Watch Reviews 4U - Cauny Swiss watches brand? Take a look at this Cauny Prima and others from the Cauny watch classic era of the 1950's - how do these compare to Longines?

The Cauny Prima watch - a brand few have heard of it seems!

Cauny Prima 38mm -

Swiss made, gaining interest

Mention the watch brand Cauny and it is likely that many will not have heard the name before. But, these watches are gaining interest from the watch collecting world. Most likely well known to collectors are the Cauny chronographs fitted with Landeron Chronograph movements  in watches of the 1950's.

The classic 'Chaux de Fonds' Fleur de Lis icon on the back of the Swiss Cauny watches

Made in the Chaud de Fonds factory in Switzerland nudging the border with France, these watches found most sales in Spain, Portugal and South America, ironically where many Germans went after WW2. Some of my Cauny examples came from German sellers.

1959 Cauny Prima Skeleton c.35mm

With dial designs ranging from the elegant stylish uncluttered to the vividly guilloched 'swirl patterned' dials of the 38-42mm top of the range models, there is a broad palate for the collector to choose from and more importantly currently around half of what you'd pay for a comparable Longines or Oris of the time.

Cauny Prima 42mm 'oversize' watch

The 1945 and later Skeleton design (above) looks really modern in style, futuristic and functional. I like it but at 35mm its is a bit small for me.

Cauny Centenaire c 37mm case -

Understated elegance

Comparing these Cauny examples to some of the 1950's Longines smaller sized watches 34-38mm (by today's standards) I have found the Cauny to look equal to the quality of Longines made back then, perhaps why the market is now wising up to Cauny as an alternative Swiss watch to collect or to start collecting as well as more well known brands.

Examples of a c.39mm Cauny Prima with a beautiful

Guilloche dial. A premier level watch from the brand.

Surprisingly there is little information on Cauny, it seems from information I have found that they ceased trading in the late 1960's only to be purchased by a Spanish concern in the early 1970's as with this Unitas movement model below.

A 1970's Cauny, from the Spanish era with Unitas movement

For £25.00 in 2022 this was a good buy. 

As with many Swiss brands, the quartz watch boom of the late 1970's sealed the fate for many of these mechanical watch makers and they had to adapt to Quartz to survive. How ironic that many of us collectors purchase these literally, clock work pieces! 

The tragedy of the quartz watch era is that the Cauny watches kept good time, were stylish and were good quality. But, the cheapness and simplicity of quartz made the lower end mechanical watch models unable to compete.  

A Cauny Prima 39mm watch - 

fantastic Guilloche dial design and 'Crab' lugs

Cauny continue to produce quality watches today and seem to be surviving in this 'battery watch world'. 

Here is some brief history of the brand:

CAUNY as a brand was created in 1927 and based in La Chaux-De-Fonds, Switzerland

The quality of the watches is very good, their logo the "Fleur de Lys" is striking and appears to have been re-registered in the early 70's after the late 60's demise this time in Madrid, Spain. The logo this time more stylized. The brand seems to have developed well in the Iberian Peninsula, Spain, Portugal, Andorra as well as South America.

About the brand: Cauny was Swiss brand from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. It was founded by Alfred Grabler in 1927.