Dear Quentincarneille,
Thank you very much for your feedback.
Well, watches have grown bigger over time. The smallest mechanical movements which are available to third parties are 7 ¾’’’ nowadays.
Patek Philippe and a few other brands manufacture their own calibers which are in 6 ¾’’’ as well. However, they are not manufactured for supply to third parties.
ETA from Switzerland is manufacturing their movement types 2600, 2671 and 2678 in 7 ¾’’’.
Citizen from Japan has its NH05 in the same diameter.
These are the smallest mechanical movements available to third parties to my knowledge.
Even in quartz movements the smallest regular size is 7 ¾’’’ these days.
I would not be afraid about the number of vintage movements you need. They are to be found over time. Give yourself some six to eight months and you should end up with the required number. If you make it some 15% higher then you will end up with enough spares too.
In any event the vintage movements need to be taken apart, cleaned some parts decorated and then put together again. All that takes time.
This time you would need for new 7 ¾’’’s as well. They are not manufactured in large numbers so delivery times can easily stretch some eight to ten months. Citizen might have a slighter shorter lead-time than ETA.
The ETAs have the advantage that you can get them factory embellished. Here are the possible trims for the
2001 (the 1727-1 can not be had decorated). The decorations of ETAs
size 7 ¾’’’ 26xx series you find here. The Citizen comes un-decorated and can be decorated by specialist decorators afterwards.
