Does anyone know when this type of electronic watch first hit the streets?

The watches have a jewelled mechanical movement with a balnce and hairspring, but work via a battery powered coil giving impulse to the balance.
I've Googled all over the web, but can find no info on them.

Does anyone have any Info on the maker 'Matthey Doret'?
I found a brief reference to the name being associated with the Tavannes watch Co, but no actual information on them.
Any information welcomed.

Regards
John

The Lanco Electronic movement

John

I only know about them in general terms. Electronic watches sort of "bridged the gap" between electric and quartz (i.e., solid state) watches. Most of them are not very fancy in terms of their technology. Maybe employing the occasional resistor or capacitor or diode. Sometimes there was just one component, just enough to technically call it an "electronic" watch. A few of the later ones might have a transistor, or a combination of the components listed earlier. Their heyday was brief -- from the late 1960s to about the mid 1970s when the cost of solid state quartz watches finally came down so as to be affordable by the average person. I am currently auctioning off a lot of 16 electronic watches that I have accumulated over the years. A couple of Hamiltons, a few Benrus, one Croton, one Invcta, etc. Some of them had really cool hands with "lightening bolts" for their design. But it was mostly flash over substance. They didn't last very long on the market. I don't know how reliable or accurate they were (maybe others here can speak to that) and I don't know if they are good candidates for restoration. My lot has only been bid up to $6.51, and only three people are watching this auction (with 3-1/2 days to go). So if that's any indication of their "collectibility," it doesn't appear too good. But they are interesting watches!

electronic watches

Looks like your reply spiked up the auction Bruce

Thanks for your opinion on these watches, I agree, they're certainly interesting.

I found a few of these in one of my parts bins, stuck batteries in them out of curiousity, and two fired up right off and have been going strong since.
Sound like Cicadas on speed!

Timing's not too bad (around 1 min per day gain), considering I've had them stored untouched for around a decade - they must be pretty gummed up too, as they're basically a jewelled mechanical movement.
Looks as if they were just shoved in a box when the batteries packed up, they're virtually unused!.

Still not been able to find anything out about Matthey Doret though.

Good luck with the auction, looks like it's picking up.

John

This post rang a bell for me. I just dug through one of my parts drawers and found four of these watches, new-old-stock. Same basic design but these are stainless with red dials. They still have stickers on the back. The stems are pulled out to shut them off. I took out one watch and pushed in the stem and it took right off.... That battery is at least ten years old!

See here --- for further info.

http://www.electric-watches.co.uk/


DM

Thanks for adding your comments René, amazing when they just fire up like that.

The watches I have here are still running great and I've not touched them apart from fitting new batteries and cleaning up the cases.

The Lanco gains a couple of minutes daily, so certainly needs a good service, and the Matthey has gained just a minute since my thread was first posted.

I've no idea how long they've actually lain unused with dead batteries in them.
They were just dumped in with a load of old 'dead' wristies which came from a retired watch repairer, maybe a decade and a half or so ago.

Dan, Great find that site, many thanks for posting it!
Surprising to see how many manufacturer's actually used this type movement.
Seems even Hamilton stuck their own label on a movement identical to the Lanco!

John.