# Electro Chron Collectors



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

It's not often I get to meet some of my internet colleagues, especially those living in far off countries, but this week I had a home visit from a guy I've had email exchanges with for several years. Dave lives in Canada and was over visiting a friend of his in London and doing Duxford etc (they are great WWII aviation enthusiasts).

They also did HMS Victory in Portsmouth on Tuesday and called in on their way back to London. Dave has many electric watches and generally collects the same as I do...except he has all the really rare Hamiltons like the Altair, Meteor..which I do not. 

But he also collects Wittnauer Electro-Chrons....and dropped off four for me to service for him. About a year ago, an Italian collector also send me four to service. What is it about these watches that make people want more than one? It must be the hands.

So here is a series of photo of Dave's and mine Wittnauer Electro-Chrons; they all date from about 1962 and all contain the Landeron 4750 / 4760 movement...but there is quite a lot of variety in hands and dial style; we're still trying to work out what combinations are "correct":

*One:* Probably the most common Electro-Chron. Open hands, steel case, white dial marked "ELECTRIC", minute markers










*Two:* Rarer dial. Open hands, steel case, white dial marked "ELECTRO-CHRON", sub minute markers, black hands (not correct; they've been painted)










*Three:* Probably the correct version of the one above i.e. correct standard hand set for this dial










*Four:* Very Rare...the black dial version. Open hands, steel case, black dial marked "ELECTRIC", minute markers. This example is missing the stainless steel bezel










*Five:* Dial has probably been painted and should not have gold hands with steel batons.










More....


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

*Six:* Very Rare...gold version. Open hands, unknown case, white dial marked "ELECTRIC", minute markers. No idea what the case looks like for this but probably similar to the steel ones.










*Seven:* Another gold version. Standard hands, gold case, white dial marked "ELECTRO-CHRON", minute markers.










*Eight:* Group Shot










Phew!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Nice, very nice, especially the "open hands" versions ! :yes:

One of those might end up on my lottery list - 'cos sure as God made little green apples they don't seem to come into the "affordables" price bracket


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Fantastic group, thanks for the pics ..


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## Steve R (Sep 29, 2007)

Fantastic (combined) collection there! Every time you post a pic of the white dial open hands SS version it strikes me that it must be one of the all time coolest watch designs. I've never found out what they go for, and now I've read Mel's post I'm not so sure I want to!

A couple of questions please:

1) What does the seconds hand do on these - does it sweep or tick?

2) Roughly how much would I need to find down the back of the sofa to acquire one, one day?!

S.


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## watchnutz (Jan 18, 2008)

Very nice collection, Paul. That is one watch I hope to add to my electronic collection one of these days. I see there is a non runner on the bay at the moment.

Isn't it great to meet a fellow collector from another country! I had the great pleasure to spend a day with Knut when he was here in the states. The icing on the cake was t6hat we spent the day at a watch museum in Connecticut


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Steve R said:


> 1) What does the seconds hand do on these - does it sweep or tick?
> 
> 2) Roughly how much would I need to find down the back of the sofa to acquire one, one day?!


1) A tick. It has a balance.

2) The ones with the open hands are becoming quite collectable, so I think you need to allow about Â£200. My first one, which I bought from Roy, cost Â£80 but that was 4-5 years ago.


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## PhilM (Nov 5, 2004)

Think I've said it before, both the white and black dial open hands are lovely :heart:


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## Toshi (Aug 31, 2007)

Silver Hawk said:


>


This one is especially lovely. Just a shame they don't come in man sized h34r:

Seriously though, possibly one of the coolest handsets of all time


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## Stuart Davies (Jan 13, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> [*Seven:* Another gold version. Standard hands, gold case, white dial marked "ELECTRO-CHRON", minute markers.


I love that one Paul - It's screeming "STYLE" to me!


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Silver Hawk said:


> Steve R said:
> 
> 
> > 1) What does the seconds hand do on these - does it sweep or tick?
> ...


I've watched a couple recently, good ones seem to be commanding a bit more Paul, and really good ones up to Â£400.00 - saw a definite NOS with papers for that from Canada.


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## Chippychap (Aug 4, 2008)

Really love the lightning bolt hands.

Are there specific hands for each model, as it looks a nightmare to police?


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

mel said:


> Silver Hawk said:
> 
> 
> > Steve R said:
> ...


Â£400 h34r: That's a very good price...for the seller. I love to see one with papers...also, we're not quite sure what sort of bracelets were on these watches when sold new. Dave has a few bracelets marked Wittnauer but they could have come from their regular mechanical watches. I guess we need to find a Wittnauer catalogue, but I've never seen one  .


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

It must be me......funny thing I absolutely hate the "lightening bolt" hand on the Milguass but on these it looks so good! My fav there has got to be the open hands gold/white face......real cool.........


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Boxbrownie said:


> My fav there has got to be the open hands gold/white face......real cool.........


Shame I don't have a case for it then, eh David. 

Actually, I might use one of the many other non-Wittnauer Landeron 4750 gold cases I have. The nice thing about the Landeron 4750 movement is that they all share the same case irrespective of what name is on the dial. It seems if you were a watch manufacture and wanted to use this Landeron movement in your new watch, you got the case and case back from Landeron as well.


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## martinus_scriblerus (Sep 29, 2008)

Silver Hawk said:


> It's not often I get to meet some of my internet colleagues, especially those living in far off countries, but this week I had a home visit from a guy I've had email exchanges with for several years. Dave lives in Canada and was over visiting a friend of his in London and doing Duxford etc (they are great WWII aviation enthusiasts).
> 
> Hi Paul (and hi other guys).
> 
> ...


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## Steve R (Sep 29, 2007)

martinus_scriblerus said:


> I do have another electro chron which is neither pictured by Paul or by me. It is still in an original box, with the original papers with it. It is somewhere in my house. When I discover it, I will post pictures it to Steve.


Why that's jolly decent of you Dave, thank you. Oh and welcome aboard! 

S.


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

martinus_scriblerus said:


> Silver Hawk said:
> 
> 
> > It's not often I get to meet some of my internet colleagues, especially those living in far off countries, but this week I had a home visit from a guy I've had email exchanges with for several years. Dave lives in Canada and was over visiting a friend of his in London and doing Duxford etc (they are great WWII aviation enthusiasts).
> ...


Hey! Great to see you on The Watch Forum, Dave! :thumbsup: Welcome!

My pleasure to post your photo....here it is...another rare black Electro-Chron (where do you keep finding them!)


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Great to see you here Dave.....

That black dialed one with the missing bezel....As its so rare, wouldnt it be better to recase it into a silver dialed case?

Thats assuming they share cases....


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