Sold! Sold! Sold! – Omega Electronic Chronometer f300 – working very well and keeping perfect time – 1970c

This is a very nice Omega Electronic Chronometer f300 hz, which dates to 1970c and is running very well and keeping perfect time over the past week. A new battery was recently fitted for test purposes and is now disconnected. This is a top of the range model.

It has the  Omega Calibre 1250 movement (esa/eta cal 9162), which has 12 Jewels and a date window at 15.00. It is in excellent cosmetic condition and running order and bears serial number 32,006,341, which dates to 1970 production.

The 38mm (incl crown) x 42mm Rolled Gold Case (has a faded stamp between the lugs at 12.00) and is fully signed Omega on the case back. It bears case ref 198.001 and is in very good condition. It is fitted with an 18mm brown leather strap, by Hirsch, which measures 230m overall.

The 30mm Gold Coloured Textured Dial, has raised Baton Numerals, is signed Omega with logo in red surround – Electronic Chronometer f300. It has an Acrylic crystal, on which there are a number of marks and scratches and a  nice set of original gold hands.

This is a desirable Omega Chronometer and will be of interest to the discerning Watch Collector and comes to you directly from a large Irish Watch Collection, which was assembled over the past 40-50 years. (Ref: ACC313).

It is listed at €650 – OPEN to OFFERS

see – http://members.iinet.net.au/~fotoplot/acctechesa.htm

                                                                                                          for notes on esa/eta Cal 9162 movements:

These movements are the “Rolls-Royce” of tuning fork watches, and were designed by Max Hetzel, who had left Bulova a few years previously. Hetzel was also the brains behind the Accutron 214. The 9162/4 and 9210 were known as the “Swissonic 100” line of movements, or the Mosaba (MOntres SAns BAlanciers). They were manufactured under licence to Bulova by Ebauches S.A., who, up until then, made several models of electronic balance wheel watches. The index wheels for the ESA tuning fork watches were made by Bulova. I suspect also that Bulova supplied the index and pawl fingers and jewels, they look suspiciously the same as in Accutrons. These movements are very well designed and made, and were used by Omega (known as the f300 cal.1250, 1255 and 1260), Certina f300, Movado (Zenith cal. 50.0 variation) Longines (Ultronic), IWC and numerous others.

Why the “Rolls-Royce” of tuning fork movements?

I made this statement some 15 years ago, as a way of defining the quality of these Esa built movements. So, after such a long time, I guess I had better explain more clearly my reasons for saying this, as people have asked why. This movement was designed more than 10 years after the Accutron 214 went into production, and a few years after the Accutron 218 as well. So it seems that Esa (and Max Hetzel of course, as he was working for them at this time) took the opportunity to make some significant improvements to the design, not just from the user’s point of view but from a service point of view also. It would seem that improving the serviceabilty of the movement should theoretically translate into a better, more reliable or more accurate watch for the wearer also, one would imagine. The Accutron 218 had solved the 214’s problem of having no date, and the Esa 9162/4, like the Accutron 218, was offered with day or day and date (but never as a no-date model) . But, they did more! The most important improvement was with the design of the tuning fork. The big problem with the 214 and 218 was with their positional adjustment, meaning that the watch ran faster or slower according to whether the tuning fork was oriented up, down or flat. This in fact, is why Accutrons never gained chronometer status, while the Esa 9162/4 could and did achieve this distinction in accuracy. Most chronometer certified 9162/4’s were Omega branded watches. Getting a watch certified as a chronometer was expensive, and each single movement had to pass strict tests by an independant organization to be certified to the status of “chronometer”, a term which is used to specify a level of accuracy and performance under a number of clearly defined temperature and positional ranges. This is strictly controlled by Swiss law to maintain the status of chronometer-certified watches. The Esa 9210 is a chronograph version of the 9162, and was offered as day-date only. All Omega versions of the 9210 chronograph were certified chronometers.

The Accutron tuning fork follows the geometry of a traditional tuning fork – ie. a mounting point (foot) centrally located between the two tines, at a point where the motion of each tine cancels out to zero. With the Esa tuning fork, two additional tines were attached to the cups and extended back past the foot of the tuning fork and balanced with the main tines. This gave them superior performance, as their errors due to position were nil. Another very important feature of the tuning fork design was the position of the mounting point for the index finger. The Esa tuning fork design allowed the finger position to be chosen so that the effect of shocks and vibration imparted to the tuning fork had minimal effect on the amplitude of vibration of the fork, thus minimizing errors. It is well known that shocks can cause an Accutron to gain time, due to the index finger picking up extra teeth. All these features are described in more detail below.

OMEGA is one of the most renowned of the Swiss Makers, whose accomplishments are noted in 28 pages (Q9-Q36) of detailed information by Kathleen Pritchard in her publication “Swiss Timepiece Makers -1775-1975″.

For further detailed information on Omega please see :

http://www.classicwatch.com/asp/watches/manufacturer.asp?code=86
http://www.pocketwatchrepair.com/histories/omega.html

The S&H Worldwide is €20 for Registered & signed for Priority Airmail.

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