Un chrono très atypique

ZEN a écrit:

Voilà un chrono très inhabituel . Jamais vu pour ce qui me concerne et pour de vrai chrono Zénith pas le el Primero mais un El Secondo puisque ce calibre n’a pas fait l’objet d’un grad tapage mais es bien d’origine de la manufacture. Preuve qu’en 1979 il y avait encore une vie horlogère … pour les services Hydrographiques du ministère Anglais de la défense.

Citation :

Zenith – 17 jewels, manual wind,chronometer movement [movement], excellent+ case signed and numbered, chrome plated screwback [back] case, inner [dust cover], mint enamel dial with centiminutes and centihour scale, inner red minute scale, inner hour dial. superb overall condition on this rare Zenith watch made for the Hydrographic service of the British Ministry of Defence. Complete with outer box and issue card from 1979. This wonderful watch would have been a casualty of the quartz revolution and retired before much use! (Ref r336)
$1,541

http://www.finertimes.com/

merci beaucoup pour avoir posté cette rareté … je doute un peu du « service hydrographique » : normallement les montres du service hydrographique portaient la mention « HS » (qui ne veut pas dire hors service dans ce cas precis !!)
A+
JM

pour toi Zen la réponse d’un spécialiste des montres anglaises sur le Chrono Zenith :

ZENITH
Yes I have seen this model of pocket watch previously but hadn’t researched it until today. I have looked up the specifications in the MOD Defence Standards and found the following information:

(Note: « Defence Standard » is the term used by the Ministry Of Defence to define the specifications for items to be manufactured for them.)

The standard for this Zenith was issued in February 1973, so that year is most likely when the first examples would have been ordered and manufactured.

The official name of this watch is « Watch, pocket, work study (continuous running) ». Note, the watch is continuous and not a stop watch. It was ordered for the Royal Navy.

Case
The diameter of the case is 50mm and it has a screw-on bezel and back. Inscriptions on the back are:
0552 Royal Navy
521-0243 NATO Stock Number (the complete NSN is 6645-99-521-0243)
7749 serial number of this watch

I do not understand the serial number « 7749 » as I find it hard to believe that the Navy would have ordered as many of these watches as this. Could « 77 » be the year of order/manufacture and « 49 the actual serial number? – I just don’t know. That would not be the usual way the serial number and date were shown on MOD watches. I am still trying to find out full details how serial numbers were allocated.

The crystal is the acrylic used at that time by the MOD for its unbreakable properties.

Dial
The outer zone of the dial measures 1/100 of a minute; the middle (red) zone is of course normal minutes and the black inner zone is hours.

Movement
The watch was tested in 5 positions at various temperatures for 2 whole days in each position. It had to be within +/- 5 secs.

si tu as besoin de traduction …
A+
JM

Bonjour Zen, Jean michel et bonne année 2006.
Si je comprends bien, il s’agit finalement d’une montre avec graduation centigrade pour les minutes et non pas d’un chronographe. Le commentaire parle de « Continuous running » et de montre sans fonction « Stop watch ».