Two Dufeau (KLM, SwissAir) watches

Hello Laurent,
Thank you for sending in these two wrist watches to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that today although we normally only do one item per appraisal and this the valuation as a pair is problematic since I would not expect to find a comparable pair out on the market, but I will make an informed estimate of
the value of the two watches for you. I will refer to them as watches A & B. Also, understand that they are NOT a pair, but made by the same company. A pair would be a mens and ladies version of the same model watch. hat you have shown me one might call a pair "by association".
TITLE:
A-Pilot’s, certified aircraft stainless steel (made by Boeing for Dufeau), self-winding, water resistant (100m), limited edition (837/1000), chronometer grade, wristwatch with date and new leather strap, Jubilee limited edition model, Ref. KL-80RS, made for KLM Airlines, made by the Dufeau Watch Company (formed in 1994-now out of business), Switzerland, circa 1999. No paperwork is available for this watch, nor service information.
B- Gent’s, self-winding, water resistant (100m), quartz, wristwatch with date and a white-stitched Hirsh black leather strap, made to celebrate the Douglas aircraft DC-3 first made by Swiss-Air in 1931, ETA quartz SR224-56 model, made by the Dufeau Watch Company, Switzerland, circa 1996. No Paperwork.
DESCRIPTION:
A-Case: 38mm, two leaf, aircraft quality stainless steel, wristwatch with concave lyre-shaped lugs, single steel fluted crown with logo, screwed down case back engraved in the center, “KLM, Specially made for KLM, Limited Edition of 1000 pcs”, and embossed along the periphery, “Dufeau, Swiss Made, no.0837/1000, AERO????(illegible), 100m/330ft”. The watch is attached to a new leather strap. There is an Arabic bi-rotational bezel with minute markers up to 60 minutes.
B-Case: 38mm diameter, two leaf, stainless steel, wristwatch with concave lyre-shaped lugs, knurled edge steel fixed bezel,
single steel fluted crown, screwed down case back engraved on the back cover, “quartz longlife, Swiss Made, all Stainless steel, water-resistant 100 meters” and embossed in the dial center “Swissair 1931, image of the DC-3 airplane, Douglas DC-3, 1937-1955, Dufeau ref. SR 224-56”. The watch comes with a Hirsch black leather strap with white stitching.
A-Dial: Mineral glass crystal overlies this round black dial with tritiumed luminous hours, with baton type minute markers and open bar minute track, the dial also marked for the 360 degrees of a circle and thus marked every 30 degrees at each five-minute marker with a date aperture @3. There are luminous pointy baton hands along with a triangular headed center seconds pointer. The dial is marked, Dufeau Watch Co., KLM since 1919, T-Swiss Made-T”.
B-Case: White enameled dial with upright Arabic hours each with luminous tritiumed dot, open bar minutes/seconds track divided into fifths of a second, date aperture @3, luminous pointy baton hands with center seconds pointer. The dial is marked, “Dufeau, Swissair, 1931, T-Swiss Made-T”.
A-Movement: Not shown. This is an ETA self-winding movement made with 25 jewels, possibly a variant of the well-known ETA 2824-2 calibre movement with a power reserve of 40 hours and in production since 1982.
B-Movement: Apparently Dufeau made this watch in two models, one with aa mechanical automatic ETA movement and this example with an ETA quartz movement which is less popular and sells at a lesser price point, as the majority of quartz watches do.
Apparently, it still bears the same reference number as the automatic mechanical model which sells in the $350-$400 range at auction. This is a cased and timed, standardized swiss made quartz movement.
CONDITION:
A-Case – Very good with some superficial scratches on the back cover. Replaced the steel bracelet with a new leather strap.
B- Case - Excellent
A-Dial – Excellent
B-Dial - Excellent
A-Movement – Not seen but assumed genuine, original and functional.
B-Movement – Not seen but assumed ETA quartz and is genuine, original and functional.
A-Paperwork missing
B-Paperwork missing
HISTORY:
The Dufeau Air Racing Chronograph has a unique history. Every year, a unique race takes place in Reno, Nevada. Transformed, II. pilots flying on World War II fighters test their skills on a narrow circular orbit at 800 km / h, very low, close to the ground. Turning points are indicated by simple, grounded poles. It is here that you decide who wins and who loses. Anyone who takes the narrower round, as close to the pole as possible, placing the machine perpendicular, almost touching the ground with the wingtip, is only able to gain the decisive meters. That’s why being able to withstand extreme acceleration forces - up to 7G - was a basic requirement when designing watches for “Air Racing” pilots.
