the Watch Choice blog

Have you noticed?
When you’ve been looking around for your next luxury watch – a favourite pastime of yours truly! – you might have noticed that some luxury watch manufacturers say their watches are certified with the Geneva Seal or sometimes also called the Hallmark of Geneva. There are a number of watch manufacturers who have movements certified under the Geneva Seal with Vacheron Constantin, Roger Dubuis and Patek Philippe being manufacturers that regularly present their watch movements for certification. Interestingly, only Roger Dubuis submits 100% of their movements. Seeing that some manufacturers seem to place a great deal of importance on having this certification, I thought I better do some research to see whether the Geneva Seal is important to me and my next luxury watch purchase.

Is it the Geneva Seal or the Hallmark of Geneva?
Before we talk about whether this certification is important or not, let’s first clear up the correct name for the certification. The confusion comes from when the term Geneva Seal is translated from the French “Poinçon de Genève” to English where it becomes literally the Geneva Hallmark. The certification is in fact the seal of the city and Canton of Geneva so its correct name is the Geneva Seal.

A Short History of the Geneva Seal
Geneva is the second largest city in Switzerland and the Geneva Seal is a certification that can only be awarded to wrist watch movements made in the city and Canton of Geneva. If you think the sale of counterfeit watches is a recent phenomenon then you will be surprised to hear that replica watches were already a problem for true luxury watch manufacturers in the middle of the 19th century!

To protect the reputation of Genevan watches, the legislative body of the Republic and Canton of Geneva set up an office in 1886 to allow Genevan watch makers to have their watch movements inspected and certified. The idea was that only well made movements from world class watch manufacturers would pass the certification and the copy watch manufacturers would not be able to claim they had passed the Geneva Seal test.

What do you have to do to get the Geneva Seal?
To be awarded the seal, the manufacturer must jump a number of hurdles. The first hurdle is that the manufacturer must reside in the territory of the Canton of Geneva. Once you have set up your workshops within the Canton of Geneva, you can submit your watch movements to the certification process. The certification process involves 12 technical requirements that are predominantly focussed on the quality and finish of the movement. In broad terms, to achieve the quality and finish required to receive the seal means that a movement must not only be designed well but it also must use high quality materials and will require a significant degree of hand finishing in order to achieve certification.

As you would expect, the 12 technical requirements are very precise. For example, “The hairspring should be pinned in a grooved plate with a stud having a rounded collar and cap” or “The wheels of the going train must be chamfered above and below and have a polished sink. In wheels 0.15 mm thick or less, a single chamfer is allowed on the bridge side.” My favourite is “The angle traversed by the pallet lever is to be limited by fixed banking walls and not pins or studs”.

Other requirements are broader but they still impose a high standard of manufacture, for example, “Steel parts must have polished angles and their visible surfaces smoothed down. Screw heads must be polished, with their slots and rims chamfered” or simply “Wire springs are not allowed”. As you can see from these examples, the Geneva Seal ensures that the movement is finished to a degree that it is both beautiful to look at and must contain high quality materials. These attributes are not just about quality and beauty but also to ensure the watch movement will be durable and should enable the watch to keep good time.

Geneva Seal Certification

Must my next Luxury Watch have the Geneva Seal?
The Geneva Seal is about quality, beauty, durability and a little bit about accuracy as well. If any of those things matter to you, then it’s worth noting if a luxury watch you are buying has the Geneva Seal. This doesn’t mean though that other watches that don’t have a Geneva Seal are any worse than watches that do. Remember that to even be able to submit your watch to be certified, the watch movement has to be made in Geneva. This requirement alone excludes a whole number of watch brands. There are also many watch manufacturers whose movements are just as well made and finished as watches with the Geneva Seal.

For me, if a watch I’m interested in buying has the Geneva Seal and I’m comparing it with another watch that doesn’t, having the seal becomes just one of the many deciding factors I would use to make my choice of which watch to buy. It is unlikely to be the one factor that makes up my mind.

