An "Accidental Grail"

[andycapp]

I "found" this yesterday morning while out and about. I've heard of Eterna but knew little about the brand. Well, I know a lot more now, lol. It's like a whole new rabbit hole.

On to the watch....


At first glance I saw a beat up gold plated piece from the '60s? ....oh, but that dial's nice, and what's a "Birks", Eterna Matic... I've heard of that... kinda heavy?

Well shoot, this is gold! Turns out Birks is the Canadian "equivalent" to Tiffany's in the USA. Eterna was the first to support automatic rotors on bearings hence the five balls as a logo. The Centenaire was released in 1956 to commemorate 100 years since the founding if the company. Then six years later the Centenaire "61” was released supposedly for 100 years making their own watches. Lots more to learn and of course I'm looking hard at those Kontikis now...

The watch was running after flipping it over a couple times while looking at it so I gave it a few winds manually, set the time and put it on. The crystal is way worse than my pictures imply and the case back is stuck tight. It's keeping incredible time though, so I'll leave it be until I get a new crystal.

And if that's not enough... you think Bond watches are cool? Check this guy out!

"Mr. Cohen was a national hero, with streets and buildings named after him and ceremonies honoring his memory every year. But had the Mossad, as Mr. Netanyahu implied, carried out a secret operation to recover a wristwatch?"


www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/world/middleeast/israel-cohen-watch-spy.html

[andycapp]

Some poly watch helped a little and an NOS leather strap I don't remember getting, fit it nicely.

[DAHASCO]

Nice find Andy, Looks like it cleaned up well. Enjoy that Bad Boy 

[Deleted]

Eterna became ETA after the quartz craze nearly destroyed the Swiss watch industry.

For what it's worth, I think that the Eterna-Matic movements are every bit as good as the Rolex equivalents. In many respects they are superior.

Sadly when they became ETA and just an ebauches supplier, they cost reduced everything along with the quality. The ETA 2824 that everyone raves about was no match for the movements that it was based upon.

[tritto]

Nice watch Andy. I've seen the Birks name recently on some pocket watches. I had no idea it was a store.

[russtmurray]

Great catch and fascinating story, Andy. My mom worked at Birks for years and it was rather "hoity toity" back in the day. They used to be one of the official purveyors to the Queen. Not sure that's the case anymore.

[Groundhog66]

Nice find, that is a really nice piece...enjoy!

[philsinclair]

Hi. Eterna are still making high end watches. They use in house movements not eta. I think they have never used eta in their own stuff. The eta line was always their ebauche line. Modern Eterna watches are not anywhere near the low price watches and I have never heard of them being discounted.Cheers Phil

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2018 12:26:31 GMT -8 philsinclair said:

Hi. Eterna are still making high end watches. They use in house movements not eta. I think they have never used eta in their own stuff. The eta line was always their ebauche line. Modern Eterna watches are not anywhere near the low price watches and I have never heard of them being discounted.Cheers Phil

You're probably right Phil. The only time I've seen ETA 2824 movements is in fake Chinese Eterna-Matics.

[andycapp]

Thanks for all the compliments and comments! I've been learning a lot about the company... The way I'm reading it ETA was a Eterna s ebauche manufacturer and was made a separate entity in 1932. Stuff happens between then and now and ETA is the Swatch subsidiary we know today. I also read that Eterna (ironically) has been known to use Sellita ebauches in some of their watches!

In other news, I mustered up some courage and opened it up! What a beauty indeed! Serial number puts it at 1960. We're looking at a 1428U - 21 jewels, micro regulator, 18000bph, 47hr power reserve. When introduced in 1955 it was the thinnest automatic.



Now, I knew it was a gold case but I figured 14k at best and probably 10k "capped" or the like. I don't have much experience in these things...


Oh yeah!

It stopped over night after wearing it the other day. Like I said before it was keeping an exceptional 2-5 +/- spd with a little manual winding. The movement appears very clean but probably rather dry and the rotor isn't bound but is tight and won't rotate on it's own weight. This explains it stopping on me.

