Category Archives: vintage movements

Review: WatchProject’s list of XXI Flieger chronographs

Posted on February 28th, 2011

In the article A list of XXI Flieger chronographs, the reader is brought through a little history of standard military watches. The first paragraphs explain the distinction between three main schools: the British, the German and the French; and the text explains how the concept of a Flieger chronograph (as we know it today) was invented in the early 2000′s by the [...]

Posted in antimagnetic, assembler, brand of origin, editorial, historic designs, legacy, militarophilia, novelty, original designs, Valjoux 775X, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: Magalex, run by an entrepreneur extraordinaire

Posted on January 13th, 2011

Born in 1949 in Pune, one of the largest metropolis of then-freshly independent India, Mr. Gurdeep Singh Kundan carried out a BA (Special) Economis at the University of Pune before relocating to Switzerland, where he studied Journalism and Sales Management in Fribourg and St. Gallen; and Germanic languages at the University of Bern. Besides High [...]

Posted in arty, assembler, brand of origin, ETA 2824-2, Limited edition, original designs, saturation diving, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: Temporanea Manifattura Fiorillo

Posted on January 12th, 2011

Unveiled by TLex of OceanicTime.com and mentionned by Grégory Pons of BusinessMontres.com, Italian entrepreneur Federico Fiorillo launched his watch company. Temporanea Manifattura Fiorillo was first born in Spring 2009, as a project to supply a small number of watches to friends. Mr. Fiorillo was quickly overwhelmend by orders, and so he decided to plan production [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, ETA 2824-2, ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2893-2, historic designs, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, militarophilia, novelty, Unitas 649X, vintage movements | 2 Comments

introducing: Barrington Griffiths watch company

Posted on December 9th, 2010

Mr. Mark Griffiths, founder of the Barrington Griffiths Watch co. kindly contacted me to announce the imminent launch of their first collection. Called the Modern Classic, it will be available from January 3rd 2011 in three choices of dials:  black, blue and orange.     Based in Calgary, Canada, the company runs a small workshop where they design and build the custom [...]

Posted in arty, assembler, brand of origin, Calgary, Canada, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, novelty, original designs, restoration, vintage movements | 1 Comment

introducing: Jochen Benzinger

Posted on November 11th, 2010

Born in 1961, Herr Jochen Benzinger learned the craft of engraving in Pforzheim and after receiving an award, taught himself the art of engine turning with the help of some old specialists still active in the German city. In 1985 he took over engine-turning workshop Kollmar, where old machines were salvaged during the quartz-crisis. When [...]

Posted in arty, assembler, brand of origin, ETA 2892-A2, legacy, Limited edition, made-to-order, original designs, Pforzheim, Germany, PUW 561, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: DUGENA Premium

Posted on October 28th, 2010

German watchmaker Dugena was established in 1917 as Deutschen Uhrmacher-Genossenschaft Alpina. Headquarters were transfered to Berlin in 1927, but the company had to relocate to Darmstadt in 1948. Interestingly enough, Dugena was one of the few companies that came out of the quartz crisis unaffected, and one of the early ones to adopted the new technology. Nowadays, Dugena [...]

Posted in brand of origin, legacy, original designs, PUW 561, Unitas 6314, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: Nivrel

Posted on October 27th, 2010

Known in Teutonia for their affordable mechanical watches, German brand Nivrel is unveiling two new models within their Edition Héritage collection. All Nivrel watches are assembled in Saarbrücken, Germany, yet all models receive a French name. It could be because French names sound “classy”, but a more likely explanation is that Nivrel‘s designers want to acknowledge the great contribution of French Huguenots to watchmaking. I [...]

Posted in arty, assembler, brand of origin, original designs, Saarbrücken, Germany, Valjoux 7750, Valjoux 7751, vintage movements | Leave a comment

1948 footage of the LiP tourbillon

Posted on October 1st, 2010

I wrote earlier about the LiP manufactureCompany that has an exclusive on a watch movement or module, and is in a position to decide where the parts are produced, how they are refinished, and where the final product is assembled and controlled and their attempt at building a wrist tourbillonWatch with the escapement housed in a [...]

Posted in brand of origin, design blunter, vintage movements | Leave a comment

introducing: Wakmann Germany

Posted on September 11th, 2010

Vintage mechanical watch enthusiasts are familiar with the gorgeous Wakmann triple calendar chronographs featuring the reputable calibre Valjoux 730. The company was originally based in New York, U.S.A, but a search on U.S. and European trade mark databases reveals that the brand Wakmann has been secured by offshore company Teddy Bear Group Limited since 2002. [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, historic designs, Limited edition, militarophilia, vintage movements | 1 Comment

introducing: Hebdomas

Posted on September 10th, 2010

Founded in 1888 in Les Brenets, Neuchâtel canton, Switzerland, Hebdomas is a fairly old company, notably famous for their watches with 8 days of power reserve. In 1977, the company collaborated with young watchmaker called Vincent Calabrese, who was to become one of the most prominents craftsment and the co-founder of the AHCI. Hebdomas saw its assets frozen between [...]

Posted in assembler, brand of origin, ETA 28XX, historic designs, militarophilia, original designs, Valjoux 775X, vintage movements | Leave a comment