M
Mike Kearney
This morning Wynter posted the following:
"Digging through some drawers yesterday I found this little oddity.
http://home.inreach.com/wynter/auto.jpg
I was told it was sold as an add on to make a self-winding wristwatch. Obviously the movement would need to be changed to make it fit the case. In fact I would say this thing probably came with a movement since the weight is marked ?4 adj.?. It?s also marked ?Perpetual watch, Made by Frey?.
Have you ever seen one of these in a watch? Does the add on story sound believable?"
Well, I found the answer in Kathy Pritchard's "Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975", and I got so excited I moved your item over here, Wynter.
It turns out that in the mid 1920's, Frey & Co. of Bienne, developed an automatic watch called the Perpetual. It was an oblong movement with a weight that swings about 10 degrees. Henry Fried described it in the June '89 issue of the AWI's Holorological Times. I don't know if there's a picture of it there or not. Frey is listed in Bestfit #111, but I don't know which (if any) of the movements listed is the calibre used in the Perpetual.
Kathy Pritchard says Frey was still in business as late as 1986, but a quick search on the web didn't turn them up. Keep digging for the rest of that movement!
Regards,
Mike
"Digging through some drawers yesterday I found this little oddity.
http://home.inreach.com/wynter/auto.jpg
I was told it was sold as an add on to make a self-winding wristwatch. Obviously the movement would need to be changed to make it fit the case. In fact I would say this thing probably came with a movement since the weight is marked ?4 adj.?. It?s also marked ?Perpetual watch, Made by Frey?.
Have you ever seen one of these in a watch? Does the add on story sound believable?"
Well, I found the answer in Kathy Pritchard's "Swiss Timepiece Makers 1775-1975", and I got so excited I moved your item over here, Wynter.
It turns out that in the mid 1920's, Frey & Co. of Bienne, developed an automatic watch called the Perpetual. It was an oblong movement with a weight that swings about 10 degrees. Henry Fried described it in the June '89 issue of the AWI's Holorological Times. I don't know if there's a picture of it there or not. Frey is listed in Bestfit #111, but I don't know which (if any) of the movements listed is the calibre used in the Perpetual.
Kathy Pritchard says Frey was still in business as late as 1986, but a quick search on the web didn't turn them up. Keep digging for the rest of that movement!
Regards,
Mike