4. Movado
Minerva 13-20 CH calibre (www.cliniquehorlogere.ch)
Furthermore, there is no stopper/brake, which means that the hammer can only be rearmed during the resetting phase, rather than during the starting phase. Again, a rare intricacy that makes the 13-20CH an intriguing and uniquely designed piece. Still relatively underrated on the vintage market, these Minerva calibres are gaining visibility due to their modern and rather confusing affiliation with Montblanc’s high-end timepieces, and also to their appearance at recent auction sales. The 13-20 CH is a beautifully designed movement that perfectly represents the dedication, attention to detail and creativity of watchmakers from the first half of the 20th century.
Everything started in 1881 with a 19-year-old watchmaker in La Chaux-de-Fonds who built his own watch movement from scratch, and developed a pocket watch workshop. The company took the name Movado 24 years later, a name signifying “continuous movement” in the international language Esperanto. The brand rapidly became famous for developing its own calibres as well as for their rather innovative and creative thinking in terms of concept and design. Movado manufactured ingenious watches such as the Plypan back in 1912, and the famous Ermeto, which were both stunning and original in their conception and layout. But let’s focus on the chronographs, and especially on the calibre 90M and its triple-register variant, the 95M. Developed in 1936 in collaboration with Louis-Elisée Piguet, the 90M calibre was launched two years later in 1938 (1939 for the 95M). The first intriguing thing you notice when you operate a Movado 90M is that the pushers function in the opposite way to the great majority of chronographs. In fact, the start/stop pusher is at 4 o’clock, while the one used to reset the chronograph is at 2, a small and quirky difference that makes the 90M calibres charming timepieces. Technically, the movement compares with the best chronograph calibres of that era. However, it is strikingly different in its design. First of all, where is the balance
Movado 90 calibre (www.cliniquehorlogere.ch)
Movado 95 M with a Francois Borgel case (www.ssongwatches.com)
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