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The 1960s saw the race towards the development of the first automatic chronograph of the world. Two groups were in contention for this feat. The group of Movado/ Zenith versus Heuer/ Breitling/ Hamilton/ Dubois Depraz. Both groups achieved their aims independently, at about the same time and exhibited their new developments at the Basel Fair in 1969. Both claimed to be the first to introduce the first automatic chronograph of the world. However, the caliber 11 by the group of Heuer/ Breitling/ Hamilton/ Dubois Depraz would beat the Movado/ Zenith team by over a month.
A joint venture between Movado and Zenith aimed to produce an automatic chronograph named "El Primero", which literally means "the first". The automatic winding of the Movado/Zenith watch has a centrally positioned rotor. The date indication is in an aperture positioned between 4 and 5. The chronograph is equipped with 30-minute and 12 hour registers as well as the normal hour and minute hands, there is a small seconds hand at 9 and a tachometer scale around the edge of the dial. The balance beats at 36,000 vibs/hour and there are 17 or 31 functional jewels and a rotor running on ball bearings. Called the Caliber 3019 PHC movement, it is used in the Zenith El Primero and the Movado Datron.
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Movado / Zenith Caliber 3019 PHC |
Movado Datron |
Zenith El Primero |
The main competition of Movado/ Zenith came from the amalgamation of the chronograph specialists Breitling and Heuer-Leonidas with Hamiliton-Bruen and Dubois Depraz, who started the development of their project in 1965. When the delegation of the four houses met together for the first time in 1965, they were so obsessed with keeping things quiet that they gave their project a confidential code name: 99. During this meeting, the role each house would play was distributed in utter secrecy. Bruen would be in charge of the special automatic mechanism (adapted from Bruen’s "Intramatic" Caliber : Planetary rotor of heavy winding in both direction via gliding pinion); Dubois-Depraz would be responsible for the chronographic module (chronograph unit 8510 with coulisse-lever switching, equipped with a 12-hour and a 30-minute counter) as well as the oscillating pinion invented by Edouard Heuer. Breitling and Heuer would develop the other components and oversee the design of the watch dial and case.
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Heuer Monaco |
By 1968, the group had carried out the first conclusive tests and developed experimental prototypes. The winding-mechanism and the caliber 11 chronograph, the "chronomatic" measuring 13 ¾ lines (31 mm in diameter) and 7.7 mm in height, worked marvelously well, even under extreme conditions, with an accuracy close to the norms required of a chronometer. Officially on March 3rd 1969, after 500,000 Swiss francs spend, the world first automatic chronograph was unveiled, over a month before Basel fair 1969 where the El Primero was introduced.
Named the "Chronomatic", the movement was used in the few houses under different models. With Heuer, it is used in "Monaco", "Carrera" and the "Autavia". "Chronomatic" under Breitling and Hamiliton Bruen.
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The Caliber 11:
Beating at 19,800 bps, "Chronomatic" consists of a basis movement unit and a chrono-section unit. These two units are attached with screws, one on top of the other. The design required that the winding stem with the crown had to be removed to the position of the 9, at first what it seems like a surprising innovation that all firms agreed would be the best. Since obviously this watch does not often need to be wound up by hand, it follows that the chronograph buttons would be better located on the right side of the case.
Exploded view of the caliber 11 with the chono-section removed
A suitable winding mechanism is required for this automatic chronograph. The heavy microrotor that winds the mainspring is housed in the basic movement and has a pointed dead angle of only 11 degrees, which means that even the relatively inactive wearers can always depend on the watch being wound up.
View of the caliber 11 seen from the underside, with microrotor
In addition, a special regulator setting was developed for the watch, with eccentric setting and moveable spiral block, which allow precise regulation and the smallest error in the timing. These developments are also patented.
Later versions of the Caliber 11:
The difference between the caliber 11 and 12 lies with the beats. The Caliber 12, which is an updated version beats faster at 21,600 bps. The later versions saw the introduction of the 2 registers instead of 3. The later versions from Heuer and Breitling are the caliber 14 and 15.
Some of the other comments on the caliber 11/ 12 :
"The more common variety of the Autavia is the 3 register (no sub seconds, but second, minute, and hour registers) automatic movement, with the crown on the opposite side of the case as the pushers. These used the Caliber 11 or 12 movement (co-developed by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton/Buren) with the micro-rotor automatic design. These are accurate movements. I always check out the autowind section carefully, as they are prone to wear and not functioning correctly (most of the autowind section is unjewelled)." - Tom Gref, AWI Certified Master Watchmaker.
