Just like the Japanese Miyota 9015, the Swiss Sellita SW200 and Swiss SELLITA SW200-1a are also a popular alternative for the now very rare ETA 2824-2 movement. ETA, a subsidiary of the Swatch Group, announced in 2003 in consultation with the Swiss Competition Commission WeKo that in future only its own Swatch Group brands and smaller manufacturers would be supplied with watch movements. After this announcement there was uncertainty in the watch industry and many manufacturers who used ETA movements in their watches had to look for alternatives. Companies such as Sellita or STP used this opportunity (and the expired patent protection of the ETA 2824-2 and other ETA calibers) to bring almost identical movements onto the market and thus expand their own business.
Sellita – From a reassembly company to the second largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements in Europe
Sellita was founded in 1950 by Pierre Grandjean in La Chaux-de-Fonds in French-speaking Switzerland. The high demand for Swiss watches in the years of the economic boom also spurred the business of the former reassembly company, which assembled standard calibres in series according to individual customer requirements. At that time, Sellita did not yet have its own production of parts. Even then, Pierre Grandjean was already specializing, among other things, in movements whose construction were similar to ETA, and over the next few years continued to optimize the assembly of the movements. Inventions such as the laser welding process for attaching the hairspring to the balance wheel, for example, come from Sellita.
When the patent for the ETA caliber 2824-2 expired in 2003 and ETA also announced that it would shorten deliveries to third-party customers, Pierre Grandjean decided that Sellita had to take a new direction: instead of just assembling the individual movement components as before, the most important parts of the movements should also be manufactured in-house. Grandjean entrusted his then operations manager, Miguel Garcia, with the implementation of this project. This then initiated the construction of a production facility for replicas of all components of ETA automatic calibers such as the 2824-2, which came onto the market a little later as the Sellita SW 200-1.
The plan worked and the replicas of the ETA movements were so popular that Sellita quickly reached its capacity limits. In the next few years, therefore, additional production facilities were built to meet the increasing demand for the popular and high-quality Sellita movements. The Sellita subsidiary Technicor, for example, has specialized in the decoration and mechanical finishing of watch movement components and has the largest fully automatic electroplating plant in Switzerland.
Today Sellita is the second largest manufacturer of mechanical watch movements in Europe. The replicas are matching the quality of the ETA originals and are available for both large and small manufacturers. Sellita attaches great importance to being independent and not just specializing in supplying certain brands. Since Sellita consequently also supplies competing brands, discretion is important to the company in order to protect the interests of its customers.
Technical specifications of the Sellita SW200-1
The Sellita SW200-1 is a round caliber with mechanical lever movement and automatic winding. Thanks to the 28,800 vibrations per hour, the second hand runs very smoothly. The movement has an hour, minute and large seconds hand as well as a date display. The winding shaft has three different positions: the first is manual winding, the second is for quick date correction and the third is for the hand position. Thanks to the stop-second, the time can be set precisely.
The Sellita SW200-1 also has a ball-bearing rotor with high elevator efficiency.
The specification of the Sellita SW200-1 movement again at a glance:
- Diameter: 26.00 mm
- Height: 4.6 mm
- Accuracy: according to quality level, see table
- Power reserve: 38 hours
- Frequency: 28800 A/h
- Bearing jewels: 26 jewels
Sellita SW200-1: Quality levels
Since Sellita has taken over the quality levels from ETA, the Sellita SW200-1 as well as the ETA 2824-2 are available in four different quality levels, namely Standard, Spécial or Elaboré, Prémium or Top and Chronomètre. The differences mainly concern the balance, the shock protection and of course the accuracy.
Aquatrident watch collection Neptune, model AQ-230030 use Swiss SELLITA SW200-1a movement.
SW200-1a Specifications
Automatic Movement
Vibrations PH: 28,800
Power Reserve: 41 Hours
Jewels: 26
Novodiac anti-shock device
Hacking Seconds
Handwinding
Quickset Date
