
Movements & Components · Wristwatch movement
Wristwatch movement, c. 1955
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1955
- Historical period
- Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Wristwatch movement
- Dimensions
- Durchmesser: 3.90 cm
- Holding institution
- German Clock Museum
- Accession / object no.
- 1995-355 (inventory number) 57936 (technical number)
- Credit line
- German Clock Museum
- Catalogue title (original)
- Armbanduhrwerk, Henzi und Pfaff, Pforzheim, um 1955 (German)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by German Clock Museum (object number 1995-355 (inventory number) 57936 (technical number)), this is a wristwatch movement, dated c. 1955. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Movements & Components collection. Recorded dimensions: Durchmesser: 3.90 cm. The record is illustrated with 2 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Catalogue description from German Clock Museum
Uhrwerk Kaliber HP 125, Stoßsicherung "Shock proof", Henzi und Pfaff, Pforzheim, um 1955. (Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Furtwangen)
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
Historical context
Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)
Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.
Automatic winding, shock protection (Incabloc), and high-beat movements; electric and tuning-fork movements appeared.
Read the period in the timelineMore movements & components from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking
Atlas type guide
Clock and watch movements
The movement is the mechanism of a clock or watch, without its case and dial. It consists of the power source (weight or mainspring in its barrel, sometimes with a fusee), the going train of wheels and pinions, the escapement and oscillator, the motion work that drives the hands, and in many cases additional trains for striking or complications.
From the eighteenth century watch movements were increasingly produced in stages: Swiss and French ébauche makers supplied rough movements that finishers, repasseurs and retailers completed and signed. Calibre numbers — first used systematically by American and Swiss factories in the nineteenth century — make it possible to identify movements, find spare parts and date watches.
What to look for
- Plate and bridge layout: full plate, three-quarter plate, Lépine bar calibre, bridges and cocks.
- Jewel count and whether jewels are set in chatons or rubbed in.
- Signatures, calibre and serial numbers on the plate or under the dial.
- Finishing: Geneva stripes (Côtes de Genève), perlage, bevelled edges, blued screws.
- Fusee and chain, going barrel, or electrical components.
Dating clues
- Full-plate English movements dominate before c. 1850; three-quarter plate and Lépine calibres after.
- Jewelled movements spread after Facio and Debaufre's patent of 1704, mainly in English work until c. 1800.
- Calibre numbers and factory serials allow close dating for industrial production after c. 1850.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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