I’ve written quite a few posts about Bell-Matics and their calibres, but it’s been well over a year since one appeared on the blog. This one however is somewhat rare, and in some respects is the missing chapter of the story.

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What makes this Bell-Matic stand out from the crowd is that it has a date only calibre, the cal. 4005A, rather than the day/date cal. 4006A found in the majority of Bell-Matics.

The date only models were produced in the early days of the production cycle, and only for a couple of years before being phased out.  Only two models were available, the subject of this post (also available with a blue dial) and this one, available with either a black or white dial.

The cal. 4005A was only available in a 27 jewel version and like all Bell-Matic calibres, the jewel count is clearly displayed on the winding rotor, and the calibre number on the winding bridge.

The main difference between this calibre and the 4006A is of course the calendar mechanism. With the dial removed, comparing the two calibres you can see that the advancing wheel and day jumper found in the 4006A are missing from the calendar plate on the 4005A.

In terms of other differences, the unlocking wheel has no raised boss for the day disc, and the date ring is not as deeply recessed as no additional space is needed to accommodate the day wheel.

Other than that the calibres are identical from a technical perspective, but there are subtle differences in the case designs for the two model lines. The date only models use a different crystal for example.

Although running on arrival, this Bell-Matic had ‘lost it’s voice’. The alarm wouldn’t wind up any more, which all pointed to either a problem with the crown wheel or a broken alarm mainspring.

Sure enough, the problem turned out to be broken alarm mainspring, so with that replaced and the rest of the movement serviced, it was back up and running again.

Rich.

** Many thanks to Neil Lever for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **

This diver from Heuer is known as the 844/3, and was a popular model in the 1980s.

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Already an established name in the chronograph field, in the late 1970’s Heuer decided to test the water with a divers watch (pardon the pun!). Rather than set up an entire production facility they chose to rebrand an existing model from the French producer, Monnin. These early watches were fitted with an automatic Felsa movement and the only thing ‘Heuer’ about the watch was the dial, as the case and movement were still signed G. Monnin. For more information and pictures of the Heuer/Monnin diver, check out this post on Jarl Fr. Rehn-Erichsen’s blog Classic Heuers.

When the experiment proved to be a success, Heuer decided to develop its own version of the watch and switch production back to Switzerland. Rather than continuing with the Felsa movements, the watches were fitted with ETA calibres, and other models were added to the range; namely quartz and ladies versions of the watch. Here is a catalogue image from 1981 showing the models that were available.

Source: AutaviaPassion

In September 1985 TAG (Techniques d’Avant Garde) bought Heuer and from then on all watches were badged TAG Heuer. The 844 remained in the model lineup but was rebranded as the TAG Heuer 1000, a model that proved popular and remained in the range for many years. Even today the influence of the 1000 can still be seen in some of  the current Aquaracer models.

It’s hard to date the watch in this post exactly, but it must have been produced between 1981 and 1985 as it is fitted with an ETA Cal. 2872, and only has Heuer printed on the dial.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the watch this time, the movement just needed a service. As the original hands weren’t in the best condition, rather than restore them, the owner preferred to replace them with sword hands. The new hands weren’t an exact match and needed to be adjusted to fit properly, but the result was worth the effort I think.

You may have noticed that a Heuer transfer has been added to the rotor of this watch.  As the condition of the movement is much better than the rotor,  my guess is that the original rotor was damaged at some time and was replaced.

Rich.

** Thanks to Anders Bunes for letting me feature his watch on the blog, and to Marius Jensen for providing information and pictures for this post. **

Rumour has it that Santa is on his way again…

… let’s hope he makes it!

Have a great Christmas and New Year, and all the best for 2010.

Rich.

Another Tissot on the blog, and another chronograph, this time a Navigator from the 1970’s…

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During the late 1960’s and 70’s, Tissot had a range of chronograph models with the titles Seastar or Navigator (or both) featuring a variety of calibres, some hand wound (Lemania 873, Valjoux 7733/4) and some automatic (Lemania cal. 134x, cal. 5012).

