![]() ![]() These days, of course, an alarm complication on a mechanical watch seems a bit prosaic, but one should not underestimate the power to delight of a chime or tring produced from the movement of a hammer on a resonator rather than as the result of an. In its modern incarnation, the Memovox has been hugely refined and features a full rotor, a feature Seiko introduced with the 4006-7000 in 1966. The first automatic alarm wristwatch was the Memovox produced from the early 1950’s by Jaeger-Lecoutre which used a bumper rotor to wind the movement. That watch though was essentially an adapted pocket watch and the first ‘genuinely operational alarm wristwatch’ was the celebrated Vulcain Cricket of the late 1940’s whose alarm was notable in serving its intended purpose of being capable of waking its wearer from their slumber. The alarm complication at that time was hardly a novelty though, having been first introduced in a wristwatch in the early 1900’s by Eterna. The first Bell-matic, the 4006-7000, was introduced to the Japanese domestic market in mid 1966, fitted with a 27 jewel version of the 4006A automatic movement, the first automatic alarm movement fitted with a centrally pivoted full rotor. In addition then to these more high profile contributions, the Bell-matic slips rather under the radar although to those in the know, they are beautiful, dignified and fantastically engineered watches. The 1960’s were a fruitful decade for Seiko: I’ve documented some of the truly iconic divers watches made by them through the 60’s and 70’s as well as the automatic 61 chronographs, both of which represent significant landmarks in the development of the wristwatch. Equally, brands such as Seiko whose centre-of-mass occupies a market position somewhat south of that of Rolex, are responsible too for their fair share of landmarks, often deriving from innovations made in mass-market watches designed for the every-man and woman. Firsts widely credited to Rolex include the first waterproof watch, the first self-winding movement and the first watch to display the date. Horological innovation though does not emerge necessarily just from the top of the market: the position occupied in the public consciousness by Rolex has its roots in Rolex’s record of making no-nonsense, superbly engineered, yet elegant divers and sports watches in the 50’s and 60’s, many of which were widely used as tool watches, instruments designed to serve some sort of purpose other than simply as a status symbol. On watch forums heated arguments flare out of nothing at the suggestion, for example, that a higher-end Seiko model might somehow be spoken about in the same breath as watches emerging from the giddy heights of the Swiss Jura. In the world of the watch cognescenti, Seiko are routinely not assigned quite the credit that they deserve. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |