An unworn, hand winding FHB digital watch with disks to show the time. New Old Stock.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
This type of mechanical movement became popular in the mid 1970’s, but the company FHB was not registered until July 1980 (by Felix Huber, owner of Zeno Watch Basel, so we presume it is an abbreviation of Felix Huber Basel). We don’t think FHB lasted long, so this must have been made circa 1980.
CONDITION
This was never a very expensive watch. At the time of launch the movement would have been out of favour, with quartz becoming the norm and small, thin cases the fashion. Now larger cases and mechanical movements are prized, so it was the wrong watch at the wrong time back in 1980.
The case and strap only show light signs of storage marks, and we have tested the movement over 24 hours and the time keeping is within a couple of minutes a day. The 17 jewel version of the Baumgartner 582 movement runs and sets, but wasn’t built for horological competitions, so this is not likely to be improved. That said, the design doesn’t allow for a quick glance to read the time – it takes a little while to focus on the digits – so this is definitely a watch to wear on more laid back days. We have shown a picture of this watch without the dial so you can see how the discs work – they just replace hands. You can see some paint has been lost near nine on the hour disc. To make the watch dial more symmetrical the case offsets the movement to make the area to read the time more central – very clever. The dial is textured and machined alloy, so those lines really stand proud. The white plastic strap is still supple and has a clip to keep the tail in place, something we have only seen once before (also for a watch sold in Basel). You could opt to add a black strap, as the 18mm lugs allow a lot of choice.
This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.
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SIZE
Width with crown 41.9 mm
Width without crown 40.1 mm
Between lugs 18 mm
Lug to lug length 37.5 mm
Case Thickness 11.2 mm
All sizes are approximate.
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