Last October, the French speaking Swiss magazine – Montres Passion – awarded Vacheron Constantin the prestigious Watch of the Year award for a second time in two years. The 2007 award went to Vacheron Constantin’s (deep breath) Patrimony Contemporary Retrograde Date and Day model. In 2009, the CEO of Vacheron Constantin, Juan-Carlos Torres accepted the award in Geneva for their Historiques American 1921 model after a unanimous vote by the jury of watch industry professionals.

Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921

The runner-up spot was taken by the Corum Ti-Bridge with third place being taken by the Montblanc Nicolas Rieussec Chronographe Monopoussoir. The Ladies Watch of the Year went to Cartier for their classic Baignoire Grand Modèle.

Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921
Hinted at by the model’s name, this watch introduced to Vacheron Constantin’s ‘Historiques’ collection is a modern interpretation of a watch produced specially for an American client in the 1920’s. The American was apparently a man of the church with a problem with talking too much! His sermons tended to go on for too long so he wanted a way to discreetly lot at the time while he was talking so ordered a watch with an unusual twist.

The twist of the dial is the most obvious aspect of the watch. The dial has been rotated so that the 12 is at a 35 degree angle on the wrist with the crown above the 12 on the top right hand corner of the watch case (or where the 1 would usually be postioned on a dial). The case itself is another feature of the watch being cushion shaped and made in 18 carat pink gold. Suiting its function as a dress watch, the case size is a not overly large 40mm by 40mm.

The dial is of a very uncluttered and elegant design with a sandblasted finish and black Arabic numerals running around the face except for the 3 whose space has been taken by a minute sub-dial. The slender hands on the dial are all black oxidised 18 carat gold matched by a rail track pattern circling the dial.

Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921

The movement is Vacheron Constantin’s own manual winding movement – the Calibre 4400 – a 28mm diameter and 2.8mm thick movement with 23 jewels that beats at frequency of 28,800 vibrations an hour and has a quoted power reserve of about 65 hours. The intricacies of the movement can be seen through the see-through case back with its large crystal window. Vacheron Constantin are very proud of this movement and that it has been certified with Hallmark of Geneva. The strap is dark brown alligator hand-sewn and saddle stitched leather finished off with an 18 carat pink gold pin buckle that looks like a Maltese Cross cut in half. Not that you are likely to take this watch underwater but just in case you do, it is water-resistant to 30 metres (or 3 bar if you prefer).

Vacheron Constantin say the Historiques American 1921 will be produced in limited quantities although it is not a limited edition model. At the time of writing, the watch is being sold online at a number of reputable dealers for between US$19,000 and US$21,000.

Reference: 82035/000R-9359
Movement: 4400 AS

Introduction
Today, the Rolex Milgauss has become a highly sought after model in the extensive Rolex collection of new watches and equally as popular as a used Rolex watch. But this hasn’t always been the case.

The Scientist’s Watch
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Milgauss, to give it its full name was first introduced by Rolex in 1954. The Milgauss is designed to withstand a magnetic field so was intended for use by people who would come into contact with strong magnetic forces. Rolex call the Milgauss “the Scientist’s watch” because it is perfect to be worn by people who work in medical facilitites and research laboratories or perhaps even in a nuclear power plant!

The Rolex Milgauss was not a very popular watch when it was first introduced and relatively low numbers were produced during the 1960’s and 1970’s before it was discontinued in 1988. In 2007, Rolex re-introduced the Milgauss in three different versions, all with a 40mm stainless steel case and the now iconic lightning bolt orange seconds hand. Two of the versions are very similar with the colour of their dial (black or white) being the defining difference while the third version – the Glace Verte or Anniversary model has a green tinted crystal, and a slightly revised black face.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Milgauss Anniversary

What does “Milgauss” mean?
The word “milgauss” has been drawn from the Latin language. Gauss is a unit of a magnetic field and “mil” in Latin means one thousand so milgauss means one thousand units of a magnetic field. The Rolex Milgauss has been tested to withstand one thousand units of a magnetic field by the European Council for Nuclear Research – a particle physics laboratory (where the Milgauss would definitely come in handy).

