Treasures found at Tempo Passado
New watches appear every day nowadays. This is not unique to our time: there have always been daily launches and, just as before, some models endure while others are lost to time. What is different today is the volume and the speed of communication. Telling the world about a watch launch has become simple, almost instantaneous, and every novelty echoes much further than it did in the past.
The Tempo Passado Vintage Watch Fair acts as a true sieve, letting through only the watches that have won a place in collectors’ hearts — those that have, in fact, stood the test of time.
Today we look back at some of the treasures discovered at previous editions of Tempo Passado. These are pieces that time has filtered rigorously, watches that have won everyone’s admiration. They are just a few examples among the many that still shine in collectors’ memories.
Longines Nonius and Pedro Nunes
Among the watches that have appeared at Tempo Passado, few arouse as much curiosity as the Longines Nonius. This piece holds a unique place in the history of watchmaking for having carried a 16th-century Portuguese invention into a mechanical chronograph: the nonius of Pedro Nunes, the greatest Portuguese mathematician of his time. Longines reinterpreted the original principle — a movable scale allowing extremely precise measurements — and applied it to a tenths-of-a-second hand that remains one of the most ingenious ever created. The result was a bold chronograph, technically challenging and deeply marked by the era in which it was born.
Its development was not linear. Different calibres, with mutually incompatible frequencies, required successive adjustments before the tenths of a second could be read correctly. Only with the adoption of a 5Hz (10 vibrations per second) movement did it finally become possible to guarantee perfect alignment between the Nonius hand and the fixed scale on the dial. Even the design of the hand itself raised unusual mechanical challenges, from the extra weight on reset to the need to avoid parallax errors — issues that the 1967 patent describes in meticulous detail.
It is precisely this complexity — historical, technical and conceptual — that makes the Longines Nonius one of the great favourites of the collectors who visit Tempo Passado. It is a watch that has not only stood the test of time, but continues to represent one of the most creative adaptations of a Portuguese scientific invention to the world of watchmaking.
The two Omax watches of Tempo Passado and the lineage of Space-Age design
The two Omax watches that turned up at Tempo Passado belong to a very specific chapter in the history of watch design: the space-age period, when several Swiss brands sought to translate the enthusiasm for space exploration into everyday objects. Although Omax was not one of the original creators of the Spaceman concept, it closely followed the language introduced by the four brands that actually launched those models: Catena, Fortis, Zeno Watch and Tressa.
Between the late 1960s and the early 1970s, these brands produced watches with futuristic cases, often in fibreglass, shapes inspired by astronaut helmets or spaceships, and minimalist dials with strong contrasts. The aesthetic was not merely bold — it was openly futuristic, in tune with the technological imagination of the time, from the Apollo programme to the science fiction that influenced architecture, furniture and fashion.
It is within this universe that the two Omax watches found at Tempo Passado belong.
The first, the diver with vertical bars, reveals the brand’s approach to the graphic experimentalism of the decade: block indices, high-visibility orange hands and a dial that looks more like a technical instrument than a conventional watch. Although it is not a formal Spaceman, it breathes the same visual optimism — the idea that design could break with every convention.
The second, the Omax with faceted case, comes much closer to the space-age lineage. Although the exact shape changes from brand to brand, one immediately recognises the traits of the movement started by Catena (the original Spaceman, designed by André Le Marquand), later followed by Fortis, Zeno and Tressa: sculptural volumes, angular surfaces, bold proportions and a dial reduced to the essentials, marked only by the orange seconds hand — a splash of colour typical of the era.
These two Omax watches are products of their time, witnesses to a moment when watchmaking decided to look to space and imagine the future. And it is precisely this mix of aesthetic daring, visual culture and industrial history that allows these pieces to cross the decades and remain alive at Tempo Passado. They are watches that could not have existed in any other era — and that, for that very reason, endure with distinction.
Hebdomas — eight days of power and more than a century of character
Among the most striking discoveries at editions of Tempo Passado is this Hebdomas, one of the most recognisable pocket watches in Swiss watchmaking. Originally created at the end of the 19th century, the Hebdomas became famous for its exposed escapement and, above all, for its ability to offer:
eight days of power reserve — a truly remarkable feat for the time and a nightmare for watchmakers.
The example in the photograph shows all the classic features of the Hebdomas family:
– the large lower aperture, which reveals the balance, the central jewel and the inscription “8 Jours”, the hallmark of the series;
– the dial divided into three zones;
– the fluted bezel and the gilt case, often associated with the more ornate versions.
