ETA 213

Description

Probably from the 1920s, when wristwatches started to become popular, is the ETA 213, a midsize windup movement with cylinder escapement.

Its construction still reminds strongly of a pocket watch movement, however, there’s an oddity: The crown wheel has got no function at all, since the mainspring is wound up on the dial side, and the click only engages with the ratchet wheel on the movement side, and so, the crown wheel is free from any function.

The base plate reveals, that this movement is a little phony: On the top of the movement side, where it is visible, the gears for the third wheel, the fourth wheel and the cylinder wheel contain ruby bearings, but on the base plate, where the bearings are invisible, they are just simple drill holes.

The gear train is made after the common standard for a cylinder movement: Mainspring barrel, directly driven center minute wheel, third wheel, fourth wheel and cylinder wheel.

The sharp teeth of the cylinder wheel always interfere with the balance wheel, so that it cannot swing freely. The accurancy of that escapement system is pretty limited, on such a rather small movement, it can vary in a range of minutes per day.

On the dial side, you can see the old ETA hallmark. Besides this, this movement has got a well executed rocking bar winding system, which was very modern at that time.