Universal Genève Polerouter: Celebrating an iconic vintage watch from the Jet Age

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When it comes to the world of wristwatch designs, every watch enthusiast has their favourite. Many would go for the more robust sports watch designs—solid stainless steel cases, big, legible, lume-filled hour markers, attached to robust stainless steel bracelets, and boasting of an at least 100m of water resistance.

A bit more of an acquired taste (at least these days) is that of the classic dress-watch design. These are typically far more demure in the looks department, more classically proportioned, perhaps constructed of cases made of gold or other precious metals. These are typically three-hand watches that slip unobtrusively beneath a shirt cuff.

Since such watches are meant for non-adventurous situations, their water resistance ratings are not much to write about, at the most “splash proof" with rating of up to 30m. My personal design preference certainly leans towards dress watches. It’s not as if I don’t enjoy wearing sporty watches, like dive watches, everyday GADA (go-anywhere-do-anything) watches or chronographs and GMTs.

But there is something indescribably aesthetically appealing about a simple, seemingly-nondescript and understated watch that only reveals its beauty under closer inspection. Wristwatches are profoundly tied to the 20th century, so it shouldn’t be surprising that some of the best—and most enduring designs—were created between the 1950s and 1970s, an era of design that is referred to as ‘mid-century modern’. And there is one distinctive dress watch from the era, from a brand whose glory days ended in the 1970s, that I can never get enough of.

This is the Universal Genève Polerouter. Universal Genève is a Swiss watch manufacture that was formed in 1894. In