Bell & Ross

Sinn/Bell & Ross chronograph

Although I’m still very busy right now I couldn’t let this one pass without featuring it, it’s a beautiful Sinn/Bell & Ross Bundeswehr type chronograph powered by a Lemania calibre 5100 movement. This movement was released in 1978, although Omega produced Lemania 5100 based Speedmasters from 1974 so the movement itself was around before Lemania made it available to everyone. Sinn, Fortis and Tutima were Lemanias biggest customers and they supplied the military with various chronographs based on the 5100. The reason the military liked the 5100 was due to it being a simply constructed but rugged movement, there were no fragile chronograph coupling wheels in this calibre, the chronograph is directly driven via a vertical clutch. This along with the nylon movement spacer blocks give it excellent shock protection, however despite its rugged construction from a watchmakers point of view it uses quite an antiquated type of pillar construction.

Lemania 5100 (more…)