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The Surprising Calibres of Naoya Hida

Last Update: June 19, 2022

Naoya Hida & Co. is an independent watch atelier in Tokyo producing a small number of classically-inspired watches in annual batches. As discussed in my recent blog post, Naoya Hida has introduced three models since 2019. Each model uses a customized movement based on the ETA 7750 automatic chronograph ebauche, a surprising choice because Hida’s watches are neither automatic nor chronographs! This being Grail Watch, I spent a good amount of time digging into the Hida calibres and am documenting them here on Grail Watch Reference.

Naoya Hida’s movements are based on the ETA/Valjoux 7750 ebauche

The NH Cal. 30 Family

Movement	Thickness	Jewels
3019SS	4.3 mm	18
3020CS	5.0 mm	22
3021LU	5.6 mm	18

All three Hida movements to date have a similar appearance, and all are based on the 7750 ebauche, wheel train, barrel, balance, and escapement. The small seconds and moon phase movements likely share the same balance bridge and plate, and both feature 18 jewels.

The central seconds hand on Cal. 3020CS is driven using a rear-mounted wheel, requiring a secondary plate at the center. It also features four extra jewels, for a total of 22.

Cal. 3021LU, used in the Type 3, uses the moon phase mechanism from ETA’s Cal. 7751 but omits a seconds display entirely. Like Cal. 7751, the moon phase indicator is adjusted with the crown in position 2.

Grail Watch Commentary

The following is taken from my article, “The Neo-Classical Watches of Naoya Hida“

All of Naoya Hida’s watches produced to date rely on movements based on the classic ETA 7750. Designed by the legendary Edmond Capt, this movement originated at Valjoux and was released in 1974. It was an influential and popular automatic chronograph and served as one of the primary engines of the resurgence of mechanical watchmaking in the 1980s. Indeed, look inside the legendary IWC Da Vinci and later grand complications and you’ll find Capt’s 7750 ebauche!

Although it might seem odd that Hida would use an automatic chronograph ebauche for his simple hand-winding watches, it is in keeping with watchmaking tradition. The 7750 provides a reliable and easily available base and this will ease concerns about serviceability in the future. And many other movements use the Cal. 7750 wheel train, including ETA’s own Valgranges family and quite a few column wheel chronographs.

The use of the 7750 ebauche is popular among makers of fine independent watches as well. The Hida movement is especially reminiscent of the Habring² Felix Cal. A11, which uses this base for their hand-winding time-only movement with a custom balance bridge and plate. But Habring also uses an in-house escapement and hairspring. Most other independent watchmakers use ETA and Sellita ebauches with varying levels of customization or finishing, though some have adopted more specialized movements, especially in this price range.

Hida obviously omits the automatic winding and chronograph components when his Cal. 30xx series movements are constructed, but there are many other changes besides. Notably, each movement is fitted with a Glashütte-style 3/4 plate, which sandwiches nearly the entire movement apart from the balance wheel and Hida-specific balance bridge. The plate does not use chatons, which traditionally made it easier to assemble 3/4 plate movements, but the chatons on most modern Glashütte movements aren’t functional so this is not that odd.

All Hida movements use a proprietary click mechanism to improve the feel when winding by hand. Good winding feel is curiously absent from many high-end watches, so I applaud this change. The wheel train, assortment (balance and escapement), and mainspring are held over from the 7750, as are the springs and shock absorbers. Thus, the movement operates at 4 Hz (28,800 A/h) and has a power reserve of around 45 hours. Without the chronograph components, Hida’s movements have 18 or 22 jewels.

The movement plate is decorated with a concentric pattern of overlapping spirals. Given the resources of the company, it is likely that this plate and the balance bridge are produced by an outside company, but it is nicely decorated, with engraved gold-filled lettering. The main plate still retains the ETA cloverleaf and “775x” stamps and does not appear to be re-worked or finished at all.

Cal. 3019SS was the original Hida movement

This is one key criticism that has been leveled against Hida’s watches: That the finishing of the ETA components is not up to his standards and thus de-values the entire watch. Given the widespread use of off-the-shelf timekeeping components, especially among independents, movement finishing is one element that often draws attention from critics. Indeed, one would hope that Hida and his staff could finish the ebauche to a standard that matches their bridge and plate at this price point. The same criticism can be leveled against some other independent watchmakers, but most are meticulous about finishing their movements.

On the other hand, it would not be fair to criticize Hida’s choice of the ETA 7750 ebauche. It is a well-respected and widely-used timekeeper, from IWC’s Il Destriero Scafusia to Omega’s Speedmaster Racing to most of the Habring² line. And nearly every member of the AHCI has worked on an ETA ebauche. Indeed, it will be easier to maintain and repair the ETA components than those from a more-exclusive maker.

Cal. 3020CS has an added plate to cover the central seconds wheel

Research Notes

There are not many photos of Hida’s movements available. The company has published one photo of each movement in their website specifications (the blue background images in the table above) as well as a “hero” shot of each movement on Instagram. But none of these reveals the dial side of the ebauche or many other details.

The ETA ebauche finishing is not up to the standards of the 3/4 plate and bridge in these photos, but this may not reflect the finishing of production watches. Because Hida’s watches do not include a display casebook, production movement finishing has not been revealed.

Hida has published specifications on the movements, including the thickness and jewel count of each. But there are no further details on the custom click mechanism or other modifications. Although it is apparent that Hida uses a simple ETACHRON with no index, this is not mentioned in any official source.

Exploring Hahn Landeron Chronograph Movements

Last Update: April 13, 2022

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While working on my coverage of the Saint-Imier watchmaking industry, which leans heavily on chronographs, a few other names occupied my thoughts: Many people are aware of the classic Valjoux movements, and Universal, Lemania, and Venus are also respected. But there is much less coverage of Landeron, the factory of Charles Hahn that produced many high-end column wheel movements before introducing the world to cam switching. For this reason, I have recently added most of the classic Landeron chronograph movements to the Grail Watch Reference database.

Landeron’s revolutionary cam switching chronographs were world-beating in the 1950s

Charles Hahn’s Factory in Le Landeron

This 1923 advertisement shows the Hahn factory in Le Landeron

Le Landeron is a small village on the western corner of Lake Bienne in the Canton of Neuchâtel. It is best known for its lovely medieval town center, surrounded by fields and vineyards. But Le Landeron was also home to industry, including the famous watch movement factory established by Charles Alfred and Aimé Auguste Hahn in 1873. This was located on the road to Neuveville along the railroad tracks a short distance from the historic town.

Hahn Frères et Cie. produced watches and watch movements in Le Landeron in the 1880s, winning medals and building a reputation for finely finished products. Their specialty was small movements and watches for women, many of which used cylinder escapements, but they also produced chronographs and 8-day clocks.

The former Hahn Ebauches factory
*Image: Jelosil*

As was typical at the time, the factory is exaggerated a bit in contemporary engravings, as is immediately obvious when viewing the factory today. The building remains in use by Jelosil, a manufacturer of quartz and UV lighting. But it thrived for decades, producing millions of watch movements.

This interesting 1925 advertisement shows the development of many ebauches by Charles Hahn in Landeron

This 1930 ad shows Hahn managing the Landeron branch of FHF, part of Ebauches SA

Charles Hahn’s factory merged with a similar ebauche factory in nearby Fontainemelon in 1925 and became a founding member of Ebauches SA the following year. The output of the factory shifted at this point to focus on chronographs, which were developed by Charles Hahn in association with Marcel Dèpraz in the Vallée de Joux. It was said that Hahn purchased the oscillating pinion patent of “Anatole Breitling” that year, but there are no contemporary references to this person, and this invention is more associated with Heuer not Breitling. Regardless, Hahn did produce column wheel chronograph movements at this time, and quickly became the primary supplier for Breitling, which was dominating the market for chronograph movements, as well as military and aviation.

But column wheel chronographs were expensive and difficult to produce, and military users in particular demanded something cheaper. In the 1930s, Charles Hahn and Marcel Dèpraz co-developed a novel new technique that used simple stamped plates to start, stop, and reset the hands of a chronograph movement. Their cam-switching technique would revolutionize the chronograph market, dramatically dropping the price of the technology and leading to a wave of new movements. After the patent was issued in 1939, over 3.5 million movements in the Landeron Cal. 48 family would be produced and sold by 1970. Venus soon followed Landeron with their own cam-switching chronograph movement, and this would be the basis for the famous Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph in the 1970s.

