Another military watch, this time an early single pusher chronograph from Lemania.

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Single pusher chronographs were issued to British military personnel from the mid 1940′s until the mid 1970′s. Two versions of the round cased model, known as Series 1 and 2, were issued from the mid 1940′s before being superceded by the Series 3 which is easily recognised by its asymmetric case.

As with all military timepieces, turning the watch over you will find the issue markings engraved into the caseback.

A few things to notice about the markings on this watch; The letters “H.S” stand for “Hydrographic Service” which shows that the watch was issued for Naval use, the Broad Arrow symbol follows, and then the number 9 denotes that it is a chronograph wristwatch. Below that is the serial number for this particular watch.

You will also see that the original designation number has been crossed out and a new number engraved above it. When Britain joined NATO in 1949, all equipment had to be reclassified in accordance with NATO’s National Stock Number (NSN) system, and that is what you can see above the original markings, 0552 denotes Naval use, and the 924-3305 identifies this particular type of watch.

The watch was running on arrival, though not very well, and on opening the caseback it was pretty obvious that the movement hadn’t been serviced for quite some time.

The calibre inside is a Lemania cal. 15 CHT which was derived from a pocket watch movement, and serves as the base calibre for the Lemania cal. 2220 used in the later Series 3 chronographs – see an example here.

If you compare the two movements you notice that the bridges on the cal. 15 CHT are gilt plated, and that the earlier movement has no Incabloc shock system to protect the balance staff pivots. A version of the 15 CHT was also available as a traditional two pusher chronograph, the cal. 15 TL

The watch had been fitted with the wrong crystal which was literally rattling around inside the case. As you can see in the first picture, quite a lot of dust had made its way past the crystal, but thankfully no moisture, so the dial and lume were still in good condition.

With the movement serviced, the dial and case cleaned, and the correct crystal fitted, things were looking much better. Just a small amount of pitting on the plated bridges remained, but all in all, a good result.

This watch was also made with a black dial, and as I had both versions of the watch in for servicing at the same time, here is a picture of the two models together.

Rich.

** Many thanks to Lee Curtis for letting me feature his watches on the blog. **

Here’s a cool vintage diver, an Eterna KonTiki Super from the 1970′s.

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Founded in 1856 by Dr Josef Girard and Urs Schild, the company initially specialised in producing pocket watches with alarms, but as the demand for watch movements of all kinds continued to rise, a subsidiary company “ETA SA” was created in 1896 to supply good quality calibres to other Swiss watch manufacturers. The name of the founding company was changed from Schild Fréres to Eterna in 1905.

Eterna had a number of technical achievements over the years, but their most significant innovation was undoubtedly the “Eterna-Matic” – an automatic winding mechanism featuring a ball-bearing rotor system which increased efficiency and reduced wear.

The Eterna-Matic was first fitted to a production watch in 1948 and was subsequently used in the majority of their watches. The mechanism was such a success that the layout of the five ball-bearings in the rotor became the logo for the brand.

The KonTiki range was created in the 1950′s as a tribute to the trans-Pacific voyage taken by the Norwegian writer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl. Inspired by old drawings made by the Spanish Conquistadors, Heyerdahl and his team travelled to Peru and constructed a pae-pae raft from balsa wood and other native material, which he named “KonTiki” after the pre-Inca sun god.

On April 28th 1947, Heyerdahl and a crew of five set sail aboard KonTiki attempting to cross the Pacific Ocean. After 101 days and a journey of over 4,300 miles the raft crashed into a reef on August 7th off the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia. The crew all survived, and the adventure declared a success. (See here for more information).

Though Heyerdahl had no involvement in Eterna’s KonTiki range (you may read that Heyerdahl and his team all wore Eterna watches during the trip – it isn’t true), they proved to be very successful for the company, and are still in their collection today. As well as diver’s watches, the range also included dress watches, these two vintage KonTiki 20 models being typical examples;

On the caseback of every KonTiki model is an image of the KonTiki raft with the Eterna logo on the sail. Being a much softer metal than the stainless steel back, the medallions can wear smooth with extensive wear, and that is the case with the watch in this post.

