Freco 9 3/4

Description

Another difficult to identify movement is this ladies' watch movement with a diameter of 9 3/4 lignes.

The manufacturers' name, “Freco”, is embossed into the base plate below the balance cock, and according the few information bits in literature, it is most probably a Freco 9 3/4, maybe also known as “Freco B”.

It dates from the 1920s, but its large gear train bridge already looks pretty modern, in contrast the base plate, which still reminds a lot of those of pocket watch movements:

The raw impression of the base plate raises questions. Is this specimen probably a laboratory sample? Anyhow, the quality of the movement is really not bad, and as usual in the 1920s, all important bearings contain rubies.

The gear train with its pretty large gears is a standard construction.
The mainspring barrel drives the center minute wheel, followed by third wheel, seconds wheel (at 6 o’clock) and escape wheel.

The Freco 9 3/4 uses a Guillaume screw balance, which is of course not shock protected. It beats with the usual rate of 18000 A/h and can be regulated with a long regulator arm and scale.

The ratchet wheel doesn’t have the common square recess, but a three quarters circular one, which is much more difficult to produce and does not offer a real technical advantage.

On the dial side of the Freco 9 3/4, you see the usual sight of an early lever movement with its cut off plate at 9 o’clock.

As keyless works, a yoke winding system with a characteristically shaped setting lever spring is used.

In the lab

Timegrapher result

A good regulation of this movement was not possible, mainly because the balance wheel had a visible vertical stroke. Nevertheless, the results are ok, and the large amplitude in horizontal positions is impressible, although there’s a chance, that it is a measurement error, because the lift angle is unknown.

Technical data

Usage gallery