ABCs of Watch Brand Abbreviations

This is a beginners guide to the abbreviations commonly used by watch users or in discussions on forums.

Basically I have hunted high and low (well not really) and these have been some of the common terms I have came across online.

It may help to clear up confusion you may have had while reading online something or have no idea what on earth some acronym means.

So basically here is a sumamry of all things watches or horologically related.

ALS - A. Lange & Söhne
A&S - Arnold and Son
AP - Audemars Piguet
B-ling - Breitling
B&M or BM: Baume & Mercier
BP: Blancpain
GG: Gérald Genta
GO:   Glashütte Original
GP: Girard-Perregaux
IWC: International Watch Co., that was what it was known as back in the day, today they have sort of rebranded and called themselves, wait for it “IWC”
JLC: Jaeger-LeCoultre
MB: Mont Blanc
ML: Maurice Lacroix
PP: Patek Philippe
RL: Ralph Lauren Watches
Tag: Tag Heuer
UG: Universal Geneve
UN: Ulysse Nardin
VC: Vacheron Constantin

Bascially these are the more well known brands, it would be impossble to cover all brands out there.

If you know any more which I don’t, please feel free to add.

Cheers.

My Bulova Sea King

I recently got my hands on a classy vintage Bulova Sea King, fitted with a Speidel elastic band.

This was a particular model that I have been trying to get my hands on for a while, pictures below.

 

 

Prior to getting it, all I knew that it was from the era of the seventies but its story, which once I found out which intrigued me and made me sought after this piece even more.

So when I got it, the first thing I had to do was to get it authenticated from Bulova (something everyone should do once they get any vintage watch).

So Bulova got back to me, confirming my time piece was indeed genuine and from the N1 on the back case confirmed that it was produced in 1971.

Wow! What a marvellous piece of work, it is 44 years old this year and it still works fine.

From what I have gathered, the Sea-King was a water-resistant line from Bulova, it was introduced in 1959 all the way till the seventies. Which means mine was one of the later models.

Some have only the label “SEA KING“, some with the “SEA KING” & Whale logo, while some only had the whale. Which I guess changed over time. This is what is believed as a general consensus.

It seemed to be something that was not questioned by most, who took it as a gradual change in the aesthetic feature of the watch. Apparently there is a meaning to the whale on the face.

Some Bulova experts, have stated that the whale actually appeared around the 1966 to 67 but it did not necessarily meant it was a ‘SEA KING’ model. The whale actually meant it was waterproof.

If you dig further, there seem to be a link or a tribute to the Whalers of Sag Harbour, which was the home of the Bulova watch case factory (at Sag Harbour).

We only know this to be hearsay, its seems plausible thought. The whale logo came out around 1966, which coincidentally marked the 100 year anniversary of a Whaling Festival of Sag Harbour which was where the Bulova factory was situated as well. This seems the most promising explanation which links the two together.

For those of you who would like to delve deeper, have a whale of a time reading more into the story here : http://www.mybulova.com/forums/bulova-sea-king-whale

I guess the story of the watch actually compelled my to want to own one as well, as it has an interesting story shrouded in mystery.

I am a fan of many of the old Bulova timepieces, another highly sought after piece for myself would be the Bulova Accutron.

To me, the Bulova timepieces of old which were Swiss made are really lovely and has that ‘real deal’ feel about it. What I mean is that it built watches that were made to last.

Though the current modern day do Bulovas look nice and are now mostly made in Japan, I am just a little unsure if it would stand the test of time, like the stalwart Sea King that is still going strong 44 years on.  Asthetically a watch may look exquistie but there more than meets the eye. To someone who love timepieces, the movent and detailing matter much as well.

Though I would think it would be time I sent it for some general servicing and cleaning.

As to why it is now mostly manufacuted in Japan, here is a short history.

