WITTNAUER FUTURAMA SECTORA FLYBACK RETROGRADE JUMP HOUR 1972
The ingenious flyback Wittnauer Futurama is an amazing "Retrograde" concept that is considered to be a jump hour. It is rare to some extent and one of the most expensive jump hours. A few dial versions were made: black+gold, gold+grey or silver+yellow trim as pictured. It features a robust 28.800-beat automatic ETA2784 power-horse with flyback module applied on top. There is no reference in any literature on the inventor of this module but it can be found in other similar watches including the famous Lip Secteur and a few obscure brands (also revived recently in a modern quartz Jean d'Eve). The ETA movement and most of its derived calibres are produced unchanged until today so spare parts are easy to find. The jumping functionality is simple but requires some insight for easier troubleshooting during repairs.
As shown on the animation to the right there are two spring-loaded "cranes" that travel along the edges of two spiral-shaped discs fitted like standard hands correspondingly to the minute and hour pinions. With the rotation of the pinions each crane is raised gradually and moves the hands by means of two gears tensioned by two springs. Once a pin on the crane reaches the peak of the spiral disc - it falls down resulting in the hand being rapidly moved upwards to the top of the dial. Hint: A special hole in the minute disc gives access to an adjustment screw on the hour disc and allows to match the flyback moment at 12:00 when both hands should jump simultaneously. Adjusting the date to jump at 12:00 requires proper fitting of both disc on the pinions. PS. The only original box is shown below, common for Wittnauer watches from 1972-76.
Keywords:
wittnauer jump hour, futurama, sectora
Market value:
300-1500$ (dial version, condition, box)