u/Dave-1066

In production from circa 1950, the FHF 59N is the smallest baguette movement formed on a single level. The prize for “smallest ever mechanical watch movement” goes to the Jaeger-LeCoultre 101 famously worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation (an insane 4.8mm wide), but the FHF 59N is no less a marvel of engineering.

It’s certainly the smallest mass produced movement you can still easily purchase without paying thousands. Compare that to the Jaeger 101 which often retails for tens of thousands as a complete watch and which you’re extremely unlikely to ever see in your entire life.

Coming in at just 9mm in width you can see it in the fourth image dwarfed by the famed ETA 6498 used in watchmaking schools across the globe. Also placed on a standard size modern men’s 35mm wristwatch (my daily Le Cheminant Skymaster), and alongside a British penny (roughly the same size as a US penny).

I sometimes take this out at my bench just to marvel at it. When you consider the vast sweep of horological history from the ancient sundial to gigantic European cathedral tower clocks then on down to the FHF 59N you have to stand in awe at the genius of humanity. You have on your wrist or in your pocket an entirely mechanical device which replicates the motion of the earth around the sun to a typical accuracy of +/- 10 seconds per day. That is truly breathtaking, but to do it on a scale of 9mm is almost beyond words.

You can buy these on eBay for surprisingly low prices. I’ve shown it to countless friends over the years and it’s great fun to see their reactions.

Hello all. Watchmaker here. I don’t normally agree to service these Chinese calibres as so little info on parts/movements is available. But this is for a friend so I said I’d do it.

I’m hoping someone here either recognises this exact calibre and maker or knows someone who will.

It’s a skeletonised automatic and I’ve already removed the rotor and ratchet wheel for a better view of the movement.

Any help greatly appreciated as I want to order a replacement whole movement in case I need to swap multiple parts.

Many thanks for any help. 👍🏻

I generally always refuse to service this stuff due to 1. the difficulty in finding parts or identifying movements, 2. the poor quality of construction. This job is for a friend so like an idiot I agreed to look at it. In short, the third wheel pivot has snapped off, the setting lever is awful, and all the gear train wheels seem to have one problem or another.

I’ve removed the rotor and ratchet wheel.

Some parts are quite distinctive so I’m hoping someone recognises this thing and maybe knows where I can get a working replacement (even if I have to order it from China) as it’s horrible to disassemble. I’ve checked eBay and its wall-to-wall sellers convinced refusing to lower prices as they think they’ve got a Rolex on their hands.

Somebody somewhere has to know what this is!

Many thanks in advance. 👍🏻

TL;DR: Put the screws back where they came from.

The attached image is of a customer’s watch which belonged to his great-grandfather. The movement is an RWT (Record) from about 1930 in a solid silver London hallmarked case. Quite a rarity.

To quote the customer: “My father had it serviced in the 1980s, at which point it completely stopped functioning and was put in a drawer”.

Weirdly enough, I had the exact same description from another customer last month concerning a 1960s Brac movement in a watch with huge sentimental value- taken to a ‘watchmaker’ in working order for a simple service but was then messed it up with the response “Sorry, I don’t know why it’s stopped”. It was his first ever watch, bought for him by his parents when he was 16. Had been in a drawer for 50 years.

In both cases I was completely stumped as to what was causing the issues. In the above 1930s example, all functions worked absolutely fine until the movement was placed back in the case and closed up. At which point winding ceased, as did hand setting. In the Brac example there was simply no life at all even though absolutely everything looked fine. No balance issues, no gear train problems, no bent pivots, nothing.

The problem? The previous ‘watchmakers’ had put the wrong screws back in the wrong positions! 😡

In the example above, one of the longer screws was inserted such that it passed through the dial plate and lifted the entire setting lever and setting lever spring, causing them to disengage and jam against the underside of the dial. The previous idiot who worked on it in the 80s decided to BEND the dial to momentarily alleviate the problem. I only spotted all this mess by holding the watch up to the light at eye level to look under the crooked dial. Once the shorter screw was put back in its correct place the watch naturally functioned perfectly after a proper clean. A 40+ year old problem solved in seconds!

With the 1960s Brac it was the same careless mistake but with a different effect: a longer screw passed through the plate and pushed straight onto the mainspring barrel, essentially acting like a brake. Swapped the shorter screw to the correct spot and, hey presto, it was working again. Because the watch had been in a drawer for 50 years it had almost no wear on any of the pivots or brass bushes, so for a one-jewel pin pallet piece of junk it kept freakishly good time; -10 seconds a day after a service!

Moral of the story: When you remove screws from plates (especially in vintage watches) keep track of any shorter screws as they serve a vital function.

Could someone please tell me exactly where this is. I found the image online a while back and all I can remember is there was a suggestion it was somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales. I’ve done a reverse image search but the one matching photo also has no further info! 😭 Many thanks for any help.