Vintage
Ed. W shares a deeply personal account of rediscovering his grandfather's Klaiber Automatic, a watch that had been dormant for decades. This narrative highlights the emotional value of heirloom timepieces and the surprising resilience of vintage movements. His journey to revive this family treasure offers a compelling look at the enduring legacy of watches and the joy of mechanical restoration.
Back in junior high, I repeatedly stumbled upon an old ugly watch that didn't run. It said "Klaiber Automatic - 17 Jewels Waterproof Incalboc - Swiss Made" on the dial. This was a few years ago and before I knew much about any type of watch.
This winter, while visiting home, I dug out the watch and learned that it was my grandfather's "getting-into-college" gift for my dad from 1982, and that it had been lying in the storage room for at least 20 years. I gave it a few winds and shakes and it didn't seem to work, so I opened the case back and immediately was greeted by a whirling noise (presumably the mainspring unwinding). With the back open, I gave it a few more winds and to my surprise, after 30 years, it ran again.
ETA 2789
To my surprise, there was no visible corrosion in the movement which was good enough for me. The rubber gaskets had completely disintegrated and stuck onto the case and caseback and the nickel plating on the brass case had worn off significantly. The spring bars had also failed and the shoddy bracelet was very loose. To my delight, the unmodified and bare ETA 2789 movement (ancestor of the ubiquitous 2824) was the higher 25 jewel version instead of the 17 jewel as indicated on the dial. The lume even still glowed, albeit very weakly.
25 Jewels!
First thing the next day I braved the Beijing cold and searched for a watchmaker who would service the movement. The first two turned me down outright, saying "it couldn't be done", which was ludicrous since over 25 million of the movement had been made and spare parts would be easy to find. The third told me it would take 2 months, much too long since I was coming back to the US. Finally I found a shop with two southern Chinese watchmakers who would service the movement and replace the deteriorated crown for 120 dollars. "Are you in a hurry?" he asked with a thick southern accent. "Kind of, what do you mean?" I asked, slightly confused. "Well, if you're in a hurry come on Monday (in 2 days), if not, come on Tuesday." I quickly said "I'll come tuesday after work", took the receipt, and left.
No corrosion anywhere
On Tuesday, I picked up the watch which was running strong as it did some 30 years ago. With some self adjustment I managed to get it to better than COSC (or even Patek Philippe seal) performance with a 260 degree amplitude. A new leather strap gave the watch that funky retro look.
Superb performance!
Brass base metal showing through nickel plating, case back is stainless steel
To think that my grandfather had spent what was at least several months wage on this watch is more than intriguing for me. Not only was this the dark ages of mechanical horology, it was the dark ages of China, when foreign goods could only be bought in a special store or while traveling abroad (an extremely rare phenomena at the time). I may not have been passed down a Patek or Vacheron, but thinking in context, this was arguably rarer in China than Patek in the west. It looks beat up and tattered, but in heart, it's still beating strong.
Wear it with all pride that it deserves. One point against the "anti-ETA" folks is that a mass made movement is so much easy to maintain (and source parts) than unique pieces. Now that you mentioned, my most accurate (time machine and daily use) is a Breitling Superocean that on inside carries a very pedestrian Breitling Caliber 17 that is based on the automatic ETA 2824-2. It was never regulated and it was acquired used. Cheers, Nilo
only for pieces at a certain price range. It is, however, difficult to argue with their performance qualities, regardless of price. I had a Breitling with the 2893-A2 (based on 2892) in it and it was great until i dropped it 1.5 feet onto its crown, basically destroying the movement.
So if you're in a hurry, 2 day turnaround. If you're crusin', 3 day turnaround. LOL I love that. # days is still quick! I love the look of your dad's watch. Reminds me of my old Bulova tuning fork from the 70's Wear it with memories and then pass it down as an heirloom :-) Aloha, Bob
... story for all those that have a drawer full of old watches. You have discovered a hidden gem with loads of history. So glad you found a watchmaker with the right amount of chutzpah to bring the watch back to its original glory. Congrats!!! - Scott
Thanks for sharing. It's heart warming to see bringing a piece of family history back to life. Btw, where is this watch maker in Beijing ?
The shop that says "swiss watch repair store" on the right, it's on the south end of the wangfujing pedestrian street. They seem to do pretty good work, although I wouldn't send anything too fancy over there. I've seen them work on Rolex, an omega pie pan, and my seiko (which he put a few very minor but 10x loupe visible scratches on the discus' discs). Another place that people recommend is 亨得利 (hengdeli) which is the giant watch dealer in wangfujing that carries all the high end brands, they h
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