The Hebdomas combines two things that only sometimes coexist in a popular pocket watch: highly durable functional engineering and a theatrical design, intended to show the owner — and anyone nearby — the dance of the escapement and the generosity of the mainspring barrel. Perhaps that is why they keep turning up at fairs, auctions and private collections: because no other watch truly looks like a Hebdomas.
When one of these turns up at Tempo Passado, the reaction is always the same: excitement, recognition and, almost always, a story to tell — because every Hebdomas has crossed decades, and many have passed through several hands, workshops and cities before coming to light.
Three interpretations of precision — from Swiss complication to German rigour
On the table, side by side, are three clocks that represent three different visions of what it means to measure time precisely. It is rare to see them together, and perhaps that is why they were one of the most photographed groups at recent editions of Tempo Passado.
The table clock on the left is a BUBEN & ZORWEG, one of the most prestigious German houses making table clocks, luxury safes and horological objects designed for demanding collectors. Founded in the 1990s, Buben & Zorweg became known for combining precision mechanical engineering, luxury finishes, and contemporary design. It has produced pieces that sit somewhere between watchmaking and the decorative arts.
The example in the photograph features a full calendar with moon phases, divided into four sub-dials: date, day, month and lunar indication at 6 o’clock. The construction of the dial, with brushed silvered discs, blued hands and a clean scale, reflects the technical and elegant style typical of the brand. The polished and varnished wooden case reaffirms Buben & Zorweg’s position at the top end of domestic horology — where each piece is as much an instrument as a design object.
In the context of Tempo Passado, the presence of a Buben & Zorweg adds a rare dimension: it is not just a traditional complication — it is a contemporary expression of luxury table horology, produced with noble materials, reliable mechanisms and absolute care for presentation.
In the centre stands the most immediately recognisable: an Erwin Sattler, made in Munich. The German brand is an absolute reference in the art of indoor precision clockmaking, known for its meticulous construction and the purity of its dials. The example in the photograph features small seconds, a power reserve sub-dial and a characteristic aesthetic signature: straight lines, austere numerals and a geometric balance that points directly to the German tradition of workshop chronometers and wall regulators.
On the right is a precision chronometer mounted in a circular case, with a finely graduated dial and long, slender hands — a typical laboratory, workshop or navigation instrument. The subdivided scale and the shape of the case evoke the models used for calibrating and testing movements, where a clear reading of seconds and fractions of a second was essential. The metal finish and the wide window suggest an instrument designed more for rigour than for decoration.
Seen together, these three clocks tell a curious story: Swiss complication, German precision and technical instrumentation live side by side. They are distinct expressions of the same quest — the quest for the exact measurement of time — and they show why Tempo Passado continues to attract objects that survive long beyond the function for which they were created.
Edox Geoscope — the whole world on the dial
This is the great Edox Geoscope! A stroke of unparalleled creativity from Edox, which has since made a reissue that falls far short of the vintage model. It travelled straight from the 1970s to Tempo Passado. Launched at the height of post-Apollo watchmaking creativity, it is a watch that directly expresses the fascination with geography, intercontinental commercial aviation and the imagery of global exploration.
The central element is the map dial seen from the North Pole, shown in azimuthal projection. This type of representation makes it possible to see every continent from a fixed point and makes it easy to read the time in several regions of the globe at once — a choice that shows how far Edox was willing to take risks in design and functionality.
The inner 24-hour scale — alternating light and dark — works together with the rotating map to create a system of continuous world time, with no need for windows, multiple rings or city names. It is a pure, graphic and intuitive worldtimer in which the whole planet takes part in measuring time.
The hour hand, the minute hand and the 24-hour indicator, all with orange details, reinforce the 1970s aesthetic heritage and ensure contrast against the pastel and ocean tones of the map. The solid steel case, with a shape typical of the era — integrated, wide, ergonomically curved for the wrist — completes the character of the piece.
Like the Tissot Navigator, the Zodiac Astrographic or the Omega Dynamic, the Edox Geoscope became one of the symbols of the experimental watchmaking of this period.
But of them all, it is perhaps the most striking: it does not merely evoke an era, it literally puts the world on the dial.
Finding a Geoscope in original condition, with its integrated bracelet and vivid colours on the map (which often fade in the light), is increasingly rare. So when one appears at Tempo Passado, it instantly becomes a meeting point: collectors gather round, point at continents, discuss map projections and revisit an era when watchmaking was not afraid to think — and design — on a grand scale.
