R-1969
Born in Switzerland. Raised in England.
The Revival 1969 (R-1969) is Pinion’s first chronograph wristwatch that is powered by the iconic hand wound Valjoux 7734 movement is limited to only 100 pieces and allows the wearer to see time on both sides of the watch.
On the front, present time. Hours, minutes, seconds and date display – along with classic chronograph stopwatch registers – appear against a multi-layer, contrast finished black dial with milled, polished and applied indexes and numerals.
On the reverse of the watch and visible in full through the grey smoked glass exhibition case back, we see time as it was measured in the past, in the form of a beautiful new-old-stock Valjoux 7734 hand-wound movement from 1969.
43mm
100 metres
Hand wound
22mm
“How do you bring some- thing from 1969 up to date without changing anything? We secured a very rare stock of movements still in their unused and unassembled (ebauché) condition. So we started with what we had and built out from there”.
– Piers Berry, Pinion Founder.
Design
In terms of the aesthetics Pinion designed the R-1969 to reference 20th-century vintage chronographs, but with a 21st-century twist. Hence the ‘Superdome’ double bezel and convex anti-reflective crystal combination and a very wearable, modern yet modest 43mm size.
With the dependability of the Valjoux 7734 movement comes the practicality to wear the R-1969 every day. So for the watch case Pinion chose 316L stainless steel. It’s hard, strong, highly resistant to corrosion and has excellent hypoallergenic properties. As an added bonus it also polishes up to a stunning reflective finish.
New old stock Valjoux 7734
Revered for its ruggedness and reliability the hand wound Valjoux 7734 movement was (and still is) one of the most dependable watch engines of its era.
The movements used in the R-1969 production were all made in 1969 but never assembled or put into a watch. That is, until now.
Hand wound
A hand wound chronograph invites and requires a high degree of human interaction. So the ‘contact points’ become important from an ergonomic and operational point of view.
That’s why Pinion paid particular attention to designing and making their bespoke pushers and crown to provide an affirmative action and wearer feedback.
R-1969 specifications
FUNCTIONS
- Time in hours, minutes, seconds. Date display.
- Chronograph function with 60-seconds and 60 minutes timing.
MOVEMENT
- Hand wound Valjoux 7734 movement ( new-old-stock ).
- 17 Jewels.
- Frequency: 18,800 vibrations per hour.
- Pinion decorated bridge
- 38 hour power reserve.
CASE
- Stainless steel polished finish. 43mm (excluding crown).
- Stainless steel crown with Pinion motif.
- Steel pushers, polished finish.
- Smoked glass exhibition back engraved and numbered.
GLASS
- Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating (inside only).
DIAL
- Painted dial with applied numerals / indexes filled with Swiss Superluminova® coating SLN C1-GL.
HANDS
- Coated brass hands with Swiss Superluminova® coating (hour, minutes, chronograph seconds).
WATER RESISTANCE
- 10 ATM, 100 metres.
STRAP
- 22mm leather strap with Pinion steel buckle.
DIAMETER (A)
- 43mm excluding crown
- 45mm including crown
LENGTH (B)
- 52mm total length
HEIGHT (C)
- 14mm height ( case back to crystal )
STRAP (D)
- 22mm lug width
WEIGHT
- Approx. 92g without strap
- Approx. 108g with strap
