Traversetolo is a small town near Parma, Italy, and it is the town of origin of one of the current owners of Eberhard & Co. Traversetolo is also the name of a watch by Eberhard & Co., launched a few years ago, and the watch in their collection that, in the black dial version, comes closest to the pilot’s watch aesthetic. (All photos courtesy of http://www.eberhard-co-watches.ch/ ).
Case and dial
The steel case is 43 mm in diameter, making it the largest Eberhard watch. Case finish is excellent; the back is held by eight screws, and is engraved with the watch name, and the 5 Atm/50 metres water resistance. On the dial, the numerals are coated with luminous paint for night-time legibility. The subdial for continuous seconds at 6 o’clock is one of the features in common with early pilot’s watches, though the radial arrangement of the numerals makes it slightly different. The watch has a steel “Chaland” bracelet, though in my opinion it looks better with a leather strap, with Eberhard’s proprietary Déclic deployment clasp. The crown is knurled and marked with the Eberhard E.
Movement
The movement is beautifully finished (invisible for the owner, of course), and it runs at 18,000 vph (2.5 Hertz), with a power reserve of 46 hours. It is an ETA 6498-1 hand-wound mechanical movement, originally designed for pocket watches (it is described as a “hunter calibre”, and its diameter of 36.6 mm makes it a perfect fit for the 43 mm case. Eberhard make a version named Traversetolo Vitré (reference 21020.2) that is identical except for a sapphire caseback.
References and prices
The Traversetolo by Eberhard & Co. has reference 21016.2 in the version with black dial, and 21016.1 in the version with white dial. Traversetolo Vitré is reference 21020.2 with black dial, and 21020.1 with white dial. The black dial versions are normally supplied with steel bracelet but the leather strap can be fitted as an option.
The price of Traversetolo is about €2,130 with steel bracelet, and €1,690 with leather strap.
Below, the Déclic strap and bracelet: