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I'm sorry for the English (and yes, I mean the English here), but every time I say "good god" I imagine it being uttered by an Englishman who has a monocle, a mustache, and mutton chops (as in the beard, not as in the meat).
As he says "good god", his monocle falls into a tea cup that he is holding in his right hand. The saucer is held by the left hand.
He also lives during the colonial era.
I know it is a caricature.
#English #Englishman #GoodGod #monocle #mustache #MuttonChops #tea #TeaCup #ColonialEra #caricature
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AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Wist – Strange Balance
By Dolphin Whisperer
“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.”
Remember way back in the days of radio? You might have been on a road trip before with your family, and, freshly tasked with trying to find a station that works as you stray away from familiar territory, you turn the knob and land right in between two stations playing a song. It doesn’t sync up, but there’s a mystery to whether that noise worked. Try as you remember, though, you can’t find this balance between two stations again. Wist, I believe, feels this struggle, and with their sophomore outing Strange Balance, they explore the duality of their progressive and atmospheric black metal selves to see where it leads. Would you follow three black metal fans into the Epping Forest? What if they said their album only cost four pounds? Our brave riders thought it wise to say yes, and the results may surprise you. – Dolphin Whisperer
Wist // Strange Balance [June 24th, 2024]
Dr. A.N. Grier: London’s Wist is one hell of a weird atmoblack band. This three-piece outfit goes beyond the traditional Alcestian ways of working, introducing some rather interesting synth atmospheres that lend well to their weird progressive attitude. With their 2022 debut, Stone Still Settling, they only scratched the surface of their sound. With this year’s Strange Balance, they go for broke, shoving everything they can into this tiny album. The title track begins the album with a soothing, ethereal introduction that gets obliterated by a traditional frenzied atmoblack attack. Around the midpoint, it sidetracks to a bass and drum-heavy transition that feels overblown by the lofi production but stomps along all the same. After building for the next few minutes, the chaos fades and is replaced by gorgeous, reverberating acoustic guitars. For all of the opener’s diversity and interesting twists, “Betrayal” is the more divisive of the bunch. Opening with silly cackling the song erupts into gnarly guitars, gigantic, popping bass, and drum work that runs faster than a roadrunner. Using this simple riff structure, the band peppers it with reverberating guitars that feel like they are almost dancing over the surface. When the intensity peaks, the track fades away like its predecessor. In its wake doesn’t come acoustic guitars but Tangerine Dream-styled synth work. Unlike other bands of its caliber, this outro doesn’t have me gazing at my fat gut but instead has me looking to the dark sky to see if the stars are moving. And as if to signify that Strange Balance has always been here and we just walked into it, the instrumental closer, “The River Returning,” fades in with melodic, soothing guitars, adds multiple layers to the mix, and fades away as if driving down an abandoned dirt road. I wouldn’t say Strange Balance is balanced but it’s an interesting record with some unique twists I can get behind. Having never heard of Wist before, they are definitely on my radar and I’ll be looking to see what they do next. 3.0/5.0
Dear Hollow: There’s a lot going on with Wist. It’s black metal, sure, layered with a thick smog of modular synths and overlaying psychedelia à la Tangerine Dream. It’s like Pink Floyd decided to make a black metal album, but really liked Opeth’s acoustic breaks. What makes Wist stand out is that they firmly follow the ambient stylings of black metal or blackgaze but do their damnedest to stay trve to the kvlt in debut Strange Balance—the blackened cackles at the beginning of “Betrayal” would make Immortal blush. “Betrayal” is the wildest and best collision of its ’70s synth and ’90s second-wave black metal palettes, with bouncy 6/8 pagan rhythms and a chill noodling guitar line, only to collapse into a full-on blackened attack. While closer “The River Returning” also features a tasteful repetition and fades that together feels like a modernized rendition of the depressive “My Dying Bride” by ColdWorld. However, the opening title track is nearly impenetrable and painful in its densest synths overlaying high energy blastbeats and shrieks, even if its concluding acoustic passage is decent, and “Grendel” feels incredibly directionless in its fusion of slower DSBM and spacy synths, with a wonky off-key synth conclusion being its only redemption. Ultimately, Wist has some cool ideas that periodically work, but Strange Balance lives true to its name in disproportionately dense and threateningly boring sounds, violently yoinking black metal’s cranky history for an album that feels imbalanced but promising. 2.0/5.0
Dolphin Whisperer: The experience that conjures from the mystical and dated synth layers that Wist pushes against the hazy and shrill is one of an otherwordly atmosphere. In this metal world which we so valiantly occupy, it’s rare to find an album that skews both so alien and terrestrial in scope—a way in which Strange Balance breathes its name. Akin to the new age swells of Tangerine Dream, or similar punctuated by textural guitar works with Fripp & Eno, Wist finds an electronic, oscillating moan to accompany it’s cutting black metal works (“Strange Balance,” “Grendel”). Similar to modern explorations in this world by recent Krallice albums, Wist often finds a forward movement through tightly wound, treble-loads fretwork—a fuzz-loaded squeal, a bend that’s ever so slightly off, a percussive palm-mute more reminiscent of a Cynic slide than any trv kvlt act would hammer—and warbling, nasally fretless bass whines. On heavier sections, and particularly on the horror-tinged mania of “Betrayal,” Wist’s progressive black metal attack feels chanting and bouncy against the lush synth layers in the same way you might, while star-gazing, hear Enslaved if Isa were playing on AM radio at the end of the tower’s nighttime reach. Strange Balance brings fog. Strange Balance brings intrigue. And, most importantly, Strange Balance brings an atmosphere to black metal that doesn’t rely on trem-loaded, trope-chomping sounds of the recent past. There’s a world where the first track is actually the last track, giving just that more weight to its lengthy endeavor. But I’m happy to be in a world, at least, where Wist exists to steal my attention again as they continue to grow. 3.0/5.0.
Iceberg: If I’m going to reach for lo-fi black metal, it sure as hell better have some small-batch, artisanal hot sauce drizzled all over it. Dolph knows this about me, so when he hawked Wist’s latest black-metal-but-with-other-stuff record for a Rodeö, I trusted his cetacean judgement. Strange Balance—you’d be hard-pressed to find a better name for this album—does a mostly brilliant job of oscillating between cavernous second-wave wailing and psychedelic sojourns with droning synths and ren-faire-ready acoustic guitars. The synth work reminiscent of Tangerine Dream (“Strange Balance”) and old-school NES soundtracks (“Betrayal”) makes for an odd bedfellow with the black metal it envelops; but it works! The band stays in a boisterous 6/8 meter for most of the record (“Grendel” especially), giving the music a swaying quality that reinforces the air of blackened whimsy. Listening on good headphones or a quality speaker set-up is a must here; the layering of the clean and harsh vox in “Strange Balance” and the discordant outro of “The River Returning” hold many treasures for the tuned ear. The only thing keeping Strange Balance from greatness is a tendency to harp a bit too long in transitional sections (“Strange Balance,” “Betrayal”), and a bizarre closer that—while well-performed—never seems to justify its existence. But don’t let these quibbles get in the way of a refreshing, unique take on ambient black metal. For those of you who like your shrieking weird and experimental, I have to recommend you check this out. 3.5/5.0
#2024 #AngryMetalGuySUnsignedBandRodeo #AngryMetalGuySUnsignedBandRodeo2024 #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #EnglishMetal #Enslaved #FrippEno #Krallice #Opeth #PinkFloyd #ProgressiveBlackMetal #ProgressiveMetal #StrangeBalance #TangerineDream #Wist
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AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö: Wist – Strange Balance
By Dolphin Whisperer
“AMG’s Unsigned Band Rodeö” is a time-honored tradition to showcase the most underground of the underground—the unsigned and unpromoted. This collective review treatment continues to exist to unite our writers in boot or bolster of the bands who remind us that, for better or worse, the metal underground exists as an important part of the global metal scene. The Rodeö rides on.”
Remember way back in the days of radio? You might have been on a road trip before with your family, and, freshly tasked with trying to find a station that works as you stray away from familiar territory, you turn the knob and land right in between two stations playing a song. It doesn’t sync up, but there’s a mystery to whether that noise worked. Try as you remember, though, you can’t find this balance between two stations again. Wist, I believe, feels this struggle, and with their sophomore outing Strange Balance, they explore the duality of their progressive and atmospheric black metal selves to see where it leads. Would you follow three black metal fans into the Epping Forest? What if they said their album only cost four pounds? Our brave riders thought it wise to say yes, and the results may surprise you. – Dolphin Whisperer
Wist // Strange Balance [June 24th, 2024]
Dr. A.N. Grier: London’s Wist is one hell of a weird atmoblack band. This three-piece outfit goes beyond the traditional Alcestian ways of working, introducing some rather interesting synth atmospheres that lend well to their weird progressive attitude. With their 2022 debut, Stone Still Settling, they only scratched the surface of their sound. With this year’s Strange Balance, they go for broke, shoving everything they can into this tiny album. The title track begins the album with a soothing, ethereal introduction that gets obliterated by a traditional frenzied atmoblack attack. Around the midpoint, it sidetracks to a bass and drum-heavy transition that feels overblown by the lofi production but stomps along all the same. After building for the next few minutes, the chaos fades and is replaced by gorgeous, reverberating acoustic guitars. For all of the opener’s diversity and interesting twists, “Betrayal” is the more divisive of the bunch. Opening with silly cackling the song erupts into gnarly guitars, gigantic, popping bass, and drum work that runs faster than a roadrunner. Using this simple riff structure, the band peppers it with reverberating guitars that feel like they are almost dancing over the surface. When the intensity peaks, the track fades away like its predecessor. In its wake doesn’t come acoustic guitars but Tangerine Dream-styled synth work. Unlike other bands of its caliber, this outro doesn’t have me gazing at my fat gut but instead has me looking to the dark sky to see if the stars are moving. And as if to signify that Strange Balance has always been here and we just walked into it, the instrumental closer, “The River Returning,” fades in with melodic, soothing guitars, adds multiple layers to the mix, and fades away as if driving down an abandoned dirt road. I wouldn’t say Strange Balance is balanced but it’s an interesting record with some unique twists I can get behind. Having never heard of Wist before, they are definitely on my radar and I’ll be looking to see what they do next. 3.0/5.0
Dear Hollow: There’s a lot going on with Wist. It’s black metal, sure, layered with a thick smog of modular synths and overlaying psychedelia à la Tangerine Dream. It’s like Pink Floyd decided to make a black metal album, but really liked Opeth’s acoustic breaks. What makes Wist stand out is that they firmly follow the ambient stylings of black metal or blackgaze but do their damnedest to stay trve to the kvlt in debut Strange Balance—the blackened cackles at the beginning of “Betrayal” would make Immortal blush. “Betrayal” is the wildest and best collision of its ’70s synth and ’90s second-wave black metal palettes, with bouncy 6/8 pagan rhythms and a chill noodling guitar line, only to collapse into a full-on blackened attack. While closer “The River Returning” also features a tasteful repetition and fades that together feels like a modernized rendition of the depressive “My Dying Bride” by ColdWorld. However, the opening title track is nearly impenetrable and painful in its densest synths overlaying high energy blastbeats and shrieks, even if its concluding acoustic passage is decent, and “Grendel” feels incredibly directionless in its fusion of slower DSBM and spacy synths, with a wonky off-key synth conclusion being its only redemption. Ultimately, Wist has some cool ideas that periodically work, but Strange Balance lives true to its name in disproportionately dense and threateningly boring sounds, violently yoinking black metal’s cranky history for an album that feels imbalanced but promising. 2.0/5.0
Dolphin Whisperer: The experience that conjures from the mystical and dated synth layers that Wist pushes against the hazy and shrill is one of an otherwordly atmosphere. In this metal world which we so valiantly occupy, it’s rare to find an album that skews both so alien and terrestrial in scope—a way in which Strange Balance breathes its name. Akin to the new age swells of Tangerine Dream, or similar punctuated by textural guitar works with Fripp & Eno, Wist finds an electronic, oscillating moan to accompany it’s cutting black metal works (“Strange Balance,” “Grendel”). Similar to modern explorations in this world by recent Krallice albums, Wist often finds a forward movement through tightly wound, treble-loads fretwork—a fuzz-loaded squeal, a bend that’s ever so slightly off, a percussive palm-mute more reminiscent of a Cynic slide than any trv kvlt act would hammer—and warbling, nasally fretless bass whines. On heavier sections, and particularly on the horror-tinged mania of “Betrayal,” Wist’s progressive black metal attack feels chanting and bouncy against the lush synth layers in the same way you might, while star-gazing, hear Enslaved if Isa were playing on AM radio at the end of the tower’s nighttime reach. Strange Balance brings fog. Strange Balance brings intrigue. And, most importantly, Strange Balance brings an atmosphere to black metal that doesn’t rely on trem-loaded, trope-chomping sounds of the recent past. There’s a world where the first track is actually the last track, giving just that more weight to its lengthy endeavor. But I’m happy to be in a world, at least, where Wist exists to steal my attention again as they continue to grow. 3.0/5.0.
Iceberg: If I’m going to reach for lo-fi black metal, it sure as hell better have some small-batch, artisanal hot sauce drizzled all over it. Dolph knows this about me, so when he hawked Wist’s latest black-metal-but-with-other-stuff record for a Rodeö, I trusted his cetacean judgement. Strange Balance—you’d be hard-pressed to find a better name for this album—does a mostly brilliant job of oscillating between cavernous second-wave wailing and psychedelic sojourns with droning synths and ren-faire-ready acoustic guitars. The synth work reminiscent of Tangerine Dream (“Strange Balance”) and old-school NES soundtracks (“Betrayal”) makes for an odd bedfellow with the black metal it envelops; but it works! The band stays in a boisterous 6/8 meter for most of the record (“Grendel” especially), giving the music a swaying quality that reinforces the air of blackened whimsy. Listening on good headphones or a quality speaker set-up is a must here; the layering of the clean and harsh vox in “Strange Balance” and the discordant outro of “The River Returning” hold many treasures for the tuned ear. The only thing keeping Strange Balance from greatness is a tendency to harp a bit too long in transitional sections (“Strange Balance,” “Betrayal”), and a bizarre closer that—while well-performed—never seems to justify its existence. But don’t let these quibbles get in the way of a refreshing, unique take on ambient black metal. For those of you who like your shrieking weird and experimental, I have to recommend you check this out. 3.5/5.0
#2024 #AngryMetalGuySUnsignedBandRodeo #AngryMetalGuySUnsignedBandRodeo2024 #AtmosphericBlackMetal #BlackMetal #EnglishMetal #Enslaved #FrippEno #Krallice #Opeth #PinkFloyd #ProgressiveBlackMetal #ProgressiveMetal #StrangeBalance #TangerineDream #Wist
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After months of scanning the shelves for a library or second hand copy of Philip K Dick -- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, today was my lucky library day!
https://youtu.be/fZYzuIGDYGs?si=eQPY13UocL_Bg6pk
#PhilipKDick #FlowMyTearsThePolicemanSaid
#JohnDowland
#Lachrimae #Lute #RenaissanceMusic
#EnglishMusic #ScienceFiction -
After months of scanning the shelves for a library or second hand copy of Philip K Dick -- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, today was my lucky library day!
https://youtu.be/fZYzuIGDYGs?si=eQPY13UocL_Bg6pk
#PhilipKDick #FlowMyTearsThePolicemanSaid
#JohnDowland
#Lachrimae #Lute #RenaissanceMusic
#EnglishMusic #ScienceFiction -
🙋♂️ SMART goals, making classes creative, and more cellphone bans – Of bits and bytes for May 13, 2024
#edtech #education #englishmemes #englishpractice #frontpage #fun #learningenglish #memes #minds3p #ofbitsandbytes #practiceenglish #saturday #teachers
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My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding Review
By Cherd
I’ve been listening to My Dying Bride’s entire discography, including this new one, nonstop for a good two weeks straight. It’s begun to affect my daily life. A couple nights ago, after putting the Cherdlet to bed, my wife asked me what I’d like to do with the rest of our evening and without thinking I said, “Drink deep of your neck chalice.” While she was still quietly processing this, I complimented her on the whiteness of her breasts. She decided she wanted to watch “one of her shows” instead and bid me good night. I spent the next hour impulse-shopping online for candelabras and a fainting couch. Thirty-four years is a long time to crank out one dismal goth-tinged death doom album after another, but My Dying Bride have been doing it as if their lives—their bride’s life?—depended on it, frequently to legendary results. A Mortal Binding is their 14th studio album. Is it befitting of their lachrymose legacy?
With the exception of small tweaks here and there,1 My Dying Bride has long since abandoned any experimentation with their sound, and A Mortal Binding is no exception. Like nearly every album since 1999’s The Light at the End of the World, the death, doom, and gothic elements balance across the album. Songs may lean one way or the other, for instance, opener “Her Dominion” is as much death metal as anything from the band’s more straightforward 1992 debut, or later career cuts like “The Raven and the Rose.” In fact, the track features no clean vocals, only death growls by Aaron Stainthorpe, which is a rarity these days. Meanwhile “Thornwyck Hymn” and “Unthroned Creed” are as straight doom as the band gets. The gothy bits, aside from Stainthorpe’s wistful singing, are brought by keyboardist/violinist Shaun MacGowan, who adds welcome drama to cuts like lead single “The 2nd of Three Bells” and the otherwise death-leaning “The Apocalyptist.”
The good news for fans of the band, and for fans of doom metal in general, is that guitarist Andrew Craighan and company haven’t forgotten how to write good songs in their dotage. Most of these tracks stand up well to the band’s own impressive body of work—did you catch our ranking piece from yesterday?—with “Her Dominion,” “Thornwyck Hymn,” and “The Apocalyptist” standing out as clear highlights. “Thornwyck Hymn” is the type of deceptively addictive doom song My Dying Bride have always been adept at, with the dignified adagio riffing you would expect from Craighan and relative newcomer Neil Blanchett. “The Apocalyptist” picks up the more aggressive tone laid out in the opener, and it’s good to hear Stainthorpe’s always legible, throwback harsh vocals that remind you these guys formed in death metal’s nascent era. I expect this will be the song most likely to be added to folks’ master MDB playlists, though I wouldn’t say it, or any of this material, reaches the band’s top tier of output.
And of course, that’s the un-ignorable issue with a band’s 14th full-length release in 34 years. Even if it sounds good, and it does, it’s ultimately competing with 13 other siblings for attention, and Mom and Dad definitely play favorites. This is a comfortable album. Certainly more so than 2020’s The Ghost of Orion, with all the personal and professional trials that preceded it. Most of the album is quite good, but not great by My Dying Bride’s own standards, and the last two songs especially don’t quite hold up to the first five. “A Starving Heart” does nothing that “Thornwyck Hymn” didn’t do better, and “Crushed Embers” plods along without any real point of interest until the final two and a half minutes, which feature a winning chorus/refrain and a return of the harsh vocals.
At the time of writing, My Dying Bride has recently canceled without explanation all upcoming shows despite the fact they have a new album. Hopefully, this isn’t an indication that album number 14 will be the last, but whatever news is coming next can’t be good. If this turns out to be the end, the band goes out on a solid effort, but if you’re looking for a late-career highlight, maybe revisit 2015’s Feel the Misery.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: mydyingbridoffical.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial
Releases Worldwide: April 19th, 2024#2024 #30 #AMortalBinding #Apr24 #BritishMetal #DeathDoom #DoomMetal #EnglishMetal #GothicMetal #MyDyingBride #NuclearBlastRecords #Review #Reviews
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My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding Review
By Cherd
I’ve been listening to My Dying Bride’s entire discography, including this new one, nonstop for a good two weeks straight. It’s begun to affect my daily life. A couple nights ago, after putting the Cherdlet to bed, my wife asked me what I’d like to do with the rest of our evening and without thinking I said, “Drink deep of your neck chalice.” While she was still quietly processing this, I complimented her on the whiteness of her breasts. She decided she wanted to watch “one of her shows” instead and bid me good night. I spent the next hour impulse-shopping online for candelabras and a fainting couch. Thirty-four years is a long time to crank out one dismal goth-tinged death doom album after another, but My Dying Bride have been doing it as if their lives—their bride’s life?—depended on it, frequently to legendary results. A Mortal Binding is their 14th studio album. Is it befitting of their lachrymose legacy?
With the exception of small tweaks here and there,1 My Dying Bride has long since abandoned any experimentation with their sound, and A Mortal Binding is no exception. Like nearly every album since 1999’s The Light at the End of the World, the death, doom, and gothic elements balance across the album. Songs may lean one way or the other, for instance, opener “Her Dominion” is as much death metal as anything from the band’s more straightforward 1992 debut, or later career cuts like “The Raven and the Rose.” In fact, the track features no clean vocals, only death growls by Aaron Stainthorpe, which is a rarity these days. Meanwhile “Thornwyck Hymn” and “Unthroned Creed” are as straight doom as the band gets. The gothy bits, aside from Stainthorpe’s wistful singing, are brought by keyboardist/violinist Shaun MacGowan, who adds welcome drama to cuts like lead single “The 2nd of Three Bells” and the otherwise death-leaning “The Apocalyptist.”
The good news for fans of the band, and for fans of doom metal in general, is that guitarist Andrew Craighan and company haven’t forgotten how to write good songs in their dotage. Most of these tracks stand up well to the band’s own impressive body of work—did you catch our ranking piece from yesterday?—with “Her Dominion,” “Thornwyck Hymn,” and “The Apocalyptist” standing out as clear highlights. “Thornwyck Hymn” is the type of deceptively addictive doom song My Dying Bride have always been adept at, with the dignified adagio riffing you would expect from Craighan and relative newcomer Neil Blanchett. “The Apocalyptist” picks up the more aggressive tone laid out in the opener, and it’s good to hear Stainthorpe’s always legible, throwback harsh vocals that remind you these guys formed in death metal’s nascent era. I expect this will be the song most likely to be added to folks’ master MDB playlists, though I wouldn’t say it, or any of this material, reaches the band’s top tier of output.
And of course, that’s the un-ignorable issue with a band’s 14th full-length release in 34 years. Even if it sounds good, and it does, it’s ultimately competing with 13 other siblings for attention, and Mom and Dad definitely play favorites. This is a comfortable album. Certainly more so than 2020’s The Ghost of Orion, with all the personal and professional trials that preceded it. Most of the album is quite good, but not great by My Dying Bride’s own standards, and the last two songs especially don’t quite hold up to the first five. “A Starving Heart” does nothing that “Thornwyck Hymn” didn’t do better, and “Crushed Embers” plods along without any real point of interest until the final two and a half minutes, which feature a winning chorus/refrain and a return of the harsh vocals.
At the time of writing, My Dying Bride has recently canceled without explanation all upcoming shows despite the fact they have a new album. Hopefully, this isn’t an indication that album number 14 will be the last, but whatever news is coming next can’t be good. If this turns out to be the end, the band goes out on a solid effort, but if you’re looking for a late-career highlight, maybe revisit 2015’s Feel the Misery.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: mydyingbridoffical.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial
Releases Worldwide: April 19th, 2024#2024 #30 #AMortalBinding #Apr24 #BritishMetal #DeathDoom #DoomMetal #EnglishMetal #GothicMetal #MyDyingBride #NuclearBlastRecords #Review #Reviews
-
My Dying Bride – A Mortal Binding Review
By Cherd
I’ve been listening to My Dying Bride’s entire discography, including this new one, nonstop for a good two weeks straight. It’s begun to affect my daily life. A couple nights ago, after putting the Cherdlet to bed, my wife asked me what I’d like to do with the rest of our evening and without thinking I said, “Drink deep of your neck chalice.” While she was still quietly processing this, I complimented her on the whiteness of her breasts. She decided she wanted to watch “one of her shows” instead and bid me good night. I spent the next hour impulse-shopping online for candelabras and a fainting couch. Thirty-four years is a long time to crank out one dismal goth-tinged death doom album after another, but My Dying Bride have been doing it as if their lives—their bride’s life?—depended on it, frequently to legendary results. A Mortal Binding is their 14th studio album. Is it befitting of their lachrymose legacy?
With the exception of small tweaks here and there,1 My Dying Bride has long since abandoned any experimentation with their sound, and A Mortal Binding is no exception. Like nearly every album since 1999’s The Light at the End of the World, the death, doom, and gothic elements balance across the album. Songs may lean one way or the other, for instance, opener “Her Dominion” is as much death metal as anything from the band’s more straightforward 1992 debut, or later career cuts like “The Raven and the Rose.” In fact, the track features no clean vocals, only death growls by Aaron Stainthorpe, which is a rarity these days. Meanwhile “Thornwyck Hymn” and “Unthroned Creed” are as straight doom as the band gets. The gothy bits, aside from Stainthorpe’s wistful singing, are brought by keyboardist/violinist Shaun MacGowan, who adds welcome drama to cuts like lead single “The 2nd of Three Bells” and the otherwise death-leaning “The Apocalyptist.”
The good news for fans of the band, and for fans of doom metal in general, is that guitarist Andrew Craighan and company haven’t forgotten how to write good songs in their dotage. Most of these tracks stand up well to the band’s own impressive body of work—did you catch our ranking piece from yesterday?—with “Her Dominion,” “Thornwyck Hymn,” and “The Apocalyptist” standing out as clear highlights. “Thornwyck Hymn” is the type of deceptively addictive doom song My Dying Bride have always been adept at, with the dignified adagio riffing you would expect from Craighan and relative newcomer Neil Blanchett. “The Apocalyptist” picks up the more aggressive tone laid out in the opener, and it’s good to hear Stainthorpe’s always legible, throwback harsh vocals that remind you these guys formed in death metal’s nascent era. I expect this will be the song most likely to be added to folks’ master MDB playlists, though I wouldn’t say it, or any of this material, reaches the band’s top tier of output.
And of course, that’s the un-ignorable issue with a band’s 14th full-length release in 34 years. Even if it sounds good, and it does, it’s ultimately competing with 13 other siblings for attention, and Mom and Dad definitely play favorites. This is a comfortable album. Certainly more so than 2020’s The Ghost of Orion, with all the personal and professional trials that preceded it. Most of the album is quite good, but not great by My Dying Bride’s own standards, and the last two songs especially don’t quite hold up to the first five. “A Starving Heart” does nothing that “Thornwyck Hymn” didn’t do better, and “Crushed Embers” plods along without any real point of interest until the final two and a half minutes, which feature a winning chorus/refrain and a return of the harsh vocals.
At the time of writing, My Dying Bride has recently canceled without explanation all upcoming shows despite the fact they have a new album. Hopefully, this isn’t an indication that album number 14 will be the last, but whatever news is coming next can’t be good. If this turns out to be the end, the band goes out on a solid effort, but if you’re looking for a late-career highlight, maybe revisit 2015’s Feel the Misery.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: mydyingbridoffical.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/MyDyingBrideOfficial
Releases Worldwide: April 19th, 2024#2024 #30 #AMortalBinding #Apr24 #BritishMetal #DeathDoom #DoomMetal #EnglishMetal #GothicMetal #MyDyingBride #NuclearBlastRecords #Review #Reviews
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And then it was time for yoga. Which in this house I do on the bed because tile floor & big dog.
So he decided to help.
#EnglishMastiff #BigDog #dogs #dogstodon -
And then it was time for yoga. Which in this house I do on the bed because tile floor & big dog.
So he decided to help.
#EnglishMastiff #BigDog #dogs #dogstodon -
And then it was time for yoga. Which in this house I do on the bed because tile floor & big dog.
So he decided to help.
#EnglishMastiff #BigDog #dogs #dogstodon -
My Boys. Gideon is the brindle, Puck is the fawn. All brawn, no braaaaiiiins. #englishmastiff #dogs #dogstodon #mastiffs #bigdogs
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Redemption in Leith: the thread about HMS Cossack
The neat, well kept war graves at Seafield Cemetery include 5 men from the destroyer HMS Cossack, who lost their lives in an accident at sea on November 7th 1939, when their ship collided with the Leith steamer Borthwick off the Isle of May.
Grave marker stones for Roy Popple and Thomas C. Richmond © SelfGrave marker stones for William. H. Clarke and Stanley Cowan © SelfFour of the war grave headstones for men of HMS Cossack at Seafield cemetery in Leith. Photos © SelfThe protagonists in this accident were the Cossack, one of the Navy’s big, new “Tribal class” destroyers: two and a half thousand tons of guns and torpedoes which could cut through the sea at 36 knots (over 40mph).
Brand new, the Cossack in 1938. This photograph FL 1657 comes from the collections of the Imperial War MuseumsThe other was the George Gibson & Co. steamer Borthwick, a ship built and owned in Leith which plied the North Sea on the Antwerp and Rotterdam route. She was much smaller than the big warship’,; over 100 feet shorter, about 1/4 her displacement and barely capable of double digit speeds on her single steam engine which had an output 1/300th of that of Cossack.
The Borthwick. Like many George Gibson ships she was named after connections to the works of Walter Scott and the LothiansIt was a dark winter night on the Firth of Forth and ships were showing only the bare minimum of navigation lights. The Borthwick and Cossack were on a parallel course, heading east off the Isle of May, with the destroyer overtaking the little steamer when, for reasons of his own, Captain Daniel De Pass of the Cossack turned across the path of Borthwick. De Pass had a bit of a reputation for poor seamanship, having done something like this before on pre-war exercises. The outcome was inevitable, the bows of the Borthwick cutting into the side of Cossack, right into the seamen’s mess where the men were just sitting down to dinner. Three men died where they sat. Able Seaman Heatherley and Ordinary Seaman Clarke were pulled into the cold, dark North Sea as the water rushed in to their compartment, never to be seen again. Three more men were seriously injured (Ordinary Seaman Clifford Harmer would be invalided out of the Navy with a hand injury) and those in the mess below were trapped for an hour, up to their necks in water. Their ship limped back to Leith for extensive repairs, the men boarded in the Seamen’s Mission. In an interview in 2005, a survivor – Trevor Tipping – pointed out the steel plate of the ship was only 3/8 inch thick and “folded back, like a sardine tin” when the collision happened.
The Seamen’s Mission on the Shore in LeithThe repairs – by Leith shipyard Henry Robb – took almost 2 months and cost £11,250 (£504k in 2023). Captain De Pass faced a Board of Inquiry, which put him 75% at fault. He was court martialled, relieved of his command and posted away elsewhere before taking retirement. His replacement was the dashing yet thoroughly competent Captain Philip Vian.
Sir Phillip Vian (1894-1968), by Oswald Birley, from the Britannia Royal Naval CollegeThe men of Cossack, cooling their heels in Leith while their ship was repaired, raised a subscription to fund a memorial stoner to their lost shipmates out of their own pockets. It was erected in Seafield cemetery, and is situated by the Cossack war graves.
Memorial for the men lost on HMS Cossack in Seafield Cemetery. Photo © SelfThe Borthwick was patched up and soon back on the dangerous Leith to Holland route. She was sunk 4 months later – on March 9th 1940 – by the German submarine U-14 off the River Scheldt, on her way home from Rotterdam to Leith. All 21 on board survived and were picked up. The newspapers celebrated on 11th March when news reached home that the men of the Borthwick had all been landed safely in Flushing.