The Landeron factory was closed abruptly in 1983

Landeron would innovate once again in the 1960s, introducing the first Swiss electric movement. Cal. 4750 used an electro-mechanical balance wheel powered by a battery, answering competitors from France, the United States, and Germany. This made Landeron a center of production for electronic movements in the 1970s as part of Ebauches Electronics, Ltd. but declining demand lead to the abrupt closure of the Landeron factory in 1983.

Landeron Chronograph Families

Charles Hahn introduced a number of widely-used chronograph movements between the 1930s and 1970s, but a few stand out:

Landeron Cal. 39 Column Wheel Movements – The 14.5 ligne Cal. 39 and Cal. 42 (with hour recorder) were widely-used modern movements in the pre-war period. Although not as fine as the famous Valjoux 23 and 72, Landeron’s use of the oscillating pinion technology made their movements among the most user friendly. After World War II, Landeron even introduced a cam-switching chronograph movement based on this design!
Landeron Cal. 48 Cam Switching Movements – Charles Hahn and Marcel Dèpraz patented a cam-switching chronograph mechanism in 1939, with the pioneering Cal. 47 becoming the world-beating Cal. 48 in the 1940s. In all, over 3.5 million examples of this line were produced through 1970, including many with date, full calendar, and moon phase complications. There was even a column wheel version! Variants of Cal. 48 powered many classic chronograph watches, notably the Heuer Carrera Date, which used Cal. 189.
Landeron Cal. 71 Cam Switching Movements – Although not as well remembered as the Cal. 48 line, Landeron also produced a larger 14 ligne cam switching chronograph. Cal. 71 is quite different from its predecessor but used a similar chronograph mechanism that also evolved over time. These are almost unknown today.

Landeron’s Cal. 32 is one of the strangest movements in the database!

Before these high-volume lines were produced, Landeron also produced some smaller-volume movement families:

Cal. 15 and Cal. 16 are monopusher chronograph movements produced in the 1930s
Cal. 2, Cal. 3, and Cal. 9 appear to be related as well
Cal. 10, Cal. 11, and Cal. 13 also share obvious similarities and all are 13 ligne column wheel movements
Cal. 32 is the strangest of all Landeron movements, with no obvious relation to any other movement produced by the factory and the (unique?) placement of the column wheel above the stem

I have attempted to document all of these movements here in the Grail Watch Reference database. They are searchable by complication and function as well as using visual indications and specifications. This is added to my existing collection of historic movements from Universal, Valjoux, Venus, and more!

The Grail Watch Perspective: Discovering Landeron

I knew very little about Landeron prior to this research, and it has been an enjoyable process of discovery. The Landeron Cal. 48 family was truly groundbreaking, enabling the factory to thrive even as competing chronograph makers went bust in the “Chronograph Crash” of the 1950s, and the company powered many of the “quiet classics” of that period. Although cam-switching mechanisms are looked down upon today, they were an essential development to allow mechanical watchmaking to continue.

Search for Landeron movements

I welcome corrections, updates, and additions to the database. Contact me using the links provided at left!

A Survey of the Kenissi Movements for Tudor, Chanel, Breitling, and Norqain

Last Update: November 16, 2020

After a number of recent wins at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, including two last year and another this year, I felt it was time to get a better understanding of the movements produced by Kenissi for Tudor, Chanel, Breitling, and Norqain. Kenissi, a joint venture between Tudor (Rolex), Chanel, and Breitling, is becoming one of the most successful upscale movement makers, and their products are top notch. As of 2020, Kenissi produces two movement families (the robust MT56 and compact MT54) and Tudor shares one with Breitling (the MT5813 chronograph), and these are used in many luxury watches ranging from the affordable Norqain to expensive Chanel J12 jewelry pieces.

Read on for more context, or hop over to look at the complete Tudor MT54 family and Tudor MT56 family pages!

Tudor MT56 Family Overview

Tudor traditionally used movements from major manufacturers, chiefly ETA in modern times, as a differentiator from parent company Rolex. Beginning in 2015, the company began producing a line of “Manufacture Tudor” movements for certain models, beginning with Cal. MT5621. These are based on Rolex technology, and include that company’s silicon hairspring technology, full balance bridge and free-sprung Microstella balance wheel.

In 2016, Tudor founded a new movement producer in Geneva known as Kenissi managed by Eric Yvon Pirson (head of Tudor), Jean-Paul Girardin (formerly of Breitling), and Philippe Jacques Dalloz. Two years later, the company constructed a new factory in Le Locle on land owned by Rolex. Chanel invested in Kenissi in 2019, taking a 20% stake in the company. As of 2020, Kenissi produces movements for Tudor, Chanel, Breitling, and Norqain.

	31.8 mm	33.8 mm
No Date	MT5602	MT5601
Date	MT5612 Breitling B20
Power Reserve, Date		MT5621
Big Date		MT5641
GMT Hand	MT5652 Norqain NN20/2

Note that Tudor also produces a smaller movement, Cal. MT5402. Although it shares many characteristics with this family of movements, it is different in many details and is considered unrelated.

Introducing Tudor Cal. MT54 and MT56

There has been some confusion about Tudor’s MT54 and MT56 families, since the movements share many characteristics and have a similar appearance and names. For instance, they share many technical details including a full balance bridge, and Tudor’s versions use a free-sprung balance with a silicon hairspring. But the two are very different in execution, and this is immediately obvious when comparing them face to face.

A comparison of the 26.0 mm MT5402 and 31.8 mm MT5612, to scale. Note the many visible differences in design and construction, as well as the dramatic size difference.

For one thing, Cal. MT5402 is much smaller at just 26 mm diameter, which pushes the components to the edge of the main plate. It also uses a different central rotor mount, with seven ball bearings visible around a single slotted screw. The time-only version uses 27 jewels, while Chanel’s 12.1 with date has 28. This movement is also used by Norqain but not (yet) by Breitling.

In contrast, Cal. MT5602 and similar movements are much larger, at 31.8 or 33.8 mm diameter. The winding bridge is separate from the rest of the top plate, and the balance is larger in diameter. The rotor is also mounted differently, with four notches in the mounting plate. In terms of jewel count, the time-only versions have 25, date adds one, and the complicated movements have 26, 28, or 32. Norqain and Breitling also use this movement, but Chanel does not.

Tudor MT54 Family Overview

Tudor’s MT54 family appeared in 2018 with the introduction of Tudor’s compact Cal. MT5402. Measuring just 26 mm in diameter (11 ligne), which movement was used in the smaller Black Bay Fifty-Eight 39 mm watch models. Once production was underway at the new joint venture manufacture in Le Locle, Kinessi, specialized versions were created for Chanel and Norqain, Cal. 12.1 and NN20/1, respectively.

All three movements share the same architecture but differ dramatically in execution. The most obvious difference is the use of brand-specific winding rotors, with Chanel’s offset circle motif particularly striking. The Chanel Cal. 12.1 is also available with a date complication (and an extra jewel) though the name remains the same. Chanel’s movement also appears to be a bit reduced in diameter compared to the Tudor movement, though not by more than a few tenths of a millimeter.

A Celebrated Movement Family

Chanel’s iconic J12 now uses Cal. 12.1, a Kenissi-produced automatic movement based on the Tudor MT54

Considering the short production tenure for these movements, they are quite celebrated. I count 5 awards at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève for Tudor/Kenissi movements:

2015 Sports Watch Prize: Tudor Pelagos, Cal. MT5612
2016 Petite Aiguille Prize: Tudor Heritage Black Bay Bronze, Cal. MT5601
2019 Challenge Watch Prize: Tudor Black Bay P01, Cal. MT5612
2019 Ladies Watch Prize: Chanel J12, Cal. 12.1
2020 Challenge Watch Prize: Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight, Cal. MT5402

Note that the 2020 Petite Aiguille-winning Breitling Superocean Heritage ’57 Limited Edition II uses their Cal. 10, which is their version of the ETA 2892-A2, and the Diver’s Watch-winning Breitling Superocean Automatic 48 Boutique Edition uses their Cal. 17, which is an ETA 2824-2. Both of these might soon migrate to the Breitling Cal. 20, another Kenissi movement, though perhaps it is slightly too thick or expensive for those watches. Tudor also won the Petite Aiguille in 2017 for the Heritage Black Bay Chrono, which uses an unrelated movement also shared with Breitling, Cal. MT5813.

Research Notes

My research into this family of movements was similar to many searches of recent releases. Although they are widely written about, there is much confusion about the details. Just like the Zenith Elite family, the Tudor MT54 and MT56 are often confused or listed with incorrect specifications. And though Tudor has released images and details of many movements, their documentation is far from complete. So we still don’t know everything we would like about them.