How the Rolex Milgauss Works
Electromagnetic fields affect the time keeping accuracy of a watch movement so the movement needs to be shielded against these disruptive fields. Rolex developed and incorporated two types of shields into the Milgauss. Both shields are made of ferromagnetic alloys and one of the shields is screwed to the movement while the other is screwed to the case of the watch.

The other critical part of the movement that is affected by electromagnetic fields and leads to loss of accuracy is the oscillator. In most watches, the oscillator is made of a ferromagnetic alloy which can be affected by magnetic fields and shocks. To protect the oscillator, Rolex created a new hairspring made out of a paramagnetic alloy and called it the blue Parachrom. Rolex say this hairspring is up to 10 times more resistant to shocks and most importantly, is resistant to electromagnetic fields.

Although not specific to the Milgauss, the watch case is made with 904L steel which is highly resistant to corrosion – another reason why this watch is dubbed The Scientist’s Watch.

Buying a New or Used Rolex Milgauss
Because the early models of the Rolex Milgauss weren’t very popular, not many come up for sale on the used or vintage watch market. Like any Rolex of note or special interest, a Milgauss from the 1960’s or 1970’s in excellent condition with papers and service history will fetch a good price on the used watch market.

When the Rolex Milgauss was re-introduced in 2007, they were so sought after that new watches were being sold at up to double their recommended retail price. The market has since settled down with most models available at retail price or lower. It is the Anniversary model with its green tinted crystal, black dial and orange highlights that generates the most interest. Interestingly, this model is the only model in the whole Rolex line that has a tinted crystal and therefore it stands out amongst all other Rolex watches.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Milgauss - White Dial

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Milgauss - Black Dial

The Appearance of Tourbillons
Tourbillons started appearing on the faces of luxury watches about a decade ago at the start of the new century. A number of watch manufacturers released models displaying a tourbillon mechanism and the number of manufacturers with a tourbillon watch in their range has steadily increased over the decade where now you can find well over 100 brands with tourbillon watches – such as the Audemars Piguet Millenary range.

How Do I Say That?
Before we discuss what a tourbillon is and what a tourbillon does, let’s impress our friends with how we can pronounce it! The English phonetic pronunciation is tore-bill-yon, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue but spoken with confidence should mark you out as a certified watch geek.

What Is A Tourbillon?
So what is a tourbillon? The tourbillon was invented in 1785 by Abraham-Louis Breguet and was designed to increase the timekeeping accuracy of pocket watches. Pocket watches were all the rage at the time as it was still 83 until Patek Phillipe invented the first watch to be worn on the wrist. The movement inside the watch case of a pocket watch is mostly held in a vertical position as it rests upright in the wearer’s pocket. Of course when reading the time, the pocket watch is rotated into a horizontal position. It was this movement of the movement that horologists believed resulted in reduced accuracy due to the forces of gravity acting on the movement.

Breguet invented a mechanism that was designed to average out the effect of gravity. The tourbillon is an assembly that includes the balance wheel, the escape wheel, the hairspring and the pallet fork inside a cage that rotates. It is the rotating cage that is exposed on the face of tourbillon watches – so you can marvel at the watchmaking artistry of the manufacturer and so your friends know you have a tourbillon watch. The cage rotates continuously and most will complete a full rotation in a minute.

Tourbillon Mechanism

What’s Driving the Demand for Tourbillons?
Many believe the tourbillon is the most complicated mechanism in watch making and shows off the watchmaking skill of the manufacturer. This belief has driven much of the consumer demand for tourbillon watches as watch aficionados covet the mechanical sophistication of the tourbillon. The complexity of the tourbillon has also driven watch manufacturers to include a tourbillon watch in their collections to show they had the skill to produce a tourbillon movement.

