Uhrwerke – Eine Leidenschaft
Some time ago, in the article System Glashütte – What’s that?, I explained where the term System Glashütte comes from and why it has more to do with Switzerland than with Glashütte. Naturally, the Swiss manufacturers of movements that were supposed to suggest that they were from Glashütte usually had no interest in leaving their company name on these movements. Accordingly, in some cases it is difficult to find the manufacturer or an exact caliber designation.
A while ago, I wrote about how the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (SOGC) can be used as a movement identifier for the period from 1900 to 1946. There I described that registered designs and models were also published in the SOGC from 1889, including movements.
This time I don’t have any interesting technical information about movements to offer, but ask my readers for help in identifying watch movements.
Today I’m going skating on black ice! Why? Every watchmaker and watch hobbyist has their own philosophy when it comes to oiling movements. Ask three watchmakers and you’ll get five different answers. And many movement manufacturers, in turn, have their own ideas and sometimes regulations.
In 1950, IWC launched the automatic calibers 81 (small seconds) and 85 (center second) with a new automatic winding system developed by Albert Pellaton. I was able to get hold of a 5:1 scale model of this winding system made by IWC and present it to you here, as it illustrates the functioning of the Pellaton winding system particularly clearly.
Today we are once again talking about a Swiss watch and movement manufacturer that can claim a hundred years of history and yet has remained almost unknown. We are talking about Goschler & Cie from Biel in Switzerland.