It is particularly interesting to note how often the MT54 is confused for the MT56 online. This happens in many forum posts, hardly a reliable source of information, but also in written articles as well. I even spotted an example of a major watch magazine using an image of an MT56 movement to illustrate an article about the unrelated MT5813 chronograph movement!

Nowhere is this more apparent than in coverage of the OEM movements produced for Breitling, Chanel, and Norqain. All three have been widely called derivatives of the MT56 series, but this is simply not true. Chanel does not use the large MT56 at all, basing their celebrated Cal. 12.1 on the MT54. Norqain has one of each, though they use deceptively-similar names: Cal. NN20/1 and NN20/2. And Breitling uses only the larger (and more expensive) movement as their Cal. B20. Once one is familiar with the two families, all the incorrect coverage becomes quite obvious.

I am also working to document Breitling’s B01 chronograph movement family, and will be publishing these movement pages over the next week. It’s less well-documented than the Tudor, and Breitling hasn’t shared many good movement images. But I think I’ve gotten on top of this large and complicated group!

Bulgari Finissimo: Record-Setting Movements

Last Update: September 18, 2020

Inspired by the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic, I spent some time investigating the company’s family of “Finissimo” movements. Over the last six years, the ultra-thin Finissimo movements have taken record after record, from the exotic (tourbillon, repetition) to the commonplace (automatic). And they incorporate some serious engineering and clever thinking. Read on to learn all about the Bulgari Finissimo movements, from 2014 to 2020.

Jump right to the Bulgari Finissimo family, or stick around for some explanation and context!

Clockwise from bottom: 2020 Automatic Tourbillon Chronograph, 2018 Automatic Tourbillon, 2016 Minute Repeater, 2017 Automatic, 2014 Tourbillon, 2019 Chronograph GMT

Note: I choose to use “Bulgari” in text. The company is named for Sotirio Bulgari, and the Bulgari family ran the company until recently. The now-familiar styling of the name as “Bvlgari” dates to the 1970s and is widely used in text and official company publications, but is not commonly used in Switzerland or in the watch press.

The history of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo line stretches back to the 1970s, when designer Gérald Genta began using it as a signature element in his wristwatch designs, including the famous Royal Oak for Audemars Piguet. After its acquisition of his namesake brand in 2000, Bulgari began working on a new multi-faceted integrated case, which overlaid octagon on octagon in layers. The resulting watch was known as the Octo, and would be a staple in the Gérald Genta line from 2005 through the retirement of the Genta name in 2014.

Cal. BVL 268 has just 11 jewels, relying instead on peripheral ball bearings

That year, Bulgari revealed an ultra-thin tourbillon in a new slim case. The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon stole the show at Baselworld 2014, the thinnest tourbillon watch ever created at just 5 mm. Cal. BVL 268 was truly remarkable, measuring just 1.95 mm to the top of the flying tourbillon cage. It incorporated very few jewels (just 11) due to the way the wheel train was mounted in the main plate: Like the historic Jean Lassale ultra-thin movements of the 1970s, it used ball bearings placed around the circumference of the barrel and wheels rather than jewels and pivots. everything was laid out in a single plane in a wide 14.5 ligne (32.60 mm) main plate. The original Octo Finissimo Tourbillon model remained in production until a skeleton model appeared in 2017.

The Octo Finissimo Tourbillon was just 5 mm thick, with the flying tourbillon of the amazing 1.95 mm Cal. BVL 268 on display through the dial. The case was platinum.

The 2014 Octo Finissimo brought the thin case to the masses

A few months later, Bulgari added a more accessible member of the Octo Finissimo line. The simply-named “Octo Finissimo” had the ultra-thin hand-winding Cal. BVL 128, allowing it to be just 5.15 mm thick. The design included a small seconds subdial at 7:30 on the dial, a novel feature that would become a signature of the less-expensive Octo Finissimo models. The movement was just 2.23 mm thick and included a power reserve indicator on the reverse, visible though a sapphire caseback. The 3-handed hand-winding Octo Finissimo was initially available only in platinum like the Tourbillon, though a rose gold model with a black lacquer dial soon appeared. These remain in production as of 2020, with a diamond bezel version added as well.

Cal. BVL 362 is smaller in diameter than most Finissimo movements

Skipping a year, Bulgari would set another record in 2016. The new Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater measured just 6.85 mm thick, the thinnest such watch ever produced. The movement, Cal. BVL 362, measured 3.12 mm, barely 0.02 mm thicker than the classic Vacheron Constantin Hour Lounge movement. Compared to the exotic tourbillon, this gave Bulgari more room to work so the movement has 36 conventional jewels and measures a classic 12.5 ligne (28.50 mm) in diameter. The dial featured cut-out index marks and acted as a sounding board for the chime. Production was limited to just 50 pieces, with a list price of over US$150,000. Bulgari produced a Carbon Thin Ply (CTP) version in 2018 and used the same movement in the Diva Finissima Minute Repeater that same year.

The Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater used the dial as a sounding board

The titanium Octo Finissimo Automatic is the most affordable member of the family

The 2017 Octo Finissimo Automatic was an instant classic: The thinnest automatic watch ever produced, it also featured the thinnest-ever automatic movement! Piaget had long held the record with the legendary 12P, but Bulgari beat them by 0.07 mm with Cal. BVL 138. This movement is clearly related to the hand-winding Cal. BVL 128 but has a micro-rotor for automatic winding in place of the power reserve indicator. The watch measures just 5.15 mm thick like the hand-winding model but is housed in a lightweight and stiff titanium case that measures 40 mm across. This material allowed the company to drop the list price to just US$12,800, and it remains the most affordable and popular member of the Octo Finissimo family today.

The peripheral winding rotor is the key to this, the thinnest automatic ever

The Octo Finissimo Automatic did not hold the record for “world’s thinnest automatic watch” for long, however. Bulgari themselves surpassed it just a year later with the 2018 Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic! This record-busting watch was not just the thinnest automatic watch with the thinnest automatic movement, it was also the thinnest tourbillon watch, breaking the record of the 2014 original! The new Tourbillon Automatic case measured just 3.95 mm thick, and the movement, Cal. BVL 288, matched the original Tourbillon at 1.95 mm. This was achieved thanks to a peripheral winding rotor, a rarely-seen technology that has often proven more trouble than it was worth. Like the original, the flying tourbillon is the thickest movement component and is highlighted by a “porthole” in the back of the otherwise-solid case. Just 50 examples were produced of the original, followed by another limited run with a CTP case the following year.

Bulgari turned to complications in 2019, with a record-setting automatic chronograph. The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT uses peripheral winding like the Tourbillon Automatic wrapped around a thin chronograph movement. Unusually, the monopusher chronograph Cal. BVL 318 has three push buttons around the case: One for the timing complication, one to switch the function of the winding stem, and one to advance the independent central hour hand. A running 24 hour subdial sits at 3:00, another unusual design choice. The chronograph uses a column wheel and horizontal clutch, a concession to thinness, but the overall movement is 3.30 mm thick. Like the non-chronograph Octo Finissimo Automatic, this titanium watch is surprisingly affordable for such an exotic piece, priced at just US$17,600.

Further complication was in store this year, with the introduction of the remarkable Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic. Tourbillon chronographs are rare enough, but an ultra-thin automatic is unheard-of. Cal. BVL 388 is slightly thicker at 3.50 mm but is remarkable in its design. Completely open-worked, the movement is only loosely related to the previous peripheral automatic movements. The tourbillon is held in place with bridges on both sides, though it is still highly visible thanks to the open design. the dial layout is completely different from the Chronograph GMT, with chronograph minutes at 3:00, but they both have running seconds at 9:00. It’s not the thinnest tourbillon, chronograph, or automatic, but it is the thinnest combination of all three! It’s also incredibly rare and expensive, with just 50 produced at US$142,000.

The 2020 Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic is the most complicated Octo Finissimo watch yet from Bulgari

Research Notes

Combing through the history of the Bulgari Octo Finissimo family would seem to be straightforward, since the line began only in 2014 and every model was notable and well-covered. But it was complicated by a lack of technical information from Bulgari and some conflicting information “in the wild” regarding movement sizes and dates.

Once again, I turned to company catalogs and the Internet Archive as primary sources for my research. I was able to track down catalogs in pdf format for 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, and of course the current website shows 2020. But a website redesign for 2018 and 2019 isn’t included in the Archive, making it surprisingly hard to find information about the record-shattering Tourbillon Automatic. There are very few official press images of this movement, and it can be difficult to locate the watch in contemporary publications. Luckily my collection includes issues of Watchtime through this period, and I hope that their reporting was accurate. I requested access to Bulgari’s “press lounge” but have not yet been approved.

