ETA/Valjoux 7750 Thread

[FunnyStarSystem 7,538]

Let's see your workhorse chronographs, the ETA 7750 (or nostalgically Valjoux 7750) and variants 7751, 7753, 7754 & 7760 - let me know if I've forgotten any. Basic information can be found HERE .

Post the ones you have or the ones you aspire to have

I decided to make this post after realizing I have four different grades of 7750, and doing a little digging into what that means -pics first!

Of course only the lowest grade of the bunch has an exhibition back, but it's still a thing of beauty and Steinhart makes a nice rotor:

From least to beast:

Steinhart Nav B-Uhr 44 Chronograph - It has the base grade, which in the 7750 is the elaboré. It's a hearty chrono which has never given me any problems, although the time keeping is not the greatest at +20 seconds per day. The accuracy varies quite a bit depending on the position you sit the watch when off the wrist. Like all 7750's don't even THINK of changing the date between the hours of 8pm and 4am, I always set it to 6 am/pm before setting the date. Thankfully if you forget and are gentle you can feel the resistance before any damage is done, and with four of these I tend not to forget anymore.

Sinn 103 St Acrylic Matte Special Edition - The dealer told me this was built with a Sellita SW500 (7750 clone), but I opened it up and found a very lovely top grade (middle grade) VJ 7750 beating inside. The reason I opened it is that nobody bothered to regulate it before sending it off to me (or it had a terrible shock somewhere along the way) and it was running ridiculously fast. A demagnetizer made no difference, so I regulated it myself and now it runs at a very healthy +/-5 seconds per day, but again it varies quite a bit on the position if you leave it resting. In the case of the elaboré and this top grade they're most accurate when sitting flat on the case back.

Sinn 900 Flieger DIAPAL Tegimented - This is a special case in that it has a GMT function, making it a 7754, but still a 7750 at heart. This watch has Sinn's diamond coated anchor escapement (Diapal) as well as some other improvements to the chronometer grade 7750. Sinn say they receive the movement in chronometer grade from ETA and then install their upgrades in-house, finishing it off by replacing the air in the case with Argon gas, which supposedly helps relieve any drying tendencies of the oil. They also mention nanotechnology (those clever Germans), you can read about it all HERE . The effect is this watch is +/- 2 seconds a day by my count, and it doesn't matter what position it sits in, pretty amazing. And it has the same satisfying chrono action of all 7750's.

IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition "Le Petit Prince" IW377714 - Trying to find out exactly what IWC has done here is a rabbit hole I've only partially gone down so far, but let's start by saying it's a chronometer grade 7750, and whatever they do to it is phenomenal because this thing keeps time like a quartz. It will run a couple days until you can tell it has lost or gained a single second, which is not something I've ever experienced before with a mechanical watch. That said, there is a lot of controversy around it because apparently IWC will not say officially what they do to upgrade the chronometer from ETA's manufacture, if anything. From what I gather, IWC for many years purchased top grade movements from ETA and then modified them to chronometer grade in-house. Some say IWC's upgrades were later adopted by ETA so all chronometer grade 7750's come from them in the same state as they used to leave IWC, some say IWC continues to upgrade several aspects of the movement in-house, seeing as ETA and IWC are part of the same company I suppose it really doesn't matter that much, and IWC does give it their own caliber number, originally 7922 and now called 79320 .  Whatever they're doing, keep it up!

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and also to see everyone's ETA/Valjoux 7750's 

[movintage 2,310]

15 hours ago, FunnyStarSystem said:

Let's see your workhorse chronographs, the ETA 7750 (or nostalgically Valjoux 7750) and variants 7751, 7753, 7754 & 7760 - let me know if I've forgotten any. Basic information can be found HERE .

Post the ones you have or the ones you aspire to have

I decided to make this post after realizing I have four different grades of 7750, and doing a little digging into what that means -pics first!

 

Of course only the lowest grade of the bunch has an exhibition back, but it's still a thing of beauty and Steinhart makes a nice rotor:

 

From least to beast:

Steinhart Nav B-Uhr 44 Chronograph - It has the base grade, which in the 7750 is the elaboré. It's a hearty chrono which has never given me any problems, although the time keeping is not the greatest at +20 seconds per day. The accuracy varies quite a bit depending on the position you sit the watch when off the wrist. Like all 7750's don't even THINK of changing the date between the hours of 8pm and 4am, I always set it to 6 am/pm before setting the date. Thankfully if you forget and are gentle you can feel the resistance before any damage is done, and with four of these I tend not to forget anymore.

Sinn 103 St Acrylic Matte Special Edition - The dealer told me this was built with a Sellita SW500 (7750 clone), but I opened it up and found a very lovely top grade (middle grade) VJ 7750 beating inside. The reason I opened it is that nobody bothered to regulate it before sending it off to me (or it had a terrible shock somewhere along the way) and it was running ridiculously fast. A demagnetizer made no difference, so I regulated it myself and now it runs at a very healthy +/-5 seconds per day, but again it varies quite a bit on the position if you leave it resting. In the case of the elaboré and this top grade they're most accurate when sitting flat on the case back.

