This limited edition, large sized, 1961 gentleman’s EternaMatic Centenaire Date was created, in relatively small numbers, to celebrate 105 years of the Eterna company. Eterna had originally released the Centenaire in 1956, and the concept proved successful, so further versions were produced in 1961 and 1971. It was an expensive model when new and Eterna used it as a marketing tool to display its remarkable watch making abilities. Interestingly, Eterna, through its movement supply division ETA, provided the base movements for many of the finest luxury watch brands in the world including IWC, Omega, Longines and even Rolex, but ironically, because of the company’s role as a low key wholesale supplier to the prestige houses, its own watches are often relatively unnoticed, making them something of a bargain on the vintage market. ETA eventually was bought out by the "SWATCH Group". Unquestionably, every collector should own an Eterna Automatic, simply as an example of the work of the company that invented the first ball bearing pivoted automatic winding rotor. This was a development that revolutionized the concept of the self winding watch. So significant was this breakthrough that Eterna has used the “five dots” symbol, representing the five ball bearings on which the rotor is pivoted, ever since. Much is made of the development of bearing mounted rotors, and a considerable amount of detail is included that will prove interesting to the collector. Eterna has always produced beautiful watches under its own name and is now, deservedly, coming once again to the forefront, with a new range of models inspired by its 1950s classics and relying heavily upon its involvement with the famous Kon-Tiki expedition of the same era. It has a large ( the watch has a width of 31mm and a length of 41mm) rectangular case body and case back. In common with almost all the top tier Swiss houses, while Eterna had the ability to produce its own movements entirely in-house, it relied on out-sourced cases that it purchased from external suppliers. The quality of this watch's housing is superb. The signature “Eterna-Matic, Centenaire, Swiss” is crisp and perfectly defined. The mechanical hand assembled, automatic movement is the famous 1438U, introduced in 1959. The movement is signed “Eterna-Matic, 21 Rubis, Brevete”, (the French word for “Patented”), which is a reference to the Eterna-U system of shock absorbance that debuted with this calibre. An appealing feature is its rapid running speed of 21600 half beats per minute. The more rapid the rate at which a movement runs, all else being equal, the more inherently accurate it tends to be. The downside of this is that it is technically challenging, and very costly, for a manufacturer to overcome problems with balance wheel inertia to create fast running calibres. This watch has a quality of movement that is the equal of any of those found in high quality vintage pieces, many of which have a much higher value. If assessed clinically and logically, every element that makes up a collectible timepiece is present here in abundance. Its case is exceptionally well built, its movement is a true “manufacture” item, genuinely produced in-house by Eterna with no out-sourced components whatsoever, and it is a rare model, offered originally as a limited edition to mark an anniversary in its maker’s history. The historical significance of this model, representing, as it does, an important landmark for one of the Swiss luxury watch industry’s most respected and highest quality makers, should not be underestimated. Limited edition watches by true “manufactures” ( the term given to those Swiss watch houses that are capable of manufacturing their entire movements in house with no out-sourced parts) are fiercely sought after now and continue to rise rapidly in price on the collector market.
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Old Time WatchesI enjoy collecting mechanical (manual wind and automatic) and early electric and quartz timepieces. I take great pleasure in researching and writing about the companies and people that created these beautiful watches. PF
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September 2018
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