Ειναι μηχανανισμος που φορουν αρκετα ρολογια οπως και ενα δικο μου Swiss Military Hanowa Sealander automatic 5-4095.04.007
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http://www.tractionink.com/watch_wiki/index.php?title=Claro-Semag Claro-Semag
History of Claro-Semag
In 1961, George J. von Burg founded CLARO Watch S.A. in Bienne, Switzerland for the finishing of pin lever mechanical movements and assembly of complete watches under various brands. He then bought SEMAG, a manufacturer of ebauches and movement parts. Semag's calibres bore the designation 'ES'. They were mostly hand-winding and finished to a variety of specifications from 1 jewel pin-lever to 17 jewel jewelled-lever. Some examples may be seen on Christoph Lorenz's movement database:
http://www.christophlorenz.de/watch/movements/s/semag/semag_es_95.php?l=enhttp://www.christophlorenz.de/watch/movements/unknown/unknown_swiss_parts_kienzle.php?l=enhttp://www.christophlorenz.de/watch/movements/p/pg_time/pg_time_e355.php?l=enA search of Roland Ranfft's movement database for 'Claro' shows several Ronda calibres, both pin- and jewelled-lever.
These two references contrast the activities of Semag (movement maker) and Claro (movement finisher). However complete watches bearing the 'SEMAG' brand have been made, including one with what appear to be a Semag-finished A. Schild calibre.
Von Burg also established Swiss Ebauches Ltd, Hong Kong, for the finishing of Semag movements and possibly other lower-grade Swiss movements for the Asian market. Swiss Ebauches should not be confused with Technica Swiss Ebauches.
There are other Far Eastern connections in the Claro-Semag story. During the 1970s, some Sea-Gull watches were made with what seems to be an early calibre ES with 19 jewels and a pin-lever escapement. Whether these were assembled in Tianjin, or by Sea-Gull's Hong Kong partners is unknown. The making of pin-levers seems inconsistent with Tianjin Watch Factory's other activities in this period. In North Korea, possibly in the 1980s, 'Peony Mountain' watches were made with a 17 jewel jewelled-lever movement identical to a later version of the ES.
In the 1980s, Claro-Semag began production of quartz movements. Recently they were bought by international fashion-watch brand Fossil, who also own the Zodiac brand of Swiss watches.
The new calibre CL-888
The following is quoted from 'Isthmus', the Seiko Forum Moderator at Watchuseek.com.
"Claro-Semag is Fossil's Switzerland based in-house mechanical movement 'manufacturer'. They produce a movement called the CL-888 which is used in Fossil's Zodiac Oceanaire divers, several other Fossils and is also sold to other brands. The watches are solid and most have reported nice solid performance from their movements.
"However a few eagle eyed tinkerers have also reported that the movement is the same movement as the Chinese Tianjin ST16. Now Tianjin Sea-Gull is about the most respected Chinese brand at the moment... this particular movement does a good job of integrating some of the better ideas of several movements out there.
"The thing is that the CL-888 only differs from the ST16 in its finishing. Since most likely that finishing is performed in Switzerland, by someone getting paid swiss wages, it is quite likely that that is what pushes the value of the Swiss part of the watch past the magic 50% mark. The end result is that Fossil is able to use a Chinese movement in a (very nice) watch and legally call it Swiss. I have a feeling that much of the case work is probably achieved in similar fashion, thus allowing them to write Swiss Made on the dial."
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=130834&highlight=ClaroWhile the CL-888 is undoubtedly a 'Swiss Movement' under the law, some watch enthusiasts have been concerned by the possibility of a Chinese designed, Chinese built ebauche at the core of the movement. To counter this there have been some counter-claims to the effect that the design and all the parts originate in Switzerland.
One claim is that Claro-Semag, in the 1960s, was building this movement and selling it in Hong Kong, and the Chinese have subsequently copied the design. This begs the question as to why Sea-Gull waited until 1997 to first produce their 'copy'. This story also seems less likely in light of the fact that the auto-winding mechanism employed in the ST16 and CL-888 was patented by Seiko, and the patent remained in force until the 1970s. Thus Claro-Semag could only have built this movement if they had a license agreement with Seiko to use the Japanese technology. Regarding known Semag calibres of that period:
- The ES hand-wind calibres differ in every possible detail from the CL-888.
- There was a 'SEMAG'-branded watch made in the 1960s with a 25 jewel automatic movement of unknown designation which appears to have an indirect-seconds train layout very similar to the CL-888, however the plates are a noticeably different shape (in fact the CL-888 and ST16 most closly resemble a Citizen design from 1963!) ...and of course the auto-winding mechanism is completely different.
Another story is that the CL-888 is a resurrection of the Zenith 70 series, which was a Schild base calibre with a proprietory Zenith auto-winding mechanism. Not only does the Zenith 70 have a fundamentally different layout to the CL-888, but the Zenith winding mechanism is nothing like the system used in the CL-888.
A more in-depth review of the CL-888 can be found on the TimeZone Community forum archive:
http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=msg&th=950521&start=0&rid=65913
