Pretty rare

[arutha]

..at least as far as I can tell, is an obscure brand called Voumard. I went to the antique shop down by the river here in Peoria, and while going through the $10 box of watches mostly without crowns, came across this strange watch:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-1.jpg

No crown on this one either, but the right side was completely flush with the case, and so I flipped it over and found out what was going on:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-2.jpg

It's on the back! Weird! After winding it a bit it started running and kept going while I set it aside and went through the rest of the box (junk!) After rolling the hands over to midnight I noticed that the date function seemed fine, too, so I figured I might as well grab it, since it was a pretty unusual looking watch. There was actually another one similar, but it had a German name on the dial and didn't appear to be running. This Vourmad was Swiss, water resistant, had a eye-catching linen dial, was in relatively good shape, and appeared to be mechanically functional, so I figured what the heck. Here are the pics after my restoration:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-4.jpg

No parts replaced: just lots of cleaning and polishing. I can't find any info on this brand, except a couple of places online selling the same model "backwind" watch ("2000"). They date from the late 60s or early 70s. The movement is plain and nothing to get excited about, but it seems to be running and keeping time pretty well. Looks like the last service date on this beast was way back in January of '83 based on the inscription on the inside back of the case.

[Hartmut Richter]

Very nice! - but it looks as if you at least changed the crystal?!?!!

The most famous watch with a crown in the back is probably the JLC "Futurematic" but there have been the odd others. I would have to agree though that it is an uncommon feature.
Hartmut Richter

[quoll]

What an unusual piece! And it is always great finding them under such circumstances isn't it?
The styling certainly says late 60s/early 70s. With such an unusual back-winding feature we can probably pin down the date more closely if you post a picture of the movement.

[JohnF]

Hi -

Congratulations indeed! It's true that every once in a while you will find something neat in a box of junk. I usually only get my hands really dirty. :-)

Voumard is, I think, French Swiss. The watch is almost certainly from the first half of the 1970s, given the styling. I've seen now two on sale, pristine NOS, for €350 each, both from 1972 (no connection to the seller).

There is a Voumard Machine Tool company in Switzerland today which may have been involved with the watch company of the same name, but I can't find any really solid link between the two besides a Chinese web site that appears to link them from 1959. But that I take with a grain of MSG. The machine tool company makes precision grinders and at least for a while made anti-shock mechanisms, but whether these went into watches is another question.

And yep, there appears to be a link to Sheffield watches from NY, who made alarm watches in the 1940s, which used Voumard calibers. Voumard at that point was in Bienne.

The Voumard family is apparently an old family of watchmakers in the Jura region of Switzerland, one of the sons, Geo Voumard, was a fairly well known jazz musician and componist in Europe of the post-war era.

So you've got solid Swiss quality, but it's a watch that is probably going to be difficult to have any work done on the movement itself, unless there is some other movement in there! So let us know what's inside!

JohnF

[wspohn]

The adjusting crown on the back of the case was pioneered by Le Coultre in their Futurematic series in the early 50s (and possibly was also used by others).

They were proud of the fact that their movement would start and run with a couple of shakes and never needed winding.

Neat that it was also used in your watch, which looks to be 1960s to 1970s.

[arutha]

Not a great picture, but.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-5.jpg

The crystal, dial, and movement fit together as one piece and are simply pushed out by applying pressure to the top (no screws or threads).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/arutha/voumard-6.jpg

The winding mechanism is controlled by a pair of gears. Position 1 winds the watch, while pulling the crown out to position 2 lowers the top gear and prevents the second gear from turning, if I remember right. Unlike most mechanical watches, you can't turn the crown backwards when it's in the winding position: there's no set lever assembly as such. My movement looks just like the one pictured (although no evident rust, fortunately. Apparently "2000" is also the name of the caliber on this one.




Hi -

Congratulations indeed! It's true that every once in a while you will find something neat in a box of junk. I usually only get my hands really dirty. :-)

Voumard is, I think, French Swiss. The watch is almost certainly from the first half of the 1970s, given the styling. I've seen now two on sale, pristine NOS, for €350 each, both from 1972 (no connection to the seller).

There is a Voumard Machine Tool company in Switzerland today which may have been involved with the watch company of the same name, but I can't find any really solid link between the two besides a Chinese web site that appears to link them from 1959. But that I take with a grain of MSG. The machine tool company makes precision grinders and at least for a while made anti-shock mechanisms, but whether these went into watches is another question.

And yep, there appears to be a link to Sheffield watches from NY, who made alarm watches in the 1940s, which used Voumard calibers. Voumard at that point was in Bienne.

The Voumard family is apparently an old family of watchmakers in the Jura region of Switzerland, one of the sons, Geo Voumard, was a fairly well known jazz musician and componist in Europe of the post-war era.

So you've got solid Swiss quality, but it's a watch that is probably going to be difficult to have any work done on the movement itself, unless there is some other movement in there! So let us know what's inside!

JohnF

[arutha]

Nope.... it's the old crystal. You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish with a $3 can of Brasso, some ultra-fine sandpaper, and a little elbow grease.



Very nice! - but it looks as if you at least changed the crystal?!?!!

The most famous watch with a crown in the back is probably the JLC "Futurematic" but there have been the odd others. I would have to agree though that it is an uncommon feature.
Hartmut Richter

[Chascomm]

The crystal, dial, and movement fit together as one piece and are simply pushed out by applying pressure to the top (no screws or threads). Instant pocket watch, or a pendant maybe. Or you could make a tiny desk-clock. There's a lot of potential in this design.

The winding mechanism is controlled by a pair of gears. Position 1 winds the watch, while pulling the crown out to position 2 lowers the top gear and prevents the second gear from turning, if I remember right. Unlike most mechanical watches, you can't turn the crown backwards when it's in the winding position: there's no set lever assembly as such. How cool; a key-wind wristwatch :-D Maybe it was designed as a minature clock movement?

[Roland Ranfft]

Hi there,

in my archive I collected few informations about Voumard
http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&uswk&Voumard_000
and this particular movement
http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?00&ranfft&&uswk&Voumard_2000

Regards, Roland Ranfft