Universal Genève Tri-Compax — “the Vintage Gentleman”!
This is the vintage of vintages — the Universal Genève Tri-Compax. It is one of the great classics of 20th-century mechanical watchmaking, a watch that combines three major complications — chronograph, full calendar and moon phases — on a balanced, legible and deeply elegant dial. It is precisely this combination that gave it its name: Tri-Compax, three complications brought together in a single architecture.
The chronograph measures time intervals precisely, the full calendar shows day, month and date in dedicated windows and sub-dials, and the moon phase adds the astronomical dimension that defines the great historical complications. This technical synthesis made the model one of the most admired in classic watchmaking and one of the most sought-after by collectors of vintage chronographs.
Universal Genève, founded in the 19th century and responsible for some of the most important chronographs of the first half of the 20th century, is now going through a period of renewal: the brand was acquired by Breitling in December 2023 and is preparing a long-awaited comeback, with plans to recover the identity that made it famous. The Tri-Compax, naturally, is at the heart of that heritage.
Few watches embody the spirit of the “Vintage Gentleman” as well as this one. The harmonious design, the well-proportioned sub-dials, the tachymeter scale around the dial and the set of classic hands create a presence that sums up the best of traditional mechanical watchmaking. It is an icon of technical elegance, a piece that carries decades of history and continues to inspire contemporary watchmaking.
A pocket voltmeter — when the shape of the watch served other sciences
At first glance, it looks like a pocket watch. But the dial immediately gives the game away: this is a portable voltmeter, built in the form of a pocket watch to allow quick measurements in the field, at a time when electrical instruments were not yet compact.
The principle is simple: instead of hands for hours, minutes and seconds, we see a semicircular scale graduated in volts, from 0 to 6, with an extremely light, fine needle — typical of precision analogue galvanometers and voltmeters. The lower part houses the coil and the measuring mechanism, visible through a circular aperture, with two small adjustment screws.
This type of instrument was used by electricians, railway technicians, telegraph workshops and laboratories during the first half of the 20th century. The “pocket” format, inherited directly from the traditional watch, made it easy to carry and protected the mechanism in a sturdy metal case. The crown at the top served only to hold and open the case, not for winding — there is no watch movement here, but rather a coil, a magnet and a deflection system.
Pieces like this bear witness to a period when watchmaking influenced the design of scientific instruments: sturdy cases, clean dials, finely reading hands, all designed for precision and portability. Today they are found mainly at flea markets, in technical collections and — naturally — on the tables of Tempo Passado, where they remind us that the history of measuring time often crosses the history of measuring everything else.
Yema Worldtime — the spirit of the Airflight and the origins of “dynamic” watchmaking
Hidden among many others, we found this extremely rare Yema Worldtime, which belongs to a very particular lineage: that of watches with a pierced dial that become a changeable instrument, designed to reorganise information rather than merely display it. Yema, which has always moved between technical daring and an adventurous spirit, created here one of its most inventive pieces. As with the Gruen Airflight, we find the idea of dynamic time — not a fixed dial, but a system that changes with the day, with the wearer’s position and with the need to read it.
In the Airflight, it is the discs that alternate between 1–12 and 13–24 hours; in this Yema, it is the cities and the 24-hour ring that let the wearer travel between time zones with a simple gesture, in a true civil navigation watch.
The other unavoidable reference is the Vincent Calabrese Day & Night, in which the independent master reinvents the way time is revealed, alternating graphic representations according to the time of day. As with Calabrese, this Yema demands participation: it makes the wearer “converse” with the dial, line up cities and grasp the entire planet within a circular space. The philosophy is the same — time is no longer linear and becomes concept, interpretation, cartography.
It is this triad — Airflight, Calabrese, Yema — that makes this model such a special piece. The Yema Worldtime is the French interpretation of a universal idea: when watchmaking abandons rigidity and begins to explore movement, discs, rings and geography as part of its function. Unlike so many classic worldtimers, this Yema does not just want to show the time; it wants to show the world.
That is why, whenever it appears at Tempo Passado, it is always the watch that collectors keep coming back to — not only for its rarity, but because it captures the daring of three different eras of dynamic watchmaking.
Tempo Passado - 29 November 2025
The next Tempo Passado is just 16 days away!
We are preparing everything so that the biggest Tempo Passado of the year runs as perfectly as possible. Exhibitor tickets are now sold out. Visitors can conveniently buy their ticket here on the IPR website
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