A collector's passion: meet Auro Montanari

Famous in the watchmaking world for his many books devoted to historic watches, Auro Montanari, aka John Goldberger, has been collecting vintage watches for over 45 years. Among his favorites: Universal Genève. Why such an attachment?

In the early 1980s, Auro Montanari, then a young watch collector in his early twenties, used to scour local flea markets for wristwatches and pocket watches when he joined his art-collecting family to attend exhibitions across Europe. "Back then, we had no Internet, no guidebooks, no museums and no information. So I enriched my knowledge by talking to dealers and other collectors," Auro Montanari tells UG Magazine during a recent photo shoot of her extensive Universal Genève collection at Bernardini, a vintage watch boutique in Milan.

He reveals that he discovered the brand in his early days as a collector thanks to a moon-phase Tri-Compax, which piqued his curiosity. "I learned that Universal Genève had an exceptional portfolio. It was one of the leading brands in chronographs during the 1940s and 1950s, and also offered sports watches and elegant timepieces, of which I salute the balance of the design and the quality of the dials," he says. "During the quartz era, these mechanical watches were obviously very easy to find."

This is how he amassed a prolific collection - and the knowledge that goes with it, in just a few short years. He quickly became a world authority on antique watches, and has published several books on the subject under the pseudonym John Goldberger.

According to him, "watches are the best collectibles in the world. You can wear them and admire them all day long: you have a work of art on your wrist."

When looking to buy a watch, Auro Montanari's essential criteria are always design and comfort: "This is fundamental for me. The condition of the model and its rarity are secondary." When it comes to overcoming the potential pitfalls of vintage collecting, especially online, he prefers an old-fashioned approach: "The Internet remains a virtual universe - the real world is more important to me. I need to meet real people, to touch the watch."

Pointing to a white gold Polerouter Universal Genève presented on a white gold mesh bracelet, Auro Montanari says: "The Polerouter is an exceptional watch created by Gérald Genta in 1954. This version has a remarkable movement, equipped with a manufacture micro-rotor." He also appreciates the central cross and date window added to later versions of Gérald Genta's original model: "It's not symmetrical and straight, it's a trapezoidal model."

The collector also shares how he likes to wear one of his many unique Universal Genève pieces: rolling up his jacket sleeve, he reveals an imposing chronograph ref. 7445 measuring over 50 mm, worn above his shirt cuff. "This type of watch, used in aviation and motor racing, appeared between 1938 and 1942. Some of them feature magnificent galvanized gold dials that still look brand-new," he explains of the technique of coating a dial with a transparent lacquer before galvanizing it. This process leaves the lacquered parts uncolored, thus highlighting all the details of the metal.

Although he has refined his collection over the years, Auro Montanari has retained an insatiable interest in unusual Universal Genève watches: "I'm always on the lookout for exceptional chronographs, in their original condition."

His Holy Grail? "In the 1950s, Universal collaborated with the same distributor as Rolex and Patek Philippe, the company Stern Frères. It sold a few watches with sublime cloisonné enamel dials," explains Auro Montanari. This technique consists of separating different parts of a dial with gold wire to create meticulously detailed patterns. "I'd love to get my hands on one of these."