from 1968 with a Venus cal. 178
FROM THE BREITLING of 1884 thru 1978 ...
Léon Breitling, his son Gaston, and later his grandson Willy Breitling 1935 thru 1978 often referred to as the ORIGINAL BREITLING era, before the company was taken over and rebranded.
Back from a four day camping trip during which I wore my stem-winder Hamilton Khaki watch which I had to force myself to remember to wind. So, time for a change. For the next while I’ll wear my mid-50s (?) Gruen Autowind. This is the only Gruen automatic I have ever seen with a German-made Durowe movement, 23 jewels. A long time ago, I had offered this watch for sale (what was I thinking?), and I lucked out! Nobody bought it! The case is gold shell over stainless steel.
The Durowe movement in the Gruen. Rotor marked Laco-Durowe. Durowe was the maker of an early very successful battery powered movement during the early 1960s. Their battery powered movement was used in the earliest Timex Electric watches. Laco-Durowe later became part of SSIH.
I was on a ladder, trimming large limbs out of an oak tree. One just broke and its butt end plunged down, right on to the "watch indexing location" on my wrist. Good thing I was wearing the beater watch loosely for it was forward of where the limb struck. I'll heal, but don't want the ol' Glycine watch-of-wonder to suffer injury. Could have lost the crystal, might have lost the dial, maybe even warped the case or lugs.