Home Workshop Patek Czapek duplex quarter repeater movement review

Patek duplex quarter repeater movement review

Andrew Babanin

At my lovely fleamarket I found a nice pocket movement. It is jewelled through the hammers quarter repeater with quite rare duplex escapement. The movement is of the high grade level. I suppose it is a Patek Czapek, but i can be mistaken. The serial number is 4351- so it was produced in 1850-1855.

The only minor thing - second wheel was broken - for this moment I restored it. For the moment of getting pics it was removed from the movement. So there is no second hand.

The dial is in good condition - only almost invisible chip. Big second dial is common for high grade watches.

The bridges and parts are in near mint condition, repeater unit works perfectly, Duplex escapement is in ideal condition (even cylindrical jewel).

Notice high grade finishing of the hammers, steel parts.

Pay attention to the duplex wheel. It is made of steel (mostly it is made of brass), finished till the black polishing. Cap jewel is pressed in gold chaton.

Duplex balance wheel has a pallette and ruby cylinder - to minimise friction and to increase periods between servicings. Unfortunately, it is the most fragile part of the balance. To minimise power losses cylinder should be made of agate or ruby. Also it should be of small diameter. The axis inside the jewel is also very tiny. The balance wheel is big, so the pivot suffers quite big forces. I've got a few duplex watches but this is the only with working original duplex.

As to repeat works - racks are made in high quality edition. It has "All or nothing" device, allowing repeater to strike only after full wind of repeater mainspring.

To understand the difference between high grade and low end repeaters visit my review on the cheap repeaters.

To compare I also put pics of High Grade LeCoultre quarter repeater, also jewelled through the hammers.

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25.03.2011
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