Captain Simpson (right) and Chief Officer Jeffrey (left) of the Borthwick, on their return home after being sunkCossack did not leave Leith until 10th January, but was back 3 days later for more repairs after an embarrassing – but fortunately minor – collision with the cable laying ship Royal Scot in Leith Roads. She left again, returning to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla with Captain Vian now installed in command. But she wouldn’t be gone long and would return with the month. This time should would be an international hero, the victor of the daring “Altmark Incident“, a swashbuckling tale that can always do with retelling.
On the face of it, Altmark was a humble German merchant ship. In reality, she was a supply tanker for the Kriegsmarine – the German Navy – and had on board almost 300 British and Allied prisoners, merchant seamen whose ships had been sunk by the “pocket battleship” commerce raider Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic.
A photo of the Altmark in Jøssingfjord , Norway.The Graf Spee had been scuttled just off Montevideo after the Royal Navy had cornered her into a fight in the Battle of the River Plate on December 17th – while Cossack was laid up in a Leith drydock undergoing repairs. Before the battle she had transferred most of her prisoners to her supply ship, which was heading back to Germany. Conditions on board caused the British press to call her a “hell ship” and a “floating concentration camp“.
Admiral Graf Spee shortly after her scuttling. Toronto Telegram collection, via. University of York, Canada.Captain Dau of the Altmark intended to sneak back home by hugging the coasts of the (then) neutral Greenland, Iceland and Norway. He had almost made it when, on Feb. 15th, reconnaissance aircraft out of RAF Leuchars spotted her in Norwegian waters off Bergen. The British destroyers HMS Ivanhoe and Intrepid from Vian’s squadron made to board her but the Altmark sought refuge in the safety of Jøssingfjord. The Royal Navy could only look on as the German ship was escorted into the fjord by the Norwegian Navy, who politely but firmly affirmed their neutrality and turned the British ships around.
HMS Intrepid attempting to board Altmark as it runs for the sanctuary of JøssingfjordCaptain Vian, as commander of the squadron, made contact with the ancient Norwegian gunboat Kjell but was asshured that the Norwegian had searched the Altmark, that all was in order and it was a simple German merchant ship and not an armed, Kriegsmarine prison ship. Vian knew this was rubbish, but had no option but to retreat a respectful distance and to signal the Admiralty for orders.
Norwegian navy gunboat Kjell, around the time of the Altmark IncidentFurther reconnaissance flights by the Royal Air Force confirmed that the Altmark was safely holed up right at the end of Jøssingfjord. Meanwhile, Vian’s signal found its way to the desk of the First Lord of the Admiralty, a man who had a reputation for sticking his oar in to operational matters and trying to direct operations from Whitehall. You might be familiar with his name, it was Winston Churchill.
Aerial photo of Altmark in Jøssingfjord.Photograph CS 24 from the collection of the Imperial War MuseumsChurchill sent Vian a signal telling him that if the Altmark wasn’t escorted to Bergen for inspection under a joint Anglo-Norwegian guard, he was to board her and free the prisoners, that he had permission to use lethal force in order to do so and that he was to politely but firmly make sure the Royal Norwegian Navy butted out of matters. This was a blatant violation of Norwegian neutrality of course, but there was not a lot the little old gunboat Kjell could do to stop the Cossack beyond yell at her – Vian had permission to fire on her if they fired first, but to stop when they stopped.
And so Vian was set on a course of action and turned his ship around, entering the mouth of Jøssingfjord at 2200 hours on February 16th 1940. He once more went on board the Kjell, this time to give her Captain the ultimatum to either escort the Altmark to Bergen with him, or step aside. When he declined, Vian invited him aboard the Cossack for a grandstand view of what was about to follow, but again he declined. On board the Altmark, Captain Dau saw the threatening shape of the destroyer looming down the Fjord towards him. At first he made to ram her, but instead ended up running his ship aground instead. He next tried to dazzle the Cossack with his searchlight, but the British ship was brought skillfully alongside and in true Nelsonian fashion, a party of 2 officers and 30 men leapt across the gap and boarded the German ship. Legend has it that 4 cutlasses, kept on board for ceremonial purposes, were carried by the boarding party. If true, it would be the last boarding action in which such a weapon was known to be used in anger.
Painting of the boarding of the Altmark by Charles PearsThere was a brief skirmish on board but the German crew were soon overpowered. Just as things were almost over however, a German sailor fired at and injured a British sailor, and for his trouble 9 of his shipmates were shot and wounded in the return fire; 4 died and a further 4 were fatally wounded. Having taken the Altmark, the boarders now combed the ship looking for the captives they knew were held somewhere within. One sailor called “Any Englishmen in there?” into a dark hold and on hearing a cheer replied the immortal words “The Navy’s here! Come up out of it!“
Book cover, “The Navy’s Here” by Frischauer & JacksonLess than two hours after she first entered the fjord, Vian’s ship was on her way out again with 299 freed prisoners on board (including one, an Indian seaman, suffering from Leprosy). She plotted a course for Leith and set off for home at top speed. The Cossack had last entered Leith with a cloud hanging over her reputation, but on her return on February 17th she did so triumphantly. The press cameras were assembled and waiting to welcome her back and to make the most out of this propaganda opportunity.
HMS Cossack coming alongside in Leith, with some of the Altmark prisoners aboardAmbulances were ready and waiting to take the injured away to hospital while the newsreel cameras rolled.
Cossack at Leith, with assembled crowds and waiting ambulancesIt was a rare bit of good news so early in the war, so reporting restrictions were not observed. The Scotsman carried a full page spread of photos. Many of those pictured coming ashore had lost all their possessions, some had been prisoners for almost 6 months and their families had no word of what had become of them. For weeks the papers were full of stories of reunions and heroes welcomes.
The former prisoners of the Altmark coming ashore at Leith. Pictures from The Scotsman, 19th February 1940The Dundee Courier and Advertiser printed a picture of some 1940s medical care, with a nurse at Leith Hospital lighting a recuperative cigarette for Third Officer Leslie Ross of the ship Huntsman. 250 of the his companions were sent to the Eastern General Hospital in Leith for attention, with officials from the City and the Shipwrecked Mariner’s Society on hand to sort out replacement clothing, papers, money, cigarettes etc. and arrange lodging and travel. The sailor who had been suffering from Leprosy was taken to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (the “City Hospital”).
Leslie Ross in a Leith hospital, Dundee Courier, Monday 19th February 1940In Stornoway, the Daily Record interviewed the 75 year old Elizabeth Mackenzie of Newton Street, who had not heard from her merchant seaman son – Donald Morrison – for over a year. She was making a public appeal for his whereabouts, he had last written to her over a year ago and was last known to be on the SS Newton Beech: that ship had been sunk by the Graf Spee on 5th October 1939. “I have been very worried because I am going blind, and I am living here with a brother who is over 80” she told the reporter. “I haven’t many friends, but the Lord is my friend, and that is enough.” The happy news about the safety of her son was soon brought to her by Donald Macleod, another Leodsach sailor who had been with him on the Altmark. “It is good news my boy is safe” she told the Record. Donald Murdo Macleod of Tolsta Chaolais had been on the SS Tairoa which had been intercepted by the Graf Spee in the middle of the South Atlantic on December 2nd 1939. Tairoa had been the penultimate victim of the German raider, and had managed to transmit a distress signal that eventually allowed the the Royal Navy to catch up with her assailant.
The crew of the Newton Beech rowing away from their abandoned ship towards imprisonment on the Graf SpeeDonald Morrison however seemed reluctant to return home and instead went to Hull, telling Macleod to let his mother know he “might go home later“. Instead he went back to sea. It seems the whole experience may have left an indelible mark on him and changed his character. He forfeited bail of £1 in Buckhaven on a charge of drunkeness in February 1941. He was soon in trouble again for going absent from his ship. In May 1941 he was hauled before the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth at the Police Court there, again for deserting a ship. Morrison could offer no explanation for being 31 hours overdue and potentially making his ship miss its convoy, beyond “I just had a good time, that is all“. The Master had dismissed him but told the court he was of good character and had been through “unpleasant experiences” and would gladly take him back again. It turned out Morrison had another ship sunk from underneath him recently and had once again lost all his papers and possessions. The Lord Mayor fined him £5 (half a month’s wages) and allowed him to return to his ship on account of his value to the war effort. He won’t have been the only merchant sailor in the War in the Atlantic to have an experience such as this, and in retrospect we can understand his reluctance to return to his ship and potential death and to want to have one more night of fun on earth…
Back in Leith, the Fife Free Press reported that the Altmark Incident was commemorated with the gift of £500 to the Leith Hospital by an anonymous benefactor on the condition that a bed be dedicated to HMS Cossack for rescuing the prisoners. For his “outstanding ability, determination and resource” and “for daring, leadership and masterly handling of his ship“, Captain Vian received the Distinguished Service Order medal and was promoted off of Cossack in July 1941. He would go on to have a glittering wartime career, and would retire in 1952 as Admiral of the Fleet. Cossack had an eventful 18 months after the Altmark, taking part in the 2nd Battle of Narvik and the hunt for the German Battleship Bismarck
The ship’s luck would soon run out however and she was torpedoed and sunk in October 1941 by the German submarine U-563, west of Gibraltar. In November 1941, the Edinburgh Evening News reported that three local men were missing, presumed killed, from her:
- Petty Officer Alexander Burton Colthart, 22, 20 India Place
- Petty Officer Douglas Maurice Gammack, 32 Parsons Green Terrace
- Assistant Cook Robert “Sonny” O’Hara, 23, 205 Crewe Road North
Her cat, Oskar, survived this sinking: legend has it that he had been the ship’s cat on the Bismarck and was plucked from the Atlantic by Cossack after her sinking. His name was said to have been derived from the code letter for “O” (with a German spelling) which was used to mean “man overboard“. Further legend has it that after surviving the loss of his second home he went on to serve on HMS Ark Royal and survived her sinking also. The whole thing was probably just a sailor’s yarn but Unsinkable Sam has garnered a cult following on the internet: you will find Facebook pages, pop history articles, Youtube videos and even computer game cameos in his memory.
Ship’s cat Oskar, or Unsinkable Sam.Note to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
Almost 300 millimetres of rain on #VancouverIsland in three-day drenching
A number of communities in #BritishColumbia’s south coast have received more than 100 millimetres of rain in the atmospheric river event over the last three days, with one station reporting nearly 300 millimetres.
Jan. 13, 2026
VANCOUVER - "A number of communities in British Columbia’s south coast have received more than 100 millimetres of rain in the atmospheric river event over the last three days, with one station reporting nearly 300 millimetres.
#EnvironmentCanada says the #KennedyLake Forestry Station on Vancouver Island received a whopping 286 millimetres from Saturday to Monday.
"On the mainland, #PortMellon reported 204 millimetres.
"The weather agency says at least 20 weather stations in the region reported rain of more than 100 millimetres, including 168 millimetres in #Ucluelet.
"Other parts of Metro #Vancouver and the Lower Mainland were also drenched, with #Squamish reporting 132 millimetres.
"The #HeavyRain triggered several evacuation orders and alerts in areas including Chemainus Bridge and the Nanaimo Regional District on Vancouver Island, with one evacuation order for a single property near #ParksvilleBC.
"Much of B.C.‘s south coast and Vancouver Island remain under a flood watch, with a flood warning sill in effect for the Englishman River near Parksville.
"This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2026."
#ExtremeWeather #ExtremeWx #ExtremeRain #ClimateChange #CanadianWx
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The Day the Micro-Rotor Was Introduced: Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren Watch Company and Universal Genève announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. This joint announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict between them. In fact, the invention and introduction was friendly, thanks to the cordial Hans Kocher, who invented the micro-rotor yet allowed others to share the limelight and the credit.
Buren and Universal collaborated in the simultaneous introduction of the micro-rotor automatic movement in 1958Debunking the Legend
Like so many areas of watchmaking history, the story of the micro-rotor automatic watch is rich with folklore. And like too many other topics, most of those stories are flat-out wrong. I have been hearing this particular story for years, and was shocked to find that it is entirely contradicted by the plain facts published at the time.
Here’s the gist of what I was told about the launch of the Buren and Universal micro-rotor movements:
- Buren was first to market, introducing their micro-rotor movement in 1957 or maybe even 1954
- Universal infringed on Buren’s patent, didn’t have the technical expertise to design a new movement, and maybe never even had a patent of their own
- Buren sued Universal or tried to block them from marketing the Microtor
- And inexplicably that Universal actually produced the Buren movement because they couldn’t get it to work
None of this is remotely true.
- Technician-watchmaker Hans Kocher of Buren Watch Company invented the micro-rotor movement, filing a patent in 1954
- Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, skilled technician-watchmakers at Universal, independently invented their own micro-rotor technology, filing a patent just 11 months later
- Kocher and Bandi collaborated on the launch, co-authoring an article on the technology and writing about each other’s work in supportive terms
- Buren and Universal announced their work at a joint press conference on February 18, 1958 and released their micro-rotor watches at the Basel Fair that year
- The companies targeted different markets and there is no sign of a lawsuit or any acrimony
- Both companies, along with Piaget, continued actively to develop micro-rotor movement technology for over a decade
- The technology was abandoned after both were purchased by American companies more interested in quartz electronic watches
So let’s sit back and enjoy the true story of the development of the micro-rotor watch movement!
Coverage of the joint 1958 launch of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
Image: Europa Star Eastern Jeweler 46, 1958The Rise of Self-Winding Watches
Le Locle watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet is usually credited for building the first self-winding watch in the 1770s. Many1 have questioned the primacy of Perrelet’s “montre à secousses” (“shaking watch”), but many subsequent watchmakers, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, Louis Recordin, and the Jaquet-Droz family, claimed to have been inspired by his design. Perrelet’s watch used a weight mounted to the side of the movement, causing it to shake when moved. The concept of automatic winding (and even the name “perpetual”) were widely known through the 19th century but such a complex mechanism was deemed unnecessary to bring to market.
Harwood saw a market for a sealed self-winding watchAfter World War I, Englishman John Harwood saw a need for self-winding watch. Soldiers were increasingly wearing wristwatches, and these were often damaged by moisture and dust. Inspired by a playground see-saw, Harwood independently2 invented a rocking weight segment that could wind the watch without a hole in the case. He patented the concept in 1923, built a prototype using a Blancpain movement, and brought the Harwood Perpetual to market with the help of A. Schild and Fortis of Grenchen. The watch only went into production late in the decade, and just a few thousand were produced before the Great Depression soon spelled the end.
You might also enjoy reading about “The Backward Evolution of the Rotating Bezel“
Harwood showed that the advent of the wristwatch had created customer demand for a self-winding movement, and the race was on to deliver a more practical one. I previously wrote about Eugène Meylan’s automatic winding mechanism, which was sold by Glycine starting in 1931. Another early player in automatic watches was Blancpain, which built a patented sliding watch called the Rolls for the French firm, Léon Hatot. Another modestly-successful automatic watch in this period was the Wig-Wag, which used the motion of the movement relative to the strap to wind the watch. But these oddball automatics soon fell by the wayside3.
It was the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that brought together all of the elements of the modern automatic wristwatch. Introduced about 19344, Rolex used a centrally-mounted rotor and winding mechanism stacked on top of their excellent movement. This technique was impractical in a pocket watch (which tended to sit vertically in a pocket) but made much more sense when strapped to a wrist. But the Rolex Oyster Perpetual movement was so thick it had to be mounted in a so-called “bubble-back” expanded case.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual really was ahead of its time!
