AS 1001

Description

The AS 1001 was with a diameter of only 17mm a movement for ladies’ watches. It was launched in the 1940s.

There’s also an export version of this movement, with only seven jewels and the cpde “WXW”, which stands for “Westfield”.

As common for AS, the movement is very well made. All important bearings contain rubies, of course. On the gear train bridge, there’s even a ruby for the minute wheel bearing and a cap jewel for the escape wheel bearing. In total, 17 jewels, two more, than standard in the 1940s.

The gear train with the filigree escape wheel is the standard one:

The mainspring barrel drives the center minute wheel, followed by third and fourth wheel and finally the steel escape wheel.

As regulating device, a two leg screw balance is used, which controls a swiss pallet lever escapement. Of course, the balance is not yet shock protected.

On the dial side, you see the keyless works with the yoke. On top, there’s a small partial minute dial, which was used to regulate the movement without dial, prior to casing.

On the export version, you can see, how the ruby bearings were replaced by brass bushings.

Another indication for the age of this, one the movement side not really old-fashioned looking movements is the “AS” hallmark and the caliber number on the dial side. The watchmakers were not happy about that, because they had to remove the dial for a reliable identification. They claimed a lot about that, which lead to a change on the manufactures, which later put their hallmarks and caliber numbers either below the balance wheel on the base plate or on one of the bridges, thus allowing quick and reliable identification, even when the movement still resides in the case.

In the lab

Timegrapher result

The timegrapher results are really well for such an old and tiny movement. You can imagine, how well they must have been, when the movement was new.

Technical data

Usage gallery