Forums Latest Members

Zenith Caliber 707 No. 601

  1. arezzo66 Mar 25, 2014

    Posts
    3
    Likes
    9
    [​IMG]
    Neuchatel Observatory

    [​IMG]

    The Zenith 707 caliber nicknamed internally as the “Kartoffel” or potato because of its unique shape was designed in late 1961 early 1962 and built in 1963 exclusively for Observatory Competitions to replace the venerable Calibre 135. The 707 designation comes from the Observatory Competition requirements for wrist watch movements that they be less than 30mm in diameter or 707 square mm in total. It is interesting Zenith decided to call this calibre 707 when the actual area of the movement is 685 square mm.

    [​IMG]

    The movement was the last one designed for the Observatory Competitions from 1963 to 1967 and was never commercially sold to the public. Think of it as a factory Formula 1 engine and therefore its construction and design is built purely for efficiency, competition and performance without any fuss. The development team was headed by Aurelius Mayor who was the Technical Director of Zenith at the time also consisted of Rene Gygax, Jean-Pierre Vuille, Paul Favre and Jean-Pierre Sunier.


    [​IMG]

    The winding and time-setting is done via a crown on the back and the movement has a power reserve of 36 hours running at a frequency of 28,800 bph. Each component has been designed to reduce friction and lubrication is optimized. The teeth of the wheels are tapered, all the pallet stones are of the best quality highly polished 21 rubies to reduce friction. The movement has a thickness of 5mm, a Guillaume balance wheel similar to the Caliber 135 measuring 13.8mm x 0.99mm, a lever escapement, a double anti shock Duofix system for the Balance Escapement and a Nivaflex balance spring wound 15 times with a thickness of 0.16mm and a length of 46mm. The thin balance bridge is secured by 2 screws on one side and one screw on the other facilitates in the observations of the balance spring.


    [​IMG]

    There is conflicting information on how many of these movements were made, some sources quote 250 and others 200. Regardless only 127 were entered into the Neuchatel Observatory competitions for wrist watches.

    At the 1964 Neuchatel Observatory competitions No. 558 adjusted by Pierre Gygax came first, No. 521 adjusted by Jean-Pierre Vuille came in third, No. 527 adjusted by Jean-Pierre Sunier came in ninth and No. 515 also adjusted by Jean-Pierre Vuille came in tenth. Therefore out of the top 10 watches of the year 4 were Zenith Caliber 707 movements.

    At the 1965 Neuchatel Observatory competitions movement No. 601 of the Zenith Caliber 707 adjusted by Rene Gygax would come in first and also again in 1966.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    More Pictures

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    S

    Credits and Thank You: Zen from Forumamontres, Hartmut Richter, Manfred Rossler and his book on Zenith, Bruno.M1, RDL, Heffels, relojes-especiales, Google Images
     
  2. MMMD unaffiliated curmudgeonly absurdist & polyologist Mar 25, 2014

    Posts
    4,642
    Likes
    31,001
    Wow, the Potato! Thanks for sharing this unique champion with us... one of those Rössler items that you always hope you'll see again. The casing of this one as a wrist watch always struck me as odd... How does it feel with that winding crown against the wrist?
     
  3. danomar Mar 25, 2014

    Posts
    347
    Likes
    1,307
    Nice write-up! Thanks for sharing a very unique piece of Zenith history!
     
  4. arezzo66 Mar 25, 2014

    Posts
    3
    Likes
    9
    Its my pleasure, yes the casing is bespoke made to house the movement, dial and hands, in a way I am glad they did it, this particular movement has the honor to win two years in a row which is mind blowing, otherwise we would never get the chance to enjoy such movements and they would be lost to history. Its interesting in the Rossler book it says it cannot be worn because of the crown, well I can tell you I wear it twice or three times a week, played pool with it on my wrist and it was really comfortable especially on the Nato strap.

     
  5. LouS Mrs Nataf's Other Son Staff Member Mar 25, 2014

    Posts
    6,713
    Likes
    18,259
    M. Gygax is rolling over in his grave at reading this!

    Excellent presentation both in images and write-up. It's a pleasure to see collectors carry the info provided in Roessler further.
     
  6. arezzo66 Oct 24, 2022

    Posts
    3
    Likes
    9
    CORRECTION

    I wrote in my post "At the 1965 Neuchatel Observatory competitions movement No. 601 of the Zenith Caliber 707 adjusted by Rene Gygax would come in first and also again in 1966. "

    the above statement is wrong and I wish to correct it, the movement Z-601 was entered in the 1965 Neuchatel Observatory trials, adjusted by Rene Gygax and achieved a Premier Grading with a N-Score of 5.58 and ranked 109 and was also entered in the following years trials of 1966, adjusted by Rene Gygax and achieved an N-Score of 4.39 and ranked 97.

    Credit and thanks: http://www.observatory.watch/

    Alexander Pope wrote: "To err is human"

    Peter Drucker wrote: “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change."

    S
     
    Benbradstock and noelekal like this.
  7. timoss Oct 24, 2022

    Posts
    947
    Likes
    1,445
    Amazing. Thanks for the post.
     
    arezzo66 likes this.