Lator 17 Jewels

[TIGA84]

My dear old Nan passed away recently and left one of these.

It was always by the side of her bed, was my grandfathers and have always been intrigued as to what it is.

I cant find much info on them and wondered if some of the watchheads on here knew anything about them.

Its a stainless steel chrono, says swiss made and has 20 ATM on the rear, as well as Incabloc on the face to which I have no idea at all. Its a nice looking watch, think Rolex submariner in terms of colouring and layout (black twisty bevel thing, black face, white hour markers but without date.

It needs cleaning and repairing I should think, but would love to have it done so I can wear it, I have no idea on value and not really bothered, but if anyone knows anything at all about them I'd be interested.

Also if anyone can recommend someone to have it re-comissioned as it were, I'd appreciate it.

I'd put a pic up but SWMBO is in Barcelona with my camera..................

Cheers, James.

[Asterix]

TIGA84 said:

My dear old Nan passed away recently and left one of these.

It was always by the side of her bed, was my grandfathers and have always been intrigued as to what it is.

I cant find much info on them and wondered if some of the watchheads on here knew anything about them.

Its a stainless steel chrono, says swiss made and has 20 ATM on the rear, as well as Incabloc on the face to which I have no idea at all. Its a nice looking watch, think Rolex submariner in terms of colouring and layout (black twisty bevel thing, black face, white hour markers but without date.

It needs cleaning and repairing I should think, but would love to have it done so I can wear it, I have no idea on value and not really bothered, but if anyone knows anything at all about them I'd be interested.

Also if anyone can recommend someone to have it re-comissioned as it were, I'd appreciate it.

I'd put a pic up but SWMBO is in Barcelona with my camera..................

Cheers, James.

Pics would be of great help (hopefully see them when yoy get the camera back) - and I'll assume that you've already done the usual Google searches etc..

I can tell you that 17 jewels (pivots/bearings) is the minimum for a mechanical watch to tell the time (hopefully Cyber will be along soon to explain far better than I could!) which only having 17 would surprise me for a Chrono.

Incabloc is a movement shock absorbing device/mechanism that is still used today.

As you said - find a good refurber and wear it and smile everytime you look at it.

[cyberface]

Chrono ?? Do you mean chronometer (i.e. has passed the Swiss standards for timekeeping) or chronograph (i.e. stopwatch functions) ??

As Asterix rightly says - a chronograph (with stopwatch functions) would be oddball to say the least from Switzerland with only 17 jewels, since some of the gear train would be riding in non-jewelled bearings (and subject to severe wear). There was a point when everyone went mad with the claimed number of 'jewels' - to the point of day/date watches claiming 50 jewels even though half of the gears didn't need them... but a chronograph movement most certainly needs a certain number of jewels to ensure longevity. Look at the Daytona replicas with the 3 gears on the back of a VJ7750 to move the seconds dial to 6 o-clock without jewels... they seize up after 6 months or so.

So I'd guess from your description it's a simple hour / minute / second watch with perhaps a date - and no stopwatch function.

It should be easily refurbished if built well in the first place... if the escapement has jewels (synthetic rubies / corundum) then all it needs is a strip down, cleaning in an ultrasonic bath (except for the balance) and a light lubrication and assembly, and it should be OK, assuming nothing's broken or over-worn.

I've just been given a seized up mechanical watch by a neighbour so I'm about to have a go at complete disassembly and repair of a watch that hasn't run in 30 years (my neighbour is in his 70s) - I don't do things by halves, in at the deep end

[TIGA84]

Cheers guys, it doesnt have stopwatch functions, but has two separate smaller dials on the left and right, I'm not sure of their function.

I would post some pictures, but alas my camera was left on the return flight so is with BA at heathrow. Read: lost forever.

I'll see if I can borrow a mates and put some up.

Cheers

James

[eccles]

cyberface said:

Chrono ?? Do you mean chronometer (i.e. has passed the Swiss standards for timekeeping) or chronograph (i.e. stopwatch functions) ??

As Asterix rightly says - a chronograph (with stopwatch functions) would be oddball to say the least from Switzerland with only 17 jewels, since some of the gear train would be riding in non-jewelled bearings (and subject to severe wear). There was a point when everyone went mad with the claimed number of 'jewels' - to the point of day/date watches claiming 50 jewels even though half of the gears didn't need them... but a chronograph movement most certainly needs a certain number of jewels to ensure longevity. Look at the Daytona replicas with the 3 gears on the back of a VJ7750 to move the seconds dial to 6 o-clock without jewels... they seize up after 6 months or so.

So I'd guess from your description it's a simple hour / minute / second watch with perhaps a date - and no stopwatch function.

It should be easily refurbished if built well in the first place... if the escapement has jewels (synthetic rubies / corundum) then all it needs is a strip down, cleaning in an ultrasonic bath (except for the balance) and a light lubrication and assembly, and it should be OK, assuming nothing's broken or over-worn.

I've just been given a seized up mechanical watch by a neighbour so I'm about to have a go at complete disassembly and repair of a watch that hasn't run in 30 years (my neighbour is in his 70s) - I don't do things by halves, in at the deep end

I'm suprised you say having 17 jewels and being a chronograph is being an oddball.
I own 3 vintage watches (Chronosport, Oriosa and Swiss Emperor)that are chronographs and have 17 jewels. All three date from the mid to late 60's, all work well and keep good time.
I know they aren't top branded names, but during my perusal of ebay and various watch websites it seems chronographs of that age seem to come in 17, 21 or 25 jewel form, and having 17 jewels seems to far from being an oddball.