Like many manufactures, Bulgari does not publicize many technical details of their movements. So there is no official source for the diameter of the recent Cal. BVL 388, and I had to rely on secondary sources for the diameter of Cal. BVL 288 and others. I was also surprised by the lack of information about the marvelous construction of the ball bearing wheel train for Cal. BVL 268, though there were some lovely photos in company catalogs. Still, Bulgari does not always publicize the “bare” movements in images, so I was thrilled to locate official photos of all seven.

It is also difficult to nail down the exact models of various Bulgari watches. Their catalogs are not exhaustive, highlighting models and materials but not listing the various combinations. The Internet Archive helped a lot with this, since it usually did list model numbers. And on that note, Bulgari’s tendency to use non-sequential numbers for related models came as a surprise to me! Still, I was able to uncover some interesting details, including the remarkable Diva Finissima, which is rarely mentioned anywhere.

The Grail Watch Perspective: Bulgari Octo Finissimo

Finally, I will note that Bulgari deserves more credit than they usually get for this line of watches. The fact that they set so many records year after year is eclipsed by the fact that they set so many important ones: Thinnest automatic watch, thinnest automatic movement, thinnest tourbillon, and thinnest chronograph. And even more remarkable is the fact that the Octo Finissimo Automatic and Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT are so affordable, priced under US$20,000. Although that’s a lot of money, it’s not a lot for an exotic record-setting haute horology piece!

Note: All images of the Bulgari Finissimo family are official Bulgari press images

New Movement Family: Zenith Elite

Last Update: May 28, 2020

This weekend I added a Zenith’s Elite family of movements to the site. These are an important series of modern automatic movements yet are not well-understood or documented. Introduced in 1994, the Elite series gave Zenith a compact movement that was robust, reliable, and could support complications across a wide range of watches. The series was almost retired in 2015 but has been given a new lease on life and is today one of two main movement lines from Zenith, along with the famous El Primero chronograph.

Jump right to the Zenith Elite family here on Grail Watch Reference or stick around for the back-story

Zenith introduced the Elite movement family in 1994

Zenith’s Bread and Butter Movement

Zenith used this illustration for the launch of Cal. 691 in 2011

Mention Zenith to a watch enthusiast and they’ll likely start talking about the famous high-beat automatic chronograph known as El Primero. And for good reason: Not only is it historic, it’s also got a fun survival story and is a great movement to boot. But a company can’t rely on a single movement for all of its sales, especially a complex and expensive one.

In 1991, the Swiss watch industry was finding its way out of the quartz crisis, with complicated automatic movements leading the charge. IWC and ETA were showing what could be accomplished by layering a module on top of a reliable base, and every manufacturer was scrambling to secure such a movement. Zenith technical director Jean-Pierre Gerber lead a team to create a design of their own. It would be a relatively small and thin automatic movement with specifications similar to ETA’s leading Cal. 2892-2. The company was using computer-aided design (CAD) technology for the first time, and reportedly brought in help from consulting company Conseilray.

The resulting Zenith Elite movement would prove to be an excellent all-around performer. It was thoroughly up to date, with modern features including hacking seconds, instant date change, and a ball bearing rotor. The Glucydur balance ticked 28,800 times per hour but the design was efficient enough to run for over 50 hours from a single mainspring barrel. It measured just 11.5 ligne (25.60 mm) diameter and 3.28 mm thick, making it even slimmer than the similar ETA 2892.

At a time when subdial “small seconds” were seen as old-fashioned, Zenith designed this into Elite movement. Stranger still was the location of this subdial: 9:00 on the dial. Perhaps this was to add interest and a feeling of complexity to the watches that used the new Cal. 680, but it remains an odd choice. Zenith also offered a similar movement, Cal. 670, with central seconds, but this never seemed to be the focus. The small seconds movements were much more prominent in the Elite range, and far more varieties were produced.

Early variations on the Elite included the hand-winding Cal. 650, two-handed Cal. 661, and models with a fan-shaped power reserve indicator between 1 and 2 on the dial. A popular complication was a central 24 hour hand adjusted using a simple pushbutton at 10:00 on the case. These complications would appear in various combinations with date and moon phase for 25 years. Perhaps the most unusual member of the family is Cal. 689, which moves the small seconds subdial to the traditional location of 6:00 on the dial. This gave it a look entirely unlike the rest of the Elite series.

Early in the 2010s, Zenith recognized that the diminutive Elite movement wasn’t a good match for the ever-larger cases preferred by modern buyers. The company set about designing a new larger movement, likely intending to slot it above the Elite as a basis for future complicated models. The result was Cal. 6150, shown in late 2014 but officially launched in 2015. This double-barrel movement boasted 100 hours power reserve and a generous diameter of 30 mm, and Zenith’s new CEO Aldo Magada suggested it would see widespread use.

Outgoing CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour had radically reduced the number of models offered by Zenith and directed the company to switch to cheaper Sellita SW300 movements for low-end models. This would have pushed the new Elite movement up-market at the expense of some of the hard-won respect the brand had earned from enthusiasts. But a funny thing happened over the next few years: Although a few models (notably the Pilot Type 20) did use Sellita movements, that plan was cancelled by the new CEO. In the mean time, the old Elite just soldiered on as the promised 6150 family never developed past that first movement.

Zenith Cal. 670, pictured in a 1996 press photo, remains in production after over 25 years

As of 2020, Cal. 6150 no longer appears in the Zenith catalog. But five variations on the little #lite, including the original Calibres 670 and 680 remain in production! Indeed, when Zenith began experimenting with silicon escapement components in 2018, they turned to the original Elite Cal. 670 as a base. Today’s Elite Cal. 670 SK is found in the brand’s leading models, including the skeletonized Defy.

In 1994, Zenith’s model range was defined by two movements: The Elite and El Primero. That the same is true in 2020 is quite remarkable indeed!

Research Notes

I was able to catalog 23 different Elite movements based on the original 1994 design, and I believe that this list is comprehensive. It was surprising that there is no other such list on the internet, and I believe that this site might just be the most comprehensive resource for the Zenith Elite movement family anywhere!

It was extremely hard to locate solid information on these movements, and I rely primarily on two sources of information:

Archived copies of the Zenith-Watches website dating from 2001 to present
A trove of Zenith press releases from 2003 through 2008
A full-line Zenith catalog from 2011
Contemporary coverage in Europa Star, WatchTime, and QP Magazine

I did not use sources like WatchBase, Ranfft, or Caliber Corner at all, since I found their information quite lacking and often incorrect. The same is true of popular forums, where many posters are confused about which movement is which and what the specs are. I found this odd, since most online enthusiast communities have decent information about many brands, but perhaps Zenith devotees aren’t as focused on the movements as others.

In fact, it was this conflicting and confusing situation that drove me to research this movement family. I could not believe that there was no other resource, given the universal acclaim Zenith has received for the Elite family.

All specifications listed in the movement pages here at Grail Watch Reference are based on manufacturer information. This is especially important since some important elements are inconsistent across sources, including the thickness of the base movement (is it 3.28, 3.47, or 3.88 mm?) and jewel count (does Cal. 690 really have 37 jewels?) When in doubt I chose not to include a spec rather than to include something dubious.

It was also difficult to trace the timeline of these movements. I compiled a list of the first mention of each movement in a contemporary source or on the website as a start, also researching the first appearance of the watch which used it. Happily Zenith encodes the movement number in the watch reference number, making this task quite a lot easier. Still, it is possible that some of my dates are too “late” if I missed an earlier use. But overall they should be quite reliable.

Travel Time Trio: ETA’s Calibre 2893

Last Update: May 12, 2020

When ETA names a movement, they usually use the last digit or two to signify added functions, then a numeral after a dash to indicate an update. Cal. 2892-2 was an update to Cal. 2892, and that movement added a date complication to Cal. 2890. But this isn’t how it works for ETA’s “Travel Time Trio”, Cal. 2893-1, 2893-2, and 2893-3. These were introduced together in 1992 and represent variations on one complication rather than updates.

Learn all about the ETA 2890 Family, including the 2893 Trio

ETA’s 2892: Evolving Eterna’s Thin Movement

If the ETA 2824-2 is a Volkswagen, the ETA 2892A2 is an Audi: Both are good, but one is decidedly more upscale. Last week I presented the timeline for the ETA 2890 family, checking it for accuracy against primary sources. The original Cal. 2892 was introduced as a thin 3.60 mm 12.5 ligne movement in 1975 and was replaced by a 11.5 ligne derivative around 1983. Although the transition from Cal. 2892-2 to today’s Cal. 2892A2 is a bit fuzzy, we can surely say that it came in the 1990s and that today’s watches universally use the latter, with its updated winding system and better finishing.