Breguet 4199 Single Tourbillon

When Just One is Not Enough
For the Franck Muller watch brand, one tourbillon wasn’t enough. They took the single tourbillons of other brands and raised them a tourbillon. In 2003 they introduced the Revolution 2 with one tourbillon rotating vertically while the other one rotated horizontally. Then came the watch with three tourbillons and in 2008, Gruebel Forsey released the Quadruple Tourbillon. Perhaps Gruebel Forsey should have made the watch case a little bigger as it doesn’t look like they could quite fit the four tourbillons in as it protrudes slightly from the case. In a race that seems to be mirroring razor blades where we now have the Gillette Fusion 5 bladed razor, it can only be a matter of time before the Fusion Tourbillon from [insert Swiss watch brand here] is released with five tourbillons.

Greubel Forsey Quadruple Tourbillon

So Do You Need a Tourbillon in Your Watch?
The answer to this is very simple – no, you definitely do not need a tourbillon. But that’s the wrong question. If the question was “Are tourbillons amazingly intricate pieces of mechanical wizardary and if I could afford a watch with a tourbillon should I consider buying one?” then the answer is most definitely probably – yes. The fact that tourbillons were designed to improve the accuracy of pocket watches and that some say tourbillons in wrist watches may reduce the accuracy of the watch is not that important.

Everyone knows that luxury mechanical watches aren’t about telling time accurately. Toubillons are interesting because of what they are. We don’t need one but we don’t need a mechanical watch with a moon phase, GMT, tachymetre or stop that record time down to the 1/1000 of a second either. Let’s just appreciate the tourbillon for what it is – a show of watch making prowess.

The Race Was On
In the mid 1960’s, a number of watch manufacturers were working on producing the world’s first self winding chronograph movement. One group of manufacturers thought that by pooling their knowledge and resources they could share in the glory of being the first. Heuer (now known as TAG Heuer), Hamilton-Büren, Breitling and Dubois Dépraz set up a consortium and began working on prototype self winding chronograph movements. At the same time, Zenith were also working on their own prototype and on 10 January 1969 narrowly won the race to release their own movement.

First and with Innovative New Features
Maybe to make sure that everyone knew they were the first, Zenith called their new movement “El Primero” – Spanish for “The First”. The El Primero wasn’t just the first, it had a number of innovations not seen before in a watch movement. The elapsed time function could measure intervals to an accuracy of 1/10 of a second due to the movement having a frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour (vph). The movement also utilised molybdenum sulphide for dry lubrication and a date display that could be changed immediately.

Beside these innovations and being the first self winding chronograph movement, one of the most amazing features was that it was also the slimmest automatic movement at only 6.5 mm’s. It took 19 years for that record to be beaten when Frederic Piguet introduced a movement that was 1 mm thinner at 5.5 mm.

Production Interrupted
Unfortunately, the El Primero can’t claim 40 years of continuous production. In the 1970,s the then American owners of Zenith were facing the massive swing away from mechanical movements to the new demand for quartz movements. The future for mechanical movements was looking very dim so production was stopped. It was not Zenith had been bought by new Swiss owners and with an order from Ebel for an automatic movement, the production of the El Primero recommenced in 1986.

The Birthday Models
At the 2009 Baselworld fair in Basel, Switzerland, Zenith released two new model lines to celebrate the 40^th birthday for the El Primero movement. These model lines will be only be available in 2009 and will be produced in limited and numbered editions. As you would expect, both model lines use the El Primero movement which – like most things – has been improved and refined over the years but still has the same basic DNA.

The Originals Model Line
The Originals model line is very similar to the original 1969 El Primero watch with its distinctive date window between 4 and 5 o’clock on the dial as well as other details such as the crown, pushers, hands and dial. One area where the new Original differs is that the 3 sub dials now slightly overlap each other but the overall impression is of a very similar, retro styled watch that remains faithful to the original watch.

