Clocks and Gauges In Cars

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vbrad26

·Oct 23, 2019

So I was doing my daily browsing of Bring A Trailer and was looking back over some past auctions and was checking out this one in particular...

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-renault-r5-turbo-2-9/

While admiring this fine vehicle I noticed the boost gauge said "Jaeger" in what looks to be the same font as "Jaeger-LeCoultre"



So are they one in the same?
It then got me to think about all the other cars I have seen over the years with clocks and gauges made by "watch" companies...

IWC in Mercedes


Breitling in Bentley


Heuer in Porsche


Smiths in Jaguar


I feel like I'm forgetting some, and there are probably some I am totally unaware of so if you know of any, please share!

 

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MRC

·Oct 23, 2019

Veglia? Although their instruments were made in Italy for Italian cars and motorbikes (such as my Moto-Morini) their watches have "Swiss" on the dial, so were they outsourced?

 

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Alpha

·Oct 23, 2019·Kilt Owner, Beagle Parent, Omega Collector

I have a genuine 1958 'Waltham' in my motorhome 😉

 

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ewand

·Oct 23, 2019

Maserati 4200 Coupe & Spyder had a Jaeger revcounter too. I had memories of the clock also having the same, but looking at pics it was just the trident logo.

 

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MRC

·Oct 23, 2019

I did a search on "chronometric revcounters" and found this piece which describes not just the relationship between Smiths and Jaeger but also how the darn things work.
http://www.hells-confetti.com/Techn...Cederstrand on the Chronometric mechanism.pdf

Flick, flick, flick, flick is what you see for those who have never driven or ridden a vehicle with a chronometric speedo or tacho.

 

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vbrad26

·Oct 23, 2019

found this one...

 

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vbrad26

·Oct 23, 2019

MRC

Veglia? Although their instruments were made in Italy for Italian cars and motorbikes (such as my Moto-Morini) their watches have "Swiss" on the dial, so were they outsourced?

 

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vbrad26

·Oct 24, 2019

'73 Citroen

 

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vbrad26

·Oct 24, 2019

'70 TR6



This is like, a new hobby for me now hah.

 

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jsducote

·Oct 24, 2019

Nowhere near Jaeger, but I remember pulling the analog clock out of my '81 RX-7, opening it up and re-gluing the broken plastic gear shaft that was a common failure in these. Was so proud of myself and probably added 5 whole bucks to sale price when I got rid of the car. Reliably catching fire from the oil leak on the catalytic converter was not the kind of reliability I was looking for.

 

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gostang9

·Oct 24, 2019

I have nothing valuable to add, but I want to say thank you for the excellent thread! Such a lovely reminder of the great content on OF!

 

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RI Omega Fan

·Oct 24, 2019

Yes, this is a great thread. I’m loving these photos of cool car gauges and clocks.

gostang9

I have nothing valuable to add, but I want to say thank you for the excellent thread! Such a lovely reminder of the great content on OF!

 

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time flies

·Oct 24, 2019

Two from the 2018 AACA show in Hershey

have fun
kfw

 

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Canuck

·Oct 24, 2019

One from a car, and one from a plane. The Heuer is about 60 years old, and was mounted onto the dash of a rally car driven by a friend in his rally days. The other is an instrument panel clock from a Beechcraft. Both are Swiss, 15-jewel, jewelled lever escapements, and 8-day running. I use the Beechcraft as a work bench timer. The movement shown is from the Heuer.

 

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64Wing

·Oct 24, 2019

 

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JwRosenthal

·Oct 24, 2019

An interesting thread for sure. I think many forget that these companies had to stay diversified in their products- a clockworks is a clockworks and contracts are contracts.
I have a Herschede hall clock made in 1928- a spectacular piece of engineering and fine detail work. When the depression hit in the US, the company found theselves in dire straits (a hall clock was a serious luxury), so they started making parking meters by 1936....a clockworks. And the company survived.

 

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Canuck

·Oct 24, 2019

Herschede used English movements produced by Elliot. They were indeed top of the ine.

 

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Canuck

·Oct 24, 2019

The Halda Watch Co., in business today, at one time made mechanical meters for taxi cabs.

 

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63TR4

·Oct 25, 2019

I've also seen magnet mounted car clocks, which would work well with a metal dash board and not require drilling any holes. Here's a Smiths example I found by googling, though plenty of other companies made these too

 

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neilfrancis

·Oct 25, 2019