90. Cortebert, "railroad" pocket watch

Cortebert, "railroad" pocket watch, ca. 1945. Made for the turkish market, with Turkish chain.

Cortebert watches were produced by a Swiss company since 1790 untill about 1970.

The name came from a small town near Biel in Switzerland where Abraham-Louis Julliard opened a small watchmaking store in 1790 in Cortebert village.    However, it was much later in 1855 that the brand was registered as the Manfaktur Raiguel Julliard et Cie using a bottony cross as a logo.In 1927, it came under the ownership of Ebauches SA. (which became Omega in 1962).    As well as manufacturing premium watches of high regard, Cortebert was also a notable supplier of   movements to big names like Rolex.    It is also to Cortebert’s credit that that the jump-hour arrangement was introduced.    (Note: Most watches display the hour by the position, the hour hand is pointing as it slowly sweeps across the dial. Watches with a jump hour complication have an hour hand that does not slowly sweep between the hours. Instead, it points exactly at the current hour and jumps to the next hour as soon as the 60th minute of the current hour is over.).   This was the first digital watch ever.    Cortebert also produced railroad, airline and ocean carrier watches.    A typical Cortebert caseback carries the maltessian cross which was a favored symbol of the Julliards.    In 1944, Cortebert released a 20-caliber range of special railway watches which became synonymous with the marque.    Before Cortebert started supplying Egyptian and Turkish railroads, the tips stars used to be four. Since they evoked the spirit of the Crusades, they were increased to five to avoid offending the Muslim clientele.

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90.