Image: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, January 1936Seeing their success, especially though World War II, every Swiss company was racing to compete with Rolex with their own waterproof automatic watch. Felsa’s 1947 Bidynator brought bi-directional winding to the table5, ETA’s 1948 Eternamatic showed the potential of a rotor supported by ball bearings6, and Patek Philippe developed a “circumferential” rotor that extended down and around the movement. But all of these mechanisms added thickness, even as stylish consumers of the 1950s demanded ever-thinner watches. But making a thin automatic watch was inconceivable until the late 1950s, and the slimmest offerings (Zenith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) were bumper automatic movements, thin by accident rather than intentional design.
Hans Kocher and the Micro-Rotor
Hans Kocher grew up in the shadow of the H. Williamson watch factory in Büren an der Aare, Switzerland. He ran errands for the company as a young boy, and his work ethic so impressed the company’s chairman that he was sent to London to learn the business. But Kocher’s life took a turn when he met Austrian-born Josefine Rinner, a confectionary entrepreneur living in Zürich. The couple moved to Spain after the war, and their son (also named Hans) was born there in 1919. Kocher only settled down in 1923, marrying Josefine and returning to Bienne to work for the Williamson company. But the factory was bankrupt by 1931, with a group of local businessmen purchasing it. They invited Hans Kocher to return to Büren to take over management of the factory in 1932, and he spent the rest of his career there.
This rotor-in-a-rotor concept shows Kocher’s progress of inventionBut this is the story of the younger Hans Kocher, who apprenticed in Büren before studying at the Technical school in Bienne. Following World War II, young Hans Kocher moved to Saint-Imier and worked in the technical department of the nearby Cortébert Watch Company. He was a wunderkind, filing patents, developing a central-seconds movement, and reorganizing the company’s manufacturing process. In 1951, after he proved himself, Kocher returned home to become technical director of the Buren Watch Company7.
Kocher believed that technology could elevate Buren in the competitive Swiss watch market and decided to build the best-possible automatic watch movement. Although many aspects of automatic winding were already patented by others, he saw an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of contemporary automatic watches. For example, Kocher invented a mechanism to allow an automatic watch to be wound by hand, addressing widespread anxiety about power reserve. He also invented a few different bi-directional winding mechanisms and a more effective jewel pivot.
Another Kocher invention seemed to go nowhere: He embedded a tiny rotor inside the main winding rotor, creating a “Tilt-A-Whirl” effect to accelerate startup. Although this didn’t make it into production, this was the first glimpse of a micro-rotor winding system. A month later, Kocher filed a patent that he would later call his greatest work.
Hans Kocher’s design for Buren had a symmetry lacking in the production movementOn June 21, 1954, Buren Watch Company filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch movement. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort, with nearly every component re-designed.
It would take nearly four years of development to bring the micro-rotor movement to market. The Swiss government had largely restricted companies from producing their own ebauches, but this was allowed for in-house and complicated movements. And the micro-rotor was indeed a very complicated movement, requiring entirely new design and tooling to be installed at the factory in Büren!
Kocher’s original micro-rotor movement design was elegant and symmetrical, already quite well-developed even in 1954. He called it a “planetary rotor” because he thought it resembled the planetary gearsets in automatic transmissions. But he spent years working on the construction and mechanics of the rotor and the exact arrangement of the wheels and bridges. And he soon had an unexpected collaborator.
Universal, Froidevaux, and Bandi
On May 27, 1955, Manufacture des Montres Universal of Geneva filed a remarkably similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. This was 11 months after Buren’s filing, yet three years before either patent would be published. Although the Swiss patent is un-signed, the American patent specifies that the inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher. Both were incredibly talented and had made numerous inventions related to automatic watch winding and other areas of horology.
Patek Philippe filed for a patent their own micro-rotor movement in 1975, bringing their Cal. 240 to market a few years later. It has been continually updated and is one of the most-loved movements by enthusiasts like me. Chopard Manufacture leaned into the micro-rotor concept with the launch of the L.U.C movements in 1997, and it remains a highlight of the company’s offerings. A new Universal Genève launched in 2005, bringing a new Microtor (Cal. UG-100) to market in 2006. Schwarz Etienne and Parmigiani Fleurier both introduced new micro-rotor movements in 2010, and both supply these to other fine watch makers to this day. Armin Strom, Hermès, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and many others have also released high-end micro-rotor movements. And Piaget never stopped developing their micro-rotor movements.
The original Universal design is similar to Büren’s at a glance but obviously not derivativeAt a glance, the Universal patent looks very similar to Buren’s, but a closer examination shows that nearly every aspect of the design is different. The American patent authorities examined it closely, rejecting only the most broad claim made by Universal. Given these differences, and the evident skills and imagination of Froidevaux and Bandi, I believe that it was independently invented.
Froidevaux left Universal by 1956, just as the company was developing the micro-rotor watch movement for production. This was the same year that Universal opened its own new factory near Geneva, severing ties with the chronograph factory in Ponts-de-Martel that had been the source of complicated in-house movements for Universal since 1941. The new Carouge-Genève factory was likely outfitted with new machinery to produce the micro-rotor, along with other in-house movements developed by Fred Bandi.
It is very likely that the amiable Hans Kocher knew of the work underway in Geneva by this time, and he may have offered Fred Bandi some technical advice. Indeed, we know that the two collaborated on a paper outlining the benefits of the micro-rotor movement, which was published in the September/October 1957 edition of Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie. They cite the improvements gained by this design in reducing movement height, stress on the rotor bearings, and ease of servicing.
Hans Kocher of Buren and Fred Bandi of Universal jointly announced the micro-rotor movement in this 1957 article in the Journal Suisse d’HorlogerieUp this point the thinnest automatic watch movements (Zénith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) had “bumper” movements rather than a free rotor. This is no surprise – the “sandwich stack” required to have a free rotor was inherently thicker than a winding mass that sat on the same plane as the wheel train and balance. But no bumper movement could match a micro-rotor embedded completely into the ebauche. Although not much thinner than hand-winding movements, the Büren and Universal movements were 20% thinner than most automatics at 4.1 to 4.2 mm8.
The Joint Release of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren Watch Company held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” Journalists from the major Swiss papers and industry journals learned about the revolutionary new micro-rotor technology, that would enable the companies to deliver the thinnest self-winding watches in the world. The companies promised that new watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April.
Ten days before the fair, on April 2, 1958, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article with more detail on the technology of these new movements. Noting that “the fundamental concept behind this novel winding mechanism is identical in both designs,” the article praises both companies’ products, noting that “the specific technical solutions employed differ significantly.” This article was written by Fred Bandi, Technical Director for Universal Genève. Hans Kocher also wrote articles about the two companies’ launches, both independently and jointly with Bandi.
This 1958 advertisement, coinciding with the Basel Fair, shows both the Universal and Buren logos. The example preserved in The Watch Library even features a hand-written formula for the moment of inertia of a solid rotor, likely penned by a curious watchmaker!Finally, on April 12, 1958, the Basel Fair opened, with both companies showcasing watches housing their new micro-rotor movements. They even placed a joint advertisement in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, featuring the logos of both companies.
The Büren showcase focused on the theme of “universality”The Buren Watch Company showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. Confusingly, the company’s Basel Fair booth was a generic paean to post-war globalization, dedicated to the theme “l’universalité.” The new Super Slender movement was depicted on a small card at the corner, with the ultra-thin watches arranged among other more mundane products.
The Universal Genève display was dedicated to the Microtor Universal used the Microtor movement in the famous PolerouterUniversal Genève presented a strong contrast, dedicating their entire display to the new Microtor movement. They even built a large model in a transparent plexiglass case, demonstrating the internal relationship between the micro-rotor and wheel train. The new Cal. 215 was used in an existing product line, the Polerouter (which had been introduced as “Polarouter” in 1954). Although Universal offered new dial designs for 1958, the Microtor’s slimmer profile was not leveraged for a watch that was notably thin.
Buren proudly proclaimed that their Super Slender was the thinnest automatic watch in the worldBoth watches were brought to market in the following months with no hint of production delays. They are widely seen and advertised over the next few years in press coverage, company advertising, and retail promotion. For example, an April 1958 ad for international retailer Turler lists the Universal Polerouter Microtor for 270 francs in steel or 820 francs in gold. Meanwhile, the Buren Super Slender was advertised in 1959 for 170 francs in steel or 185 francs for the model with a calendar complication, called Cal. 1001.
What Happened Next
Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. And two more ultra-thin automatic movements appeared at Basel in 1959 and 1960: The Sandoz 333, which used a peripheral rotor movement designed by FHF, and Piaget’s knock-out 2.3 mm thin micro-rotor Cal. 12 P. But the introduction of the Bulova Accutron on October 25, 1960 upended the entire industry.
Buren modified the wheel train bridge in 1959Buren actually introduced two micro-rotor movements at Basel in 1958: The base Cal. 1000 was truly “super slender” at 4.2 mm, but they also showed Cal. 1001, which added a date complication and 0.6 mm thickness. Although not as revolutionary as the micro-rotor, Paul Marmier’s patented date mechanism was quite innovative. It used an eccentric cam to keep the advance finger safely back from the date wheel teeth to avoid the risk of damage. The date advanced in just 12 minutes at midnight, and the mechanism also allowed quicker setting of the date by moving the time back to 11:30.
By 1959 Buren added Cal. 1002 and 1003, which featured a thinner balance cock to make way for an elongated wheel train bridge screwed to the base plate for greater stability. The original Cal. 1000 and 1001 remained in production, however, into the 1960s.
The Universal Polerouter collection expanded in 1959 with the Jet and Date modelsUniversal added a date complication as well, though theirs added over 1 mm to the thickness of the base Cal. 215. This did not pose an issue because the Microtor was used in watches of more ordinary thickness like the Polerouter Date. But the Geneva company did finally lean into the thin profile of the basic Microtor movement with the new 1959 Polerouter Jet, boasting that it was as thin as a hand-winding watch and the thinnest waterproof automatic watch in the world. Universal put the Microtor-Calendrier movement on a diet over the next few years, beveling the edges and slimming it to 4.7 mm (once again 0.1 mm thinner than the competing Buren movement). And Universal proved the robustness of their movement by equipping members of the Swiss Greenland Expedition with Microtor-powered Polerouters during the International Geophysical Year.
Other watches had previously been advertised for their ultra-thin profile, including Omega’s Centenaire and Cyma’s Navystar, but Movado, Sandoz, and Piaget were the strongest contenders. Movado had claimed the crown for the thinnest watch in 1935 with the Novoplan and delivered the automatic Cal. 331 in 1952, which was just 4.3 mm thick thanks to a beveled bumper rotor.
The Sandoz 333 was supposed to be the thinnest automatic watch but was launched a year too lateSandoz announced the “thinnest waterproof watch” in 1954 with their hand-winding Cal. 55, allowing them to produce a 6.9 mm watch. And they saw an opportunity in a peripheral rotor concept under development at the Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon. Unaware of the micro-rotor8, Sandoz and FHF targeted the 1959 Basel Fair to launch this new ultra-thin automatic watch. Despite being upstaged, the Sandoz 333 remains the first peripheral-winding automatic watch to market.
Piaget claimed outright victory for the thinnest watch in 1957 with the 4 mm Ref. 904, housing the 2.0 mm Cal. 9 P. Valentin Piaget of their specialist movement maker Complications SA saw unrealized potential in the micro-rotor concept. His Cal. 12 P, patented in 1958 and announced at the Basel Fair in 1960, dispensed with the center wheel and radically sliced away the ebauche. Measuring just 2.3 mm thick, this movement allowed Piaget’s Ref. 12 watches to stay at just 4 mm thick overall. Piaget has remained committed to this design, producing Cal. 1200 to this day!
The 1965 Buren Intra Matic was a modern interpretation of the ultra-thin dress watch
Image: Europa Star 35, 1965Buren embraced Piaget’s ideas, and their Cal. 1280 was similarly stripped-down, coming in at just 2.85 mm thick. This was used in their modern Intra Matic9 line, launched at the Basel Fair in 1965. Variations with date and central seconds ranged up to 3.60 mm, still over half a millimeter thinner than their original Super Slender.
The Intramatic movement made history on March 3, 1969 when Hans Kocher10 and Gerald Dubois announced the Chronomatic movement, built on Buren’s micro-rotor ebauche. This would be the first Swiss automatic chronograph in customer hands, used by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton, which had purchased Buren in February of 1966. Hamilton-Buren was taken over by the SIHH group in 1971 and the once-great Büren factory was closed the following year, with all assets sold. This came just as the Chronomatic was gaining market traction and sadly just before the launch of Buren’s great Calbre 8211.
The Universal Golden Shadow was just 4 mm thick
Image: Eastern Jeweler 93, 1966Universal also collaborated with Piaget, filing a joint patent in March of 1959 for a slim ratcheting winding system for micro-rotor movements. They continually updated their Microtor movement line, culminating in the 1966 introduction of the re-designed Cal. 66. Unlike the hand-made Piaget Cal. 12 P, the new Universal and Buren movements were designed for mass production and daily wear. And Universal once again beat Buren’s mark, with their ebauche measuring just 2.50 mm thick. This time Universal leaned into the thinness of the movement, matching Piaget with a new Golden Shadow watch line just 4 mm thick.
Everything changed for Universal in August of 1966, as the Bulova Watch Company of New York purchased the company. Flush with cash from the Accutron, a global phenomenon never before seen in watchmaking, Bulova sought to solidify its control over the luxury watch industry by bringing the Geneva firm under its control. Universal continued production of the Microtor family into the 1970s and even developed the world’s thinnest quartz movement in 197512. But Bulova was slow to embrace quartz as the market for the Accutron evaporated. The Universal factory in Geneva was bankrupt by the late 1970s and was sold in 1983 to new investors.
The Micro-Rotor Lives On
The micro-rotor is not dead. Far from it: There are more micro-rotor movements on the market today than ever before!
Universal was re-launched as an upscale sister brand to Breitling on April 8, 2026 and two new Microtor movements form the core of the new offerings. The new double-barrel Polerouter Microtor is a lovely tribute to Hans Kocher, who was deeply involved in both innovations. And the new Compax Microtor movement recalls the pioneering Chronomatic movement.
Research Notes
- The question of whether Perrelet was the first to create a self-winding watch was a matter of great interest through the 20th century. Historian Alfred Chapuis uncovered many prior and subsequent designs, yet he concluded in his seminal book “La Montre Automatique Ancienne” that Perrelet absolutely deserved the credit. That being said, the self-winding watch “discovered” by Léon Leroy of Paris in 1949 may not have been created by Perrelet, according to a 1996 Europa Star article by Jean-Claude Nicolet with rebuttal by Jean-Claude Sabrier.
- Not being a watch industry insider, Harwood may have been completely unaware that dozens of watchmakers had developed self-winding watches for over a century prior to his invention. And L. Leroy of Paris had already produced a self-winding wristwatch a year before Harwood’s patent. But he was the first to recognize the market for a wristwatch with a sealed case and self-winding movement.
- The sliding weight concept was actually successfully revived by Pierce just after World War II. This “dissident” Moutier firm was unwilling to abide by the Swiss cartel’s production quotas, so they were blocked from working with nearly every other company. So they developed their own slim sliding-weight automatic, an amazing in-house chronograph movement, and more! In modern times we have seen another sliding-weight automatic, the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic.
