The history of the Sicura watch brand

Sicura is one of the most important brands in the world of large, vintage and affordable watches.

Sicura originated from a company called "Joh. Gobber, Horlogerie" established in 1939. And then supposedly in 1951 the company was listed as "Sicura, Joh. Gobber" and finally the 2 May 1955 the company can be found in the Swiss Handelsregister as "Montres Sicura SA".

Ad from 1949 from Joh. Gobber with the Sicura brand on the watches.
Click to view this nice ad in hi-res. Source: eBay seller groovedetector1966

Watch ad from 1956 using the brand name Sicura

Sicura watch ad from 1959 promoting Sicura as "your specialist for calendar and bangle watches".

The company was owned by a Théodore Sfaellos and when he died in the beginning of the 1960s Sicura was taken over by his son-in-law Ernest Frédéric Schneider.

Ernest Schneider at his desk

Ernest Schneider - the godfather of Sicura watches in the 60s and 70s

Ernest Schneider was born in 1921 and thus was around 40 years old when he took over Sicura. He had been in the Swiss Army since the age of 20 and ended as an officer in the 10th Brigade. Ernest Schneider became the driving force behind Sicuras growth and a maker of affordable watches that followed the latest trends. The watch cases were often brass plated metal with standard pin-lever movements to keep production cost and prices low.

Ernest Schneider was a pilot himself (yes, this a newer picture were Ernest wears a Breitling cap)

Ernest Schneider, owner and CEO for Sicura and later Breitling 

Sicura watch ads from 1970 and 1971

Sicura coat-of-arms on the backcase.

Sicura ad from 1974. In the 70s Sicura popularized watches with "digital" displays and simple mechanical movements. 

Sicura watch brochure from 1975. Download as pdf here.
This is very important in documenting original Sicura watches.

What we know from this fantastic brochure is that Sicura SA in 1975 had four watch assembly factories, one case factory and one jewel factory, employed 450 people and produced more than 1 million watches per year. In 1975 almost all the watches in the brochure had mechanical movements and a few had electromechanical - no quartz yet.

These ads from 1977 shows that Sicura later produced watches with quartz movements and LCD displays. Sicura also introduced the "Stunt Watch" with "Sicura Quartz" which is said to be sold into the 80s.

Sicura ad from 1977 with quartz watches. Sicura also used the brand "Sikato" for their watches with LCD-display.

Sicura ad from 1977 with a solar powered quartz watch with LCD

As a consequence of the quartz crisis the watch company Breitling suspended operations in 1978, laidoff all workers and sold their assets to the highest bidders - Sinn bought completed / partially completed watches and Ollech & Wajs bought the machinery and unassembled parts. And in April 1979 Ernest Schneider from Sicura signed an agreement with Willy Breitling to buy the right to the names "Breitling" and "Navitimer".

I think Ernest Schneider with Sicura had been better than most to navigate through the turbulent times and the quartz crisis in the 70s. He was a master in adapting and deliver what the consumers wanted - inexpensive fashion watches - check, affordable watches with digital displays - check, large colorful divers with lots of functions - check, quartz watches - check. When he saw the opportunity to buy one of the old, well esteemed watch brands this was an opportunity not to be missed.

Ernest Schneider, owner and CEO for Sicura and later Breitling

Ernest Schneider introduced new models and breathed new life into Breitling with succes and during a few years the brand Sicura was phased out and Sicura became Breitling. At 29 Nov 1993 Montres Sicura AG officially changed its name to Breitling AG. Ernest Schneider continued as President for Breitling until his death in 2015 at the remarkable age of 94. Ernest' son Theodore Schneider today is the owner and undisputed leader of Breitling.

Ernest Schneider with daughter Valérie Reboul-Schneider and son-in-law Rémy Reboul in front of château d'Estoublon which Ernest bought and Válerie and Rémy has turned into a renowned producer of quality olive oil, wine etc. But that's a totally different story.

Thanks to these super sources:
www.fhs.ch/eng/2015_05_28_02_Breitling.html
www.lagruyere.ch/nachrufe/ernest-schneider.html
www.moneyhouse.ch/u/breitling_ag_CH-254.3.000.140-4.htm
breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16070
www.welt.de/print/die_welt/vermischtes/article119338772/Sei-nur-zufrieden-mit-Perfektion.html
www.sometimeago.com/the-smaller-watch-brands-sicura/
forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?204623-1975-Sicura-brochure-Retrotastic!
thedigitalwatch.com/articles-ads-media/media-n-z/media-n-z-vintage/
www.sometimeago.com/the-smaller-watch-brands-sicura/
70swatchesgallery.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/sicura-squared-box-brochure/
www.breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23072

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Citizen compressor-style watches from the 70s

I have researched Citizen for some time. It seems they only made very few models in the 60s or 70s that had a watch case at 42 mm or larger. And these models are undeniably cool.

Citizen 51-1811 Diver and Aviator

Dial: Citizen Automatic 21 Jewels
Movement 8200A, introduced in 1975
Width: app. 42-43 mm
Length: app. 46 mm
Cushion-style case.
Two crowns and rotable internal bezel which gives the watch a resemblance to a large super compressor.

Examples of different color combinations which are supposed to be ok:

Vintagecitizenwatches.com calls this model for the aviator.

According to this discussion at Watchuseek some combinations of bezels and dials are more likely to be Frankenwatches. Please note that this is not confirmed. Coincidentally they are from the same eBay-seller... Examples:

I'll like to add this version as a possible Franken. It has "Custom V2 23 Jewels" on the dial. The 8200A movement has 21 jewels...