Inside the watch is an Eterna Cal. 1489K which of course features an Eterna-Matic winding mechanism with the trademark five ball-bearing rotor system.

The watch was losing a significant amount of time when worn, but needed no more than a service to bring it back into line.

Another thing to notice about this watch is the bezel markings. Rather than the usual ‘countdown’ bezel used to time the length of a dive, this watch is an example with the rarer ‘decompression’ bezel.

In case you have trouble finding a vintage model, Eterna re-issued a version of the Super diver in 2010 to commemorate the original – albeit in a limited edition run of just 1,973 units. (Full details here)

Rich.

** Many thanks to David Brenchley for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **

Roamer is another new brand on the blog, and this Mustang Indianapolis is one of their models from the 1970′s.

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Roamer was started in 1888 in Solothurn, Switzerland by Fritz Meyer, who specialized in producing cylinder escapements for sale to other watchmakers. By 1895 the company had grown to 60 employees, but it was in 1905 that things really started to take off when Meyer formed a partnership with the watchmaker Johann Studeli to create Meyer-Studeli (MST) – the brand name ‘Roamer’ was registered in 1908.

The company moved into a larger factory in 1906 and production increased dramatically. By 1923 the company was producing 1,000,000 units per year, with all components being produced in-house.

However, despite enjoying decades of success, like many others Roamer were “steam rollered” by the quartz revolution, and as demand for mechanical watches plummeted,  the in-house production of parts ceased in 1975. The company stayed in the Meyer family until 1983, before being bought by the Swatch group, who then sold it on to the Hong Kong based Chung Nam Company in 1994.

In something of a resurgence, mechanical watches were re-introduced into the line-up in 2003, and in 2009 the Swatch group bought back a 50% share in the company, thus guaranteeing supply of ETA calibres. If you would like to see their current models, check out the website www.roamer.ch.

Getting back to the subject of this post, the Mustang range was produced between 1967 and 1975, and the additional Indianapolis branding on this model was to celebrate Roamer’s sponsorship of the Indianapolis Raceway Park during the early 1970′s. The final piece of main dial text, the “D+D”, signifies that this is a day and date model.

As well as the Mustang, Roamer’s other recognisable vintage ranges were the Stingray, Anfibio, Searock and Rockshell, most of which had distinctive case and caseback designs – the Mustang in this post is pretty typical of the style.

The watch is housed in a one-piece case patented by Roamer, and used extensively throughout their model ranges. Like a traditional one-piece case, the stem must be separated to remove the watch from the case, but rather than using an internal tension ring crystal, the crystal sits over the main case, like a lid, and the case top is pressed over it, sealing the watch inside. (I have another Roamer model coming up in the next few posts, so I’ll be sure to include some pictures of the case then.)

The movement inside is a MST Cal. 478, which is essentially an ETA Cal. 2638R re-finished and re-branded at the Roamer factory. The movement wasn’t running on arrival, but needed no more than a service to get it up and running again.

Cosmetically the watch was in decent condition throughout, needing little more than a thorough cleaning, a light re-brush for the case top and a polish for the crystal. The watch still has its original NSA bracelet too which is a bonus.

Rich.

** Many thanks to Ulf Stornebel for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **

More military watch action on the blog, this time from Hamilton.

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Hamilton was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892 by a group of entrepreneurs whose aim was to only build watches of the highest quality. Located on a 13 acre site, they produced high quality pocket watches, specialising in railroad watches where accuracy was important. Their involvement with military watches began in World War I, when they were producing wristwatches for servicemen using calibres from women’s pendant watches.

During World War II, production of consumer watches was halted and they produced nothing but military timepieces; wristwatches, marine chronometers and deck watches for use by US Navy and other Allied Forces. More than 1 million wristwatches were sent overseas.

Hamilton supplied watches to the British Military from 1965 until 1975. As well as the 6B featured in this post, other models included the W10, a time only manually wound watch in a one piece tonneau case, and a Valjoux 7733 powered chronograph in an asymmetric case.

