Ettore Bugatti's Very Own Mido Watch

With its dial in the shape of a horseshoe grille and its red enameled logo with the initials "EB", this watch certainly evokes its illustrious owner, Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), who wore it on his wrist for many years. This fact and its provenance have been confirmed by sources close to the family, but above all through research carried out by experts Mr. Guyon and Mr. Léger. Even if the Swiss watchmaking company has no archives prior to 1935—i.e. before the inventory number 400,000—we know the number of watches produced per year. Thus, the one here, numbered 261.492, bought at public auction by its current owner some fifteen years ago, can be dated to 1929. "We now know that Ettore Bugatti ordered six series of watches from Mido between 1926 and 1932," says Alexandre…