Christmas is coming! The season of presents is in full swing. And if you have not yet decided what to buy for your near and dear to delight them this post is for you. A watch is a perfect present that will remind about the pleasant moments for quite a long time. And if a watch is a rare one it may become an object of pride and delight for the rest of life.
Each amateur and connoisseur of watch mechanics is dreaming of an exclusive timepiece equipped with a rare authentic calibre. And vintage movements produced before the “quartz revolution” of the 1970s are especially precious for connoisseurs.
First these movements are considered to be more reliable: anyway their workability is proved by time. And, besides, the price for a watch with a restored movement is lower than that of modern manufactory ones.
But to tell the truth sometimes the movement itself is so rare and interesting that housed by a modern case it could be more expensive than any modern timepiece. Brilliant examples of such calibres are the legendary Angelus made by Rolex for Officine Panerai series of special mission units.
There are several ways to give a “second life” to a vintage calibre. One of them was invented by the most passionate collectors as Jorg Schauer who bought quite a big number of Durowe and Stowa movements for his watches or Cinette Robert that decided to use vintage calibres for Dubey & Schaldenbrand watches.
But among the brands producing watches with vintage calibres there are some that deserve more detailed attention. Their watches are surely ones of the most desired and sought for among those who knows what’s what in watch mechanics.
Armand Nicolet L07 Chronograph
In the 1940s-1950s the renowned brand of Armand Nicolet was assembling and decorating movements by a legendary brand Venus. So today the company can boast quite a big number of authentic chronograph movements that from time to time are used in Armand Nicolet modern collections.
At the main plate visible through the additional seconds subdial there is an engraving of a small star – the seal of Venus. And through the transparent case back one can see polished bridges and main plate, classical chronograph module with a column wheel and balance-spiral unit with a big 12-mm wheel oscillating at 18,000 bph.
The movement is originally decorated with a pattern consisting of tine parallel lines – the Cote de Nicolet pattern.
Carl F. Bucherer Manero Tribute to MaBu
Carl F. Bucherer launched the Manero collection in 2006 when the company was not yet an independent manufactory producing in-house movement. That’s why the tribute model of the Manero watch became one of the most important premieres in 2007.
This series is interesting for collectors first of all because of its restored vintage movements produced in times of Max Bucherer (MaBu), who was a talented painter and graphic artist, a traveller and friend of Herman Hesse’s and other famous writers.
The tribute chronograph is made in the noble style of the 1950s. It is equipped with a Valjoux 92 calibre which was one of the best chronograph movements of that time. On the basis of this very movement the modern Valjoux 7750 was created.
MareMonti Adventure Big Classic
The movements produced by once very famous manufactory A. Schild are especially important for collectors and connoisseurs of watchmaking art.
Since 1978 the manufactory had has been part of ETA.
One of the most interesting calibres made by A. Schild is AS-2063 which is the last self-winding movement produced in the 1970s before the company joined ETA.
The features of this calibre (2 days of power reserve, quick date correction, manually wound spring) are no inferior to the modern ones. Besides, it is equipped with the double Incablock system.
A big series of these calibres was purchased by MareMonti which uses the movements in its limited edition collections.
Particularly this calibre is used in the Adventure series which includes not only classical models with calendar but also skeletons and complete calendar watches as well as timepieces equipped with zodiac constellations indication.
Roamer Competence MST
In 2004 Roamer launched the Competence Original collection of watches equipped with the FHF 18.011 calibre that was originally developed by the brand in the distant 1940.
The watchmakers found 1050 prototypes of this calibre in the archives of the manufactory. The prototypes were developed and modified. This movement is manually wound. It features a side seconds hand. The calibre can boast not only exclusiveness but also a very compact size.
A year later Roamer presented one more watch equipped with a vintage movement – MST watch in square case. The watch was powered with an in-house movement Roamer 468 created in the 1950s.
Share This