Sinn 900 Flieger DIAPAL Tegimented - This is a special case in that it has a GMT function, making it a 7754, but still a 7750 at heart. This watch has Sinn's diamond coated anchor escapement (Diapal) as well as some other improvements to the chronometer grade 7750. Sinn say they receive the movement in chronometer grade from ETA and then install their upgrades in-house, finishing it off by replacing the air in the case with Argon gas, which supposedly helps relieve any drying tendencies of the oil. They also mention nanotechnology (those clever Germans), you can read about it all HERE . The effect is this watch is +/- 2 seconds a day by my count, and it doesn't matter what position it sits in, pretty amazing. And it has the same satisfying chrono action of all 7750's.

IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition "Le Petit Prince" IW377714 - Trying to find out exactly what IWC has done here is a rabbit hole I've only partially gone down so far, but let's start by saying it's a chronometer grade 7750, and whatever they do to it is phenomenal because this thing keeps time like a quartz. It will run a couple days until you can tell it has lost or gained a single second, which is not something I've ever experienced before with a mechanical watch. That said, there is a lot of controversy around it because apparently IWC will not say officially what they do to upgrade the chronometer from ETA's manufacture, if anything. From what I gather, IWC for many years purchased top grade movements from ETA and then modified them to chronometer grade in-house. Some say IWC's upgrades were later adopted by ETA so all chronometer grade 7750's come from them in the same state as they used to leave IWC, some say IWC continues to upgrade several aspects of the movement in-house, seeing as ETA and IWC are part of the same company I suppose it really doesn't matter that much, and IWC does give it their own caliber number, originally 7922 and now called 79320 .  Whatever they're doing, keep it up!

Thank

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and also to see everyone's ETA/Valjoux 7750's 

@FunnyStarSystem  First and most important is a Thank You for taking the time to share your  research and pics about something you have a high interest and regard for and,  IMHO is a world famous chronograph.

The  Valijoux 7750 and it’s variants have  a wonderful horological history and again IMHO, worth the time of anyone who’s interested in watch history to take the time to read it.

That  Valjioux 7750 story will take you from its creator, Edmond Capt who’s job it was to get Valijoux out of a bind with a number of worthy opponents that took the tiger by its tail with the likes of, Zenith with the El Primero, Breitling, Heuer, and Dubois Depraz with their chronomatics.

From here you’ll read  that like Zenith, Valijoux ordered the destruction of the 7750s shop, the fight with the “ dreaded” Quartz  movement, potential bankruptcy and the takeover by none other than ETA.

From  a Cousin across the pond, one who you might find at the back of Rackhams on the lookout for a sweet tart.

,Cheers!

Edited April 14, 2021 by movintage

[FunnyStarSystem 7,538]

Thanks @movintage - it is a fascinating origin story, and the fact that the movement has been little changed since its inception shows what a brilliant original idea it was. Materials have changed, and of course various manufactures have improved the accuracy, but it's still the same basic movement as it was in 1973 when it first came onto wrists. It played a major role in saving the Swiss watchmaking industry during the quartz crisis and, well, here's a video

 

 

And of course our favorite watch Yogi brings a rusty 7750 back to life:

 

[BravoDelta 22,514]

Nice post @FunnyStarSystem My Ball Hydrocarbon Racer has a modified ETA 7750 movement  ...

[BravoDelta 22,514]

This Sector Golden Eagle was my first Valjoux 7750. I purchased it in the late 90's but unfortunately sold it off...

[FudgyDocker 3,505]

This certainly isn't to everyone's taste, as it's an absolute monster (weight as well as size). But here it is nonetheless, the Aragon Gauge 3G 7750!

 

[FunnyStarSystem 7,538]

43 minutes ago, BravoDelta said:

Nice post @FunnyStarSystem My Ball Hydrocarbon Racer has a modified ETA 7750 movement  ...

Ooo, that is a nice movement, officially the Ball RR1401-C. They start with a chronometer grade 7750, remove the chronograph hour subdial and just go with chronograph seconds and minutes. This is one of the more modified applications I've seen, they've shifted the usual placement of the movement and date aperture in the case. Does the chrono show hours in some other fashion, or because it's for auto racing they deemed that unnecessary? I assume this has the same astonishing accuracy I see in my 900 and 3777

[FunnyStarSystem 7,538]

20 minutes ago, FudgyDocker said:

This certainly isn't to everyone's taste, as it's an absolute monster (weight as well as size). But here it is nonetheless, the Aragon Gauge 3G 7750! 

I really didn't know anything about Aragon until Piloten posted his not too long ago, here's the designer talking about it:

 

[Theduke.williams 1,039]

1 hour ago, BravoDelta said:

Nice post @FunnyStarSystem My Ball Hydrocarbon Racer has a modified ETA 7750 movement  ...

With a 45 minute timer, this would be more suited as a referee's watch for timing soccer matches  

Nice watch though.