# Who Is Lemania?



## ENY55V (Mar 17, 2006)

Could someone, please, tell me the history of this manufacturer.

On this web site there are 14 pages about Lemania movements - but who is (was?) Lemania?

I think it was bought by the Swatch Group (and ETA?) a few years ago but stopped making movements (right? - if so, why?)

Thank you


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I found this potted history:

"Lugrin SA, established in 1884 and created by Alfred Lugrin, was a workshop specialized in complicated movements (like chronographs and repetition movements). It was based in Le Sentier, Switzerland, in the VallÃ©e de Joux and not far from Lake LÃ©man. The story says that he was taught the watchmaking knowledge by the son of a farmer. Lugrin earned medals for the quality of his work in 1906 (Milan fair) and 1914 (Bern fair). In 1930 the firm becomes â€œLemania Watch Co.â€ on the impulse of the young watchmaker Marius Meylan, seemingly in recognition of the Leman caliber.

It later became part of SSIH (SociÃ©tÃ© suisse pour lâ€™industrie horlogÃ¨re), the merging with Omega and Tissot, in 1932, during a time of crisis for the watch industry. Lemania's chronograph specialty enabled Omega to become the official timer of the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the same year. SSIH quickly grew to over 50 companies.

Later, in 1981, Lemania is separated from the SSIH group and renamed â€œNouvelle Lemaniaâ€.

In 1983, SSIH merged with USUAG (Allgemeine Schweizerische Uhrenindustrie AG, which includes Longines, Rado and other parts manufacturers). The newly formed group was named SMH (SociÃ©tÃ© de MicroÃ©lectronique et d'Horlogerie) in 1986.

Two years later, SHM was renamed to â€œSwatch Groupâ€, in recognition of the efforts of the small Swatch to save the Swiss watch industry.

In 1992 Nouvelle Lemania goes to Investcorp and the Breguet group (â€œGroupe Horloger Breguetâ€, a.k.a. GHB). Finally, in 1999 Breguet becomes part of the Swatch Group, and so does Lemania.

Inside the new group, Lemania, chronographs and complication movements, became â€œManufacture de Haute Horlogerie Breguetâ€. Lemania's official name is â€œMontres Breguetâ€ today, though the name on the door of the workshop still says â€œLemaniaâ€, probably due to this rich history."

The Omega cal.321 and 861 were Lemania movements I think.


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## sonyman (Feb 9, 2009)

Further to this by JoT

this is taken from a Sinn 903 info

Brand and Reference:

For info of the Sinn brand and the man who started the company, Helmut Sinn, see my review on the Sinn 656.

This model, the 903 has got a very interesting background. In 1979 the Breitling company went bankrupt, and parts of the company were liquidated. Mr. Helmut Sinn bought the rights to use the dial lay-out of Breitlings 806 and 809 Navitimer watches. This explains the resemblance with the Navitimer. So the 903 is not an illegal rip-off version, but Sinn still owns the rights to produce these watches. Interesting is that the Ollech&Wajs company bought many of the Breitlings spare parts, machinery and hardware. O&W still manufactures legal Navitimer look-alikes under the brand name Aviation. Later on in 1979 Breitling was sold to Mr. Ernst Schneider, and now Breitling is back in business as never before.

Sinn also had the rights to produce a Navitimer style watch, now they needed a movement in it. They needed a movement with the so called "tri-compax" lay-out. That is where the subdials are located on the 3, 6, and 9. They found such a movement, the proven Lemania 1873, witch also served as the base for the Omega Speedmaster Professional starting in 1968. The 903 sold for a mere 1100 Euro's. Far under the price of a modern Omega Speedmaster (2220 EURO for the basic model 2003 price) and of the modern Breitling Navitimer (3450 EURO for the basic model 2003 price). The 903 was loved not only because of it's price. But early 2000 Lemania decided only to sell the 1873 movement to sistercompanies of the Swatch Group. I got an e-mail from Sinn that the 903 with Lemania 1873 movement sold out in september 2001. So Sinn had to look for another movement, they found it in a modified automatic Valjoux 7750 movement. This model is still sold today.

Movement:

The Lemania 1873 is a classic chronograph movement. It has proven it's reliability for a long time now. The diameter of the movement is 27,5mm and it is 6,87mm in height. 17 jewels, 21600 A/h, and a power reserve of 50 hours. It is made out of 221 different pieces. The movement can be seen through the display back of the Sinn 903, and I must say, it's a lovely sight. As can be seen in the picture there is a synthetic part in the movement. I know Omega replaced this synthetic part in the display back version of the Speedmaster purely for aestetic reason. Sinn used both with and without this part for the 903's. Mine is with the synthetic part. Engravings on the movement are: "LEMANIA", "SWISS SEVENTEEN 17 JEWELS", "UNADJUSTED", the movement number "1441479" "1873" and the Lemania factory stamp.

Hope this helps


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## ENY55V (Mar 17, 2006)

So, really, Lemania is now "gone". The name is kept alive for Breguet but they don't make movements any more (?) - right!.

But is it true that there is a large stock of movements out there and/or "copies" have been made? (due to the high demand).


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## sonyman (Feb 9, 2009)

ENY55V said:


> So, really, Lemania is now "gone". The name is kept alive for Breguet but they don't make movements any more (?) - right!.
> 
> But is it true that there is a large stock of movements out there and/or "copies" have been made? (due to the high demand).


I suspect that they live on in other brands under diffrent names and I bet there are copys made in the far east and china.Do you have a watch with a lemania movment then?

also google comes up with a lot of good results


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

ENY55V said:


> So, really, Lemania is now "gone". The name is kept alive for Breguet but they don't make movements any more (?) - right!.
> 
> But is it true that there is a large stock of movements out there and/or "copies" have been made? (due to the high demand).


Yes they have gone but their movements are still used in Breguet and Speedmasters.

I don't think there is a large stock of movements, the Lemania 5100 for example is hard to find these days.


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## ENY55V (Mar 17, 2006)

sonyman said:


> ENY55V said:
> 
> 
> > So, really, Lemania is now "gone". The name is kept alive for Breguet but they don't make movements any more (?) - right!.
> ...


 :cry2: Actually, I think I had one (an original 1990s Revue Thommen watch) but gave it away :cry2:

Shame!


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## Livius de Balzac (Oct 6, 2006)

Lemanina is just a "brandlabel" today. The movements and ebauches are made by ETA, but only used by Breguet, Blancpain, Patek Philippe and in the Omega Speedmaster Professional


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