The New Vintage 1969 Model Line
The other model line released at Baselworld was the New Vintage 1969. The three sub dials on this model range do not overlap and have an El Primero jubilee logo placed at the 7 o’clock position on the dial. The New Vintage 1969 also have a see-through case back where you can appreciate the El Primero movement behind the sapphire crystal glass. It’s easy to spot variations of this model as they feature a stripe on the dial in traditional Zenith colours.

If you want an El Primero movement but don’t like the 40^th anniversary models, the El Primero movement powers other watches in the Zenith collection, like the Chronomaster, Academy and Class collections as well as the Defy, Port Royal, Star and Starissime ranges.

So if retro styled automatic movement chronograph watches interest you, you will want to have a look at these Zenith El Primero birthday models. As they are only being produced in 2009 and with limited volumes, you better be in quick. If you miss out, you might have to keep an eye out for a good pre owned watch.

Swiss Luxury Watch Exports

In 1986, Swiss luxury watch exports totaled a not insignificant £2.5 billion and rose to a massive £10 billion in 2008. Total sales in 2008 will finish ahead of 2009 sales as the impact of the Global Financial Crisis began to hit luxury watch sales from the middle of 2008. Sales of Swiss luxury watches however were setting new records each year in the years leading up to 2008 showing that the popularity of luxury watches were at unprecedented levels.

So what was driving the popularity of luxury watches and will we ever see sales of luxury watch recover to their pre-GFC levels?

What Owning a Luxury Watch Is NOT About

Before we can answer the question about whether luxury watch sales will recover to their pre-GFC levels, we first have to look at why luxury watches were so popular.

We know that the primary reason for owning and wearing a luxury watch is not about knowing the time of day. If you are reading this on your computer screen, I’m sure you can see what time it is. You probably also have your mobile phone close to hand which will tell you the time of day. Some luxury watches will have other functions beside the time such as the date and some chronongraph watches will have a stop watch or lap timer but these are also found on many mobile or smart phones. So you don’t need a Rolex or Omega to tell you these things, you have numerous other ways to easily tell the time.

And luxury watches aren’t really about telling the exact time either. The trend in luxury watches is away from quartz watch movements that keep very good time towards mechanical watch movements which are often not as accurate as a Swatch or cheap digital watch from the supermarket. So if anyone tells you they have a TAG Heuer or Breitling luxury watch because it keeps great time, the chances are that’s not the truth.

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The trend for the size of mens watches to increase was first seen more than 5 years ago. Watches with cases of over 40mm are now commonplace and men can now been seen wearing watches us to 50mm or even larger. Not only have watch sizes grown for men, they have also grown for women and women are wearing watches with previously unheard of diameters of 38mm or more.

We all know that luxury watch styles are subject to changes in fashion and a number of watch commentators have been signaling the end of the “big watch” watch fashion for more than a year. So, are we seeing watch manufacturers release new models with reduced sizes or are big watches still big news?

Panerai – a classic example of the large watch

Some watch manufacturers are known for their large watch sizes and heading that list is Panerai whose range is made up of watches that most commonly have case sizes of 44mm or 45mm. Panerai’s history is making watches for the Italian Navy so their watches were designed to have large legible dials that could be read underwater. Not only is the case large but added to the already substantial size is the width of the patented locking mechanism for the crown. The immense popularity of Panerai watches and the passion of the Paneristi (Panerai fans and collectors) have helped to make the large watch a more common sight. If Panerai think the demand for large watches is subsiding, they aren’t showing it. In fact, early in 2009 they announced the re-release of a limited model they made for the Egyptian Navy in the 1950’s called the Radiomir Egiziano. The Egiziano measures a barely wearable 60mm and is already sold out!

