Compax "Nina Rindt"

The Universal Geneve Compax was the first wristwatch with a 12-hour totalizer when it launched in 1936. Before the Compax, chronograph wristwatches could time events up to 30 minutes. Universal Geneve added the third register, the 12-hour counter, and created the triple-register layout that every chronograph brand has used since. Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, every triple-register chronograph dial in production today follows the template that Universal Geneve established ninety years ago.

The most famous Compax is the Nina Rindt, reference 885103/02, named after the Finnish model who was married to Formula One champion Jochen Rindt. Nina wore a panda-dial Compax on a wide bund strap at the trackside during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The image of a beautiful woman wearing a chronograph at a Grand Prix, casual and confident, made the watch a style icon decades before the collector market caught up. When Hodinkee profiled the watch in 2014, prices went from the low four figures to five figures overnight.

Universal Geneve no longer exists as an active manufacture. The brand went through multiple ownership changes and effectively ceased production. The Compax survives in the vintage market, where original examples in good condition command serious money. I include it because the triple-register chronograph layout that everyone takes for granted was invented here. Not at Rolex. Not at Patek. At Universal Geneve, a brand that most people under 40 have never heard of.