Boris from Germany sent me this beautiful Junghans in need of some love.
It’s got the dial designed by Max Bill (check out the shape of the “4”). This is the original watch that the design of my Junghans is based on. I guess you can tell that I like the design very much 😉
The dial has a small amount of damage, but that’s nothing to write home about, and it would be an utter sin to restore it.
The bottom plate has a ring inserted between plate and dial, on which the dial sits.
The rotor and movement. The J83/E was made in-house by Junghans, which makes the original watch a lot more desirable than the one I have with the ETA movement.
A better view of the movement. Above the rotor post is the wheel train, and below the auto winder assembly. On the left of the rotor post, you can see the see-saw with two gears that allows bi-directional winding.
With the auto winder bridge removed, you can see the gears. Rather than having an extra layer for the auto winder, this one fits on the side of the gear train, making the movement nice and slim. This construction is also used by MST/Roamer and Russian movement manufacturers.
The central second arbor/pinion has an interesting suspension. Instead of a spring, a little magnet pulls the arbor into position (at 10 o’clock of the second hand arbor). The magnet is weak enough not to magnetise the hairspring, and just strong enough to hold back the arbor. I like this construction, and much prefer it over springs like Rolex and Omega used to have.
I’m afraid I only have a slightly blurry photo of the gear train, but better than nothing 😉
And off into the cleaning machine …
I start off putting the base movement back together.
Can’t argue with that 😉
The hands are in great condition, and look super on the dial.
Just lovely.
The case back with the Junghans star logo.
If you think that magnets in watches are a bad idea, take the argument up with Breguet – I think they know a few things about watches 😉 : http://swisswatchtravel.com/highlights/news-details/article/magnetic-balance-breguet-classique-chronometrie-7727.html
Would demagnetizing this watch also demagnetize the little magnet, thus ruining the watch?
I certainly wouldn’t recommend demagnetizing this watch. You can run all the components bar the little magnet over your demagnetizer if you wish to do so, of course.
What is the age of this then? I cant find much information on the movement or the years of manufacture…
I have been looking at the modern Max Bill watches recently – some of which have the classic “4” which I am much taken with, but none have the 4, an Auto movement and a black dial… might have to “settle” for the 2801-2 hand-wound model 😉
You will find a lot of information on the original Max Bill line here (including a link to this blog):
http://originalmaxbilljunghans.blogspot.de/2013/05/a-short-guide-original-max-bill.html
This specific watch was purchased by my father in the mid-1960’s, so it is about 50 years old. He used it primarily for sports, so it has had plenty of action and sweat…
That is interesting – thanks for the link! Even more interesting is the link back to this blog with Christian’s photos 😉
I recently purchased a black dial max bill automatic in Munich. They exist.
I very much like the stainless steel case of this watch. These are really hard to find.
Thanks! And it looks really good with its new steel milanaise bracelet:
http://oi39.tinypic.com/20zy3jl.jpg
Hey – nice! I am a recent convert to mesh… surprisingly comfortable 😉
Taken this morning;
http://www.5280.org.uk/C5-Mesh.jpg – I like how industrial the mesh makes it look.
Very classy and that bracelet was born for that watch.
Really nice.