Eterna Cal. 1466 was the thinnest automatic movement with date

These movements were initially intended to be used as-is in thin watches. Cal. 2892 was derived from Eterna’s Cal. 1466, a legendary movement from 1962 that was used in the thinnest automatic watch with date at the time. Designed by Heinrich Stamm, this movement was used throughout the 1970s in higher-end thin luxury watches. One of the most famous of these was the Eterna-Matic 3000, a name that has come to be used to refer to the entire movement family. But these movements were not as reliable as hoped.

Contrary to popular folklore, every one of these movements had seven ball bearings supporting the rotor, the time-only and date versions were the same 3.60 mm thickness of the 2892, and the final movement, Cal. 1504, operated at 28,800 A/h as well. Eterna even made 12.5 ligne versions, though most were 13 ligne.

Cal. 2890 was a complete redesign of the Eterna movement

Cal. 2890 and 2892 were a total redesign of the Eterna movement. The task was taken up by Anton Bally, who would also work on the first generation of Flatline Quartz movements for ETA, the ultra-thin Delirium, and would eventually succeed Ernst Thomke as managing director of ETA. Looking at images of the two movements, it is as obvious that they are related as it is that they are different. The bridges are entirely different, with many components relocated and “beefed up” for reliability and ease of manufacture and servicing.

Cal. 2892 was the basis for a new initiative at ETA, the “Flatline” movements. These were created by Bally and his team, and included quartz movements based on the Cals. 2890 and 2892, Cals. 940.101 and 940.111, which were introduced in 1976. This line was soon expanded with more thin quartz and mechanical movements and were used in a wide variety of watches around 1980. But all of these watches shared a similar characteristic: They were thin and uncomplicated.

ETA’s 2892A2: A Platform for Complications

ETA’s movements saved the Swiss watch industry. The Swatch project generated much-needed volume and market share, the Delirium gave new prestige in quartz, and the quartz Flatline series was used in the vast majority of Swiss watches produced in the 1980s. At the same time, Günter Blümlein of IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre saw complicated mechanical movements as path forward for the industry. IWC began this push in 1985, often using the chunky Valjoux 7750 as a basis.

This is one of the only official mentions of the perpetual calendar movements
*Image: Europa Star 231, 1998*

ETA would eventually build a popular automatic modular chronograph on the 2892-2 base, but first came the perpetual calendar Cal. 2890-9 and 2891-9 and the “Travel Time Trio” known as the Calibres 2893. These feature an adjustable 24-hour function to be used as a hand or disc, added to the dial side of the basic Cal. 2892-2 or Cal. 2892A2. More about them in a moment.

Complication maker Dubois Dépraz began producing modules to add to a Cal. 2892-2 base in the 1980s and these became popular with the rise of complicated watches. Soon, the thin 2892-2 was serving as a platform for complications rather than being the focus on its own.

The first such movements were the original perpetual calendar Cal. 2890-9 and Cal. 2891-9. These were clearly based on the original Cal. 2892-2 rather than the updated Cal. 2892A2, since they were updated and renamed as Cal. 2890A9 and 2891A9. But it is unclear when they first appeared, and very few watches appear to have used them.

This 2004 ETA advertisement includes the Travel Time Trio but not the perpetual calendars

ETA 2893 Movements

ETA released a trio of dual time zone movements in 1992, all known as Cal. 2893. Each movement has a slightly different implementation of a 24 hour second time zone display.

	Date	No Date
24 Hour Disc	ETA 2893-1	ETA 2893-3
24 Hour Hand	ETA 2893-2

In all three movements, the central 24 hour display is quick-set using the crown in second position and is independent of the central hour hand, which is set using the crown in third position. Adjusting the 24 hour hand or disc does not cause the movement to “hack” or stop, so the timekeeping remains accurate when traveling.

Although common today, an independent hour hand like this was somewhat unusual at the time. Indeed, the popular Rolex GMT-Master II Ref. 16710 had just gained an independently-adjustable 12-hour hand four years earlier.

This 1992 coverage in Europa Star shows all three members of the ETA 2893 “Travel Time Trio”
*Image: Europa Star 193, 1992*

Tissot’s classic Navigator is the iconic Cal. 2893-2 application
*Image: © Tissot*

The rotating city disc found on the 2893-1 and 2893-3 is reminiscent of the famous Tissot Navigator, introduced in 1952 though now considered to be a 1953 model. Most ETA movements found their first home inside Tissot or Longines watches at this time, since both companies were closely related to ETA and indeed Anton Bally was particularly involved with Tissot at the time. He had created a Flatline III quartz movement for a new Tissot Navigator in 1985, and it should come as no surprise that Tissot introduced a new automatic Navigator using Cal. 2893-3 in 1995. This would also be one of the signature models for Tissot’s 160th anniversary in 2013.

The Sinn Frankfurt 6036 is one of my favorite GMT models
*Image: © Sinn*

The Cal. 2893 trio remain in production, but are quite rarely seen. They are often confused for one another, especially the two world time disc movements, and can be quickly interchanged with just a few parts swapped. Famous watches with these four-hand GMT Cal. 2893-2 include the Ikepod Seaslug, Panerai Luminor GMT (PAM 023, 029, and 063), Fortis Spacematic GMT, Hamilton Khaki Navy GMT, Montblanc Time Walker GMT, Sinn U2 and UTS and Frankfurt 6036 and 6060, the modern Bulova “Accutron” Astronaut, and Glycine’s Airman. More unusual are the Magellan 1521 with its huge bubble dial and crystal, the Arnold & Son True Moon’s 24 hour moon phase display, and the truly strange triple-movement Glycine Airman 7. Among those to use Cal. 2893-1 are Anonimo’s Dino Zei Aeronauta. The Meistersinger Adhaesio appears to use a modified Cal. 2893 as well.

Research Notes: ETA 2893

This April 1952 description proves that the Tissot Navigator was released a year earlier than previously claimed
*Image: EJW 10, 1952*

The image reproduced above shows the complete ETA 2893 lineup in 1992. This is clearly an announcement of introduction and definitively sets this as the date that these movements first appeared. This was before the first mention of the modern ETA Cal. 2892A2, but today’s ETA Tech Sheets show these movements sharing key components, including the oscillating weight. This lends credence to my theory in the previous article that these differences were implemented over time and retroactively named, rather than being a true model change-over.

ETA’s Tech Sheets also show that the difference between each 2893 movement lies in the main plate and the components attached to it on the dial side. Each movement (2893-1, 2893-2, and 2893-3) has a different main plate but many other components are shared. A spacer ring is used on the outer diameter to make room for these dial-side components.

The earliest use of any Cal. 2893 movement that I could locate was the Ikepod Seaslug. The rather unusual lug-less sloping case and the fact that famous designer Marc Newson was responsible is perhaps overshadowed by the unappetizing name! This model gained attention in Europa Star in 1995, 3 years after the 2893 trio were released.

The famous Tissot Navigator is described in detail in Eastern Jeweller & Watchmaker number 10, which was published around April 1952. This is notable because nearly every source places the introduction of this iconic watch in 1953, including Tissot, which commemorated its 60th anniversary in 2013. Strangely, the company also appears to have skipped the 40th anniversary of this model, waiting until 1995 to release the (limited edition) automatic Navigator even though ETA’s Cal. 2893-1 was announced in 1992.

It is notable that this modular movement pre-dates most of the complicated Cal. 2892A2 derivatives, Cal. 2894-2 (the chronograph), Cal. 2895-2 (with small seconds), Cal. 2896 (with big date), and Cal. 2897 (with power reserve indicator). Only the perpetual calendar Cal. 2890-9 and Cal. 2891-9 came first.

I strongly recommend examining the following sources of information about Cal. 2893:

“Retrospective”, Europa Star, 193, 1992
“Seaslug by Ikepod Watch”, Europa Star 212, 1995, p. 193
“ETA Mechanical Movements Two Centuries of Tradition”, Europa Star 231, 1998 Page 1, Page 2
“Mister ETA”, WatchTime, December, 2002, p. 114
“The 1521 by Magellan”, Europa Star 251, 2002, p. 32
“Family Portrait”, Europa Star 264, 2004
“The Little Engine that Could”, WatchTime, April, 2008, p. 123
“Making a Move”, WatchTime, June, 2009, p. 96

Confirming the ETA 2892 Timeline

Last Update: May 8, 2020

One of my goals with Grail Watch Reference is to use primary sources to develop the best information possible. Although many aspects of horology are widely reported as truth, we can not completely rely on these stories: There’s just too much folklore out there! To illustrate, I will walk through my process of verifying the timeline of one of today’s top movements, ETA’s 2892A2.

