A perfect slim German dress watch from the 1960s made by STOWA (Storz, Walter), signed ‘Foreign’ for British market. Simple, clean, and exactly as a proper suit watch should be. Nothing unnecessary: a calm cream-silver dial, elegant applied markers, only 12 and 6 numerals, and no date to break the symmetry. It is one of those “quiet quality” watches that feels effortless on the wrist and looks correct with anything from a jacket to a knit.
Condition is outstanding for the period: only light wear on the case, a near-perfect dial, and a movement that runs “like new” in feel and behavior. Finding a 1960s steel dress Stowa in this level of preservation is genuinely uncommon.
Specifications
Brand: STOWA (Walter Storz)
Type: Slim dress watch / “Foreign” dial marking for British market
Dial: Cream-silver; applied indices; Arabic numerals only at 12 and 6; no date
Lume: Green luminous infill on indices and hands (safe, no radium)
Strap: High-quality genuine leather strap
A short story about STOWA
STOWA was founded in 1927 by Walter Storz in Hornberg (Black Forest) and became one of the most respected German names for practical, well-built timepieces. The brand’s history is tightly connected with German military and professional watches – especially navigation and observation timepieces (chronometer / B-Uhr tradition), which later helped cement STOWA’s reputation among collectors. Today STOWA is a “fancy” enthusiast brand again: small-batch, historically aware, and strongly focused on Bauhaus-clean design and tool-watch heritage.
Many vintage STOWA watches used strong Swiss movements (often from Unitas, Cortebert, and other respected makers), but this watch is a nice exception: here the heart is German too – the PUW 260 by Pforzheim Uhren-Rohwerke (Pforzheim Uhrenwerke GmbH), one of West Germany’s key movement manufacturers of the era. It’s a great example of the 1960s German watch industry local engineering.
Servicing and Warranty
Fully serviced with disassembly in our Bristol shop
The PUW 260 is a robust, well-regarded German manual calibre from Pforzheim – designed for reliability, easy serviceability, and consistent timekeeping. Paired with this slim steel case, it creates exactly what a 1960s dress watch should be: light, comfortable, and mechanically straightforward.
