I stumbled upon some photos I took of a iron faraday cage from an Omega Seamaster Chronodiver 300m, so I decided to make a short post. Sometimes you might notice that watches have an Anti-Magnetic rating or spec shown on the case back of the watch, and might wonder what that means. Well, since automatic movements are susceptible to magnetic fields which can affect the accuracy of their movement, it is handy for them to have some magnetic protection, especially in this day and age.

That Anti-Magnetic Iron cage or shield is called a Faraday Cage, named after the English Scientist, Michael Faraday. The cage surrounds the movement of the watch and protects it from certain levels of magnetic fields. Some watches that have soft iron Faraday Cages inside: IWC Ingenieur, Omega Seamaster 300m, Rolex Milgauss.

Here is a shot of the Omega 1164 Movement underneath the Iron Cage:

TECHNOTIME – TT 791

Equipped with twin barrels like all mechanical movements by Technotime, this tourbillon provides an over 120-hour power reserve. This extremely flexible calibre is capable of housing other complications, including a power reserve indication, retrograde date or any other specific modules developed by clients. This movement equipped with Technotime balance-springs may be personalised in accordance with customers’ wishes and boasts excellent chronometric performances that mean it may be configured to earn COSC certification.

Description :
Mechanical movement 13 1/4″
Twin barrels
60-second tourbillon at 9 o’clock
Manual winding
4 Hz (28,800 vph), 27 jewels
Over 120-hour power reserve
Total diameter: 30.40 mm
Casing diameter: 30.00 mm
Thickness: 4.85 mm
Time display: hours, minutes

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TECHNOTIME – TT 738
A producer of modules, mechanical movements, tourbillons and balance-springs, Technotime presents the TT 738. This movement associating design with performance is intended to accommodate all kinds of complication modules as well as to respond to brands’ need for differentiation. The versions available include a retrograde date and/power-reserve indicator module. Equipped with Technotime balance-springs, this movement also comes in a hand-wound version and may be optionally chronometer-certified by the COSC.

Description:
Mechanical 13 1/4″ movement
Twin barrels
Automatic winding
4 Hz (28,800 vph), 35 jewels
Over 120-hour power reserve
Total diameter: 30.40 mm
Casing diameter: 30.00 mm
Thickness: 4.35 mm
Time display: hours, minutes, seconds
Date window at 3 o’clock

I know I mentioned the Sellita SW500 when it was released in an earlier article, but it would probably be pertinent to give a brief once over of all three of Sellita’s movements and which of ETA’s movements they are copies of. This is interesting to many people since ETA is no longer selling movements to just anybody, and this leaves a big gap in the industry that Sellita seems content to fill.

Sellita SW200

The Sellita SW200 is a clone of ETA’s 2824 movement, but has 26 Jewels, as opposed to the ETA 2824′s 25 Jewels. Aside from this, the movement is nearly identical. The Selitta SW200 comes in two additional variations, the SW220, which has a side-by-side Day Date, usually displayed in the 3 o’clock position, and the SW240, which has the Day-Date with the Day appearing at the 12 o’clock position, like the Rolex President.

Diameter: 25.60 mm
Thickness: 4.60 mm
Vph: 28,800

Sellita SW300

Currently, the SW300 is only available in one variation and is a copy of the ETA 2892 movement, with 25 Jewels instead of 21 Jewels. Everything else is virtually identical.

Diameter: 25.60 mm
Thickness: 3.60 mm
Vph: 28,800

Sellita SW500

The Sellita SW500, which I talked about previously, is the copy of the Valjoux 7750. The Sellita SW500 features 25 Jewels, the exact same number as current or late Valjoux 7750 movements. Curious why they didn’t add an extra jewel or two to this one as well.

Diameter: 30.00 mm
Thickness: 7.90 mm
Vph: 28,800

There’s the basics. There are a few other sites that give some information on these movements, but I wanted to keep a record of them here as well as I think we will see a lot of these in the days to come.

This was announced earlier this year, but I figured I would drop a mention of the New Bulgari Caliber 168 movement since there are a few neat things about it. Its named the 168 due to the number of components in the watch, but it also happens to mean something interesting in Chinese. In Chinese 168 would mean “always getting wealthy” or something similar to that.

(photo borrowed from puristspro since there doesn’t appear to be any other available)

Currently, the Caliber 168 will only be available in their Sotirio collection and features a very unique looking rotor as you can see. The movement was designed in-house after they purchased the movement manufacturer Leschot Group. The movement beats at 28,800 vph. Check out the video below on the Caliber 168!

HORLOGERIE – SOTIRIO BULGARI, CALIBER 168
Uploaded by Tendance-Horlogerie. – Watch original web videos.

Sellita launches their brand new SW500 Movement in time for Baselworld 2010. While Selitta has a reputation for somewhat inferior quality movements based on ETA designs, they have certainly captured the hearts of budget Swiss Watch aficionados worldwide.

The ‘new’ SW500 movement is essentially a copy of the Valjoux 7750 movement, similar to how the SW200 is a copy of the ETA 2824. The specs for the movement are as follows:
-25 jewels
-28,800vph
-42 hour power reserve
-Day/Date
-Chronograph

All of which are indentical to the ETA/Valjoux 7750. I’m sure we will see this movement become the new staple for entry level swiss chronograph watches, just as the SW200 has become the new staple for non-chronos.