In 1969, remembered as the historic year when humans first landed on the moon, three different movements appeared around the same time.

Coincidentally, the three had one thing in common: a combination of self-winding and chronograph. Fifty years later, self-winding chronographs have overtaken hand-wound chronographs to become mainstream. While today’s hand-wound chronographs are perceived as luxury movements with extravagant embellishments, self-winding chronographs have a more familiar and popular image. It cannot be concluded that this phenomenon is due to the aforementioned three movements. However, not many people would deny the fact that Seth played an absolute role in the expansion of the watch industry and the popularization of the chronograph.
The mid-20th century was the peak of the popularity of mechanical wrist fake watches uk. Freewheeling and experimental design, automation, and mass production fueled rapid growth. At the same time, the watch industry opened its eyes to new values. It was accuracy and convenience. The desire for ultimate precision led to the study of chronometers and high vibrations, creating an ironic situation that provided an excuse for the emergence of quartz watches that brought them to the brink of ruin. If the pursuit of accuracy was the result of looking at the watch from a principled point of view, the discussion of convenience was rooted in the structure and epochality of the watch. The reason why self-winding, first known in the 18th century, did not shine, was due to the inherent limitations of pocket watches. On the other hand, wrist watches have the optimal conditions to realize self-winding. Since the end of the war, hopes and expectations for the future combined with the advancement of technology have enriched human life. People who are accustomed to the selfishness of civilization began to dismiss the act of winding the mainspring by turning the crown every day as cumbersome and inconvenient. Compared to self-winding, hand-winding was outdated.
The popularity of hand-wound chronographs also waned. The biggest hit has been the brands that mainly make chronographs and movement manufacturers. The Swiss Watch Industry Association (FH) launched the Association of Swiss Chronograph, and funded a campaign to promote the excellence of traditional hand-wound chronographs. However, it was not enough to defy the demands of the times. A sense of crisis prompted a change of thinking. It was around this time that the concept of self-winding chronographs appeared.
Breitling and Heuer were the mainstays of the Swiss Chronograph Society. The association was chaired by Willy Breitling and vice-president Jack Heuer. As the discussion of self-winding chronographs intensified, Heuer added a chronograph module to Buren’s micro-rotor movement. But the finished movement was too thick. Back in the days when wristwatches had a case diameter of 30mm to mid 30mm, the thick movement had no choice but to upset the overall balance. Eventually, Heuer gave up on commercializing the movement.
Research accelerated when Buren introduced a thinner movement at the 1967 Basel Fair. Heuer even brought Dubois Dépraz into the mix. But this time, development funds have been hampered. They couldn’t afford the cost Dubois Deprat was asking for. Heuer persuaded Breitling to agree to jointly develop the movement and share the cost. The research code-named Project 99 is conducted under strict security. The development team for Project 99 installed the crown on the left side of the case, ie opposite the two chronograph push buttons, not between them. This is because the movement’s structure made it impossible to reposition the crown in its original position. As soon as the prototype movement was completed in the summer of 1968, Breitling and Heuer went into testing. In the same year, Buren was acquired by Hamilton, with Hamilton being part of the project.
On March 3, 1969, Breitling, Heuer and Hamilton unveiled the self-winding chronograph Caliber 11 at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva. At the same time, on the other side of the globe, at the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, New York, a press conference announcing the release of the Caliber 11 was held. At the Basel Fair held about a month later, Breitling and Heuer displayed a watch with Caliber 11. In particular, Heuer captured the public’s attention with the iconic model, Monaco, and the first water-resistant square watch in addition to the automatic Ottavia and Carrera. Unlike Breitling or Hamilton, watches with Heuermann Caliber 11 were marked as automatic chronographs instead of chrono-matics, which meant that Heuer, who was popular in the UK and the US, helped customers quickly understand the features of the watch, and the automatic chronograph was better. Because it was judged to be advantageous.
Meanwhile, an unusual current was also flowing in Le Locle, Switzerland. After a brilliant achievement in the Observatory Chronometer Competition, Zenith began developing a self-winding chronograph in 1962. Three years later, in 1965, to coincide with the brand’s 100th anniversary, they made an ambitious plan to launch a new watch. Zenith’s goals were the same as Project 99, but their approach was radically different. Zenith’s management and developers decided to develop a completely new engine instead of adding a chronograph module to the original movement, which had proven to be of great performance. However, tying the self-winding and chronograph together was not as easy as I thought.
Janice was forced to revise her original plans for 1965. Separately, Zenith was also passionate about developing a high-vibration movement that raised the frequency per hour to 36,000 vph (5 Hz). The high-vibration movement, which guarantees excellent precision, was a hot topic in the watch industry in the 1960s. Zenith responded to rapid wear, a fatal disadvantage of high-vibration movements, by treating the surface of the escape wheel with a special coating of molybdenum disulfide. Having conquered high vibration, Zenith displays a bold imagination. A new variable called high vibration was added to the self-winding chronograph that has continued over the past few years. In the end, Zenith restarted the design of the movement from scratch.
On 10 January 1969, Zenith held a press conference at Le Locle, announcing the birth of the self-winding self-winding chronograph watch, El Primero. The name El Primero, meaning first in Spanish, reflects Zenith’s confidence in winning the fierce competition for the first self-winding chronograph. Caliber 3019 in El Primero has a decent size compared to its complex structure and excellent performance. The diameter and thickness were only 29.33mm and 6.5mm, respectively. It even had a date function. Perhaps even this was not enough, Zenith showed off her overwhelming technological prowess by simultaneously showing a variation that added a moon phase and a triple calendar.
They weren’t the only ones jumping into the self-winding chronograph race. Seiko, who tarnished Switzerland’s pride by winning the astronomical chronometer, set up a belated development team for the self-winding chronograph in 1967. Seiko’s self-winding chronograph caliber 6139 was a compact movement with a diameter of 27.4 mm and a thickness of 6.5 mm. It was simplified by installing only a 30-minute counter and chronograph second hand, while adding a date and day function to emphasize practicality. The rotor is wound around the main spring no matter which direction it is rotated by a magic lever.
What sets the 6139 apart from the Breitling and Heuer Caliber 11 or Zenith’s El Primero is the way the power is transmitted to the chronograph mechanism. Seiko was a pioneer in introducing the first vertical clutch to caliber 6139. In the first year of the launch of the self-winding movement, Seiko sold only limited quantities in their own country. Despite being able to publicize it globally, this passive policy was carried out because of his unique caution and perfectionist tendencies. This gave Seiko time to rectify minor mechanical defects before exporting to other parts of the world the following year. Seiko’s self-winding chronograph was seen as a serious threat to its competitors. It was because of its overwhelming price competitiveness, which was only half the price of watches equipped with Caliber 11.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the self-winding chronograph. I wonder what watches will come from brands proud to have launched the world’s first self-winding chronographs. This is why Baselworld, which was left empty due to the departure of the Swatch Group, is still waiting.