The crystal measures about 30mm. While mine is not, original crystals may have been "signed" with 5 dots micro etched in the center. I wonder if these can be found? I saw something about the chapter ring being a critical fit on the ID as well. So looks like I've got some research to do just to get a nice crystal in it.

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2018 14:45:48 GMT -8 andycapp said:

Thanks for all the compliments and comments! I've been learning a lot about the company... The way I'm reading it ETA was a Eterna s ebauche manufacturer and was made a separate entity in 1932. Stuff happens between then and now and ETA is the Swatch subsidiary we know today. I also read that Eterna (ironically) has been known to use Sellita ebauches in some of their watches!

In other news, I mustered up some courage and opened it up! What a beauty indeed! Serial number puts it at 1960. We're looking at a 1428U - 21 jewels, micro regulator, 18000bph, 47hr power reserve. When introduced in 1955 it was the thinnest automatic.



Now, I knew it was a gold case but I figured 14k at best and probably 10k "capped" or the like. I don't have much experience in these things...


Oh yeah!

It stopped over night after wearing it the other day. Like I said before it was keeping an exceptional 2-5 +/- spd with a little manual winding. The movement appears very clean but probably rather dry and the rotor isn't bound but is tight and won't rotate on it's own weight. This explains it stopping on me.

The crystal measures about 30mm. While mine is not, original crystals may have been "signed" with 5 dots micro etched in the center. I wonder if these can be found? I saw something about the chapter ring being a critical fit on the ID as well. So looks like I've got some research to do just to get a nice crystal in it.

That movement is a beauty.

I have an Eterna-Matic with the 1424U movement and it is all shiny! Mine also has gold relieved 'Brevette' on the plate.

[xj4sonx]

The cleaned up watch is nice but the history lesson was great

Nice find and nice write up

[andycapp]

Nov 25, 2018 16:53:45 GMT -8 @penguinbce said:

That movement is a beauty.

I have an Eterna-Matic with the 1424U movement and it is all shiny! Mine also has gold relieved 'Brevette' on the plate.

[Deleted]

Nov 25, 2018 17:23:25 GMT -8 andycapp said:

Nov 25, 2018 16:53:45 GMT -8 @penguinbce said:

That movement is a beauty.

I have an Eterna-Matic with the 1424U movement and it is all shiny! Mine also has gold relieved 'Brevette' on the plate.

Yep, there it is.

I'll have to get my watch and shoot some pics of the movement because we can never get too many looks at these works of art

[DanS]

Nice find. These are great and undervalued pieces.  

[ash6105]

Eterna has some great looking pieces. A lot of their vintage stuff is quite tasteful. That movement looks pristine, you've lucked out, and hopefully it runs well when it's cleaned/serviced.

I think Eterna has an ebauche / movement making line that they started several years back to compete, ironically, with ETA after they announced they would slow supply of their movements to third-party customers outside of SWATCH.  They even had a true GMT (independent hour hand, like Rolex and Grand Seiko).  There is very little on the Eterna website and they haven't had many updates in the last year.  Not sure of the current status of the company. 

[cd_god]

Nice watch.

Real gold even better.

So did you find it at a Goodwill store for $5 or  . . . .?

[andycapp]

Nov 29, 2018 18:59:13 GMT -8 cd_god said:

Nice watch.

Real gold even better.

So did you find it at a Goodwill store for $5 or  . . . .?

Well, not Goodwill. I haven't pulled anything out of a "franchise" thrift store in a really long time! I'm pretty sure stuff has just been too overly sorted by the time it actually gets to the stores anymore.

And not five bucks. But you're not too far off.

[DanS]

Nov 25, 2018 14:45:48 GMT -8 andycapp said:

The crystal measures about 30mm. While mine is not, original crystals may have been "signed" with 5 dots micro etched in the center. I wonder if these can be found? I saw something about the chapter ring being a critical fit on the ID as well. So looks like I've got some research to do just to get a nice crystal in it.

My Super Kontiki is my only Eterna that still has a crystal with the logo, it's fun to see.

[andycapp]

^love that! So any clue on the bezel numbering? How's that used for what?