The existing beautiful dial should be used
imitation Rolex watches
The existing beautiful dial should be used, which fixes the placement of the chronograph hands. Last but not least the movement should not gain much height, since that would make the use of the platinum case impossible. Is it any wonder this challenge kept a master watchmaker working for eight years?
Since the movement was not intended to be fitted with a timereserve mechanism, the end of the coupling lever became increasingly thin and curvy until its final form was realized. Here is a description of some of the many details of this highly complicated lever:
• This slot serves two purposes during the resetting procedure: First, it moves the coupling lever out of the power train during resetting (via reset lever); second, it also moves the click of the chronograph minute wheel (this click ensures proper positioning of the minute wheel).
• In this hole the operating lever for the jumping minute counter is mounted and coupled in and out of the power train.
• This small indentation helps to control the depth of the allowed movement of the coupling lever. It is adjusted by an eccentric screw mounted on the movement plate.
• Here the jewel for the intermediate wheel is fixed.
• Bow, necessary to guide coupling lever around blocking lever.
• Beak that interacts with the column wheel through which the lever is operated.
The Jumping Minute Counter As mentioned before, the existing case should be kept. This means that the additional chronograph should not “overegg the pudding” too much. One measure to minimize the need for space and fitting points was the use of a jumping minute counter, which by the way counts a full hour instead of being limited to thirty or forty-five minutes.
Since such a construction utilizes levers to transport the motion of the center seconds counter to the minute counter, Gerber was more flexible with the placement of the axes. Additionally, less energy is needed. The chronograph minute indication is located concentrically to the continuous small seconds at 6 o’clock. That means that the counted time is transported from the drive wheel on the seconds arbor of the base movement via the intermediate (coupling) wheel to the chronograph wheel (in the center). From here, the impulses for the elapsed minutes are passed back to the chronograph minute wheel, via a snail mounted on the arbor of the chronograph center wheel. This is a more complicated, technically challenging and elegant solution than the common semi-in-stantaneous minute counter, where a finger on the chronograph wheel flicks an intermediate minute counter wheel once per minute.
The jumping minutes counter principle is similar to a retrograde seconds mechanism—to some degree: A lever gauges the snail fixed on the chronograph center wheel. After fifty-nine seconds it falls back to the zero position, thereby using this energy to transport the chronograph minute wheel one unit forward (read: one minute indication). Such a jumping construction demonstrates a charming perfectionism: technically not necessary, but aesthetically a ne plus ultra, especially if viewed from the movement side.
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