Juvenia Tank Ref. 8625

The History

Juvenia has had quite the history with more ups and downs than we can count. Like so many of the brands that we have talked about, Juvenia traces its roots back to La Chaux-de-Fonds in the mid-to-late 1800s. Their early years were spent on developing their own in-house movements, focusing on compact and ultra-thin movements for ladies watches. Juvenia really started gaining recognition for the brand after World War II. They began to focus on more avant-garde designs and pushed the boundaries of watch design with cases in the shape of stars, flowers and more. Juvenia was also a pioneer of the display caseback. These developments lead them to their most well known series of watches starting with the Juvenia Mystere, an early mystery dial watch, the Trigone, with overlapping rotating triangles for hours and minute hands, the Planete with eccentric hour and minute hand discs and the most well known Sextant with a semi-circular hour hand. These great designs weren’t enough to sustain the brand through and by 1970 the brand was sold off to the Communauté d’Horlogerie de Précision along with Ebel and Eberhardt which would give them access to the Beta 21 quarts project. The brand would continue to flounder and by the late 80s the brand was once again sold to a Hong Kong company who would produce watches under the Juvenia name until the mid 2000s.

The Reference

Over the last few years, as various models from Cartier’s storied collection have caught the attention of collectors worldwide, there has also grown a greater appreciation of the design aesthetic that these watches embody. Things like subtle curves, stepped cases, and more have hit the watch zeitgeist like a freight train and as a result Cartier prices continue to go through the roof. Luckily for us there were plenty of brands creating high quality watches in the 70s and 80s with a similar design ethos and those watches trade for well below that of the comparable Cartier models. That is where this Juvenia tank comes into play. Its brushed rectangular case is certainly reminiscent of the Cartier Tank but has a design that is all its own which we appreciate. The blue dial simply takes it over the top.

The Case

The 26x34mm brushed stainless case is in excellent new old stock condition with no flaws to note. The signed caseback, signed crown, and acrylic crystal are all correct for the watch and thought to be original. The watch is accompanied by its original leather strap and signed buckle.

The Dial and Hands

The blue dial and hands are in excellent condition. The hands show some light tarnishing visible only under magnification which is common due to the watch’s age even without wear. We especially appreciate how the vertical bruising of the blue dial matches the brushing of the case.

The Movement

This watch features a hand wound Juvenia calibre 765 (ETA 2510) movement. The watch is running and the service history is unknown.

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