A COLLECTOR’S PASSION WITH AURO MONTANARI

Famous in watch circles for writing historical watch books under his alias John Goldberger, Auro Montanari has been a vintage watch collector for more than 45 years. Universal Genève is one of his favourite brands. Why?  

In the early 1980s, Auro Montanari, then a budding watch collector in his twenties, regularly scoured the local flea markets for wrist watches and pocket watches when he joined his art-collecting family for exhibitions all over Europe. “Back then there was no internet, no books, no museum, no info. So, I grew my knowledge by talking to dealers and other collectors,” Montanari shared with UG Magazine during a recent Milan photoshoot of his extensive Universal Genève collection at Bernardini, a vintage-watch boutique.

He revealed his first exposure to the brand as a young collector was a Tri-Compax with moon phase, which piqued his curiosity. “I discovered that Universal Genève had an incredible portfolio. It was one of the most important brands in the chronograph field in the 1940s and 1950s, and they also made sports watches and dress watches, for which I love the balance of design and the quality of dials,” he said. “Of course, during the quartz era these mechanical watches were easy to find.”

Within years, he had amassed a prolific collection – and the knowledge to go with it. It wouldn’t be long before he was considered a world authority on vintage watches of all stripes. Under the pseudonym John Goldberger he has written several books on vintage watches.

“Watches are the best possible thing to collect in the world,” he said. “You can wear it and enjoy it all day – you can have a piece of art on your wrist.”

When looking to buy a watch, the starting point for Montanari is always the design and wearability: “This is very important for me. After that comes condition and rarity.” And he remains old school when it comes to negotiating potential pitfalls of vintage collecting, especially online. “The web is still a virtual world – for me the real world is more important. To meet the real people to touch the watch.”

Pointing to a rare white gold Universal Genève Polerouter on white-gold mesh bracelet, Montanari said, “The Polerouter is an incredible watch designed in 1954 by Gérald Genta. This version has an incredible movement with a micro-rotor made in-house.” Other design details he appreciates on the Polerouter are the central cross and the date window introduced after the original Genta design: “It is not symmetrical and straight, it is a trapezoid design.”  

Pulling back the sleeve of his blazer, Montanari revealed how likes to wear another of his unique Universal Genève pieces – a massive, 50-mm-plus ref. 7445 chronograph – over his shirt cuff. “Such watches, used for aviation or auto racing, came around 1938 to 1942. Some of them have amazing, electroplated gilt dials that still look brand new,” he described of the technique that involves printing a dial with clear lacquer before electroplating it, thus leaving the lacquered parts uncoloured, showcasing all the details in the metal.  

Even though his collection has gone from mass to disciplined over the years, Montanari still has an insatiable hunger for exceptional Universal Genève watches: “I am still looking for great chronographs in original conditions.”

And his holy grail? “In the 1950s Universal had the same distributor as Rolex and Patek, the Stern Frères company, and they sold a few watches with great cloisonné dials,” Montanari said of the technique where different areas of a dial are separated with gold threads, allowing for extremely detailed motifs. “I would love to find one.”