You may also see the 6B referred to as the “Mark XI” as it was made in the same style, and to the same specifications, as the IWC and Jaeger Le Coultre Mark XI watches also issued by the British military.

(More information here)

The caseback has the familiar military markings; the Broad Arrow symbol, the designation number, the date of issue (1967), and the serial number. The 6B at the start of the designation number denotes that this watch was issued to a member of the Royal Air Force. The watch has fixed springbars to provide better security when in use, and notice too that the caseback has a shallow ‘waffle’ pattern worn into it. This is caused by extended use of a NATO strap – a one piece strap originally fitted to the majority of military wristwatches.

The caseback on this watch was extremely tight and obviously hadn’t been opened for a long time, but once opened, underneath the protective dust cover was a Hamilton S75 S in good condition.

The 6B was fitted with one of two calibres, the earlier watches were fitted with the cal. 75, the latter the cal. S75 S – a new version upgraded to include a hacking function. The base for these calibres was supplied by ETA, the cal. 2390, but was extensively reworked by Hamilton to become the cal. 75.

The watch arrived in running condition, but hadn’t been serviced for many years. Only the screw for the ratchet wheel showed signs of corrosion, and on closer inspection was an incorrect size and was replaced.

Cosmetically the watch was in decent condition, though the crystal was cracked and needed to be replace. Judging by the difference in colour between the dial and hand lume, the hand lume had been replaced at some time, though this isn’t uncommon for military watches, as the original lume tends to dry out and crack, eventually falling out of the hands altogether.

With the movement serviced, the case cleaned and a new crystal fitted, everything was back in order.

Rich.

** Many thanks to Stephen Brown for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **

Battery powered watches are a bit of a rarity on the blog, this Zodiac Spacetronic is only the second.

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The founder of Zodiac, Ariste Calame, set up his first watchmaking workshop in 1864, but it wasn’t until 1908 that he registered the company name “Montres Zodiac”. Joined by his son, Louis Ariste Calame, and various other family members shortly afterwards, the company started to grow and developed strong export connections with the US.

A new factory was opened in Le Locle in 1951 and around that time, two significant models were gaining recognition; the “Autographic”, an automatic model with a power reserve indicator, and the watch for which Zodiac is probably best known, the “Sea Wolf” diver, first introduced in 1953.

Like many companies, the 1960′s and 70′s were the golden era for the brand with many visually and technically interesting models hitting the market, the Super Sea Wolf, Astrographic, and SST (Split Second Timing) models in particular. There were also some great mechanical chronographs sprinkled throughout the line-up, like this Cal. 90 powered model I repaired a couple of years ago.

For much more information about the Zodiac brand and their history, check out the site Vintage Zodiacs.

The Spacetronic model in this post is from the early 1970′s, a period when the line between mechanical and electric/electronic watches was blurring, resulting in hybrid calibres – battery powered watches with a traditional mechanical escapements. The calibre inside this watch is one such hybrid, the ESA Cal. 9150, also known as a “Dynotron”. I’ve written a description of how a Dynotron calibre works in a previous post, anyone interested can read that post here.

The watch arrived in good clean condition. The upper jewel and Incabloc shock spring were missing, but I had parts left over from my previous Dynotron project so that wouldn’t be a problem.  Even with a new battery fitted, the watch showed no signs of life, and on close inspection I could see that the oil had completely dried out, so the first step was to service the movement.

After servicing, the watch would run in two or three positions, but would stop almost immediately in others. Watching the balance wheel in motion revealed that the magnets on the balance wheel were scraping on the induction coils, too much end shake perhaps?

Alas, I wasn’t that lucky as under the microscope I could see that the tip of the upper balance staff pivot had been broken off, possibly at the same time that the shock spring was damaged, so parts would be needed after all. However, my luck was in as a search on eBay quickly unearthed a brand new complete balance.

Once the balance arrived it was plain sailing from there and the movement was back up and running again. The dial and hands were fitted, the case cleaned, and the crystal polished to finish the job.

And finally, just to finish off this post, here’s an advert from 1970 showing the white dialled version of this watch, along with a couple of other models in the range.

Rich.