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541
Very interesting and a piece of chronograph history.
Apr 11, 2020,10:31 AM
The Lemania 5100 movement was a true work horse utilized by brands as Omega, Fortis, Sinn and Tutima.
This was to my knowledge the only movement with stop seconds and minutes from the center. The pilar construction is ready to work with and robust, but not the most beautiful I have seen.
When it comes to dropping, I believe the rather flimsy construction contributes to not being the most robust watch in the class - and the marketing was mainly as a pilot’s watch more than a field watch. But some robustness was achieved through the polar construction and the use of some shock absorbing plastic parts.
Remember that it came in the first years after the quartz revolution, when the ultimate chronograph movements were lemania/Omega 1873 (Omega 861) and the only automatics were Valjoux (ETA) 7750 and Zenith El Primero (“the first”). Lemania noticed a market for a less expensive movement.
Definitely not a shiny object and nothing to show through a glass back, its days were over when Swatch group acquired Lemania.
A true classic, I like it for what it is - like a diesel engine supposed to run a million miles with little maintenance.
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TGI Freitag
By: Brandon Skinner : April 10th, 2020-12:46
...
Thank you!
By: Brandon Skinner : April 10th, 2020-15:08
Hope you're having a great Friday with that amazing 7097 of yours. That #1 on "the list"🙂.
I agree with you...
By: Cpt Scarlet : April 10th, 2020-15:12
Who cares what others think. Many thanks, have a great weekend.
Yes it is!
By: Brandon Skinner : April 10th, 2020-22:12
On the watch, all hands in orange relate to the chrono. Central axis is seconds and the minutes is represented with the airplane hand. The hours are down in the 6 o'clock subdial. The 9 o'clock subial is the running seconds for the time, and the 12 o'cloc...
The strap is well paired
By: gup502 : April 10th, 2020-19:51
I used to own one of these. The chronograph minute indication is very cool. The chronograph pushers are discrete. No one seems to care about it? Only because this movement (Lemania 5100 if I remember correctly) is no longer available. I dropped mine on th...
When you think about it...
By: Brandon Skinner : April 10th, 2020-22:10
What mechanical watch is really suited to be dropped? The answer really is none. You might say a watch like the Extreme Lab 2 addressed it, but with that watch when wishing to do something "Extreme", you lock up the entire escapement. That is great, it ke...
Very interesting and a piece of chronograph history.
By: xyz123abc : April 11th, 2020-10:31
The Lemania 5100 movement was a true work horse utilized by brands as Omega, Fortis, Sinn and Tutima. This was to my knowledge the only movement with stop seconds and minutes from the center. The pilar construction is ready to work with and robust, but no...
Water resistance?
By: Blesk : April 11th, 2020-20:54
I’m guessing 3 ATM (30m) because of the pushers letting water in. That to me is the challenge with making a military watch - Chrono functions AND decent water resistance (100m to be able to take it down a few meters). But the Chrono is superb and the cent...
About the 1%
By: Brandon Skinner : April 11th, 2020-21:10
It's a shame there are not more as this is by far the most functional and legible way to go