Here’s the watch I built myself during a class at watchmaking school in Le Locle
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Grail Watch
@GrailWatch@assemblag.es
hometown 4.6.8+hometown-1.3.0Horology history researcher and writer.
The search for (horological) grail watches is the search for illumination!
Alter ego @sfoskett@techfieldday.net
#horology #watches #history
126 Followers
84 Following
36 Posts
Joined November 13, 2022
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Pistachio Breitling #wristshot #watches
Wearing this Seiko slide rule “Mike Wazowski” as I wrap up my latest Grail Watch article on the surprising history of the rotating bezel! #watches #wristshot
I love the look of the new Polerouter from the re-born Universal Genève! It’s very true to the original, yet updated for modern times. And I love that it has a special “Microtor” movement!
But the original was called “Polarouter” (note the “a”) when it was launched…
That gorgeous “Microtor” movement is awesome! I’m glad to see that it’s true to the original yet (likely) has enough diameter to generate enough torque to keep the movement wound!
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren and Universal announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch. This announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict. /1 #watches
Here’s a shockingly good article about branding and the history of #watches as an expression of brand not a functional device.
I say shockingly good because the author is a painter and technologist, but captured this topic in a way I strive to.
I bet you didn’t have THIS on your Bingo card!
In 1967, Patek Philippe set up a cutting-edge rack-scale timekeeping system for the Vatican using the latest electronic quartz timing technology!
RE: https://grail-watch.com/2026/03/20/the-backward-evolution-of-the-rotating-bezel/
I’ve been working on this topic for quite a while. It’s one of those things you run across when you are researching the history of #watches - why do watches even have a bezel, and why do some rotate, and where did all this come from?
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On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” The companies promised that new #watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April. /5
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Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. Read more in my latest blog post at Grail Watch! /fin
https://grail-watch.com/2026/05/08/the-day-the-micro-rotor-was-introduced-buren-super-slender-and-universal-microtor/
I ran across something remarkable while researching the history of the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. The Watch Library has the Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie in their searchable database, and this has proven invaluable! #watches /1
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The Watch Library scan of Büren’s ad has been marked up by someone: That formula in red ink shows the effective winding mass of an automatic watch rotor. It shows that the farther the rotor’s weight is placed from the axis, the more useful it becomes for winding the mainspring. /3
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In other words, whoever received this issue of the Journal jotted down this formula to help them judge whether Büren's concept was worth pursuing! Or was it Hans Kocher, explaining the mechanics of his new movement to a fellow watchmaker at the Basel Fair? /4
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Büren and Universal came to market in 1958 with the thinnest automatic watches ever made, it would be Piaget that would set the record with their 1960 Ref. 12 P, which was just 2.3 mm thick! Could Valentin Piaget have scratched out this note in the journal before starting work on that movement?
On April 14, 1629, Christiaan Huygens was born. He invented the first pendulum clocks and laid the foundation for portable #watches.
Just completed an article on Homis, a watch brand from the Polish Szymanski family that lasted from 1917 to 1979. Most notable for inventing a flip-over reversible watch and one of the first #watches with an internal slide rule bezel!
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It’s pretty likely that William Baume invested his inheritance to form Baume & Mercier, since his father died two years later and the Baume Frères watchmaking business he inherited was sold a few years earlier. Then he lost his entire investment in Baume & Mercier in the Depression.
/2
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This is not a micro-rotor automatic movement but it was developed at Büren under Hans Kocher, one of the greatest theoreticians focused on automatic winding and isochronism in this period. And named inventor of the pioneering 1958 Buren “Super Slender” Cal. 1000!
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Hans Kocher said the micro-rotor was his greatest invention, yet he was also involved in many other huge advances: Bi-directional winding, multi-barrel power, integration and miniaturization, and high-beat accuracy, all of which are present in Cal. 82.
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And he was a fellow historian who wrote about #watches and spoke frequently well into his 70s about the watchmaking industry.
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Baume started a retail jewelry store a few blocks away from Baume & Mercier but appears to have been prevented from selling watches for a time. Once this time was up he sold Longines, Omega, Tissot, and Zénith watches. It must have galled him to see the big “Baume & Mercier” sign above the Quai…
/3
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It’s not clear what happened to Paul Tcherednitchenko-dit-Mercier, though I suspect he probably returned to retail watch and jewelry sales. He seems to have been very successful at this, having lead sales for the Parisian firm of Haas neveux in Geneva before he met William Baume.
/4
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Baume & Mercier likes to connect itself to Frères Baume of the 19th century but these businesses were entirely separate. The real inheritor of the Baume family heritage was Baume & Co of London. They lasted into the 1960s and prevented the sale of Baume & Mercier watches in the UK.
/5
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Watch my blog (link in bio) for a detailed history of “Baume Before Mercier”, publishing later today!
/fin
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On June 21, 1954, Buren filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort! /3
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On May 27, 1955, 11 months later, Universal Genève filed a similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. The inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher, who had numerous inventions related to automatic winding. /4
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Buren showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. /6
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Universal dedicated their entire display to the new Microtor movement. The new Cal. 215 was used in the existing Polerouter line rather than leveraging the Microtor’s slimmer profile in a notably-thin new watch. They added a date complication the following year, making the movement thicker. /7
RE: https://grail-watch.com/2026/04/03/baume-before-mercier/
Pro tip: Follow the footnotes in my latest article on the pre-history of #BaumeetMercier #watches for some amusing anecdotes!
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@ppn the Swiss didn’t just attempt to go quartz, they invented it and perfected it and remain leaders (Swatch) in the market. But yeah it’s not a perfect fit.