Panerai Radiomir Egiziano on the wrist

More good news for the large wristed

So Panerai aren’t showing any signs of reducing their watch case sizes and neither are a number of other popular brands. Hublot who can’t make enough of the 44mm Big Bang model they first introduced in 2005 (see earlier blog) aren’t slowing down and continue to release new variations of the Big Bang to an eager public. U-boat are known for their large watch sizes with case diameters in their model range of up to 64.4mm and other watches sized at a still daunting 52 and 56mm.

If you need more evidence that big watches are still big news, you don’t have to look any further than Cartier who are not known for their large case sizes but have preferred more elegant designs with more discreet sizes. This year Cartier introduced the Rotonde Tourbillon Sapphire Skeleton with a beautiful dial with the numerals carved out of a single block of platinum and a case of 50mm. So not only is the large watch trend still going strong but it seems to be growing as well.

Cartier Rotonde Tourbillon Sapphire Skeleton

For a large watch to look right on your wrist, it needs to be in the right proportion to your wrist width. The right proportion however isn’t documented anywhere – there is no official rule book on the watch case size to wrist width ratio – that I know of. So the size of watch that your wrist can “carry off” is really a matter for your own personal taste. And that’s the way it should be.

The only way to know if a watch going to be too big for your wrist is to try it on at the store or if you have a watch of a similar size, you might be able to imagine the size on your wrist. I recently purchased a large watch online and I didn’t have the opportunity to physically try the watch on my wrist. To get an idea whether the watch was going to be too big for me or not, I printed off a picture of the watch, re-sized it on a photocopier to the actual size and attached it to my wrist. You could use a scanned image of the watch to achieve the same result. Admittedly this is not a very sophisticated solution but did give me some confidence the watch wouldn’t overpower my wrist when I finally got to put it on.

Are big watches here to stay?

The trend for big watches is likely to continue for some time yet and in my opinion may continue indefinitely. Most watch manufacturers will continue to offer a variety of models and sizes in their collections which will mean that small, medium and large sized watches will be offered if not by the same manufacturer, at least they will be available from a number of manufacturers in the market. So if genetics haven’t given you a large wrist, don’t despair, the wide wide world of watches will still have a watch for you.

You might have noticed on your own luxury watch or a watch you were looking at or in the specifications for a watch that it says the watch is a chronometer with COSC Certification. You can tell by how it is referred to that it seems to be a good thing to have but perhaps you don’t know whether it is important or not.

What is COSC Certification?
COSC chronometer certification is a certificate to say that the movement of the watch (the mechanical engine of the watch that keeps the time) has been tested by the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres (COSC) and found to be within their time-keeping accuracy range. For watch movements to be given chronometer status, they must not lose more than 4 seconds or gain more than 6 seconds in a day.

Only about 3% of all Swiss watch production is given COSC certification. This doesn’t’ mean only 3% are capable of passing the test though as many manufacturers either don’t submit their movements to COSC testing or do their own testing. Jaeger-LeCoultre for example perform their own tests in-house on finished watches (watch movement is in the watch case). The brands that have the most watches COSC certified each year happen to also be the most popular brands with Rolex, Omega and Breitling leading the way.

Who are the Controle Officiel Suisse des Chronometres?
The COSC is a not-for-profit association started in 1973 by five watchmaking cantons and the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. The COSC has three rating laboratories in Bienne, Geneva and Le Locle whose task is to measure and test the precision of watch and clock movements and to promote the chronometer. The COSC certify over 1 million watch movements a year.

What’s the difference between a Chronometer and a Chronograph?
The term “chronograph” is a common term that refers to a watch that has an additional timekeeping mechanism – such as a stopwatch function – that is operated by pushing a button on the side of the watch case. Sometimes a chronograph watch is also referred to a chronometer however a chronometer has a COSC defined definition. A “chronometer” must be capable of permanently displaying the seconds and have a watch movement that has been awarded the chronometer status by the COSC. So we can see that a chronograph watch and a watch that has been certified as a chronometer are two different things. It also means that a chronograph can also be a chronometer if it has been certified by the COSC.

