Doxa 'Crystal Ball' Desk Clock History

The Cold War has produced many economic oddities. On the surface the two power blocs never tended to look favourably on any sort of economic co-operation but there was still lots of it going on, with the most unlikely of partners. If I look at the horological aspect, the Swiss decided to supply Venus movements to the Soviet space programme, then later on sold licence production rights to the Valjoux 7734 movements to the Soviets, too. And little Doxa, for some reason lost to time - these were the times prior to Compliance Departments in companies (in many countries bribing foreign officials was even a tax deductible expense - this meant as a description of the times, rather than as any sort of insinuation in the direction of Doxas business practices) - became one of the few officially recognised watch suppliers to former Yugoslavia.

After the age of pocket watches started coming to a close I guess some enterprising watchmakers took an opportunity to convert these into desk clocks. I have seen various brands, from Moser, Omega... to Doxa. One of the ways of doing so was to attach a spherical section both at the front and back to produce a crystal ball type of contraption, flattened at the back, so that it stands upright.



I have no clue where this one was dug up from by my father but I found it intriguing and as fathers are wont to do, he gladly gave it to me. I guess it is of little horological significance but it has a weird appeal and I like the idea of winding a hand wound clock every morning. And having a crystal ball in the office is certainly what most managers are looking for Well, mine is stronger in telling time than predicting the long term future but it's still fun!



And it has heat blued hands, too Finally, a slightly altered picture, which kind of looks more artistic and does a better job of bringing out the charm than my photography does

Thanks for viewing!