This 2002 article from Watchtime is a typical re-telling of accepted horological history. Gisbert L. Brunner has written 30 books on watches and likely has good information, but one must be skeptical and find contemporary references. For instance, Brunner overlooks the fact that the original movement was not 11.5 ligne and wrongly places the date of Cal. 2892-A2 (sic) as 1983.
*Image: Watchtime 6, 2002*

1975: ETA Launches Cal. 2892

In 1975, ETA launched a new “flatline” movement family. Calibres 2890 and 2892 (with date) measured just 3.6 mm thick, a remarkable achievement for a robust and modern movement. Although most mechanical movements were swept away by the quartz revolution between 1975 and 1985, ETA’s high-end automatic movement remained in production. In fact, it was reduced in diameter in the 1980s, becoming Cal. 2892-2. But this movement had some issues, so another revision followed in the 1990s: Cal. 2892A2, with improved winding efficiency.

It is commonly reported that ETA launched Cal. 2892 in 1975. To verify this, I went into the archives of Europa Star to find the earliest mention of this movement in this contemporary source. The earliest mention I could find was a favorite of mine, this “family portrait” from ETA. It shows the broad range of movements offered as of November, 1975, including Cal. 2892, the now-common Cal. 2824, Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement, compact Cal. 2678, “Gabarit” Cal. 2878, and even the Cal. AS 5008 alarm movement.

This 1975 advertisement in Europa Star shows the key movements in the Ebauches SA family: ETA 2678, AS 5103/5106, ETA 2783, ETA 2824, AS 2063/2066, ETA 2878, FHF 411/412, ETA 2892, AS 5008, and VAL 7750
*Image: EJW 149, 1975*

Then, the May-June 1976 issue includes a writeup of the “New Automatic Extra-Flat Calibre.” Although not 1975, this wording strongly suggests that it was considered a recent development. An archived copy of the ETA website from 1998 also mentions that in 1975 “ETA launches the flattest automatic mechanical movement men’s watch, with centre second, date and rapid connection, to be mass produced.” And a 2002 WatchTime profile of Anton Bally, then head of ETA, notes that “Bally’s first task [at ETA] was to design and build a 3.60-mm-thin, 12.5-ligne, automatic mechanical movement with a calendar disk.”

Given these sources, I will deem the 1975 launch date for Cal. 2892 to be confirmed.

ETA introduced Cal. 2892 in 1975: A high-end extra-flat automatic movement in a sea of quartz!
*Image: Europa Star 97, 1976*

Note that this movement measured 28.00 mm diameter (12.5 ligne) rather than 25.60 mm (11.5 ligne) of the modern Cal. 2892A2. This is an important difference, since the reduction in diameter matched the mainstream Cal. 2824 as well as the thicker “Gabarit” Cal. 2872. As ever-smaller quartz movements were introduced, 11.5 ligne became the basic size expected for most watch movements until the 2010s.

Another important thing to note is that Cal. 2892 was considered a “Flatline” movement by ETA. They used this terminology for movements thinner than 4 mm, and continue to use it today. Other families included “Normline”, “Gabarit“, and “Manufacture”. ETA also calls out the instant date change, quick date correction (using the crown), and “stop-second” device, all of which were differentiators at the time. And unlike many previous movement families, the ETA 2890 family was only produced in 28,800 A/h “high-frequency” speed.

1983: ETA Shrinks the Movement as 2892-2

This drawing came from a later ETA tech sheet for Cal. 2892-2

Although many mechanical movements didn’t last through the 1970s, ETA’s Cal. 2892 remained attractive as a higher-end thinner movement for upscale watches. But the diameter was problematic for the designs emerging in the 1980s, necessitating a shrink. ETA removed a few millimeters from the main plate and trimmed the rotor to reach the same 25.60 mm diameter as other popular contemporary movements.

Cal. 2892-2, as it was known, appeared in the early 1980s for sure, as it was widely used later in that decade. But when was it launched? A few sources referenced 1983, though I also found mentions dating it 3-4 years earlier and 2-3 years later. Once again, I searched through Europa Star to see the first contemporary mention of this movement. And once again, I located an excellent temporal reference.

In 1984, ETA announced the winners of a competition to use “the latest ETA mechanical movements” in a contemporary watch. The movements were the now-common Peseux 7001 and 11.5 ligne ETA 2892-2.
*Image: Europa Star 145, 1984*

Although not a definitive date, it seems clear from the wording of this article that the reduced-diameter ETA 2892-2 was an advanced movement in 1984, and that ETA wanted to promote its use in new watch designs. Plus, Cal. 2892-2 is not mentioned previously in the archive. This strongly supports the 1983 date of introduction for Cal. 2892-2. It also definitely shows that this movement measured 25.60 mm (11.5 ligne) diameter. Some modern sources wrongly assume that the movement family always measured this size or alternately that it was only the modern Cal. 2892A2 that was reduced.

Cal. 2892A2: What’s In a Name?

It is much harder to place a definitive date on the introduction of the updated Cal. 2892A2. Indeed, many people assume that this movement is equivalent to the shrunken Cal. 2892-2, that it is simply a renaming, or that it is a modern redesign. The truth is somewhat different, and perhaps more interesting.

First, let us clarify the name of this movement: It is “2892A2”, not “2892-A2” or “2892/A2” as one often sees. Although many publications and commenters use a variety of names, ETA has never used a dash or slash in the name. WatchTime is particularly egregious in this, as they seem always to call it “2892-A2”. Perhaps that dash is the reason there is so much confusion about the relationship of this movement to the similar Cal. 2892-2. Indeed, I found a reference to “Cal. 2892-2A” in Europa Star, and many references to “2892-2” and just “2892” in recent articles.

This 1998 advertisement is the first official mention of Cal. 2892A2 by ETA

The earliest official mention of Cal. 2892A2 I could locate by ETA themselves was a 1998 advertisement for the complete line of mechanical movements. This contains the line, “for some years now, the ETA 2892A2 11 1/2”’ self-winding caliber has enjoyed considerable success with upmarket makers, often providing the basis for a variety of complex auxiliary functions.” ETA also included Cal. 2892A2 (and not Cal. 2892-2) on their website way back in 1998.

An earlier official reference came in 1996, in coverage of La Chaux-de-Fonds’ International Museum of Horology. This short article shows Anton Bally of ETA donating several “movements of interest” to the museum. Along with two Flatline quartz movements, ETA donated a “MECALINE 2892A2” and notes that this is “a product adapted specifically for use in chronometers.” I believe that I saw this exact movement on display during my visit to the museum a few years back.

Even earlier mentions came in coverage of various watches. A 1994 writeup of a new watch from Epos mentions that it uses “Cal. 2892-A2/9000” with full calendar and moon phase. It is typical to use a slash to denote a module on top of a base movement, and the Dubois Depraz 9000 module fits this description, so it all makes sense. At BASEL 96, Bertolucci boasts of their “2892-A2” being an “officially certified chronometer” while Dubey & Schaldenbrand uses a “modified calibre base ETA 2892-A2” with world time.

ETA’s 2892A2 is a extremely popular thin automatic movement

Clearly the updated movement was available as early as 1994, but this begs the question: What differentiates a 2892A2 from a 2892-2?

Users of the reduced-size Cal. 2892-2 apparently experienced poor winding efficiency, with the movement sometimes failing to wind enough to keep running on the wrist. ETA modified the rotor, reducing the chamfer to add mass at the edge. It is also said that they switched from a stud to a jewel on the upper winding bridge, though the official jewel count remains at 21. These are the generally accepted changes, but they could have been phased in over time and did not require a name change.

Perhaps there is a more important difference. As noted in ETA’s official copy, Cal. 2892A2 was designed for use in chronometers. Certainly this movement has always performed well, but the finishing and decoration of 2892A2 is far superior to 2892-2, even in basic models. This seems to be the true differentiator: Cal. 2892A2 was a higher-end product for the emerging chronometer and luxury automatic watch segment in the 1990s and 2000s, while Cal. 2892-2 seems to vanish over this same period. This also matches the naming of other ETA movements, in which a dash indicates a major revision while a number suggests finishing: Cal. 2894S2 is a skeletonized version of Cal. 2894-2, while Cal. 2890-9 and 2890A9 and 2891-9 and 2891A9 appear identical apart from finishing.