How Does A Watch Movement Earn COSC Status?
To test the watch movement, COSC put the finished movement through a range of tests under a range of conditions including various temperatures and placing the watch in various positions (upright, horizontal, side). The COSC make particular note that their testing does not simulate how the watch movement will perform when it is on your wrist. The COSC tests are on a watch movement when it is outside the watch case. Some watch manufacturers believe the movement should be tested when it is in the watch case as the results can be different from when it is uncased. Also, the COSC test the watch movement in a static position under laboratory conditions and therefore the testing does not take into account the conditions the movement will encounter in day-to-day use as you go about your life. Although these are static laboratory tests, they are very strict tests which mean that only high quality movements will get through to be given chronometer status by COSC.

Does My Luxury Watch Need COSC Certification?
The way I think about COSC certification is that it is probably a nice thing to have but it’s not essential. If I found a watch that met all my requirements – style, function, price, size, rarity etc – and it did not have COSC certification, I will still buy it. If met all my requirements AND had COSC certification then that would be an added bonus. Or perhaps you were comparing two watches and you couldn’t decide between them but one had COSC certification and one didn’t, maybe the one with COSC certification would sway the balance in its favor. Of course you need to make up your own mind about how important having a luxury watch with chronometer status is to you.

The Beginning of the Makers of Calibre 7750

Valjoux – the Swiss maker of watches and watch movements began life in 1901 and takes its name from the region in which it set up its manufacture, the Vallee de Joux. Not too far away from brothers John and Charles Reymond’s workshop was Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet and Frederic Piguet.  Not long after 1910, the Reymond’s decided to concentrate on making movements and in 1914 introduced their first calibre, the Calibre 22.

The Demand for Swiss Watches in the 1960’s

Fast forward to the 1960’s when the worldwide interest in Swiss watches was continuing to grow and Valjoux grew along with the demand, producing calibres for Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and many other Swiss watch makers. In the late 1960’s, a syndicate of watch makers (Breitling, Heuer-Leonidas and Hamilton-Buren) were working on producing the first automatic chronograph at the same time as Seiko and Zenith and the watch featuring an automatic chronograph appeared in 1969. At the same time, clients of Valjoux were also asking for an automatic chronograph movement with three sub-dials. Enter the Calibre 7750 in 1973, which has gone on to become the most popular and long lived automatic chronograph in history!

The Design Philosophy for the 7750

Valjoux wanted to be able to manufacture and assemble the 7750 economically so it made some design decisions that meant it met its manufacture objectives. Some parts of the movement that would usually be machined were stamped instead, the column wheel was replaced by a coulisse lever, some parts of the movement were pinned together rather than screwed and others were chromed for longevity. This description makes it sound like an inferior movement but the genius of the 7750 is the way it can easily be modified to accept a wide range of complications as well as the toughness and accuracy of its design.

Example of the Valjoux 7750 movement

The Quartz Movement Severely Wounds the 7750

Mechanical watches continued to grow in demand for the next couple of years after the 7750 was introduced but then sales began to fall away dramatically. Those of us old to remember will remember the mid-1970’s when the watch industry was being turned on its head with the sensation that was the Japanese quartz movement, including chronograph quartz movements. Quartz movements were cheaper to produce and it was much easier to make watches that could more precisely keep time. Swiss watch makers were finding it difficult to sell enough mechanical watches and many were switching away from mechanical movements like the 7750 to quartz movements. This of course was bad news for Valjoux and their 7750 movement but to their credit, they stayed the course and didn’t produce a quartz movement to try to compete.

Daylight at the End of the Tunnel

It was a tough time for Swiss movement makers and between 1979 and 1982 many were sold and became part of what is now ETA. Valjoux toughed it out for a number of years before the market for Swiss mechanical watches started to recover in the mid 1980’s and in 1983, Valjoux started to produce the 7750 again. By 2008, even though ETA were manufacturing 200,000 variants of the 7750 a year for a range of Swiss luxury watch makers, demand still outstripped supply.

