Teddy Baldassarre
Universal Genève Polerouter Review: The '50s Icon Returns
The Universal Genève Polerouter is probably the most historically significant watch that enthusiasts of a certain age have never heard of. Okay, maybe that's overstating it, but the watch is certainly less, well, universal in its claim to icon status than several other, more well known models that debuted later. And yet, if it weren't for the Polerouter, which came out in the mid-1950s and which afforded an opportunity for a young, precocious watch designer to make his first mark on the industry, we may never have had the opportunity to experience some of those 1970s models that came later. Intrigued? Read on. [toc-section heading="Universal Genève History (1894 - 1950s)"] Despite the “Genève” that has become attached to the company’s name, the firm originally known as Universal Watch traces its roots to a smaller Swiss city, the village of Le Locle (also home to Ulysse Nardin, Zenith, and Tissot), where it was established in 1894 by watchmakers Numa-Emile Descombes and Ulysse-Georges Perret. Descombes died a few years later, and Louis Berthoud, one of the company’s most talented watchmakers, rose from the ranks to become Perret’s partner in 1897. The pair moved operations to Geneva in 1919, forging the company's modern name and identity. The firm became known for chronographs, and eventually produced both pocket watches and trench watches (pocket watches converted to wristwatches for soldiers in the field) for armies on both sides of the two World Wars. O...