- I’m not a Rolex expert, but I am confounded by the lack of definitive history for this most-important watchmaker. The earliest mention I could find of the Oyster Perpetual comes from Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in September of 1934, and it was fully illustrated in January of 1936. Given that Rolex trademarked the name in 1932, I guess that places the introduction of the Rolex Perpetual movement in 1933 or 1934. It definitely wasn’t 1931, despite countless blog posts and Rolex’s own advertising.
- Incredibly, some of the earliest known self-winding pocket watch movements also have clever bi-directional winding solutions: The four controversial maybe-Perrelet movements have a pawl winding system similar to the much-later Pellaton and Magic Lever, and many of the “shaker” movements had bi-directional winding too. But Felsa’s elegant Bidynator inspired the whole industry to adopt this concept. Surprisingly, modern movements are dropping bi-directional winding, finding that it’s not actually all that useful.
- Ball bearing support for a winding rotor was patented in 1929. But these typically placed the bearings at the periphery, supporting the rotor itself. ETA’s original Eternamatic was a tiny movement for ladies watches so the engineers brought the ball bearings to the center. Seeing how well it worked, the “five balls” became the logo of Eterna!
- I should clarify that the name of the town is “Büren an der Aare” and it is commonly called “Büren”. But the brand name of the watch company, officially adopted by H. Williamson in 1916, was “Buren Watch Company” without the umlaut. This was generally used by the company through the 1960s, though they sometimes did include the umlaut in advertising and public communication. Confusingly, most patents list it using the Anglicized form of the name of the town, “Bueren Watch Company.” I try to be consistent (or perhaps confusing) and use “Büren” to refer to the town and “Buren” to refer to the company.
- Oops! The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was working on another thin automatic winding system at the same time, filing patents on their peripheral rotor on September 11, 1956. This was before the announcement or publication of the micro-rotor, and they no-doubt thought that their “Fontomatic” Cal. 65 would be the thinnest automatic movement at just 4.5 mm. This came to market in 1959 as the Sandoz 333, and advertisements for this latecomer specifically neglect to mention that number, which was surpassed a year earlier by both Buren and Universal.
- Buren trademarked “Intra Matic” in 1964 and used this name in the 1965 launch. But they also used “Intramatic” in this period, variously using both names. They had a sub-model called the “Intramatic Polestar” or “Intra Matic Pole-Star” in the 1960s as well, and I can’t imagine Universal loved this name.
- This would be Hans Kocher-Aeschbacher, the son, rather than his father Hans Kocher-Rinner, who retired that same year. The younger Hans Kocher was a truly remarkable man, deserving of a Prix Gaïa award in all three categories: Watchmaker, businessman, and historian. He was also incredibly magnanimous, not giving undue attention in his industry history writing and speaking to the Buren “planetary rotor” despite considering it his life’s greatest work.
- I’m wearing my Buren Calibre 82 watch as I write this!
- The 1975 Golden Shadow and White Shadow Quartz movement measured 3.45 mm thick. It was rapidly surpassed by Citizen, just under 1 mm in 1978, Seiko, 0.90 mm that same year, and the incredible Swiss Delirium movements.
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The Day the Micro-Rotor Was Introduced: Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren Watch Company and Universal Genève announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. This joint announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict between them. In fact, the invention and introduction was friendly, thanks to the cordial Hans Kocher, who invented the micro-rotor yet allowed others to share the limelight and the credit.
Buren and Universal collaborated in the simultaneous introduction of the micro-rotor automatic movement in 1958Debunking the Legend
Like so many areas of watchmaking history, the story of the micro-rotor automatic watch is rich with folklore. And like too many other topics, most of those stories are flat-out wrong. I have been hearing this particular story for years, and was shocked to find that it is entirely contradicted by the plain facts published at the time.
Here’s the gist of what I was told about the launch of the Buren and Universal micro-rotor movements:
- Buren was first to market, introducing their micro-rotor movement in 1957 or maybe even 1954
- Universal infringed on Buren’s patent, didn’t have the technical expertise to design a new movement, and maybe never even had a patent of their own
- Buren sued Universal or tried to block them from marketing the Microtor
- And inexplicably that Universal actually produced the Buren movement because they couldn’t get it to work
None of this is remotely true.
- Technician-watchmaker Hans Kocher of Buren Watch Company invented the micro-rotor movement, filing a patent in 1954
- Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, skilled technician-watchmakers at Universal, independently invented their own micro-rotor technology, filing a patent just 11 months later
- Kocher and Bandi collaborated on the launch, co-authoring an article on the technology and writing about each other’s work in supportive terms
- Buren and Universal announced their work at a joint press conference on February 18, 1958 and released their micro-rotor watches at the Basel Fair that year
- The companies targeted different markets and there is no sign of a lawsuit or any acrimony
- Both companies, along with Piaget, continued actively to develop micro-rotor movement technology for over a decade
- The technology was abandoned after both were purchased by American companies more interested in quartz electronic watches
So let’s sit back and enjoy the true story of the development of the micro-rotor watch movement!
Coverage of the joint 1958 launch of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
Image: Europa Star Eastern Jeweler 46, 1958The Rise of Self-Winding Watches
Le Locle watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet is usually credited for building the first self-winding watch in the 1770s. Many1 have questioned the primacy of Perrelet’s “montre à secousses” (“shaking watch”), but many subsequent watchmakers, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, Louis Recordin, and the Jaquet-Droz family, claimed to have been inspired by his design. Perrelet’s watch used a weight mounted to the side of the movement, causing it to shake when moved. The concept of automatic winding (and even the name “perpetual”) were widely known through the 19th century but such a complex mechanism was deemed unnecessary to bring to market.
Harwood saw a market for a sealed self-winding watchAfter World War I, Englishman John Harwood saw a need for self-winding watch. Soldiers were increasingly wearing wristwatches, and these were often damaged by moisture and dust. Inspired by a playground see-saw, Harwood independently2 invented a rocking weight segment that could wind the watch without a hole in the case. He patented the concept in 1923, built a prototype using a Blancpain movement, and brought the Harwood Perpetual to market with the help of A. Schild and Fortis of Grenchen. The watch only went into production late in the decade, and just a few thousand were produced before the Great Depression soon spelled the end.
You might also enjoy reading about “The Backward Evolution of the Rotating Bezel“
Harwood showed that the advent of the wristwatch had created customer demand for a self-winding movement, and the race was on to deliver a more practical one. I previously wrote about Eugène Meylan’s automatic winding mechanism, which was sold by Glycine starting in 1931. Another early player in automatic watches was Blancpain, which built a patented sliding watch called the Rolls for the French firm, Léon Hatot. Another modestly-successful automatic watch in this period was the Wig-Wag, which used the motion of the movement relative to the strap to wind the watch. But these oddball automatics soon fell by the wayside3.
It was the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that brought together all of the elements of the modern automatic wristwatch. Introduced about 19344, Rolex used a centrally-mounted rotor and winding mechanism stacked on top of their excellent movement. This technique was impractical in a pocket watch (which tended to sit vertically in a pocket) but made much more sense when strapped to a wrist. But the Rolex Oyster Perpetual movement was so thick it had to be mounted in a so-called “bubble-back” expanded case.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual really was ahead of its time!
Image: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, January 1936Seeing their success, especially though World War II, every Swiss company was racing to compete with Rolex with their own waterproof automatic watch. Felsa’s 1947 Bidynator brought bi-directional winding to the table5, ETA’s 1948 Eternamatic showed the potential of a rotor supported by ball bearings6, and Patek Philippe developed a “circumferential” rotor that extended down and around the movement. But all of these mechanisms added thickness, even as stylish consumers of the 1950s demanded ever-thinner watches. But making a thin automatic watch was inconceivable until the late 1950s, and the slimmest offerings (Zenith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) were bumper automatic movements, thin by accident rather than intentional design.
Hans Kocher and the Micro-Rotor
Hans Kocher grew up in the shadow of the H. Williamson watch factory in Büren an der Aare, Switzerland. He ran errands for the company as a young boy, and his work ethic so impressed the company’s chairman that he was sent to London to learn the business. But Kocher’s life took a turn when he met Austrian-born Josefine Rinner, a confectionary entrepreneur living in Zürich. The couple moved to Spain after the war, and their son (also named Hans) was born there in 1919. Kocher only settled down in 1923, marrying Josefine and returning to Bienne to work for the Williamson company. But the factory was bankrupt by 1931, with a group of local businessmen purchasing it. They invited Hans Kocher to return to Büren to take over management of the factory in 1932, and he spent the rest of his career there.
This rotor-in-a-rotor concept shows Kocher’s progress of inventionBut this is the story of the younger Hans Kocher, who apprenticed in Büren before studying at the Technical school in Bienne. Following World War II, young Hans Kocher moved to Saint-Imier and worked in the technical department of the nearby Cortébert Watch Company. He was a wunderkind, filing patents, developing a central-seconds movement, and reorganizing the company’s manufacturing process. In 1951, after he proved himself, Kocher returned home to become technical director of the Buren Watch Company7.
Kocher believed that technology could elevate Buren in the competitive Swiss watch market and decided to build the best-possible automatic watch movement. Although many aspects of automatic winding were already patented by others, he saw an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of contemporary automatic watches. For example, Kocher invented a mechanism to allow an automatic watch to be wound by hand, addressing widespread anxiety about power reserve. He also invented a few different bi-directional winding mechanisms and a more effective jewel pivot.
Another Kocher invention seemed to go nowhere: He embedded a tiny rotor inside the main winding rotor, creating a “Tilt-A-Whirl” effect to accelerate startup. Although this didn’t make it into production, this was the first glimpse of a micro-rotor winding system. A month later, Kocher filed a patent that he would later call his greatest work.
Hans Kocher’s design for Buren had a symmetry lacking in the production movementOn June 21, 1954, Buren Watch Company filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch movement. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort, with nearly every component re-designed.
It would take nearly four years of development to bring the micro-rotor movement to market. The Swiss government had largely restricted companies from producing their own ebauches, but this was allowed for in-house and complicated movements. And the micro-rotor was indeed a very complicated movement, requiring entirely new design and tooling to be installed at the factory in Büren!
Kocher’s original micro-rotor movement design was elegant and symmetrical, already quite well-developed even in 1954. He called it a “planetary rotor” because he thought it resembled the planetary gearsets in automatic transmissions. But he spent years working on the construction and mechanics of the rotor and the exact arrangement of the wheels and bridges. And he soon had an unexpected collaborator.
Universal, Froidevaux, and Bandi
On May 27, 1955, Manufacture des Montres Universal of Geneva filed a remarkably similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. This was 11 months after Buren’s filing, yet three years before either patent would be published. Although the Swiss patent is un-signed, the American patent specifies that the inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher. Both were incredibly talented and had made numerous inventions related to automatic watch winding and other areas of horology.
The original Universal design is similar to Büren’s at a glance but obviously not derivativeAt a glance, the Universal patent looks very similar to Buren’s, but a closer examination shows that nearly every aspect of the design is different. The American patent authorities examined it closely, rejecting only the most broad claim made by Universal. Given these differences, and the evident skills and imagination of Froidevaux and Bandi, I believe that it was independently invented.
Froidevaux left Universal by 1956, just as the company was developing the micro-rotor watch movement for production. This was the same year that Universal opened its own new factory near Geneva, severing ties with the chronograph factory in Ponts-de-Martel that had been the source of complicated in-house movements for Universal since 1941. The new Carouge-Genève factory was likely outfitted with new machinery to produce the micro-rotor, along with other in-house movements developed by Fred Bandi.
It is very likely that the amiable Hans Kocher knew of the work underway in Geneva by this time, and he may have offered Fred Bandi some technical advice. Indeed, we know that the two collaborated on a paper outlining the benefits of the micro-rotor movement, which was published in the September/October 1957 edition of Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie. They cite the improvements gained by this design in reducing movement height, stress on the rotor bearings, and ease of servicing.
Hans Kocher of Buren and Fred Bandi of Universal jointly announced the micro-rotor movement in this 1957 article in the Journal Suisse d’HorlogerieUp this point the thinnest automatic watch movements (Zénith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) had “bumper” movements rather than a free rotor. This is no surprise – the “sandwich stack” required to have a free rotor was inherently thicker than a winding mass that sat on the same plane as the wheel train and balance. But no bumper movement could match a micro-rotor embedded completely into the ebauche. Although not much thinner than hand-winding movements, the Büren and Universal movements were 20% thinner than most automatics at 4.1 to 4.2 mm8.
The Joint Release of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren Watch Company held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” Journalists from the major Swiss papers and industry journals learned about the revolutionary new micro-rotor technology, that would enable the companies to deliver the thinnest self-winding watches in the world. The companies promised that new watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April.
Ten days before the fair, on April 2, 1958, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article with more detail on the technology of these new movements. Noting that “the fundamental concept behind this novel winding mechanism is identical in both designs,” the article praises both companies’ products, noting that “the specific technical solutions employed differ significantly.” This article was written by Fred Bandi, Technical Director for Universal Genève. Hans Kocher also wrote articles about the two companies’ launches, both independently and jointly with Bandi.
This 1958 advertisement, coinciding with the Basel Fair, shows both the Universal and Buren logos. The example preserved in The Watch Library even features a hand-written formula for the moment of inertia of a solid rotor, likely penned by a curious watchmaker!Finally, on April 12, 1958, the Basel Fair opened, with both companies showcasing watches housing their new micro-rotor movements. They even placed a joint advertisement in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, featuring the logos of both companies.
The Büren showcase focused on the theme of “universality”The Buren Watch Company showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. Confusingly, the company’s Basel Fair booth was a generic paean to post-war globalization, dedicated to the theme “l’universalité.” The new Super Slender movement was depicted on a small card at the corner, with the ultra-thin watches arranged among other more mundane products.
The Universal Genève display was dedicated to the Microtor Universal used the Microtor movement in the famous PolerouterUniversal Genève presented a strong contrast, dedicating their entire display to the new Microtor movement. They even built a large model in a transparent plexiglass case, demonstrating the internal relationship between the micro-rotor and wheel train. The new Cal. 215 was used in an existing product line, the Polerouter (which had been introduced as “Polarouter” in 1954). Although Universal offered new dial designs for 1958, the Microtor’s slimmer profile was not leveraged for a watch that was notably thin.
Buren proudly proclaimed that their Super Slender was the thinnest automatic watch in the worldBoth watches were brought to market in the following months with no hint of production delays. They are widely seen and advertised over the next few years in press coverage, company advertising, and retail promotion. For example, an April 1958 ad for international retailer Turler lists the Universal Polerouter Microtor for 270 francs in steel or 820 francs in gold. Meanwhile, the Buren Super Slender was advertised in 1959 for 170 francs in steel or 185 francs for the model with a calendar complication, called Cal. 1001.
What Happened Next
Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. And two more ultra-thin automatic movements appeared at Basel in 1959 and 1960: The Sandoz 333, which used a peripheral rotor movement designed by FHF, and Piaget’s knock-out 2.3 mm thin micro-rotor Cal. 12 P. But the introduction of the Bulova Accutron on October 25, 1960 upended the entire industry.
Buren modified the wheel train bridge in 1959Buren actually introduced two micro-rotor movements at Basel in 1958: The base Cal. 1000 was truly “super slender” at 4.2 mm, but they also showed Cal. 1001, which added a date complication and 0.6 mm thickness. Although not as revolutionary as the micro-rotor, Paul Marmier’s patented date mechanism was quite innovative. It used an eccentric cam to keep the advance finger safely back from the date wheel teeth to avoid the risk of damage. The date advanced in just 12 minutes at midnight, and the mechanism also allowed quicker setting of the date by moving the time back to 11:30.
By 1959 Buren added Cal. 1002 and 1003, which featured a thinner balance cock to make way for an elongated wheel train bridge screwed to the base plate for greater stability. The original Cal. 1000 and 1001 remained in production, however, into the 1960s.