Back in the day, Bulova was a major force in the watch industry. Bulova timepieces were mechanical movemnts that were well made, deisgned and relialbe (just look at the one I got, still ticking away). Bulova had a great share of the electronic watch market with their tuning fork Accutron. By the mid seventies, there was an eruption of quartz watches in the market, Bulova was suddenly hit and somehow seemed to dwindled down from then. It has lost its marketshare to the influx of Japanese watches, names the qaurtz watches. They were sold to the Loewe Corporation and then finally sold of to Citizen of Japan in 2007.

 

So the Sea King is surely a piece to be etched in Bulova history.

Deconstructing the Tachymeter

Alright today let’s talk about the tachymeter complication.

A tachymeter gives a timepiece a sporty look, something that when you look you associate with sports such as racing or for the military.

It add lovely contrasts to many timepieces, making the overall look more sophisticated.

Though a lovely complication which adds dimension to your timepiece, it may be totally foreign or alien to some on how to use it.

Like seen from the below picture, my Seiko Criteria SNDG13P1 (which I will write about soon)

 

Some people go out having their timepiece without ever using the tachymeter function.

To a major share of watch uses, they may simply purchase a timepiece with the tachymeter function due to the fact that it add aesthetic value to their timepiece.

So let us cover how a Tachymeter actually works.

A tachymeter scale is a scale sometimes inscribed around the rim of an analogue watch. Usually with Arabic marking around the dial as well.
 
This function is used to either measure a distance based on speed or speed based on travel time. The markings have spaces in between them on the tachymeter dial are consequently proportional to 1/t where ‘t’ is the elapsed time.

A tachymeter’s performed function is independent of the unit of distance be it kilometres, miles or any other only as long as the unit of measure is equivalent for all calculations. In essence, a tachymeter is a way or means of converting ‘elapsed time in seconds per unit to units per hour’.

To get a little mathematical below is some info on calculations to work it out;

“To use a tachymeter function to measure speed, start the chronograph at a starting marker of a known distance. At the next position, the point on the scale adjacent to the second hand indicates the speed of travel between the 2. The typical scale on a timepiece converts between the number of seconds it takes for an event to happen and the number of times that event with occur in a hour. The formula to create this

kind of tachymeter scale is     T = 3600/t   

Where ‘T’ is the tachymeter scale value and ‘t’ is the time in seconds that it takes for the event to occur and ‘3600’ is the number of seconds in an hour.

So lets work out an example, if it takes 35 seconds to travel 1 kilometre then the average speed would be 103KM per hour. Do take note that the tachymeter scale only calculates the average speed.”

So with that, we are more or less through with the practical of a tachymeter.

Lastly, just some history, the first rotating bezel tachymeter was introduced by Heuer, now Tag Heuer which was back in 1958.

By the late sixties chronograph timepieces where sky rocketing, demand grew invariably and watch manufacturers around the globe were contesting to opportunities to patent automatic versions and wanted exclusive rights. It has to be known that without the chronograph the tachymeter complication would have no place as well.

Let me share a little fascinating history on some very lovely chronograph movements which came into being.

Around that time Breitling, Heuer and Hamilton partnered up with Dubois Depraz to develop the first ever self-winding chronograph. It was a clandestine affair in which only a handful of professionals involved on a need to know basis. This great development was unveiled in Geneva and New York on 3rd of March 1969. Called the Chrono-matic, the Calibre 11 movement would wind itself using an off centre micro rotor.

Soon enough, Zenith had produced the El Primero (Which might I add, is absolutely stunning!) which used a central mounted full rotor and was capable of measuring time to one tenth of a second.  Seiko the Japanese giants also released their automatic chronograph called the 6139 Auto-Chrono.

Out doing themselves once again, Seiko created the world’s first quartz watch, a giant breakthrough in Horological history, thanks to this hefty invention it somewhat marked an end and seemingly rendered chronographs virtually obsolete with the Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ.

Back to our modern day and age, the chronograph is making a comeback and is appreciated by many once again.

With many lovely pieces from Tag, Seiko, Breitling, Hamilton and so on.

Though some of us may not entirely know how it functions or its practicality, it may serve as an aesthetic feature. Nonetheless the tachymeter is a lovely complication, you will never know when it may come in handy.