Bettinelli De Vecchi Model No.1

Description

From the countless cylinder movements from around 1900, which have not yet been recorded in any movement finder, comes this movement with a diameter of 11 1/2 lignes, which was originally installed in a ladies’ pendant watch before being converted, probably in the 1920s, into a ladies’ wristwatch.

It originates from the absolutely unknown swiss manufacturer Bettinelli De Vecchi from Arogno.

With 10 jewels, the regular maximum for this type of movement has been reached, so the quality is quite decent.

The design of the gear train corresponds to the standard for this type of movement: Mainspring barrel, central minute wheel, third wheel, seconds wheel, and cylinder wheel.
One small peculiarity is the arrangement of the wheels: The seconds wheel is not located on the extended axis of the crown stem and therefore cannot be used to display an off-center seconds hand.

This movement uses a three-leg, screwless, annular balance, unfortunately not yet shock-resistant, which most likely (this example suffers from a broken balance staff) beats at 18,000 A/h. The movement can be adjusted within limits using a long regulator arm, but one should not expect great precision from a cylinder movement because of the excessive friction involved. The teeth of the cylinder wheel grind against the wall of the cylinder, which is located on the balance staff, except for the passage of the cylinder trough.

This movement uses a yoke winding system, with switching from winding to time setting by using a pusher at 1 o’clock.

Technical data

Usage gallery