Angelus Chronodato

As a collector, I have always found the Angelus Chronodato to be a very unique and desirable vintage watch. At 38mm diameter, it stands out among many of its smaller contemporaries. Most of the Valjoux/Venus/Landeron chronograph watches from the same period tend to be smaller, at approximately 33mm to 35mm. And then there is the dial layout. The upper month and lower day apertures are clearly different from the conventional configuration, where they are often seen side by side and above center. The reason for all of this is because Angelus designed and manufactured everything in house and was not limited by supplier designs. They made their own cases, their own movements, their own hands, their own pushers, etc. Everything was engineered from the ground up. Nothing was borrowed, nothing was outsourced. While certainly not a guarantee for success, this approach served Angelus well, and the Chronodato made Angelus one of the most popular Swiss watchmakers in the mid-twentieth century.