The Universal Polerouter collection expanded in 1959 with the Jet and Date modelsUniversal added a date complication as well, though theirs added over 1 mm to the thickness of the base Cal. 215. This did not pose an issue because the Microtor was used in watches of more ordinary thickness like the Polerouter Date. But the Geneva company did finally lean into the thin profile of the basic Microtor movement with the new 1959 Polerouter Jet, boasting that it was as thin as a hand-winding watch and the thinnest waterproof automatic watch in the world. Universal put the Microtor-Calendrier movement on a diet over the next few years, beveling the edges and slimming it to 4.7 mm (once again 0.1 mm thinner than the competing Buren movement). And Universal proved the robustness of their movement by equipping members of the Swiss Greenland Expedition with Microtor-powered Polerouters during the International Geophysical Year.
Other watches had previously been advertised for their ultra-thin profile, including Omega’s Centenaire and Cyma’s Navystar, but Movado, Sandoz, and Piaget were the strongest contenders. Movado had claimed the crown for the thinnest watch in 1935 with the Novoplan and delivered the automatic Cal. 331 in 1952, which was just 4.3 mm thick thanks to a beveled bumper rotor.
The Sandoz 333 was supposed to be the thinnest automatic watch but was launched a year too lateSandoz announced the “thinnest waterproof watch” in 1954 with their hand-winding Cal. 55, allowing them to produce a 6.9 mm watch. And they saw an opportunity in a peripheral rotor concept under development at the Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon. Unaware of the micro-rotor8, Sandoz and FHF targeted the 1959 Basel Fair to launch this new ultra-thin automatic watch. Despite being upstaged, the Sandoz 333 remains the first peripheral-winding automatic watch to market.
Piaget claimed outright victory for the thinnest watch in 1957 with the 4 mm Ref. 904, housing the 2.0 mm Cal. 9 P. Valentin Piaget of their specialist movement maker Complications SA saw unrealized potential in the micro-rotor concept. His Cal. 12 P, patented in 1958 and announced at the Basel Fair in 1960, dispensed with the center wheel and radically sliced away the ebauche. Measuring just 2.3 mm thick, this movement allowed Piaget’s Ref. 12 watches to stay at just 4 mm thick overall. Piaget has remained committed to this design, producing Cal. 1200 to this day!
The 1965 Buren Intra Matic was a modern interpretation of the ultra-thin dress watch
Image: Europa Star 35, 1965Buren embraced Piaget’s ideas, and their Cal. 1280 was similarly stripped-down, coming in at just 2.85 mm thick. This was used in their modern Intra Matic9 line, launched at the Basel Fair in 1965. Variations with date and central seconds ranged up to 3.60 mm, still over half a millimeter thinner than their original Super Slender.
The Intramatic movement made history on March 3, 1969 when Hans Kocher10 and Gerald Dubois announced the Chronomatic movement, built on Buren’s micro-rotor ebauche. This would be the first Swiss automatic chronograph in customer hands, used by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton, which had purchased Buren in February of 1966. Hamilton-Buren was taken over by the SIHH group in 1971 and the once-great Büren factory was closed the following year, with all assets sold. This came just as the Chronomatic was gaining market traction and sadly just before the launch of Buren’s great Calbre 8211.
The Universal Golden Shadow was just 4 mm thick
Image: Eastern Jeweler 93, 1966Universal also collaborated with Piaget, filing a joint patent in March of 1959 for a slim ratcheting winding system for micro-rotor movements. They continually updated their Microtor movement line, culminating in the 1966 introduction of the re-designed Cal. 66. Unlike the hand-made Piaget Cal. 12 P, the new Universal and Buren movements were designed for mass production and daily wear. And Universal once again beat Buren’s mark, with their ebauche measuring just 2.50 mm thick. This time Universal leaned into the thinness of the movement, matching Piaget with a new Golden Shadow watch line just 4 mm thick.
Everything changed for Universal in August of 1966, as the Bulova Watch Company of New York purchased the company. Flush with cash from the Accutron, a global phenomenon never before seen in watchmaking, Bulova sought to solidify its control over the luxury watch industry by bringing the Geneva firm under its control. Universal continued production of the Microtor family into the 1970s and even developed the world’s thinnest quartz movement in 197512. But Bulova was slow to embrace quartz as the market for the Accutron evaporated. The Universal factory in Geneva was bankrupt by the late 1970s and was sold in 1983 to new investors.
The Micro-Rotor Lives On
The micro-rotor is not dead. Far from it: There are more micro-rotor movements on the market today than ever before!
Patek Philippe filed for a patent their own micro-rotor movement in 1975, bringing their Cal. 240 to market a few years later. It has been continually updated and is one of the most-loved movements by enthusiasts like me. Chopard Manufacture leaned into the micro-rotor concept with the launch of the L.U.C movements in 1997, and it remains a highlight of the company’s offerings. A new Universal Genève launched in 2005, bringing a new Microtor (Cal. UG-100) to market in 2006. Schwarz Etienne and Parmigiani Fleurier both introduced new micro-rotor movements in 2010, and both supply these to other fine watch makers to this day. Armin Strom, Hermès, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and many others have also released high-end micro-rotor movements. And Piaget never stopped developing their micro-rotor movements.
Universal was re-launched as an upscale sister brand to Breitling on April 8, 2026 and two new Microtor movements form the core of the new offerings. The new Polerouter Microtor is the first double-barrel micro-rotor movement I know of, and is a lovely tribute to Hans Kocher, who was deeply involved in both innovations. And the new Compax Microtor movement recalls the pioneering Chronomatic movement.
Research Notes
- The question of whether Perrelet was the first to create a self-winding watch was a matter of great interest through the 20th century. Historian Alfred Chapuis uncovered many prior and subsequent designs, yet he concluded in his seminal book “La Montre Automatique Ancienne” that Perrelet absolutely deserved the credit. That being said, the self-winding watch “discovered” by Léon Leroy of Paris in 1949 may not have been created by Perrelet, according to a 1996 Europa Star article by Jean-Claude Nicolet with rebuttal by Jean-Claude Sabrier.
- Not being a watch industry insider, Harwood may have been completely unaware that dozens of watchmakers had developed self-winding watches for over a century prior to his invention. And L. Leroy of Paris had already produced a self-winding wristwatch a year before Harwood’s patent. But he was the first to recognize the market for a wristwatch with a sealed case and self-winding movement.
- The sliding weight concept was actually successfully revived by Pierce just after World War II. This “dissident” Moutier firm was unwilling to abide by the Swiss cartel’s production quotas, so they were blocked from working with nearly every other company. So they developed their own slim sliding-weight automatic, an amazing in-house chronograph movement, and more! In modern times we have seen another sliding-weight automatic, the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic.
- I’m not a Rolex expert, but I am confounded by the lack of definitive history for this most-important watchmaker. The earliest mention I could find of the Oyster Perpetual comes from Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in September of 1934, and it was fully illustrated in January of 1936. Given that Rolex trademarked the name in 1932, I guess that places the introduction of the Rolex Perpetual movement in 1933 or 1934. It definitely wasn’t 1931, despite countless blog posts and Rolex’s own advertising.
- Incredibly, some of the earliest known self-winding pocket watch movements also have clever bi-directional winding solutions: The four controversial maybe-Perrelet movements have a pawl winding system similar to the much-later Pellaton and Magic Lever, and many of the “shaker” movements had bi-directional winding too. But Felsa’s elegant Bidynator inspired the whole industry to adopt this concept. Surprisingly, modern movements are dropping bi-directional winding, finding that it’s not actually all that useful.
- Ball bearing support for a winding rotor was patented in 1929. But these typically placed the bearings at the periphery, supporting the rotor itself. ETA’s original Eternamatic was a tiny movement for ladies watches so the engineers brought the ball bearings to the center. Seeing how well it worked, the “five balls” became the logo of Eterna!
- I should clarify that the name of the town is “Büren an der Aare” and it is commonly called “Büren”. But the brand name of the watch company, officially adopted by H. Williamson in 1916, was “Buren Watch Company” without the umlaut. This was generally used by the company through the 1960s, though they sometimes did include the umlaut in advertising and public communication. Confusingly, most patents list it using the Anglicized form of the name of the town, “Bueren Watch Company.” I try to be consistent (or perhaps confusing) and use “Büren” to refer to the town and “Buren” to refer to the company.
- Oops! The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was working on another thin automatic winding system at the same time, filing patents on their peripheral rotor on September 11, 1956. This was before the announcement or publication of the micro-rotor, and they no-doubt thought that their “Fontomatic” Cal. 65 would be the thinnest automatic movement at just 4.5 mm. This came to market in 1959 as the Sandoz 333, and advertisements for this latecomer specifically neglect to mention that number, which was surpassed a year earlier by both Buren and Universal.
- Buren trademarked “Intra Matic” in 1964 and used this name in the 1965 launch. But they also used “Intramatic” in this period, variously using both names. They had a sub-model called the “Intramatic Polestar” or “Intra Matic Pole-Star” in the 1960s as well, and I can’t imagine Universal loved this name.
- This would be Hans Kocher-Aeschbacher, the son, rather than his father Hans Kocher-Rinner, who retired that same year. The younger Hans Kocher was a truly remarkable man, deserving of a Prix Gaïa award in all three categories: Watchmaker, businessman, and historian. He was also incredibly magnanimous, not giving undue attention in his industry history writing and speaking to the Buren “planetary rotor” despite considering it his life’s greatest work.
- I’m wearing my Buren Calibre 82 watch as I write this!
- The 1975 Golden Shadow and White Shadow Quartz movement measured 3.45 mm thick. It was rapidly surpassed by Citizen, just under 1 mm in 1978, Seiko, 0.90 mm that same year, and the incredible Swiss Delirium movements.
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The Day the Micro-Rotor Was Introduced: Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren Watch Company and Universal Genève announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. This joint announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict between them. In fact, the invention and introduction was friendly, thanks to the cordial Hans Kocher, who invented the micro-rotor yet allowed others to share the limelight and the credit.
Buren and Universal collaborated in the simultaneous introduction of the micro-rotor automatic movement in 1958Debunking the Legend
Like so many areas of watchmaking history, the story of the micro-rotor automatic watch is rich with folklore. And like too many other topics, most of those stories are flat-out wrong. I have been hearing this particular story for years, and was shocked to find that it is entirely contradicted by the plain facts published at the time.
Here’s the gist of what I was told about the launch of the Buren and Universal micro-rotor movements:
- Buren was first to market, introducing their micro-rotor movement in 1957 or maybe even 1954
- Universal infringed on Buren’s patent, didn’t have the technical expertise to design a new movement, and maybe never even had a patent of their own
- Buren sued Universal or tried to block them from marketing the Microtor
- And inexplicably that Universal actually produced the Buren movement because they couldn’t get it to work
None of this is remotely true.
- Technician-watchmaker Hans Kocher of Buren Watch Company invented the micro-rotor movement, filing a patent in 1954
- Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, skilled technician-watchmakers at Universal, independently invented their own micro-rotor technology, filing a patent just 11 months later
- Kocher and Bandi collaborated on the launch, co-authoring an article on the technology and writing about each other’s work in supportive terms
- Buren and Universal announced their work at a joint press conference on February 18, 1958 and released their micro-rotor watches at the Basel Fair that year
- The companies targeted different markets and there is no sign of a lawsuit or any acrimony
- Both companies, along with Piaget, continued actively to develop micro-rotor movement technology for over a decade
- The technology was abandoned after both were purchased by American companies more interested in quartz electronic watches
So let’s sit back and enjoy the true story of the development of the micro-rotor watch movement!
Coverage of the joint 1958 launch of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
Image: Europa Star Eastern Jeweler 46, 1958The Rise of Self-Winding Watches
Le Locle watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet is usually credited for building the first self-winding watch in the 1770s. Many1 have questioned the primacy of Perrelet’s “montre à secousses” (“shaking watch”), but many subsequent watchmakers, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, Louis Recordin, and the Jaquet-Droz family, claimed to have been inspired by his design. Perrelet’s watch used a weight mounted to the side of the movement, causing it to shake when moved. The concept of automatic winding (and even the name “perpetual”) were widely known through the 19th century but such a complex mechanism was deemed unnecessary to bring to market.
Harwood saw a market for a sealed self-winding watchAfter World War I, Englishman John Harwood saw a need for self-winding watch. Soldiers were increasingly wearing wristwatches, and these were often damaged by moisture and dust. Inspired by a playground see-saw, Harwood independently2 invented a rocking weight segment that could wind the watch without a hole in the case. He patented the concept in 1923, built a prototype using a Blancpain movement, and brought the Harwood Perpetual to market with the help of A. Schild and Fortis of Grenchen. The watch only went into production late in the decade, and just a few thousand were produced before the Great Depression soon spelled the end.
You might also enjoy reading about “The Backward Evolution of the Rotating Bezel“
Harwood showed that the advent of the wristwatch had created customer demand for a self-winding movement, and the race was on to deliver a more practical one. I previously wrote about Eugène Meylan’s automatic winding mechanism, which was sold by Glycine starting in 1931. Another early player in automatic watches was Blancpain, which built a patented sliding watch called the Rolls for the French firm, Léon Hatot. Another modestly-successful automatic watch in this period was the Wig-Wag, which used the motion of the movement relative to the strap to wind the watch. But these oddball automatics soon fell by the wayside3.
It was the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that brought together all of the elements of the modern automatic wristwatch. Introduced about 19344, Rolex used a centrally-mounted rotor and winding mechanism stacked on top of their excellent movement. This technique was impractical in a pocket watch (which tended to sit vertically in a pocket) but made much more sense when strapped to a wrist. But the Rolex Oyster Perpetual movement was so thick it had to be mounted in a so-called “bubble-back” expanded case.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual really was ahead of its time!
Image: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, January 1936Seeing their success, especially though World War II, every Swiss company was racing to compete with Rolex with their own waterproof automatic watch. Felsa’s 1947 Bidynator brought bi-directional winding to the table5, ETA’s 1948 Eternamatic showed the potential of a rotor supported by ball bearings6, and Patek Philippe developed a “circumferential” rotor that extended down and around the movement. But all of these mechanisms added thickness, even as stylish consumers of the 1950s demanded ever-thinner watches. But making a thin automatic watch was inconceivable until the late 1950s, and the slimmest offerings (Zenith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) were bumper automatic movements, thin by accident rather than intentional design.
Hans Kocher and the Micro-Rotor
Hans Kocher grew up in the shadow of the H. Williamson watch factory in Büren an der Aare, Switzerland. He ran errands for the company as a young boy, and his work ethic so impressed the company’s chairman that he was sent to London to learn the business. But Kocher’s life took a turn when he met Austrian-born Josefine Rinner, a confectionary entrepreneur living in Zürich. The couple moved to Spain after the war, and their son (also named Hans) was born there in 1919. Kocher only settled down in 1923, marrying Josefine and returning to Bienne to work for the Williamson company. But the factory was bankrupt by 1931, with a group of local businessmen purchasing it. They invited Hans Kocher to return to Büren to take over management of the factory in 1932, and he spent the rest of his career there.
This rotor-in-a-rotor concept shows Kocher’s progress of inventionBut this is the story of the younger Hans Kocher, who apprenticed in Büren before studying at the Technical school in Bienne. Following World War II, young Hans Kocher moved to Saint-Imier and worked in the technical department of the nearby Cortébert Watch Company. He was a wunderkind, filing patents, developing a central-seconds movement, and reorganizing the company’s manufacturing process. In 1951, after he proved himself, Kocher returned home to become technical director of the Buren Watch Company7.