It Seems ETA Have Become Too Successful

The Swiss Competition Commission held a two year investigation into ETA’s practices and in late 2005 announced that ETA was abusing their dominant market position. ETA argued that they were overwhelmed with orders for their ebauches (movement blanks) but actually wanted watch manufacturers to produce their own watch movements so that movements would continue to evolve and ensure their survival. If ETA ceased providing their watch movements to small watch manufacturers without other movement suppliers in the market, this would threaten the survival of the small watch manufacturers. So it was agreed that ETA would continue supplying their movement blanks at the same volume until the end of last year and then at reduced volumes up until the end of 2010.  This announcement was big news in the luxury watch industry and the results are that we have seen a number of watch manufacturers start to produce their own movements. I’ve recently written about Panerai and the five new calibres they have produced and we have seen other watch manufacturers also release their own calibres. It is true to say that new calibres increase interest in the watch making art as well as driving innovation.

So the ETA 7750 lives on but won’t be the engine driving the number of watch it once did in its heydays.

ETA Valjoux 7750 as used in a TAG Heuer model

Audemars Piguet has given us a preview of their in-house expertise in cutting edge case manufacture by creating the limited edition Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon Chronograph. This luxury watch will be shown officially at the 2010 Salon International Haute de la Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva, Switzerland and has a very limited run of only 120 pieces. The entire watch is manufactured in-house between Audemars Piguet’s production sites at Le Brassus and Le Locle and is produced to showcase their watchmaker’s talents.

Audemars Piguet Millenary Carbon One Tourbillon Chronograph 1

The Forged Carbon Case

The “Carbon” in the model name refers to the revolutionary and exclusive forged carbon of the case and the oval shape of the case puts this watch in Audemars Piguet’s “Millenary” collection. The forging process creates a unique pattern on the case which gives the watch a rugged textured look that in my mind clearly puts it in the sports category rather than the dress category that most tourbillon watches might fall in to.

Black and More Black

The matt blackness of the case is joined by the equally black but shiny finish of the ceramic used for the bezel, pushers and crown. More blackness follows with the case back being made of blackened steel along with the Audemars Piquet logoed folding clasp. All this black is broken up somewhat by the white high markings on the dial and some red markings of the chronograph sub dial and the power reserve display. A watch with this much black could be uninteresting to look at but Audemars Piguet has added interest to the face of the watch by the partially skeletonised or openworked dial.

Three-Dimensional Design

Through the dial you can see the mechanical movement beneath in what Audemars Piguet like to call three-dimensional design. This style of design aims to “move beyond the classic opposition between outside and inside, between the interior of the watch – its movement – and the exterior – meaning the case and the dial with its multiple displays.” What this really means I’m not sure but I am sure that the dial allows you to see the many layers of the mechanical movement beneath and get an appreciation of the fine workmanship that lies within while adding interest to the dial of the watch.

The Case Back

The rear of the case has a sapphire crystal pane so the rear of the movement can be fully appreciated. Many movements are just not that interesting to look at but this one is. Through the display pane you can see the black eloxed aluminum bridges and other polished or brushed surfaces which are combined with red jewels and gold highlights to create a very pleasing effect. Of course it will spend most of its time out of sight against the wearer’s wrist but I guess the wearer will get to admire it when they take it off and before they put it in their safe.

Overall

There was no price information about this watch but given that it is limited to 120 pieces, that it features unique manufacturing processes to produce the forged carbon case, that it has complications such as a chronograph, a tourbillon and a 10 day power reserve, you can assume that this watch is for the lovers of Haute Horologie with deep pockets. My first impressions of this watch weren’t entirely complimentary but after taking the time to appreciate the fine detail, innovation and workmanship, I’ve grown to admire it. I’m sure we’ll hear more about it when it gets its release at SIHH 2010.