Some things are rare, and some things a practically unique, this is definitely in the latter category. Before quartz and tuning for watches there were mechanical watches with electrically driven balance wheels, which used electromagnets powered by batteries to sense and impulse the balance. These movement are rare because they were only produced for a small number of years, but this particular vintage watch is even rarer because of a complication I’ve certainly never seen on a watch before - it tracks biorhythms. Everything about this watch is very ‘of it’s time’.
You can see this watch has a very simple train with only three wheels. A count wheel (instead of an escape wheel) an intermediate wheel which drives the motion work, and a seconds wheel. The count wheel and seconds wheel have plastic breaks against which a small lever pushes to stop any jumpy movement.
As with most electric timekeepers, it is the regulator that pushes the gear train; this is the opposite to mechanical timekeepers where the gear train carries the power from a weight or spring to the escapement. The video below shows the pallets pushing the count wheel round. The way this watch works means there is no locking force holding the pallets to one side - without which the pallet fork can move and cause the watch to become ‘overbanked’. The solution to this is to use ferrous banking pins and fix a minuscule magnet into the pallet fork which holds it in place until the balance and impulse pin move it. In the photo you can see a small amount of metallic debris from the cleaner - it’s important to know about this magnet and remove this material or it will wind up inside the watch movement!
You can see the three wheels which track your Physical, Emotional and Intellectual cycles, as well as a day of the week counter which allows the watch to be easily corrected if the battery needs replacing. During a service, these rings need to be set up by the watchmaker by looking up some tables according to the wearer’s date of birth. All very scientific! In order to make this easier, there is a designated space on the inside of the case back to engrave this information.
