Behold The Magnificent Angelus Chrono-Datoluxe

I don’t have a lot of vintage watches on my wishlist anymore. Some, I was lucky enough to find over the years. Others, I moved on from or saw in the metal, which changed my perspective about them. Very few examples, though, still make my heart beat faster. I must admit that most of these models come from Angelus. Sadly, we don’t see these too often on the market anymore. So whenever one appears, it gives hope to our small but enthusiastic community. There are some gems still out there. This is the story of one such gem, my Angelus Chrono-Datoluxe.

Keep in mind that this article is not a collector’s guide. While I’d love to cover the Chrono-Datoluxe in such a context, I still need to do some research. Besides, unlike others, I do not wish to state assumptions as facts if I’m unsure.

Google to the rescue

Watch collectors, especially vintage lovers, have various tools to look for the watches they lust after. The usual suspects are eBay, Chrono24, multiple auction sites, and watch forums. Up until recently, the WatchRecon app was also such a tool that worked as a search engine for sales corners on watch forums. While the website has been available for a few weeks, iOS no longer supports the app. As a vintage guy, I used all these tools and then some. One thing I would have never guessed to be helpful for the hunt was just a regular Google search. When I do research, I often use Google’s image search, but the regular search usually leads to many watches sold at auctions or popular dealer sites — long live SEO.

It was one lazy Sunday evening last November when, for the fun of it, I googled “Angelus Chrono-Datoluxe.” I’d do this occasionally to see if anything new had been posted that I may have missed. And there it was — an image from a German dealer’s website I was not familiar with. So, I clicked on it, and my jaw dropped. The watch I saw there was not only in immaculate condition but also relatively reasonable price-wise (for its rarity) and available. I should have been more excited, but over the years, I’ve learned that so many things can go bad between finding a watch and strapping it on my wrist that I don’t have high hopes. Still, I decided to send a short email inquiring about more information and, of course, availability.

Cross-referencing and more cross-referencing

To my surprise, a day later, I received a short but cordial reply from the dealer up north that the watch was indeed in stock and ready to be shipped whenever. While waiting for the answer (Monday was a day off for said dealer — oh, the anticipation!), I sent the link to a small and trusted group of collectors. I know my vintage Angelus watches, but it would be cocky of me to say that I’m an expert on every model (or even one!). In the meantime, I went to work and tried to dig up as much info on the Chrono-Datoluxe as possible. As always, my bible was the Angelus Collector’s Guide by my great friend Dr. Christoph Öhm-Kühnle. Once I was confident that the watch was kosher, the details in the guide matched, and my collector friends were optimistic, I had one more thing to do — negotiate the price.

The vintage market is very soft these days, giving us some wiggle room. I knew how rare this watch was, so I did not try to be rude, and I was comfortable with the final price. Let’s just say that I paid less than a new Tudor Black Bay on a bracelet, which, to me, is still a lot of money for a vintage watch that I’ll wear sporadically. But that’s the crazy thing about this hobby: we are buying watches that may not get a lot of wrist time. Yet they fit into a collection as building blocks to the history of a brand that many may have forgotten. To me, the Chrono-Datoluxe is the cornerstone of any vintage Angelus collection, not necessarily only due to its rarity but also its complications.

The Angelus Chrono-Datoluxe

During its heyday, Angelus produced a series of in-house calibers. The SF 21X family was the first with movements such as the 215 (chronograph), 216 (time only), and 217 (chronograph and triple date). In 1945, Angelus launched another line of smaller calibers, the SF 25X. This line included movements like the 250 (chronograph) and the 252, the caliber inside the Chrono-Dateluxe. While other models, like the Angelus Tinkler or Medical, may be rarer than the CDL, they did not have in-house movements. Because of this, the Chrono-Datoluxe is the rarest Angelus model with an in-house caliber. And what a watch it is! Since the 25X movement is smaller than its predecessor, the watches were also tiny compared to previous models. Consequently, the CDL is only 33mm in diameter and 40.5mm from lug tip to lug tip. Thanks to it housing a hand-wound movement, the thickness is only 11.5mm.

Even compared to vintage standards, remember that the Chrono-Datoluxe came to the market around 1948, so we are looking at a petite timepiece. The beauty, however, did not lie only in the movement but also in the watch’s complications and dial design. The Chrono-Datoluxe offers the day, date, and moon phases, which is not the usual combination of the day, date, and month. Furthermore, as the 252 caliber is based on the 250, it also offers a chronograph function — so many features in such a small case. But to make things even more special, the aperture at 12 gives a big date functionality.

Contrary to a regular date function, on a big date, the first and second digits of the date move separately. You’ll see this on the Lange 1 or the Glashütte Original Senator. But this is Angelus…and we are talking about 1948.

As prompt as it gets

Let’s get back to the deal. The money was coming, and the dealer’s communication was slow, but nothing raised any red flags. All was said and done within a week, and by Monday the following week, the watch was in my hands. And, again, what a watch it was (and still is)! It was in breathtaking condition with flawless functionality, which, as you can imagine, is a significant issue with highly complicated vintage watches. The day after I received the Chrono-Datoluxce, I was going to London for the last Time 4A Pint of 2024 and, within a few weeks, to Tokyo. The watch came with me everywhere, functioned without an issue, and commanded quite the admiration from fellow watch lovers. Overall, my experience with the dealer was great, and it was as prompt as it gets. The Chrono-Datoluxe is terrific and is a great companion to my 250 Chronograph and 255 Dato12.

Final thoughts

I plan to cover the history of the Chrono-Datoluxe extensively in the future, perhaps bringing the other models into the limelight as well. For now, let this story stand here as a testament to two things — beautiful vintage watches and the fact that we never know where we’ll find them. Keep your eyes open, watch fam, and keep looking for that special piece. Perhaps it’s hiding in a small German dealer’s stock up north.