Citizen 61-5111

Dial: Citizen Water100Mproof Automatic 21 jewels
Movement
Width: app 42 mm
Super discussion here.

And a version with red dial:

The models with "Seven Star" on the dial seems to have the same large watch case. A blue:

And a silver dial:

Citizen 61-5773 Diver

Dial: Citizen Seven Star, Para100MWater, 23 jewels

  OR Citizen, Water100MProof, Automatic, 21 jewels

Width: app. 42 mm

Length: ?
Cushion-style case.

See pictures here: Sweephand

Citizen 68-0516 GMT Worldtimer

Dial: Citizen Automatic 21 Jewels
Movement 7450, introduced in 1971
Width: app. 42 mm
Length: app. 46 mm
Cushion-style case.
Great article here.

Two different color combinations:

Citizen 63-0314 Record Master

Width: app. 43 mm
Length: app. 45 mm
Black case.

The Spaceman and the Record Master side by side:

Citizen 67-9178 Spaceman Chronograph

Dial: Citizen Chronograph Automatic 23 Jewels
Movement 8110
Width: app. 42 mm
Length: app. 45 mm
Black case.

A black and a white dialed version:

At this link are Citizen catalogs from 1974, 1977 and 1979 but strangely not one mention one of the watches above.

Other vintage Citizens

All other vintage Citizens seems to be smaller than 42 mm.

Including 52-0110 diver (41 mm), 67-5172 Moon Dater (40 mm) and all Citizen bullheads. 

How to date a Citizen watch

On the back case of a vintage Citizen watch from the 70s there are typically several rows with numbers.

Blogger Sweephand is one of the leading experts on vintage Citizen's. Illustration from Sweephand:

Quote from Sweephand with my comments in brackets:

The key is knowing which decade the watch was produced in, and the Movement Table is useful for determining that. (The watch above is from the 70s).

The first three numbers in the serial are used for the date – the first number is the year. (Thus the watch above is from "3" = 1973 and "11" = november).

One more example:

This watch is a 51-1811 and has a caliber 8200A movement produced from 1975. The serial is "0" = 1980 and "03" = march.

And one more 51-1811:

This watch is from "8" = 1978 and "08" = august.

The Coriental watch brand

Not much is known. The brand Coriental is not even listed in Mikrolisk.

I have only found a few Coriental watches on the net:

If you take away the first "C" and last "AL" it spells "ORIENT"...

It seems to be a common assumption that brand names like CORIENTAL, ASEIKON, BASEIKONE, LESEIKORI and ACITIZENO for some reason where invented to take advantage of the rising popularity of japanese watch brands in the 70s. 

Some speculate that the buyers could wipe out the first and last letters and then pretend to have a genuine ORIENT or SEIKO. And then my Coriental would end up looking something like this:

It's not centered on the watch and it would still have the characteristic logo stripe. It doesn't make sense. Maybe Coriental did start out as a homage/cheat brand but eventually grew into a brand in its own right?

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time watch

For some time I have noticed different watches with the same large watch case. I believe I got really lucky with a specimen bought from Portugal. After gentle cleaning it looks to be in almost mint condition. And the price was only 30 EUR.

The watch measures:
Width: 42 mm
Length: 47,5 mm
Height: 12,9 mm
Lug width: 22 mm

Some pictures from the ad on eBay:

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

On the nice, shiny steel blue dial it says: Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic. It has an internal non-rotating bezel with cities of the world, thus the seller referred to the watch as a ”World Time”.

In the internal bezel it has a cut-out hole where the month can be read. The month can be set by turning the lower crown. Rather interesting arrangement and it adds a fine splash of red to the design. The months are in Spanish – nice to have a watch that say “mayo” and “julio”.

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

The back-case could easily be opened using the method with a rubber ball.

On the movement it says: ONE 1 JEWEL UNADJUSTED SWISS PARTS.

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Using Ranfft the movement looks almost exactly like a Baumgartner 866. This dates the watch to late 70s or early 80s. In one forum-post it is called the ‘Hong Kong jumbo’ watch, which supposedly were sold up to 1985.

The Coriental watch has probably been assembled in Hong Kong. But why Swiss parts are used for the movement is still unclear to me. Why not make the entire watch in the east?

The watch came without a strap or bracelet. I have put it together with a steel bracelet which gives it a very classical Rolex-like look. But larger at 42 mm and with a fun history.

Wrist shots:

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Coriental Calendar Antimagnetic World Time

Large vintage watches are in fashion

The traffic at this blog is growing every day! Thanks, Google!

Enigma from G. Gerlach, a new classic

Off topic: Small independent polish watch designer G. Gerlach has started a new project, the Enigma. The watch is expected to be finished in Q2 of 2015.

It caught my eye because of the clear references to classic 60/70s chronographs, a cushion case and an overall pleasing design. The size has been updated to a perfect 43 mm wide x 49 mm long.

 

It is fun to follow the process as the different parts of the watch are made. What has been revealed so far is watch case prototypes and dial prototype. It will be available in several color combinations.

 

 

Follow the advances at G. Gerlach's Facebook-page, at these threads on Watch Freeks and on Watchuseek.

The price will be a modest 205 Euros. Yes, I have a preordered one. Looking forward to see it in real life.

UPDATE: The Enigma has now been released. Read a very nice review of the Enigma here.
After much research and many considerations I have ordered the black version... still waiting for delivery, though.

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