Kocher believed that technology could elevate Buren in the competitive Swiss watch market and decided to build the best-possible automatic watch movement. Although many aspects of automatic winding were already patented by others, he saw an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of contemporary automatic watches. For example, Kocher invented a mechanism to allow an automatic watch to be wound by hand, addressing widespread anxiety about power reserve. He also invented a few different bi-directional winding mechanisms and a more effective jewel pivot.
Another Kocher invention seemed to go nowhere: He embedded a tiny rotor inside the main winding rotor, creating a “Tilt-A-Whirl” effect to accelerate startup. Although this didn’t make it into production, this was the first glimpse of a micro-rotor winding system. A month later, Kocher filed a patent that he would later call his greatest work.
Hans Kocher’s design for Buren had a symmetry lacking in the production movementOn June 21, 1954, Buren Watch Company filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch movement. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort, with nearly every component re-designed.
It would take nearly four years of development to bring the micro-rotor movement to market. The Swiss government had largely restricted companies from producing their own ebauches, but this was allowed for in-house and complicated movements. And the micro-rotor was indeed a very complicated movement, requiring entirely new design and tooling to be installed at the factory in Büren!
Kocher’s original micro-rotor movement design was elegant and symmetrical, already quite well-developed even in 1954. He called it a “planetary rotor” because he thought it resembled the planetary gearsets in automatic transmissions. But he spent years working on the construction and mechanics of the rotor and the exact arrangement of the wheels and bridges. And he soon had an unexpected collaborator.
Universal, Froidevaux, and Bandi
On May 27, 1955, Manufacture des Montres Universal of Geneva filed a remarkably similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. This was 11 months after Buren’s filing, yet three years before either patent would be published. Although the Swiss patent is un-signed, the American patent specifies that the inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher. Both were incredibly talented and had made numerous inventions related to automatic watch winding and other areas of horology.
The original Universal design is similar to Büren’s at a glance but obviously not derivativeAt a glance, the Universal patent looks very similar to Buren’s, but a closer examination shows that nearly every aspect of the design is different. The American patent authorities examined it closely, rejecting only the most broad claim made by Universal. Given these differences, and the evident skills and imagination of Froidevaux and Bandi, I believe that it was independently invented.
Froidevaux left Universal by 1956, just as the company was developing the micro-rotor watch movement for production. This was the same year that Universal opened its own new factory near Geneva, severing ties with the chronograph factory in Ponts-de-Martel that had been the source of complicated in-house movements for Universal since 1941. The new Carouge-Genève factory was likely outfitted with new machinery to produce the micro-rotor, along with other in-house movements developed by Fred Bandi.
It is very likely that the amiable Hans Kocher knew of the work underway in Geneva by this time, and he may have offered Fred Bandi some technical advice. Indeed, we know that the two collaborated on a paper outlining the benefits of the micro-rotor movement, which was published in the September/October 1957 edition of Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie. They cite the improvements gained by this design in reducing movement height, stress on the rotor bearings, and ease of servicing.
Hans Kocher of Buren and Fred Bandi of Universal jointly announced the micro-rotor movement in this 1957 article in the Journal Suisse d’HorlogerieUp this point the thinnest automatic watch movements (Zénith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) had “bumper” movements rather than a free rotor. This is no surprise – the “sandwich stack” required to have a free rotor was inherently thicker than a winding mass that sat on the same plane as the wheel train and balance. But no bumper movement could match a micro-rotor embedded completely into the ebauche. Although not much thinner than hand-winding movements, the Büren and Universal movements were 20% thinner than most automatics at 4.1 to 4.2 mm8.
The Joint Release of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren Watch Company held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” Journalists from the major Swiss papers and industry journals learned about the revolutionary new micro-rotor technology, that would enable the companies to deliver the thinnest self-winding watches in the world. The companies promised that new watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April.
Ten days before the fair, on April 2, 1958, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article with more detail on the technology of these new movements. Noting that “the fundamental concept behind this novel winding mechanism is identical in both designs,” the article praises both companies’ products, noting that “the specific technical solutions employed differ significantly.” This article was written by Fred Bandi, Technical Director for Universal Genève. Hans Kocher also wrote articles about the two companies’ launches, both independently and jointly with Bandi.
This 1958 advertisement, coinciding with the Basel Fair, shows both the Universal and Buren logos. The example preserved in The Watch Library even features a hand-written formula for the moment of inertia of a solid rotor, likely penned by a curious watchmaker!Finally, on April 12, 1958, the Basel Fair opened, with both companies showcasing watches housing their new micro-rotor movements. They even placed a joint advertisement in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, featuring the logos of both companies.
The Büren showcase focused on the theme of “universality”The Buren Watch Company showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. Confusingly, the company’s Basel Fair booth was a generic paean to post-war globalization, dedicated to the theme “l’universalité.” The new Super Slender movement was depicted on a small card at the corner, with the ultra-thin watches arranged among other more mundane products.
The Universal Genève display was dedicated to the Microtor Universal used the Microtor movement in the famous PolerouterUniversal Genève presented a strong contrast, dedicating their entire display to the new Microtor movement. They even built a large model in a transparent plexiglass case, demonstrating the internal relationship between the micro-rotor and wheel train. The new Cal. 215 was used in an existing product line, the Polerouter (which had been introduced as “Polarouter” in 1954). Although Universal offered new dial designs for 1958, the Microtor’s slimmer profile was not leveraged for a watch that was notably thin.
Buren proudly proclaimed that their Super Slender was the thinnest automatic watch in the worldBoth watches were brought to market in the following months with no hint of production delays. They are widely seen and advertised over the next few years in press coverage, company advertising, and retail promotion. For example, an April 1958 ad for international retailer Turler lists the Universal Polerouter Microtor for 270 francs in steel or 820 francs in gold. Meanwhile, the Buren Super Slender was advertised in 1959 for 170 francs in steel or 185 francs for the model with a calendar complication, called Cal. 1001.
What Happened Next
Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. And two more ultra-thin automatic movements appeared at Basel in 1959 and 1960: The Sandoz 333, which used a peripheral rotor movement designed by FHF, and Piaget’s knock-out 2.3 mm thin micro-rotor Cal. 12 P. But the introduction of the Bulova Accutron on October 25, 1960 upended the entire industry.
Buren modified the wheel train bridge in 1959Buren actually introduced two micro-rotor movements at Basel in 1958: The base Cal. 1000 was truly “super slender” at 4.2 mm, but they also showed Cal. 1001, which added a date complication and 0.6 mm thickness. Although not as revolutionary as the micro-rotor, Paul Marmier’s patented date mechanism was quite innovative. It used an eccentric cam to keep the advance finger safely back from the date wheel teeth to avoid the risk of damage. The date advanced in just 12 minutes at midnight, and the mechanism also allowed quicker setting of the date by moving the time back to 11:30.
By 1959 Buren added Cal. 1002 and 1003, which featured a thinner balance cock to make way for an elongated wheel train bridge screwed to the base plate for greater stability. The original Cal. 1000 and 1001 remained in production, however, into the 1960s.
The Universal Polerouter collection expanded in 1959 with the Jet and Date modelsUniversal added a date complication as well, though theirs added over 1 mm to the thickness of the base Cal. 215. This did not pose an issue because the Microtor was used in watches of more ordinary thickness like the Polerouter Date. But the Geneva company did finally lean into the thin profile of the basic Microtor movement with the new 1959 Polerouter Jet, boasting that it was as thin as a hand-winding watch and the thinnest waterproof automatic watch in the world. Universal put the Microtor-Calendrier movement on a diet over the next few years, beveling the edges and slimming it to 4.7 mm (once again 0.1 mm thinner than the competing Buren movement). And Universal proved the robustness of their movement by equipping members of the Swiss Greenland Expedition with Microtor-powered Polerouters during the International Geophysical Year.
Other watches had previously been advertised for their ultra-thin profile, including Omega’s Centenaire and Cyma’s Navystar, but Movado, Sandoz, and Piaget were the strongest contenders. Movado had claimed the crown for the thinnest watch in 1935 with the Novoplan and delivered the automatic Cal. 331 in 1952, which was just 4.3 mm thick thanks to a beveled bumper rotor.
The Sandoz 333 was supposed to be the thinnest automatic watch but was launched a year too lateSandoz announced the “thinnest waterproof watch” in 1954 with their hand-winding Cal. 55, allowing them to produce a 6.9 mm watch. And they saw an opportunity in a peripheral rotor concept under development at the Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon. Unaware of the micro-rotor8, Sandoz and FHF targeted the 1959 Basel Fair to launch this new ultra-thin automatic watch. Despite being upstaged, the Sandoz 333 remains the first peripheral-winding automatic watch to market.
Piaget claimed outright victory for the thinnest watch in 1957 with the 4 mm Ref. 904, housing the 2.0 mm Cal. 9 P. Valentin Piaget of their specialist movement maker Complications SA saw unrealized potential in the micro-rotor concept. His Cal. 12 P, patented in 1958 and announced at the Basel Fair in 1960, dispensed with the center wheel and radically sliced away the ebauche. Measuring just 2.3 mm thick, this movement allowed Piaget’s Ref. 12 watches to stay at just 4 mm thick overall. Piaget has remained committed to this design, producing Cal. 1200 to this day!
The 1965 Buren Intra Matic was a modern interpretation of the ultra-thin dress watch
Image: Europa Star 35, 1965Buren embraced Piaget’s ideas, and their Cal. 1280 was similarly stripped-down, coming in at just 2.85 mm thick. This was used in their modern Intra Matic9 line, launched at the Basel Fair in 1965. Variations with date and central seconds ranged up to 3.60 mm, still over half a millimeter thinner than their original Super Slender.
The Intramatic movement made history on March 3, 1969 when Hans Kocher10 and Gerald Dubois announced the Chronomatic movement, built on Buren’s micro-rotor ebauche. This would be the first Swiss automatic chronograph in customer hands, used by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton, which had purchased Buren in February of 1966. Hamilton-Buren was taken over by the SIHH group in 1971 and the once-great Büren factory was closed the following year, with all assets sold. This came just as the Chronomatic was gaining market traction and sadly just before the launch of Buren’s great Calbre 8211.
The Universal Golden Shadow was just 4 mm thick
Image: Eastern Jeweler 93, 1966Universal also collaborated with Piaget, filing a joint patent in March of 1959 for a slim ratcheting winding system for micro-rotor movements. They continually updated their Microtor movement line, culminating in the 1966 introduction of the re-designed Cal. 66. Unlike the hand-made Piaget Cal. 12 P, the new Universal and Buren movements were designed for mass production and daily wear. And Universal once again beat Buren’s mark, with their ebauche measuring just 2.50 mm thick. This time Universal leaned into the thinness of the movement, matching Piaget with a new Golden Shadow watch line just 4 mm thick.
Everything changed for Universal in August of 1966, as the Bulova Watch Company of New York purchased the company. Flush with cash from the Accutron, a global phenomenon never before seen in watchmaking, Bulova sought to solidify its control over the luxury watch industry by bringing the Geneva firm under its control. Universal continued production of the Microtor family into the 1970s and even developed the world’s thinnest quartz movement in 197512. But Bulova was slow to embrace quartz as the market for the Accutron evaporated. The Universal factory in Geneva was bankrupt by the late 1970s and was sold in 1983 to new investors.
The Micro-Rotor Lives On
The micro-rotor is not dead. Far from it: There are more micro-rotor movements on the market today than ever before!
Patek Philippe filed for a patent their own micro-rotor movement in 1975, bringing their Cal. 240 to market a few years later. It has been continually updated and is one of the most-loved movements by enthusiasts like me. Chopard Manufacture leaned into the micro-rotor concept with the launch of the L.U.C movements in 1997, and it remains a highlight of the company’s offerings. A new Universal Genève launched in 2005, bringing a new Microtor (Cal. UG-100) to market in 2006. Schwarz Etienne and Parmigiani Fleurier both introduced new micro-rotor movements in 2010, and both supply these to other fine watch makers to this day. Armin Strom, Hermès, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and many others have also released high-end micro-rotor movements. And Piaget never stopped developing their micro-rotor movements.
Universal was re-launched as an upscale sister brand to Breitling on April 8, 2026 and two new Microtor movements form the core of the new offerings. The new Polerouter Microtor is the first double-barrel micro-rotor movement I know of, and is a lovely tribute to Hans Kocher, who was deeply involved in both innovations. And the new Compax Microtor movement recalls the pioneering Chronomatic movement.
Research Notes
- The question of whether Perrelet was the first to create a self-winding watch was a matter of great interest through the 20th century. Historian Alfred Chapuis uncovered many prior and subsequent designs, yet he concluded in his seminal book “La Montre Automatique Ancienne” that Perrelet absolutely deserved the credit. That being said, the self-winding watch “discovered” by Léon Leroy of Paris in 1949 may not have been created by Perrelet, according to a 1996 Europa Star article by Jean-Claude Nicolet with rebuttal by Jean-Claude Sabrier.
- Not being a watch industry insider, Harwood may have been completely unaware that dozens of watchmakers had developed self-winding watches for over a century prior to his invention. And L. Leroy of Paris had already produced a self-winding wristwatch a year before Harwood’s patent. But he was the first to recognize the market for a wristwatch with a sealed case and self-winding movement.
- The sliding weight concept was actually successfully revived by Pierce just after World War II. This “dissident” Moutier firm was unwilling to abide by the Swiss cartel’s production quotas, so they were blocked from working with nearly every other company. So they developed their own slim sliding-weight automatic, an amazing in-house chronograph movement, and more! In modern times we have seen another sliding-weight automatic, the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic.
- I’m not a Rolex expert, but I am confounded by the lack of definitive history for this most-important watchmaker. The earliest mention I could find of the Oyster Perpetual comes from Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in September of 1934, and it was fully illustrated in January of 1936. Given that Rolex trademarked the name in 1932, I guess that places the introduction of the Rolex Perpetual movement in 1933 or 1934. It definitely wasn’t 1931, despite countless blog posts and Rolex’s own advertising.
- Incredibly, some of the earliest known self-winding pocket watch movements also have clever bi-directional winding solutions: The four controversial maybe-Perrelet movements have a pawl winding system similar to the much-later Pellaton and Magic Lever, and many of the “shaker” movements had bi-directional winding too. But Felsa’s elegant Bidynator inspired the whole industry to adopt this concept. Surprisingly, modern movements are dropping bi-directional winding, finding that it’s not actually all that useful.
- Ball bearing support for a winding rotor was patented in 1929. But these typically placed the bearings at the periphery, supporting the rotor itself. ETA’s original Eternamatic was a tiny movement for ladies watches so the engineers brought the ball bearings to the center. Seeing how well it worked, the “five balls” became the logo of Eterna!
- I should clarify that the name of the town is “Büren an der Aare” and it is commonly called “Büren”. But the brand name of the watch company, officially adopted by H. Williamson in 1916, was “Buren Watch Company” without the umlaut. This was generally used by the company through the 1960s, though they sometimes did include the umlaut in advertising and public communication. Confusingly, most patents list it using the Anglicized form of the name of the town, “Bueren Watch Company.” I try to be consistent (or perhaps confusing) and use “Büren” to refer to the town and “Buren” to refer to the company.
- Oops! The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was working on another thin automatic winding system at the same time, filing patents on their peripheral rotor on September 11, 1956. This was before the announcement or publication of the micro-rotor, and they no-doubt thought that their “Fontomatic” Cal. 65 would be the thinnest automatic movement at just 4.5 mm. This came to market in 1959 as the Sandoz 333, and advertisements for this latecomer specifically neglect to mention that number, which was surpassed a year earlier by both Buren and Universal.