The movement in this watch is a Lemania cal. 1341, an automatic, three register, cam lever chronograph. What makes this calibre interesting, both technically and visually, is that the minute register for the chronograph is not presented in a subdial, but as a separate minute hand that sweeps around the dial. The subdials in this calibre are an hour recorder at six, and running seconds at nine ‘o clock.

The cal. 1341 is a simplified version of the cal. 1340 which was first introduced in 1972. The main difference between the two is that the cal. 1341 has 17 rather than 22 jewels, and has no facility for adding a 24 hr function. The 1340/1 calibres are often linked with the Omega calibres 1040/1 and for good reason as they are almost the same, apart from a few technical improvements and an Omega rather than a Lemania branding.

In the 1930’s Tissot, Omega and Lemania formed a working group called La Societe Suisse pour l’industrie Horlogere (SSIH) which was the predecessor of Swatch Group of today. Therefore,  it is not a really surprising to see Lemania based calibres appearing in the watches of all three brands.

Removing the winding rotor from the movement reveals the heart of the cam lever mechanism…

Power for the mechanism is provided by the driving and coupling wheels, just like a traditional chronograph calibre. When starting and stopping the chronograph the position of the cam controls the raising and lowering of the coupling wheel onto the centre second wheel. When resetting, the coupling wheel is disengaged from the centre second wheel and the reset hammer moves across to return the centre second wheel back to the zero position. Also attached to the cam is the coupling yoke which provides the link to the hour and minute registers on the dial side of the movement.

Turning the movement over and removing the calendar plate and mechanism bridge, you can see that the rest of the chronograph functions…

In the picture above the mechanism is in”stopped” condition. You can see that the minute recorder clamps are in contact with the minute recording wheel holding it in position, and the hour recorder stop lever is arresting the hour recording wheel.

When the chronograph is started, the hour recorder stop lever pivots around it’s securing screw pulling back the valet which prises the minute recorder clamps open. The minute recording wheel then turns along with the cannon pinion on which it sits. The hour recording wheel is also released and turns along with the mainspring barrel.

As the watch was already in good cosmetic condition, it needed no more than a service to ensure it was as good inside as outside. Here it is all back together again.

Rich.

Here’s a great looking vintage Breitling that deserved some attention. These Premier chronographs are becoming quite collectible these days.

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‘Premier’ models were introduced during the 1930’s and were a long standing name in the Breitling lineup. Apart from two register chronographs, the lineup also included three register chronographs and elegant sub-second dress watches.  The name was retired in the 1960’s, but was re-introduced by Breitling between 1996 and 1999 in a limited edition production run of around 5000 watches. The re-issued model was fitted with Breitling’s own Cal. B40, based on an ETA Cal. 2892 with a Kelek chronograph module added.

Dating the one in this post proved to be quite easy as the engraved caseback gave a heavy hint as to its age. Quite a nice prize for winning the Class “B” league, I’m sure you’ll agree… I wonder what the Class “A” Champs got?. Using the serial number dated it precisely to 1946. (If you are interested in dating your own vintage Breitling, you can do so here.)

Over its production span, the Premier was fitted with a variety of chronograph calibres. Removing the caseback on this one revealed a quite tired looking, but complete Venus Cal. 175…

Most calibres are marked under the balance wheel with the manufacturer’s trademark and calibre number, but that wasn’t the case here. The dial and hands had to be removed first before the identity of the calibre was revealed.

The watch wasn’t running on arrival and obviously hadn’t been serviced for quite some time. Just to add to the fun, the hairspring had also been damaged, which proved even more entertaining as it was a Breguet overcoil rather than a flat hairspring (I wrote about the difference between the two types in this post).  After spending some time on it with the fine tweezers, everything was back in order again and the rest of the movement just needed a regular service.

Here is the watch after a clean and light buff for the case, and fitting a new crystal…

Rich.

** Many thanks to Helge Johnsen for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **