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Watch Movements

A-Z A complete listing of all watches shown in alphabetical order.

Mechanical Watches powered by a traditional, mechanical movement.

Quartz Watches with battery-powered quartz movements.

Electric/Electronic Battery-powered watches with electro-mechanical, electric or electronic movements.

British Watches made in Great Britain.

Chinese Watches made in China.

Russian Watches made in the Soviet Union or modern-day Russia.

Japanese Watches made in Japan.

American Watches made in the USA or by/for American companies.

Military/Space Military and Space related watches including homage and commemorative pieces.

Pilot/Aviator Watches intended for pilots or with some aviation connection.

Sport/Diver Watches associated with a sport or a particular sporting event or personality.

Pocket Pocket watches.

Movements For those interested in what makes watches tick! A selection of watch movement pictures.

Dating Vintage Watches A rough guide to dating your vintage watch by its movement or case serial number.

Screensavers / Virtual Add a little horological magic to your computer desktop

World Time Custom web site clocks displaying the time in Britain, China, Russia, Japan and America.

Links A selection of links to the interesting websites of other collectors.

Part of the fascination in owning a quality watch lies in wondering about the intricate mechanism that powers it. Especially for vintage Swiss watches, identifying the movement can sometimes be a little tricky. The manufacturer's name or logo is often stamped on the barrel-bridge, train-bridge, or on the ratchet. Very often, the logo or symbol is stamped in the recess beneath the balance wheel. Here are some scans from the "Catalogue Officiel des Pieces de Rhabillage pour Montres Suisses" (the Officical Swiss Watch Spare Parts Catalogue) circa 1949 that might help you identify the make of movement in your vintage Swiss watch from the movement symbol. Note that these scanned images are quite big (circa 3500x2500, 2.5MB) each:

1. Acvatic-Cortebert
2. Coursier-Jupiter
3. Lancia-Omega
4. Omer-Solago
5. Studio-Zenith

Below are some pictures of the movements in some of my watches.

Anonymous Pocket Watch:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, circa 1940's. This example is used in a 6E/50 observer's pocket watch issued to the British military during the Second World War.

Anonymous Pocket Watch:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, circa 1940's. This example is used in a GSTP pocket watch issued to the British military during the Second World War.

Bulova Accutron 214:
USA made, 360Hz, circa 1965. The Bulova Accutron was the world's first electronic wristwatch movement, utilising the high frequency vibrations of a tiny "tuning fork" rather than the oscillations of a mechanical balance wheel to regulate timing.

CYMA 234:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, manual wind, circa 1940'/1950's. This example is used in a WWW (Wrist Watch Waterproof). These were issued to the British military during the Second World War and on into the 1950's.

CYMA 775:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, circa 1940's. This example is used in a GSTP pocket watch issued to the British military during the Second World War.

Elektronika Quartz:
Soviet made, LCD quartz, circa late 1970's early 1980's.

Elgin Grade 291 Pocket Watch:
USA made, 7 jewels, circa 1941 and used in the Elgin "Grade 291" GS MkII pocket watches exported to Great Britain and issued to the British army during the Second World War.

ESA Dynotron 915 Series:
Swiss made, 13 jewels, electronic balance wheel, circa early 1970's. An early electronic movement featuring transistors and a balance wheel, this looks very similar to the first of its type, the ESA Dynotron 9150, but I can't tell for sure until I check the exact model number stamped under the balance wheel. I'll do that next time I change the battery!

ETA 2824-2:
Swiss made, 25 jewels, automatic, circa 2000's. An awful picture of perhaps the most popular Swiss automatic movement in use today. Versions of this movement appear in watches ranging in price from around £100 to well over £1000.

First Moscow Watch Factory:
Soviet made, 17 jewels, manual wind, hacking seconds, circa 1950's.

First Moscow Watch Factory, Automatic:
Allegedly the first automatic movement to be produced in the Soviet Union. 22 jewels, circa late 1950's early 1960's.

General Watch Company (Helvetia) 32A:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, circa 1940's. This example is used in a Helvetia GSTP pocket watch issued to the British military during the Second World War.

Girard-Perregaux 352:
Swiss made, quartz, circa 1970. One of the very first quartz movements, also used by Le Coultre and Favre Leuba.

Gruen 422 R SS:
Swiss made, 17 jewels, manual wind, circa 1950's.

Lemania 3872:
Swiss made, 17 jewels, manual wind, chronograph, circa 1970's.

Longines 6312:
Swiss made, 12 jewels, hacking seconds, quick set date, tuning fork movement based on the ESA 9162 and made under license from Bulova, circa late 1960's.

Longines 6952:
Swiss made, 17 jewels, hacking seconds, manual wind, "high frequency" (28,800bph), circa 1970's.

Luch 2350:
Belarus made, quartz, very similar to the Raketa R2350 below, but apparently with less jewels.

Luch 3055:
Soviet made, 18 jewels, electronic balance wheel, circa 1970's.

NS WM09 750:
National Semiconductor LED movement using parts from the USA with module assembly conducted in Thailand. This movement was used by the Trafalgar Watch Company from the UK in watches with Swiss-made cases.

Poljot 3017:
Soviet made, 19 jewels, manual wind, chronograph, circa late 1970's. As used in Sekonda chronograph watches worn by Soviet cosmonauts.

Raketa R2350:
Russian made, 8 jewels, quartz, circa 1990's.

Unitas 6300N:
Swiss made, 21 jewels, manual wind, copper plated, circa 1960's/70's.

Unitas 6497:
Swiss made, 17 jewels, manual wind, circa 2000's. A large movement often found in pocket watches as well as wrist watches.

Valjoux 7734:
Swiss made, manual wind, chronograph, circa 1960's. Used my many manufacturers of high quality watches, in this case Breitling.

Valjoux 7751:
Swiss made, 25 jewels, automatic, chronograph, with complications, circa 2000's.

Ventura VEN_03:
Ventura Design on Time, Switzerland. Cal. VEN_03, quartz, 0 jewels, circa 2004.

Vostok Europe 2432:
Russian made, 31 jewels, automatic wind, circa 2000's. A poor picture of a very nicely decorated Vostok 2432.

Zaria Z1509B.1:
Russian made, 17 jewels, manual wind, circa 2000's. In this example, two such movements have been housed in a single case to provide a watch with two independently adjustable time zones. With thanks to Paul Groom for the use if his picture.

Zenith 19-34-3-T:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, micrometer adjustable balance, circa 1940's. This example is from a Zenith HS3 pocket watch issued to the Royal Navy's Hydrographic Service during the Second World War. It is apparently based on a movement used in pocket watches issued to the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War (see below).

Zenith movement from 30 Hour, Non-Luminous, Mark V Pocket Watch:
Swiss made, 15 jewels, circa 1916. This example is from a Zenith 30 Hour, Non-Luminous, Mark V pocket watch issued to the Royal Flying Corps during World War 1.

Zodiac 101:
Swiss made, 17 jewels, manual wind, circa 1970's. Based on a movement by ETA, the Zodiac 101 movement beats (ticks) 36,000 times per hour, twice as fast as ordinary movements.