Interestingly, in a 2008 WatchTime article, Brunner takes no notice of Cal. 2892-2 at all. He simply repeats the claim that Cal. 2892-A2 (sic) was introduced in 1983. Clearly, Cal. 2892-2 existed and is different from 2892A2, but perhaps he’s not so far off. If the difference is in finishing and execution, and the modified components came without fanfare, these movements would be roughly equivalent. My previous belief, that Cal. 2892A2 was a major revision, could be off base.

As for the date of introduction for Cal. 2892A2, I’ll stick with 1996 since this is the first official mention. But it seems likely that it was a more gradual process, with third parties using the “A2” nomenclature at least as far back as 1994. I welcome corrections from my readers!

Research Notes: ETA 2892

Even a popular and well-documented movement like Cal. 2892 requires research and verification. We must rely on contemporary sources and first-party information, not folklore. Next I’ll dive into a murkier topic: Dating the other members of the ETA 2890 family. I was surprised to learn how early these movements appeared. This is one reason I questioned the accepted wisdom and timeline of Cal. 2892A2 in the first place. After all, many of these movements pre-date this change and yet include the modified parts. Surely the name change does not just refer to the rotor!

The “Cal. 2893 Trio” appeared as early as 1992, though they were rarely used.
*Image: Europa Star 193, 1992*

I strongly recommend examining the following sources of information about Cal. 2892 and its successors:

“The Most Comprehensive Range of Automatic Calibres”, Ebauches SA, Europa Star, 1975
“New Automatic Extra-Flat Calibre by ETA SA”, Europa Star 97, 1976
“Mechanical Watches Keep Their Fans”, Europa Star 145, 1984
“ETA Mechanical Movements Two Centuries of Tradition”, Europa Star 231, 1998 Page 1, Page 2
“Mister ETA”, WatchTime, December, 2002, p. 114

Further Sellita Research: SW300 and More!

Last Update: March 2, 2020

Continuing my research into the Sellita movements, I looked into the background of the SW300 and SW400 movements, as well as the compact SW100 and SW1000. Leveraging the Sellita documentation and website, I was able to uncover the launch chronology of these movements as well as lots of technical details. I was surprised to learn how similar most of the company’s movements are to each other.

Looking Into the SW300 Family

Sellita’s most important product is undoubtedly the Cal. SW200 family, a clone of the popular ETA 2824 family and one of the most popular Swiss movements on the market today. But Cal. SW300-1 is also a critical component for higher-end watchmakers, being a clone of the slim and robust ETA 2892A2. It’s used as a base for complications and as a starting point for many advanced movements.

This promotional image was widely seen when Sellita introduced the SW300 family in 2008

As noted previously, Cal. SW300 is first mentioned in 2008 and was added to the Sellita website by December of that year. But Archive.org didn’t index the SW300 page, so we don’t have any insight into the specific models available. This is less of a problem that one would think, however, because even today, after the explosion of SW200 models, Sellita still only offers three members of the SW300 family.

The second member of the SW300 family to date is an unusual small seconds movement. Cal. SW360-1 is a clone of ETA’s Cal. 2895-2, a rarely-seen automatic movement with date and small seconds. Why Sellita wanted to produce this movement is unclear, but TAG Heuer switched to it (as their Cal. 6) so maybe they asked for an alternate supplier. The data sheet is dated November 13, 2014, so that must be the date of introduction. It is first mentioned in the press in 2016, and appears in the Labanda catalog later that year, so it must have had a slow and quiet start.

Sellita’s final member of the SW300 family is a clone of ETA’s GMT movement, Cal. 2893-2. The first press mention of Cal. SW330-1 is 2015, and this is the same year Sellita released the data sheet for this movement. That technical brochure is dated February 3, 2015, suggesting that this was the date of introduction for this movement. Note that the mini Cal. 2893 family includes three different movements:

ETA 2893-1: 24 hour central disc, date
ETA 2893-2: 24 hour central hand, date (this is what Cal. SW330-1 is a clone of)
ETA 2893-3: 24 hour central disc

More Sellita Movements! SW100, SW400, and SW1000

In 2014, Sellita announced their first “in-house” movement design. Cal. SW1000-1 is a 9 ligne (20 mm diameter) movement for ladies watches. Although the wheel train and come components appear similar to Cal. SW300, CEO Miguel Garcia affirmed at the time that Cal. SW1000 is “a manufacture movement that is not based on an ETA calibre.” It would be logical that Sellita would start with their best movement when designing their own. Although the gear train and location of components is similar, the components are entirely different.

TAG Heuer uses the Sellita Cal. SW1000-1 as the basis for their Calibre 9

Another new Sellita movement appeared in 2014 as well. Cal. SW400-1 is an enlarged version of the existing Cal. SW200-1 (ETA 2824-2) for the oversized watches that were becoming popular at that time. Measuring 13.75 or 14 ligne (31 mm) in diameter, it pushes the date wheel out to the edge of the dial on watches over 40 mm. It even uses the same main plate as its little brother, with a large “spacer” added to enlarge the movement. A small seconds version, Cal. SW461-1, was added in 2019.

Cal. SW400 has a spacer around the SW200 main plate, allowing a wider and larger date for watches over 40 mm

Although Cal. SW1000 is not at all similar to ETA’s Cal. 2600 family, which Sellita had a long history of manufacturing, it was not long before Sellita cloned this popular ladies movement as well. Introduced in 2018, Cal. SW100 measures just 7.75 ligne (17.20 mm) in diameter. It is virtually identical to ETA’s Cal. 2671. The first appearance of the SW100 line is the 2018 catalog, where it is marked “NEW”.

Sellita’s Cal. SW100 is a clone of ETA’s Cal. 2671

Cal. 2671 is a popular movement in ladies automatic watches

Research Note: Sellita Brochure Technique

Sellita issues detailed technical documents (“Brochure Technique” in French) for most of its common movements. These documents have a wealth of information on the movements, of course, but also help date them. Sellita dates the documents themselves as well as the technical drawings inside and this sets a “no later than” date for most movements covered. For example, the SW216-1 document is dated 20.09.2018 but includes technical drawings labeled S216-1 dated to 24.06.17. So this movement is pushed back to 2017. This must be used cautiously, however, since some drawings are based on earlier ones. Cal. SW280 was introduced in 2018 but drawings of certain components date to 2016, for example.

Sellita has also issued a numbered series of “Information Specifique” documents, starting with the evolution of Cal. SW300 to SW300-1 in “IS 01.” Note that these documents are updated periodically so the dates might not be definitive. I have indicated the earliest revisions I could find in the table below, but many are likely dated earlier. IS 01 through 04, for example, probably date before 19.08.08, when IS 05 is dated.

Document	Date	Title	Applicable Calibres
IS 01	05.07.12	Evolution SW300 >> SW300-1	SW300
IS 02	07.02.13	Pallet Bridge, SW300-1	SW300
IS 03	07.02.13	Pallet Bridge, SW200-1	SW200
IS 04	05.04.13	Manual winding test of automatic mechanism	SW200, SW300, SW500
IS 05	19.08.08	Evolution SW200 >> SW200-1	SW200
IS 06		Date coding of the movements (replaced by IS 14)	All movements
IS 07		Unknown
IS 08		Unknown
IS 09	09.01.19	Calibre SW1000-1 without date	SW1000
IS 10	09.01.19	Storage conditions	All movements
IS 11	15.09.17	Evolution SW500	SW500
IS 12		Unknown
IS 13	04.07.17	Extraction of the winding stem	SW100, SW200, SW300, SW500, SW1000
IS 14	27.10.17	Date coding of the movements (replaces IS 06)	All movements
IS 15		Unknown
IS 16	15.08.18	Use of the SW500 calotte for SW5XX MPC calibers	SW500
IS 17	25.09.2018	Metal foil SW280-1	SW280-1

New Research: Sellita History

Last Update: February 29, 2020

I did a little research over the weekend into one of the top movement producers in Switzerland, Sellita. It can be difficult to find details on under-the-radar companies like Sellita – they didn’t exhibit at industry fairs and “have no particular need to advertise,” according to a 2014 Europa Star article. They just quietly built over a million watch movements per year, leveraging a network of subsidiaries and suppliers in Switzerland, Germany, and elsewhere.

Visit the following pages to explore this new information:
* Sellita SW200 Family
* Sellita SW300 Family

Update: I did a little more research over the weekend and uncovered a few more interesting facts: Sellita’s ETA 2893-2 clone, Cal. SW330-1, first appears in March, 2015, a full 7 years after their 2892A2 clone, Cal. SW300-1, appeared. Read more about my Sellita SW300 research!

