1950’s GRUEN PRECISION “OCEAN CHIEF” DIVER – TROPICAL DIAL, 39MM, STEEL

1950’s GRUEN PRECISION “OCEAN CHIEF” DIVER – 39MM, STEEL

The story of Gruen, one of the great American watchmaking houses, began when a German-born watchmaker named Dietrich Gruen emigrated to the United States in the mid 19th century and settled in Ohio. There he founded the Columbus Watch Company in the 1870s. After the Panic of 1893 forced him out, he started again with his son Fred as D. Gruen & Son. In 1898 the firm moved to Cincinnati and became the Gruen Watch Company. Fred had a talent for both design and marketing, and under him the company grew into one of the largest and most admired watchmakers in the country. It built its headquarters on a Cincinnati hillside that it renamed “Time Hill,” and was selling over five million dollars’ worth of watches a year by the mid-1920s.  Gruen combined precision Swiss-made movements with American styling and flair, and for much of the century it competed head to head with Hamilton, Elgin and Bulova.

The Ocean Chief comes from the last chapter of Gruen’s independent history. The Gruen family left the company in 1953, and was sold off piece by piece by 1958. During the same years, the diver was becoming the must-have sport watch. The Ocean Chief was introduced in the 1950s, and a small number were still being made in the early 1960s. This was Gruen’s answer to the Submariner and the Fifty Fathoms, and it has a very different, very American character from either one. The design is full of quirks: long twisted lugs, a concave “stadium” bezel that came before the similar design on Breitling’s SuperOcean, and bulbous “snakehead” or “spade” hands. Production was low, and, as they were tools meant to be used in the harshest of environments, few have survived in good condition. The Ocean Chief is now one of the more interesting and hard-to-find divers of the period.

This example measures 39mm without the crown, a very large size for its time. It has the twisted lugs, the oversized knurled crown, and the black concave bezel with a coin edge, 15/30/45 numerals and a triangle at 12. The dial is the factory original glossy black with a tropical caramel gradient visible in direct sunlight, is signed “Gruen Precision” along with “Autowind” and “Waterproof,” with “Swiss” at 6. The gilt-bordered markers are a mix of triangles and rectangles, with an inverted triangle at 12, all set inside a fine gilt minute track. The lume has aged to a warm, even cream that matches the original snakehead hands. The screw-down caseback is stamped “Gruen Automatic, Waterproof, Shock Resistant, Anti-Magnetic.”

The watch is powered by the Gruen automatic caliber 560 RSS. The watch is running well and keeping good time. It comes on a period-correct stainless steel beads of rice bracelet and includes the original red signed Gruen box.

Details:

• Brand: Gruen
• Model: Precision Ocean Chief
• Era: Circa late 1950s to early 1960s
• Case: Stainless steel with twisted lugs and a screw-down caseback
• Diameter: 39mm (excluding crown)
• Lug width: 20mm
• Bezel: Rotating, concave “stadium” style with a black insert
• Movement: Gruen caliber 560 RSS automatic, 17 jewels
• Dial: Original glossy black with aged cream lume
• Hands: Original lumed snakehead hands
• Crystal: Acrylic
• Bracelet: Contemporary stainless steel beads of rice

The watch is in overall very good vintage condition. There is honest wear to the bezel insert. The case and caseback have light scratches consistent with age.