Horological Meandering

Lemania Single Crown, Super Compressor cased watches

 

Friends,

 

We all know that Lemania is most known for their chronograph movements.

But what might be lesser known to the broad public are the Super Compressor cased time only watches Lemania made for divers!

Often when you read about single crowned Super Compressor cased watches people claim that they are rare…

I am not so sure of that.

Most of the times I think people don’t pay enough attention due to that they do not look like regular divers.

From the dial side there is no tell that these are Super Compressor case watches.

A trained eye will notice the somewhat sturdier case and thicker armed plexi.

Also the modest size of 35 mm helps camouflage these well.

Normally we see 36 mm or 42 mm Super Compressor cases, but since these do not have any inner rotating bezel, the case doesn’t need to be bigger…

A tell is that you might find these strapped on Tropical rubber.

Another tell, from the side you may notice the cross hatched pattern on the crown…

The first one I got, I didn’t even know that it was a Super Compressor case until I got the watch in my hands and turned it over…

Yes, because the case back tell a very different story than the dial side!

It actually spells it out – SUPER COMPRESSOR!

And the diving helmet enforces this as a diver’s watch.

Not long ago I made a comparison post on the Girard-Perregaux Deep Diver 9107 and the Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea E 558.

More traditional looking diver’s watches from the end of 1960’s and beginning of 1970’s.

Link here: www.watchprosite.com

That made me do an inventory of my Super Compressor cased watches and I realized that I actually have some Lemania that I should present more in details here…!

The problem is to find hard facts about these watches.

Not much is written…

So please bear with me, I am still trying to find more information about these watches!

 

General features:

Stainless steel Super Compressor case, as mentioned 35 mm in diameter,7 mm thick not including plexi, 11.5 mm including plexi,  44 mm from lug to lug and 18 mm between the lugs.

Screw down case back most of the time.  

Some Super Compressor cases use bayonet lock, (I have seen Enicar, both one and two crown cases).

Thicker armed plexi and cross hatched crown.

Lemania made several different watches with different dial configurations and movements.

 

First let’s have a look at the 941-65.

Nice and clean sunburst dial, steel hands and applied indexes.

Today most people would think this is a small dress watch…

Inside is a clean and strong manual wind Caliber 3000.

Sub-second, Incabloc, Breguet hair spring.

Not much of a decoration, but the copper plating makes the movement look quite nice.

Inside the case back it says 941-65.

This may indicate reference 941 and year 1965.

One document I saw in another forum long time ago dates Lemania movement numbers 1.47X.XXX to 1960.

The movement number of the 941-65 is 1.83X.XXX so 1965 sounds reasonable.

On the outside of the case back there is a lot of information.

Waterproof, Antimagnetic, Incabloc, Stainless Steel and of course Super Compressor!

Patent numbers 317537 and 337462 and the diving helmet.

Next let’s have a look on the 941-67.

Exactly the same dial but with copper hands and applied indexes.

Notice the Lemania crown in the logo is also copper, a very nice detail.

Same movement Caliber 3000 inside.

Movement serial number is 2.31X.XXX.

Inside case back: 941-67.

So, same reference but two years younger.

The outside of the case back looks exactly as the 941-65, see photo in the beginning of this post.

 

The third Lemania Super Compressor case with sub-second I have is the 920-63.

Different dial style, copper colored zone dial with a very nice circular pattern (unfortunately it doesn’t show in my photos).

Interesting is that this 920 have exactly the same case as the 941 or at least I can’t see any differences from the outside.

Normally when you see same case the watches have the same reference even if different dials.

Especially when it is, like in this case, the same movement inside: Caliber 3000.

Serial number 1.63X.XXX, so 1963 still hold toward the 1.47X.XXX/1960.

OK, should we have a look inside of the case back?

920-63 as expected but wait…

Underneath there is another row saying 2-64!

This is the way we normally see the two crown Super Compressor cases dates: Month-Year.

In this case that would be February 1964.

If this is the case, what do the -63 mean in the end of the reference?

Was the watch made in 1963 or 1964?

I have no answer for the year, but if you look closely you see that the 920 only have one notch on the inside rim while the two 941 have four?

This may explain the different references, since the cases have different constructions.

OK, let’s move forward and look at the outside of the case back.

A bit different layout but the information and the Brevet numbers are the same except for one detail.

Here the diving helmet includes the ESPA text.

ESPA, Ervin Piquerez S. A. who patented the Super Compressor case in 1956 (filed in 1954).

Still thinking about the reference/year question?

Here is one more for you: Lemania 920-62 with central second!

A very nice zone dial, alpha hands and with luminous material in both hands and numerals.

OK, same reference 920, but with different movements!

This time it is the Caliber 3060 inside.

Based on the Caliber 3000. Incabloc and Breguet hair spring but with central second.

See the “extra” bridge on top holding the central second gears.

Serial number 1.56X.XXX/1962 which hold to the 1.47X.XXX/1960 base line.

Now we already saw that the two last digits after the reference number may not be the year since we had the double rows in the previous 920…

If we look in the 920-62 we get…

Double rows as well!

920-62 and 6-62. June 1962.

So both say 62…

Also only one notch in the inside rim.

So even if different movements, the case of the two 920 are of the same construction.

Outside of the 920-62 is identical as the 920-63.

OK, now I have a theory:

These earlier 920 uses a different reference system.

920=the case, -63=Sub-second and -62=Central second.

The later 941 only use the three first for the reference and the two last for the year.

I might be completely wrong here, but that is the only logic I see as of now comparing reference numbers and movement serial numbers…

Hope someone can enlighten me here!

 

Just for the pleasure, I will end with some comparison shots.

Side view, I get a bit of JLC Geophysic wibe here….!

In fact the whole case is quite similar to the Geophysic.

941-65 and 941-67.

920-62 and 920-63.

Maybe not that rare after all but indeed hard to find information about!

 

Any Lemania experts here in the forum?

Please chip in!

 

Best

Blomman

This message has been edited by blomman on 2015-10-19 14:18:28

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