Psychedelic Fun, The 1960's Ernest Borel Cocktail Kaleidoscope

Telling time in unique ways in today’s era of watchmaking is often reserved for independent watchmakers like MB&F and Urwerk. But there are some interesting vintage watches out there that did exactly the same thing like the Amida Digitrend, for example. Displaying time in a unique way can take many different forms - it could be how the time is read, how the case is constructed, or the indicators of time on a watch. Ernest Borel took inspiration from the era it launched their Cocktail watch and created a watch that was enjoyed by hippies and flower children.

Ernest Borel was founded in 1856 in Neuchatel, Switzerland. The majority of their business focused on exporting watches outside of Europe, given the incredible competition inside the continent. The company also participated in the Neuchatel Observatory timing competitions and came first place in 1866.

Throughout their history they released a series of watches that did capture the attention of many watch enthusiasts. One of the most striking watches is by far The Cocktail. The watch was patented in 1952 and released in 1953 as a ladies watch. Many old advertisements express how the watch was targeted as a watch to enhance femininity and be a conversation piece.

The watch has a gold shell case, with sapphire crystals on both sides of the case. The watch movement and dial sits at the center of the watch, with hour markers circling the outside of the see-through case. The watches hands are red arrows, with a kaleidoscope disc at the center of the watch that turns as the seconds indicator. The watch has long, claw lugs that make the watch sit large on the wrist and has a signed crown.

The kaleidoscope disc at the center of the watch is the novel parts of the watch. It has two clear plastic discs with a geometric pattern on them. One of the discs spins like the sweeping seconds hand of a watch. With the two patterns on the watch and one of the discs spinning, the pattern one sees is a kaleidoscope effect. There were many different versions of the kaleidoscope pattern that were released - the original being a sunburst pattern, but there were also Cocktail models with a flower, arrow, and star patterns.

When the watch was released in 1953 it had a relatively small market but as the 1960’s came about, more and more people began to love the psychedelic nature of the sweeping seconds kaleidoscope pattern of the watch as pop culture changed. The design of this watch was so popular that it was adapted into finger ring watches, pendant watches and desk clocks.

The watch runs on the ETA caliber 1311. The movement was launched in 1950 and like all ETA movements is a workhorse movement. The movement is smaller in size, measuring only 8.75 lignes and has a 40 hour power reserve. Enjoyably, the movement appears to be suspended in the middle of the watch crystal sandwich which makes it nice to look at. It does not have the high level of finishing one would find from other watchmakers but it is always fun to watch a balance wheel oscillate.

Wearing a watch not normally seen on collectors wrist can be uncomfortable to some but exhilarating for others. It is a way to express ones interest in style, but also history of watchmaking. Ernest Borel’s Cocktail watch can give vintage watch lovers that feeling with its groovy time display and extremely comfortable watch.

Enjoy!