Tressa Automatic Ref: 613 (A. Schild Cal. 1906)…

It’s another trip back to the 1970’s (obviously!) and another new brand on the blog, a Tressa Automatic Ref: 613.

(Click pictures to enlarge)

Apparently, there has been a ‘softening’ of watch prices over the last year or so, but I’m yet to see it in the project watch category. The perceived value of vintage chronographs and diver’s watches remains high, in any condition, and especially so for anything with a recognisable brand name on the dial. Watches that would once have been considered donor watches, are now advertised as “restoration candidates” with inflated asking prices.

With that in mind, I thought it may be interesting to look a little lower down the horological food chain and sprinkle in a few posts about lesser known brands and models, to show that there are still interesting watches to be found out there, without having to trouble the bank manager.

Many watches that are easily overlooked have high-quality characteristics and/or an interesting back story. The Fortis Flipper and Edox Delfin I wrote about recently are a couple of examples, and this Tressa is another.

The Tressa Watch Co. doesn’t have a long and storied history like some of the brands I’ve featured in the past, they existed for just 20 years. Founded in 1966, they were headquartered in Biel, Switzerland and hit their stride in the 1970’s, producing watches in seemingly every category; dress and alarm watches, chronographs, diver’s watches and even pocket watches.

Here’s an advert from 1974 showing some of their models on sale at the time, which they described as ‘exclusively styled’ (they did produce some round watches too… honest!)

Though the company never produced in-house calibres, they used movements from trusted ebauche manufacturers such as Valjoux, A. Schild, ETA and Felsa. Even the fabled Heuer cal. 12 and cal. 15 were used in what appears to be a limited run of chronograph models.

Selling mainly to the Far East (which might explain some of the outlandish model designs), things were going well until the quartz crisis hit. Like many other brands, sales suffered and though they did produce a few electronic and quartz models, the company folded in March 1987, their remaining assets being bought by Rado Watch Co. Ltd.

We all love divers and chronographs, but as time goes by I seem to be increasingly drawn to oddball watches, offbeat models with a quirky nature, which is what drew me to this Tressa.

Granted, the oval case and burgundy dial won’t be to everyone’s taste, but what caught my eye was the good quality, all stainless steel case, housing an A. Schild cal. 1906, the day/date version of the calibre in several other watches I’ve already covered on the blog, namely the Aquastar Atoll and Seatime divers, Mondia 777 and the Glycine SST ‘Pumpkin’.

Turning the watch over, the caseback is heavily embossed with the Tressa logo and the crown is branded too, neither of which you see from manufacturers aiming to minimise production costs.

Inside is the aforementioned A. Schild cal. 1906 automatic with a beat rate of 21,600 bph, a limited quickset for the date (accessed by cycling the hands between 9pm and midnight), this time in 21 jewel trim.

The movement was pretty scruffy and obviously hadn’t been serviced for a very long time, but it was complete and would tick with some encouragement, which is always a good start.

Out of the case, you can see the dial in all its glory with its prominent dial furniture. What doesn’t come across in the photo is the rich burgundy dial, which reminded me of the Camy Superautomatic Diver I wrote about several years ago.

What is evident in the first picture is that the watch was absolutely filthy and on disassembling the case, I was “delighted” to meet our old friend, emulsified gasket, the crystal gasket having broken down completely.

I was pleased however, to see that the crystal was still intact, and it’s something I always pay attention to when buying any watch with a shaped crystal. Generally speaking, replacing any non-round crystal on a vintage watch is a headache, as original crystals will likely have been discontinued decades ago.

While Sternkreuz and GS make a range of aftermarket crystals in a variety of shapes and sizes, the chances of one that fits perfectly is slim, so my advice would be to pass on any watch with a cracked non-round crystal, unless you have a ready replacement.

There wasn’t really much to report on the rest of the work, it was just a case of thoroughly cleaning everything, giving the movement a routine service, polishing the crystal and replacing the gaskets.

In case you were wondering, it’s a good size at 39.5mm wide (excluding crown), 40.5mm lug to lug and a lug width of 18mm.

One final note pertaining to the Tressa brand. Amid the vast array of different models, you’ll see many with ‘Laser Beam’ on the dial, the model in this post being no exception.

My initial thought was that it was just a funky 1970’s name for the range, but apparently not. Instead, it denotes a technical achievement on Tressa’s part, as they were the first watchmaking company to ‘tame a laser beam’ in 1969 and employ it to attach hairsprings to collets, eliminating the risk of deformation (more details here).

It’s a strange thing to highlight on the dial, but there you go. If I get one on the bench, I’ll investigate further. 🙂

Rich.