CERTINA Chronolympic Automatic - Vintage Like Fine Wine or Frankenstein?

Vintage watch love often reaches an area of compromise, since the pieces that we look for are seldomly in perfect condition, affordable and available at the same time. Most vintage enthusiasts can live with a scratch or two, but how about “unoriginal” parts? The whole topic spawned its own nickname: a Frankenwatch is considered to be a negative tag, usually assigned to pieces that are largely comprised of unauthentic parts, may they be from a different period of the brand’s history or from another watch model entirely.
In this video, I will initially talk about the subject of a Frankenwatch and explain why this doesn’t have to be a completely bad thing. Case in point is my own vintage Certina Chronolympic from the late 70s (Ref. 674 3559 41), that sports a crown and caseback from another brand (Mido). I’ll dig into the brand’s history and explain, why a Mido crown and caseback is not a far-fetched idea.

Additionally I’ll present you with the Chronolympic’s own history as part of an expedition to Mt. Everest and how the Swiss watch industry came together in the 70s to form the General Watch Company.
Finally, the model of the Certina Chronolympic, that I have in my collection, will be described in detail (case and leather strap, dimensions, watch face, functions and movement).

Clip of “The Man Who Skied Down Everest” from encore+, YouTube (uploaded in 2017):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEZzPU_czro

Picture of the film cover “The Man Who Skied Down Everest from:
www.imdb.com

Pictures of Yuichiro Miura as well as the Longines, Technos, Mido and Rado version analogous to the Certina Chronolympic as well as the picture of the Certina branded-rotor from:
www.vintagecertinas.ch

Picture of the Ebauches SA and Reymond Frères SA logo from:
https://www.uhren-wiki.de/Valjoux.php

Product pictures of the Certina Chronolympic (complete with authentic crown/caseback/bracelet) with courtesy of:
www.watches83.com

This video was not sponsored and the video footage stems (if not explicitly specified otherwise) solely from my own watch.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro on Frankenwatches
2:08 Certina Brand and Model History
3:58 Why the Mido Crown & Caseback?
5:50 Watch Case, Face and Functions
8:45 Movement (Valjoux 7750)
10:08 Price & Conclusion

#certina

Видео CERTINA Chronolympic Automatic - Vintage Like Fine Wine or Frankenstein? канала TiMEworn