. More to come on that. In the meantime, please enjoy this original invoice from 1912 which is a definite highlight of the collection.



There is so much to enjoy on this single sheet of paper from 111 years ago. The invoice is on behalf of a company called ‘Universal Watch Extra’, a trademark registered some 14 years earlier in 1898. As you can see, Perret & Berthoud are still based in le Locle, in the Jura mountains, before the head office was transferred to Geneva in or around 1919. Notwithstanding the fact that Milan 1906 is mentioned on the letterhead, surely neither could have have imagined the glory that was to follow!

Well, took a few years (and sadly missed one at a bargain basement price recently on eBay…), but I finally landed one! Universal Geneve brass dealer clock in beautiful condition, with a wild electro-mechanical “ portescap ” movement (a mechanical movement jump started with D-Cell battery power), likely from the 1950s. So happy to have it as a yet another reminder of the artisans and design wizards at work in the factories of vintage UG.

A nice illuminated sign sold some years back on ebay
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/universal-geneve-watch-company-524012749

A very cool ashtray for the Spanish market