A lesser known Swiss

Omodox — from the Lengnau watch factory

March 31, 2024
Omodox advert

Omodox advert from the '70s, Source: Davoine Vol. IV

Omodox was founded by Uhrwerke Lengnau (Lengnau watch factory) around 1946. Lengnau (Postal code 2543, refer to image 2), now a municipality under the district of Bienne in Switzerland, transformed from a farming village to a watchmaking town during the 19th century. This town is now the headquarters of some fine Swiss watchmakers including Rado.

Omodox watch @thephysicsgrad
The star of the show — my Omodox

Coming back to Omodox, their watches gained popularity in the European countries and also were being imported to Brazil, Argentina and our India. It stopped the watch production somewhere in the early ‘70s. In 1986 the brand was sold to Delma Watch Limited and they owned the trademark for 30 years.

Texts on Omodox caseback
Texts on the case back 
Omodox watch with case back open
The inside is also beautiful, innit? 

The watch features an FHF calibre 67, specifically the 21 jewels variant. The case back includes many texts among which the “antimagnetic” seems the most interesting to me. Apparently, it’s the hairspring that’s antimagnetic, well to a greater extent than the normal steel ones. This calibre uses a Nivarox grade 1 hairspring that contains around 48% cobalt giving its blue colour.

FHF calibre 67 inside Omodox watch
Notice the blue hairspring?

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References

Appreciation

Thanks to @post_card_stories and @timekeepr.in for helping me with the history

Archived from Instagram post on May 6, 2024.