Wrist-watch by Premier Precision Ltd

Description — British Museum

Wrist-watch. Chromium-plated base-metal case with screw-on stainless steel back. Pink leatherwrist-strap. Painted dial with white centre blending into a pink surround. Hours 1-12 within a minute circle. An image of Mickey Mouse in the centre, the hours and minutes indicated by Mickey's arms and pointing fingers. red-painted centre-seconds hand. Movement with metal plates and cylindrical pillars. Going barrel; solid brass train wheels. Lever escapement, the escape wheel, pallets and balance roller all made from red plastic. Brass balance with spiral steel balance spring.

Curator's comments — British Museum

Comment from Richard Good, Catalogue of Watches in the British Museum. Vol. V (Unpublished manuscript) ANONYMOUS Hong Kong and Japan, c. 1980 Mickey Mouse wrist watch with centre seconds and club tooth lever escapement made completely from plastic. Signature: On the back plate is 'UNADJUSTED 00 JEW JAPANESE PARTS ASSEMBLED IN HONG KONG' Case: A round two piece chrome plated case with a screw back. On the outside if the back is 'STAINLESS STEEL BACK CASE METAL BASE DUSTPROOF'. Within the case is an adaptor ring for fitting the toneau shaped movement to the round case. Dial & Hands: A round dial with a polychrome representation of Mickey Mouse with his arms and hands as the minute and hour hands. A red centre seconds hand. Movement: The dial is cemented permanently to the front plate and is not intended to be removable. Ebauche Marks: Could not be ascertained if there were any or not. Frame: A full plate layout, including the balance, this being also between the plates. Barrel and Mainspring: A going barrel, there is no cover. Barrel: I diameter 7.0 mm., height 1.5 mm. Mainspring: height 1.6 mm., thickness 0.12 mm. Barrel Arbor: diameter 1.9 mm., snailed. Hooking: Milled from the barrel wall. Train: All the train wheels are gilded, the wheels are pierced as detailed under Train Counts. Jewelling: No jewels. Plastic cone bearings to the balance. Escapement: An acute angle layout club tooth lever escapement, all in red plastic. With a short lever, a double roller and an impulse finger somewhat reminiscent of that in a pin pallet escapement, namely of a trapesoidal shape. The roller and impulse finger are in one and are of plastic. The exposed pallets are one with the body of the lever and also made of plastic, the acting faces are flat. The escape wheel complete with its arbor and pinion, again all in one and made from plastic, the wheel without crossings. An equidistant locking escapement. No. of teeth embraced 3½. Balance & Spring: a monometallic balance with a plain rim. Balance diameter 7.0 mm., thickness 0.55 mm. A 'self compensating' flat spiral spring with 13 turns. Means of Regulation: An index on the inside of the front plate, no divided scale and no indication of which direction to move the index for regulation. Train Counts and Beat Rate: Great wheel 90 (barrel) This rotates in 6 hours. Second wheel 72 pinion 12, the wheel with two lightening holes. Third wheel 60 pinion 9, the wheel solid Fourth wheel 77 pinion 10 the wheel with four lightening holes Escape wheel 15 pinion 7, the wheel solid, the bottom pivot broken. Beat rate 19,800 Motion work: cannon pinion 11, minute wheel 66. The counts of the other gears in the motion work could not be established since the dial could not be removed. Winding System: Stem set rocking bar keyless work. Dimensions: Case: Diameter 23.3 mm., height 10.1 mm., over the glass. Movement: Tonneau shaped, major width 15 mm., major length 16.8 mm., height 1.7 mm. Provenance: Donated by Richard Good in 1999. Note: This escapement is perfection, a tour-de-force of brilliant engineering. The first plastic escapement in a wrist watch was engineered by the Tissot Watch Co. and is considerably larger than the escapement in this watch, the centre distance in the Tissot is approximately 8.4 mm., and in this watch it is 6.5 mm. Furthermore the movement in the Tissot watch is not made in such a way that it can be disassembled whereas with this watch the major part can be taken to pieces as detailed.