Hello Fellow Watch Afficionados!

Does anyone know anything about Lip watches, especially the modern runs? I know they have a pretty good history -- Churchill, explorations, etc, but was wondering if anyone has opinions on the contemporary movements, i.e. the Himalaya 40mm Automatic:



I really like the design, and the price is good but I can't find anything on where they're sourcing their movements from. Any thoughts, discussions, etc would be appreciated!

 

Based on the shock absorber on the balance jewel alone, I'm going to guess Miyota movement or clone of one.

To be honest looks like the watches that the Chinese companies are always sending me emails about - pick from a list of features you like, they slap your name on the dial, and voila, you are a watch company. Kind of like most Kickstarter watch companies...

LIP is another brand that died during the quartz crisis, to have someone buy the name years later and start it up again. Little relation to the original brand for most of these.

Cheers, Al

 

Super helpful. Thanks @Archer!

 

Hi,

I like a lot Lip watches and in France vintage ones are pretty easy to find.

Concerning Lip, I think you have to distinguish between 3 categories:

- new Lips: not any interest nor value. As Archer guessed, they use at best Myota movements - and most of the time poor chinese ones.
It is really sad but for watch lovers, Lip died in the 70´s. Interesting story though, because it is not only a quartz issue. It is also a political and social one. Lip workers managed to run alone the brand some time and, as some kind of punishment, the French government cancelled its orders and made all it can to kill the brand with the social movement. Well, it succeeded even if different bosses took over the firm.

- old Lips with non Lip movements (Suiss ones for the 'Geneve' series, or French and Deutch ones). Real Lip
watches, but not the most interesting - even the Suiss ones to my opinion.

- old Lip watches with inhouse movements. That is the real stuff.
My favorite movement, in a luxe version (18 ct gold), the R 25:

 

Follow up.

The Himalaya series is a historical one, but it had before good inhouse movement such as the R 25. Modern ones are only a poor attempt to renew with a dead past.

 

@François Pépin this is so great; thank you very much, and great pictures! The R25 is beautiful.

 

You are wellcome!

If yo want to buy a vintage Lip, I suggest you check on ebay.fr. Vintage Lip are usually less expansive than on "international ebay". You can have a nice R 25, in a SS case with a correct dial for around 50 euros. Of course, prices will depend on versions and condition. Nice watches in good condition are a little more expansive, but vintage Lips are in general a good deal.

 

My next question was going to be where to buy

What do you think of the line designed by Roger Tallon in the 70s?

 

Original and famous design, but not necessary an interesting movement... As far as I know, they use quartz movements. However, if you can get a Lip Tallon from the 1970, it would be one of the first (French) quartz movement, but they are pretty expansive. It depends on what you want. I prefer for instance the watch above (the gold R 25 Lip), which may be as expansive as those old Tallon.

 

Lip produced a very interesting, and remarkable array of watches during the '50s and '60s, in particular. They typically represent good value in the market, and are well worth collecting, in my view.

 

Good old R 25!

 

Two more examples.

A R 23 with a very nice lettering (I love this "Souveraine"):





A special R 25 with sweep second and a nice antichoc. I also love the back - I was wondering selling this one a few months ago, I think now I will keep it!

 

You must distinguish the old lips from the modern ones. LIP was a very popular and famous french brand which factory was situated in french Jura near the swiss border. They had both in house movements and swiss ones. These were popular watches at attractive prices. the factories closed with the arrival of quartz like many swiss brands.
The Lip story is interesting because in the 70's when the bosses decided to close the factory, the workers kicked them away off the factory and decided to have a self management with no hierarchy selling their watches at the door of the factory. After a while all that stopped because the french government did not want this idea to spread across the country. The factory was running well without bosses and the profits were distributed directly to workers.
We often speak in France of 'le trésor de guerre de LIP' (the war treasure of LIp" because batches of pieces simply disappeared in the mid 70's. That why you often com across NOS parts on the web. I know some people in France that are sitting on this goldmine.
The recent lip are just affordable watches with Myiotas in it. Nothing to see with the historical lips. SOme of them are attractive though.
Some old lip are rather cheap and with a good quality compared to very costly swiss watches. The movements are very decent and celverly designed. The spare parts are very cheap compared to swiss watches.
Some Dauphine, Hymalaya and Nautic are quite sought after.

 

Yesterday, there was a "brocante" (bric-à-brace trade) near my place, at Paris. I found two Lips, including this one. Serviced today, I will probably wear it tomorrow. I have rarely seen a R 25 in such a good condition:

 

Just bought a Dauphine and a Technic NOS for 300 euros. I will send some pics.
Lips movement are really sturdy. Simple yet effective. actually not that simple.
François, something is weird on your movement. The ratchet screw must have been replaced. does it unscrew counterclockwise?

 

Hi,

Yes, the ratchet screw unscrews counterclockwise (edit: see correction below), like the crown wheel screw.

It is not unusual, I have seen that on other R 25. See for instance the pics above in my previous posts.

 

Usually 3 slots in the screw head indicates a left hand thread, which would unscrew clockwise. So if it does unscrew counterclockwise, and is a regular right hand thread and that is unusual...

 

Sorry, I misunderstood you and made a lapsus in my message. I thought you were surprised by the three slots screw for the ratchet wheel, which is not unusual in R25. And it unscrews CLOCKWISE, like the regular crown wheel screw.

 

Of course you are right. I made a lapsus. See my correction above.

To sum up: both screws (ratchet and crown weel) unscrew clockwise, which is not unusual in R25.