Ricoh 510

Description

Boasting an unusually high level of craftsmanship for a quartz movement, the small (only 21 mm in diameter) Ricoh 510 displays only hours and minutes; it is set via two buttons and therefore dispenses with a crown. It was launched in 1976 and was presumably produced only until the early 1980s.

The base plate reveals a pillar-style movement construction. Instead of a crown, two v ery robust pushers are used to set and stop the time.

Since only hours and minutes—but not seconds—are displayed, the complexity of the gear train remains limited: it consists solely of the rotor, the central minute wheel, and the motion-work wheel.

The gear train is located beneath a gold-colored bridge featuring a beautiful striped finish; a total of five jewels are used — one pair each for the rotor and the hand-setting wheel, plus a jewel for the central minute wheel bearing.

The main electronic component is an IC designated 7F2941, flanked by a trimmer apacitor for adjustment, another capacitor, and a rather large quartz crystal.

The empty dial side is still relatively unfinished; in particular, no jewels are yet to be found there.

On the dial side, the hour wheel is driven via the motion work’s intermediate wheel, which is part of the movement’s gear train.

While this type of design is commonly found in principle, it usually takes the form of the minute wheel being driven on the dial side; furthermore, the component that functions as the minute wheel in the Ricoh 510 serves as the center seconds wheel in other movements.

At the uppermost level of the dial side, there is a large-area magnetic field shield containing the two ruby ​​bearings for the rotor and the hand-setting wheel.

Technical data

Usage gallery