215 — the plain hand-wound dress calibre

In brief

Open one up and there is not a great deal to look at: seventeen jewels, a mainspring barrel, a going train. The 215 is a plain hand-wound calibre, the kind Universal Genève put in the dress watches it was selling at the time, with none of the chronograph work of the Compax line.

Short history

Universal Genève is remembered for the Compax chronographs and the micro-rotor Polerouter, but it also kept a catalogue of simple hand-wound calibres for everyday dress watches. They were aimed at buyers who wanted the Geneva manufacture's name on the dial and nothing more complicated behind it.

Watches that used it

• Universal Genève dress watches