Former air traffic pilot Walter P. Zaugg went on to become a fan - in 1994, he and his watchmaker formed Dufeau Watch just to make exclusive flight watches.
To this day, radar, satellite navigation and “fly-by-wire” - that is, fully electronic aircraft steering and control - still have a serious fan base among professional pilots, technically obsolete mechanical pilot watches.
The “Dufeau” brand commemorates Henri and Armand Dufaux, pioneers of Swiss aviation and aircraft manufacturing, who founded their company in 1908 in the watchmaking metropolis of Geneva.
The name is mandatory, so Dufeau watches are designed for maximum reliability to withstand extreme conditions. The raw materials, manufacturing, and final inspection represent a quality and standard that each of their watches undergoes an official airworthiness review.
This, in light of the fact that most Dufeau watches - as well as most of all other pilot watch products in the world - will never be an instrument used in a “real” aircraft, seems pointless. Walter P. Zaugg uses the term “Spirit of Aviation” to explain why it makes sense to take on this degree of responsibility - as airworthiness comes with little responsibility - for the raw material, the manufacturing and, of course, the end product. Thus, it makes sense that the only watch cases made and tested in aircraft manufacturing are made of stainless steel. The same material is used by Boeing to manufacture parts of its wide-body commercial aircraft that are subject to high mechanical stress. Under a license agreement, the steel will be supplied by Boeing to Dufeau.
For Dufeau, the challenge in making pilot lessons was based on the essence of flying. That they are created on the basis of the same principles as airplanes are constructed, and thereby endow them with a “flying” identity. Our watchmakers use only the best raw materials, being aware that customers today expect lasting value. An exhaustive series of tests ensures that all Dufeau watches have the longest possible service life.
Dufeau insists on this durability because pilot watches don’t follow fashion fads, their characters have been unchanged for decades now. “I finally decided to start the watchmaking company Dufeau when I was flying at flight level 230 over the mountains of Persia, aboard an aircraft. On one of my last trips as commander of a UN (United Nations) aircraft. This marked an unexpected end to the preparatory and screening work. For years, he was surrounded by a multitude of watches and instruments in the cockpit. It inspired me to make my own watch - a pilot’s watch in the broadest sense of the word. There is no use other than aviation where timing would be as vital and indispensable as flight. Just as inspiring was the pioneering work of the Dufaux brothers in Geneva, whose names brought the watch company to life. They were the first Swiss flying pioneers to achieve great things on their planes for our little country. As early as 1910, Armand Dufaux flew across the entire Lake Geneva at, no. With its 4 biplanes, which was the largest distance traveled over the water at the time.
COMPARABLES:
A Watch -
https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/dufeau-watch-cy-klm-flight-chronometer-wristwatch-mSQ0l3x4KA
(Similar limited edition with blue dial sold in 2016 sold in 2016 for $312)
https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/dufeau-messerschmitt-bf109-gents-wristwatch-cANbg7TU8p (Sold in 2017 for $298 with black dial)
B Watch –
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/DUFEAU-SwissAir-Douglas-DC-3-the-original-pilot-watch-Swiss-Made-/132629289525 (failed to achieve an opening bid of $200 in 2020)
https://www.watch.de/archive/archive_germany/dufeau-swissair-fliegeruhr-type-31-38mm.html (RETAILS FOR 350 EUROS)
https://www.chrono24.com/dufeau/airliner--id16984877.htm#gref (very similar type watch retails for $300)
PRICING:
Understanding that your pair of watches is not a set of any kind, the pair would be valued at the fair market value for each. They are both impacted negatively by the fact that they are neither antique nor vintage watches, rather contemporary for this past quarter century.
The Dufeau Aerospace KLM Limited Edition has a fair market value in the range of $290-$320 while the Dufeau Swissair 1931 Quartz would have a fair market value of $125-$150. Therefore, the pair would likely sell at auction for a fair market price in the range of $415-$470, while retail price of the pair would approach about twice that amount.
I hope this helps you to understand the essentials and proper pricing of these two watches in today’s marketplace. Please pardon any of my typos since this was a difficult task of trying to do two different types of watches at the same time.
Thank you again for choosing mearto.com.
My best,
David