# Interesting Helvetia Watches



## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Hello all,

Some of you may have seen my previous thread about repairing my vintage Helvetia case. This watch has been missing a lug for many years and in that time I have been keeping an eye on E-Bay for a possible replacement case.

One of the ones I had my eye on was the one below, pictured in the E-Bay seller's pic. However, the price was too high when I was mainly interested in the case.










I decided to get a new lug made for my Helvetia but in doing so it rekindled an interest in the make and I as the watch I had my eye on for the case was still available I had another look. It looked an interesting watch. Early 40s I thought and with fixed wire bars soldered to the back of the lugs, maybe a repair of the original bars? As there was a "Make an Offer" option I thought I'd give it a go and offered about 50% of the asking price. My offer was accepted!

While waiting for the watch to arrive I kept an eye on E-bay for any other Helvetias and literally the next day came across this (again sellers pic).










Only the second one of these cases I had found in years of looking at Helvetia cases and it was the day after I had bought one. This was going cheaper as a spares/repairs and after putting in another low-ish offer and with a bit of haggling I had this one on the way as well.

They arrived the same day and are interesting to compare. The serial numbers are about 2.4 million apart, a reasonable number of years I think. The older military style is solid stainless steel with a Helvetia 82A movement, the same one Helvetia fitted into its German Army watches from the 30s on. The newer is chrome plated with a Helvetia 82C movement. They both have the same fixed wire bars soldered to the lugs, the older one has actually had a repair and on the other the chrome plating covers the wire so it is obviously how they were originally manufactured.



















The watches are 34mm without the crown, a reasonably large size for the time (Helvetia tended to make bigger than average cases) and the lugs are 19mm which I think is unusual for watches of this date and size.

The dial is not as bad as I at first thought and I think I'll keep it as it is. The watch doesn't wind properly but I think the spring is ok but the click is worn.










And here is the chrome watch tidied up a bit.










I have got together quite a lot of info re Helvetia watches over the years and I think I may put something together on the web as info was quite difficult to find when I was looking.

Thanks for your interest. Carl.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Carl well done on finding these two and very interesting post if you get the opportunity a couple of movement pictures would be good and posted here:

http://xflive.thewatchforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/121443-show-us-your-movements/&tab=comments&do=embed&comment=1313241&embedComment=1313241&embedDo=findComment#comment-1313241


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## Carlos Fandango (Sep 29, 2016)

Will do, Helvetia have some interesting movements.


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

I, for one, would be most interested to hear more about the history of Helvetia. It's not a brand that I have covered here on the Forum, and thanks for showing us your Helvetia watches, Carlos.


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## Slim2500 (Jul 10, 2016)

I have just recently added a Helvetia to my collection although the watch dates around the mid1950's it still looks and feels like a well put together watch from what i understand the watch uses a Calibre 830 movement which i understand is an in house movement the pictures do not really do the watch justice going to strip and give the case a clean in the ultrasonic here are some pictures also has a 17mm lug width


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## harryblakes7 (Oct 1, 2010)

Helvetia movements always seem to be of the very highest quality, an excellent Swiss brand imo and much underrated!!


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