Here’s a shot of the Sellita website from 2004! Gotta love that style, and also the decorated 2892 movement

A History of Sellita

Sellita was founded in 1950 as an etablisseur (assembler) of watch movements and components. In the 1980s, they found a niche assisting companies like ETA in watch movement assembly. It is said that they were producing more ETA movements than the parent company!

This image shows a Sellita-produced 2824-2 from 2004. Note the ETA logo stamped into the main plate, and the fact that it still has 25 jewels, rather than the 26 in Sellita’s SW200 clone.

In 1990, ETA announced that they would stop using third-party manufacturers like Sellita, so the company began simply assembling and finishing movement kits for other brands. In 2002, ETA warned that they would begin restricting availability of components, a move that would be catastrophic for Sellita. Founder Pierre Grandjean decided to sell the business.

New owner Miguel Garcia had a different plan, one that would re-establish Sellita as one of the top movement manufacturers in Switzerland. Nicolas Hayek, CEO of Swatch Group, suggested that third parties like Sellita could produce their own clones of the ETA 2824 and other movements, since the patents had just run out. Because they already had decades of experience manufacturing these movements, Sellita was uniquely positioned to take up the challenge. They were able to produce nearly every part, though the assortment (escapement, balance, and hairspring) would still be sourced from Swatch’s Nivarox.

Soon, Sellita would launch their own ETA 2824-2 clone, the SW200 family, and rise again to prominence. These movements were in production by 2008, along with Cal. SW300, a clone of ETA’s 2892A2. In 2009, a Valjoux 7750 clone, Cal. SW500, was also released. Sellita expanded the range in 2014 with the SW1000, a compact calibre of their own design. Today, the company produces well over a million movements per year and stands as the primary supplier for dozens of respected companies. They still rely on Nivarox assortments, however, posing serious challenges going forward.

Research Notes

Although Sellita has been in business since 1950, the period I was most interested in was 2002-2010, when the company launched their SW200, SW300, and SW500 movement families. This nicely coincides with the Archive.org website collection range, which captures most websites since 2000. My typical process is to begin at the earliest archive image and “walk” forward monthly, recording changes to identify movement introduction dates.

Sellita added a catalog of movements to their site in 2004, so this was my start. That page shows only Sellita-constructed or finished versions of ETA movements until the site was redesigned in 2008. This includes Cal. 7001, Cal. 2660, 2671, 2678, and 2681, Cal. 2801-2, 2804-2, 2824-2, 2834-2, and 2836-2, and Cal. 2892-2 and 2893-2. It certainly appears that the company was focused on these movements throughout this period. This was a surprise, since many sources claim that Sellita announced their own SW200 family as early as 2002 and began production in 2004.

My next attempt to establish a date of introduction for the SW200 series was to look for contemporary news reports. I searched my own collection of watch magazines (QP, WatchTime, Europa Star) and the earliest mention of the Sellita SW200 series was 2008. I then searched Google, constraining the search by date, and the earliest mention I found was a November, 2007 article in A Blog to Watch with the strange title, “Sellita Movement Makers: A Little Bit of China In Switzerland“. I find this strange because there is no evidence that Sellita sources components from China, despite Ariel Adams’ headline.

This photo shows a Sellita SW200 in 2008

Therefore, I find it safe to say that the Sellita SW200 family was not in production (or at least named) until 2007. It is possible that the company slowly transitioned from ETA components to their own parts before this date, but “SW200” as a separate movement line did not exist. And since the hallmark of Cal. SW200 is an extra jewel over ETA’s 2824, one would thing it would be notable if it was “in the wild” before this.

Then there is the question of the “dash-1” variant of Sellita’s movements. A Sellita technical document dated August 19, 2008 shows that the company changed the tooth profile of three gears to make them more robust. This was clearly noted in the press, and Sellita’s own website shows Cal. SW200-1, SW220-1, and SW240-1 listed in Dec. 2008. The non “dash-1” versions could not have been sold for very long!

It is also interesting that the SW300 series was already listed in December 2008, since these have often been suggested to be later additions to the line. Clearly Sellita’s 2892A2 clone was available throughout the 2010s. Cal. SW260-1 first appears in 2011, with a gap in the Archive until 2014, when calibres SW221-1 and SW290-1 are listed. 2015 is the first appearance of the SW400 family, as well as calibres SW210-1 and SW215-1 (both of which lack the “M” in the name seen later).

Cal. SW500 is a clone of the popular Valjoux/ETA 7750 chronograph

Research Continues!

The next big change comes in 2019, when the site is again redesigned and an explosion of movement variations appears. Today Sellita’s site lists hundreds of different variations across 11 different movement families! Although these are now well documented, it poses a challenge for me as I update the website! Watch for more Sellita updates in the months ahead.

Updated Movement Family: Valjoux 23/72

Last Update: February 28, 2020

A nine-column wheel and very few springs? Must be a Valjoux 23!

One of the more popular movements in the history of horology, the high-end Valjoux 23/72 chronograph family is vast and confusing. It was in production for many decades (1916 through 1974, by reckoning) and there are over two dozen different related movements. I’ve been working to get my head around these for years, and this site has given me a platform for that work!

The family began with the simple Cal. “A23”, originally a monopusher developed for the nascent wristwatch market by brothers John and Charles Reymond in the village of Les Bioux in the Vallée de Joux. This would become one of the most famous and celebrated watch movements of all time, and remains in use a century later, though production has long since ceased. And that little Swiss valley would give its name to the company (“Valjoux”) and become one of the key locations in Swiss watchmaking. It’s now home to Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, Breguet, and more.

A modern watch with an old movement: Panerai PAM00163 with Cal. Valjoux 234. Note that the top pusher is closer to the crown than the bottom. This is another classic Valjoux “tell”!

One of the more confusing aspects of this movement family is the naming: The first two digits denote the basic calibre while an additional digit or letter is used to show the variations on this base. Then there are the “nicknames” applied by Valjoux to indicate functions: Cal. 88 “VZHCL” adds a moon phase display (“Lune”) to Cal. 72c “VZHC”.

Most Valjoux movements in the classic period were chronographs, and the Valjoux 23/72 movement family was dominated by movements measuring 13 ligne (29.50 mm) in diameter. But this family also includes a few unusual cousins:

The compact 10.5 ligne (23.35 mm) calibres: 69 DX and 89 DX
The non-chronograph calibres: 78 VZSC, 89 DX, and 90 VZSCL

Valjoux 23/72 Family Movements

The Valjoux Cal. 23/72 family was primarily made up of eight movements, with all others being variations on these. Many components are shared between most or all of these movements, with the main variations happening together over the long production of the series.

Cal. 23 VZ – Basic movement with no hour counter
Cal. 72 VZH – Basic movement with hour counter
Cal. 72c VZHC – Cal. 72 with triple calendar
Cal. 88 VZHCL – Cal. 72c with moon phase
Cal. 78 VZSC – Non-chronograph triple calendar
Cal. 90 VZSCL – Cal. 78 with moon phase
Cal. 69 DX – Compact 10.5 ligne chronograph
Cal. 89 DXC – Compact 10.5 ligne triple calendar

Complications	18,000 A/h No Chrono	18,000 A/h No Hours	18,000 A/h Hour Counter	21,600 A/h No Hours	21,600 A/h Hour Counter
Base		23 VZ 69 DX	72 VZH 722	236	726 727
Flyback		230	720	235	725
Date		232		234
Triple Date	78 VZSC	23C	72c VZHC 723		730
Flyback and Date				237
24 Hour Hand			724		729
Calendar and Moon Phase	89 DXC 90 VZSCL		88 VZHCL		886
Tide Calculator			721

Valjoux 23/72 Research Notes

Given the long history of this movement series, there is a lot of information out there. However, because these movements are no longer produced, much of this information is fragmented and outdated. And the movements changed over time, making it hard to determine exact specifications and so on.

I was lucky enough to find a trove of original Valjoux watchmaker documentation from the 1960s that really clarified the specs of the major movements in the series. But the later additions, particularly the 21,600 A/h models, are much more poorly-documented. Indeed, it’s hard to even put a precise date of production on these! It’s hard to imagine now, but these movements were considered quite out-of-date in the 1970s and weren’t widely used. Although there were many versions produced, they are fare more rare than their predecessors.

It’s also challenging to document such old movements because the original documents never made it to the web. Archive.org doesn’t go back to the 1940s!

One incredibly useful resource is a June 2004 article in WatchTime magazine. I urge you to check it out! But there are errors in there, too. I also relied on the wonderful Ranfft Pink Pages, as I always do when it comes to classic movements, and the afore-mentioned trove of original documents.

Work continues!