A face behind a name…

by on Jul.21, 2016, under Allgemein

Rahmen_Bild_2016_Phillips_TypeE_3Since we added a Ref. 3646 / Type E “California Dial” into our database in March 2016, the personalized caseback of this watch got our attention, too.

After the watch was auctioned earlier this year in May at Phillips (The Geneva Watch Auction THREE, lot 122, read the note in our watch point here), we continued research on the known personal dates, scratched with a sharp tool onto the caseback of the watch: Name, date of birth and home town of Heinrich Hauenstein.

[Photo with kindly permission / courtesy of www.phillips.com]

Rahmen_Bild_hoch_2016_Hauenstein1Having already a few watches with personalized casebacks recorded in our database, we wanted to find proof about the personalized dates in general and if further information about the history of the first owner of this watch could be found more than 70 years after its use.

Since we exchanged information about Heinrich Hauenstein with his family, we know that he has passed away in 1976 at the age of 55. He was married but had no children. In 1951 he was a founding member of a shooting club in his hometown Solnhofen (Bavaria/Germany).

The family has recently shared a historical photo of Heinrich Hauenstein with us, dated October 1942 on the backside, showing him as a sailor of the German Kriegsmarine / Navy. To put a face behind the name on the caseback, we are pleased to publish here the photo from 1942 aside the auction catalogue from Phillips.

[Historical portrait photo with kindly permission / courtesy of Heinrich Hauenstein’s family]

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