- Buren trademarked “Intra Matic” in 1964 and used this name in the 1965 launch. But they also used “Intramatic” in this period, variously using both names. They had a sub-model called the “Intramatic Polestar” or “Intra Matic Pole-Star” in the 1960s as well, and I can’t imagine Universal loved this name.
- This would be Hans Kocher-Aeschbacher, the son, rather than his father Hans Kocher-Rinner, who retired that same year. The younger Hans Kocher was a truly remarkable man, deserving of a Prix Gaïa award in all three categories: Watchmaker, businessman, and historian. He was also incredibly magnanimous, not giving undue attention in his industry history writing and speaking to the Buren “planetary rotor” despite considering it his life’s greatest work.
- I’m wearing my Buren Calibre 82 watch as I write this!
- The 1975 Golden Shadow and White Shadow Quartz movement measured 3.45 mm thick. It was rapidly surpassed by Citizen, just under 1 mm in 1978, Seiko, 0.90 mm that same year, and the incredible Swiss Delirium movements.
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The Day the Micro-Rotor Was Introduced: Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren Watch Company and Universal Genève announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. This joint announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict between them. In fact, the invention and introduction was friendly, thanks to the cordial Hans Kocher, who invented the micro-rotor yet allowed others to share the limelight and the credit.
Buren and Universal collaborated in the simultaneous introduction of the micro-rotor automatic movement in 1958Debunking the Legend
Like so many areas of watchmaking history, the story of the micro-rotor automatic watch is rich with folklore. And like too many other topics, most of those stories are flat-out wrong. I have been hearing this particular story for years, and was shocked to find that it is entirely contradicted by the plain facts published at the time.
Here’s the gist of what I was told about the launch of the Buren and Universal micro-rotor movements:
- Buren was first to market, introducing their micro-rotor movement in 1957 or maybe even 1954
- Universal infringed on Buren’s patent, didn’t have the technical expertise to design a new movement, and maybe never even had a patent of their own
- Buren sued Universal or tried to block them from marketing the Microtor
- And inexplicably that Universal actually produced the Buren movement because they couldn’t get it to work
None of this is remotely true.
- Technician-watchmaker Hans Kocher of Buren Watch Company invented the micro-rotor movement, filing a patent in 1954
- Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, skilled technician-watchmakers at Universal, independently invented their own micro-rotor technology, filing a patent just 11 months later
- Kocher and Bandi collaborated on the launch, co-authoring an article on the technology and writing about each other’s work in supportive terms
- Buren and Universal announced their work at a joint press conference on February 18, 1958 and released their micro-rotor watches at the Basel Fair that year
- The companies targeted different markets and there is no sign of a lawsuit or any acrimony
- Both companies, along with Piaget, continued actively to develop micro-rotor movement technology for over a decade
- The technology was abandoned after both were purchased by American companies more interested in quartz electronic watches
So let’s sit back and enjoy the true story of the development of the micro-rotor watch movement!
Coverage of the joint 1958 launch of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
Image: Europa Star Eastern Jeweler 46, 1958The Rise of Self-Winding Watches
Le Locle watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet is usually credited for building the first self-winding watch in the 1770s. Many1 have questioned the primacy of Perrelet’s “montre à secousses” (“shaking watch”), but many subsequent watchmakers, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, Louis Recordin, and the Jaquet-Droz family, claimed to have been inspired by his design. Perrelet’s watch used a weight mounted to the side of the movement, causing it to shake when moved. The concept of automatic winding (and even the name “perpetual”) were widely known through the 19th century but such a complex mechanism was deemed unnecessary to bring to market.
Harwood saw a market for a sealed self-winding watchAfter World War I, Englishman John Harwood saw a need for self-winding watch. Soldiers were increasingly wearing wristwatches, and these were often damaged by moisture and dust. Inspired by a playground see-saw, Harwood independently2 invented a rocking weight segment that could wind the watch without a hole in the case. He patented the concept in 1923, built a prototype using a Blancpain movement, and brought the Harwood Perpetual to market with the help of A. Schild and Fortis of Grenchen. The watch only went into production late in the decade, and just a few thousand were produced before the Great Depression soon spelled the end.
You might also enjoy reading about “The Backward Evolution of the Rotating Bezel“
Harwood showed that the advent of the wristwatch had created customer demand for a self-winding movement, and the race was on to deliver a more practical one. I previously wrote about Eugène Meylan’s automatic winding mechanism, which was sold by Glycine starting in 1931. Another early player in automatic watches was Blancpain, which built a patented sliding watch called the Rolls for the French firm, Léon Hatot. Another modestly-successful automatic watch in this period was the Wig-Wag, which used the motion of the movement relative to the strap to wind the watch. But these oddball automatics soon fell by the wayside3.
It was the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that brought together all of the elements of the modern automatic wristwatch. Introduced about 19344, Rolex used a centrally-mounted rotor and winding mechanism stacked on top of their excellent movement. This technique was impractical in a pocket watch (which tended to sit vertically in a pocket) but made much more sense when strapped to a wrist. But the Rolex Oyster Perpetual movement was so thick it had to be mounted in a so-called “bubble-back” expanded case.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual really was ahead of its time!
Image: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, January 1936Seeing their success, especially though World War II, every Swiss company was racing to compete with Rolex with their own waterproof automatic watch. Felsa’s 1947 Bidynator brought bi-directional winding to the table5, ETA’s 1948 Eternamatic showed the potential of a rotor supported by ball bearings6, and Patek Philippe developed a “circumferential” rotor that extended down and around the movement. But all of these mechanisms added thickness, even as stylish consumers of the 1950s demanded ever-thinner watches. But making a thin automatic watch was inconceivable until the late 1950s, and the slimmest offerings (Zenith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) were bumper automatic movements, thin by accident rather than intentional design.
Hans Kocher and the Micro-Rotor
Hans Kocher grew up in the shadow of the H. Williamson watch factory in Büren an der Aare, Switzerland. He ran errands for the company as a young boy, and his work ethic so impressed the company’s chairman that he was sent to London to learn the business. But Kocher’s life took a turn when he met Austrian-born Josefine Rinner, a confectionary entrepreneur living in Zürich. The couple moved to Spain after the war, and their son (also named Hans) was born there in 1919. Kocher only settled down in 1923, marrying Josefine and returning to Bienne to work for the Williamson company. But the factory was bankrupt by 1931, with a group of local businessmen purchasing it. They invited Hans Kocher to return to Büren to take over management of the factory in 1932, and he spent the rest of his career there.
This rotor-in-a-rotor concept shows Kocher’s progress of inventionBut this is the story of the younger Hans Kocher, who apprenticed in Büren before studying at the Technical school in Bienne. Following World War II, young Hans Kocher moved to Saint-Imier and worked in the technical department of the nearby Cortébert Watch Company. He was a wunderkind, filing patents, developing a central-seconds movement, and reorganizing the company’s manufacturing process. In 1951, after he proved himself, Kocher returned home to become technical director of the Buren Watch Company7.
Kocher believed that technology could elevate Buren in the competitive Swiss watch market and decided to build the best-possible automatic watch movement. Although many aspects of automatic winding were already patented by others, he saw an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of contemporary automatic watches. For example, Kocher invented a mechanism to allow an automatic watch to be wound by hand, addressing widespread anxiety about power reserve. He also invented a few different bi-directional winding mechanisms and a more effective jewel pivot.
Another Kocher invention seemed to go nowhere: He embedded a tiny rotor inside the main winding rotor, creating a “Tilt-A-Whirl” effect to accelerate startup. Although this didn’t make it into production, this was the first glimpse of a micro-rotor winding system. A month later, Kocher filed a patent that he would later call his greatest work.
Hans Kocher’s design for Buren had a symmetry lacking in the production movementOn June 21, 1954, Buren Watch Company filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch movement. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort, with nearly every component re-designed.
It would take nearly four years of development to bring the micro-rotor movement to market. The Swiss government had largely restricted companies from producing their own ebauches, but this was allowed for in-house and complicated movements. And the micro-rotor was indeed a very complicated movement, requiring entirely new design and tooling to be installed at the factory in Büren!
Kocher’s original micro-rotor movement design was elegant and symmetrical, already quite well-developed even in 1954. He called it a “planetary rotor” because he thought it resembled the planetary gearsets in automatic transmissions. But he spent years working on the construction and mechanics of the rotor and the exact arrangement of the wheels and bridges. And he soon had an unexpected collaborator.
Universal, Froidevaux, and Bandi
On May 27, 1955, Manufacture des Montres Universal of Geneva filed a remarkably similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. This was 11 months after Buren’s filing, yet three years before either patent would be published. Although the Swiss patent is un-signed, the American patent specifies that the inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher. Both were incredibly talented and had made numerous inventions related to automatic watch winding and other areas of horology.
The original Universal design is similar to Büren’s at a glance but obviously not derivativeAt a glance, the Universal patent looks very similar to Buren’s, but a closer examination shows that nearly every aspect of the design is different. The American patent authorities examined it closely, rejecting only the most broad claim made by Universal. Given these differences, and the evident skills and imagination of Froidevaux and Bandi, I believe that it was independently invented.
Froidevaux left Universal by 1956, just as the company was developing the micro-rotor watch movement for production. This was the same year that Universal opened its own new factory near Geneva, severing ties with the chronograph factory in Ponts-de-Martel that had been the source of complicated in-house movements for Universal since 1941. The new Carouge-Genève factory was likely outfitted with new machinery to produce the micro-rotor, along with other in-house movements developed by Fred Bandi.
It is very likely that the amiable Hans Kocher knew of the work underway in Geneva by this time, and he may have offered Fred Bandi some technical advice. Indeed, we know that the two collaborated on a paper outlining the benefits of the micro-rotor movement, which was published in the September/October 1957 edition of Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie. They cite the improvements gained by this design in reducing movement height, stress on the rotor bearings, and ease of servicing.
Hans Kocher of Buren and Fred Bandi of Universal jointly announced the micro-rotor movement in this 1957 article in the Journal Suisse d’HorlogerieUp this point the thinnest automatic watch movements (Zénith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) had “bumper” movements rather than a free rotor. This is no surprise – the “sandwich stack” required to have a free rotor was inherently thicker than a winding mass that sat on the same plane as the wheel train and balance. But no bumper movement could match a micro-rotor embedded completely into the ebauche. Although not much thinner than hand-winding movements, the Büren and Universal movements were 20% thinner than most automatics at 4.1 to 4.2 mm8.
The Joint Release of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren Watch Company held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” Journalists from the major Swiss papers and industry journals learned about the revolutionary new micro-rotor technology, that would enable the companies to deliver the thinnest self-winding watches in the world. The companies promised that new watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April.
Ten days before the fair, on April 2, 1958, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article with more detail on the technology of these new movements. Noting that “the fundamental concept behind this novel winding mechanism is identical in both designs,” the article praises both companies’ products, noting that “the specific technical solutions employed differ significantly.” This article was written by Fred Bandi, Technical Director for Universal Genève. Hans Kocher also wrote articles about the two companies’ launches, both independently and jointly with Bandi.
This 1958 advertisement, coinciding with the Basel Fair, shows both the Universal and Buren logos. The example preserved in The Watch Library even features a hand-written formula for the moment of inertia of a solid rotor, likely penned by a curious watchmaker!Finally, on April 12, 1958, the Basel Fair opened, with both companies showcasing watches housing their new micro-rotor movements. They even placed a joint advertisement in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, featuring the logos of both companies.
The Büren showcase focused on the theme of “universality”The Buren Watch Company showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. Confusingly, the company’s Basel Fair booth was a generic paean to post-war globalization, dedicated to the theme “l’universalité.” The new Super Slender movement was depicted on a small card at the corner, with the ultra-thin watches arranged among other more mundane products.
The Universal Genève display was dedicated to the Microtor Universal used the Microtor movement in the famous PolerouterUniversal Genève presented a strong contrast, dedicating their entire display to the new Microtor movement. They even built a large model in a transparent plexiglass case, demonstrating the internal relationship between the micro-rotor and wheel train. The new Cal. 215 was used in an existing product line, the Polerouter (which had been introduced as “Polarouter” in 1954). Although Universal offered new dial designs for 1958, the Microtor’s slimmer profile was not leveraged for a watch that was notably thin.
Buren proudly proclaimed that their Super Slender was the thinnest automatic watch in the worldBoth watches were brought to market in the following months with no hint of production delays. They are widely seen and advertised over the next few years in press coverage, company advertising, and retail promotion. For example, an April 1958 ad for international retailer Turler lists the Universal Polerouter Microtor for 270 francs in steel or 820 francs in gold. Meanwhile, the Buren Super Slender was advertised in 1959 for 170 francs in steel or 185 francs for the model with a calendar complication, called Cal. 1001.
What Happened Next
Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. And two more ultra-thin automatic movements appeared at Basel in 1959 and 1960: The Sandoz 333, which used a peripheral rotor movement designed by FHF, and Piaget’s knock-out 2.3 mm thin micro-rotor Cal. 12 P. But the introduction of the Bulova Accutron on October 25, 1960 upended the entire industry.
Buren modified the wheel train bridge in 1959Buren actually introduced two micro-rotor movements at Basel in 1958: The base Cal. 1000 was truly “super slender” at 4.2 mm, but they also showed Cal. 1001, which added a date complication and 0.6 mm thickness. Although not as revolutionary as the micro-rotor, Paul Marmier’s patented date mechanism was quite innovative. It used an eccentric cam to keep the advance finger safely back from the date wheel teeth to avoid the risk of damage. The date advanced in just 12 minutes at midnight, and the mechanism also allowed quicker setting of the date by moving the time back to 11:30.
By 1959 Buren added Cal. 1002 and 1003, which featured a thinner balance cock to make way for an elongated wheel train bridge screwed to the base plate for greater stability. The original Cal. 1000 and 1001 remained in production, however, into the 1960s.
The Universal Polerouter collection expanded in 1959 with the Jet and Date modelsUniversal added a date complication as well, though theirs added over 1 mm to the thickness of the base Cal. 215. This did not pose an issue because the Microtor was used in watches of more ordinary thickness like the Polerouter Date. But the Geneva company did finally lean into the thin profile of the basic Microtor movement with the new 1959 Polerouter Jet, boasting that it was as thin as a hand-winding watch and the thinnest waterproof automatic watch in the world. Universal put the Microtor-Calendrier movement on a diet over the next few years, beveling the edges and slimming it to 4.7 mm (once again 0.1 mm thinner than the competing Buren movement). And Universal proved the robustness of their movement by equipping members of the Swiss Greenland Expedition with Microtor-powered Polerouters during the International Geophysical Year.
Other watches had previously been advertised for their ultra-thin profile, including Omega’s Centenaire and Cyma’s Navystar, but Movado, Sandoz, and Piaget were the strongest contenders. Movado had claimed the crown for the thinnest watch in 1935 with the Novoplan and delivered the automatic Cal. 331 in 1952, which was just 4.3 mm thick thanks to a beveled bumper rotor.
The Sandoz 333 was supposed to be the thinnest automatic watch but was launched a year too lateSandoz announced the “thinnest waterproof watch” in 1954 with their hand-winding Cal. 55, allowing them to produce a 6.9 mm watch. And they saw an opportunity in a peripheral rotor concept under development at the Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon. Unaware of the micro-rotor8, Sandoz and FHF targeted the 1959 Basel Fair to launch this new ultra-thin automatic watch. Despite being upstaged, the Sandoz 333 remains the first peripheral-winding automatic watch to market.
Piaget claimed outright victory for the thinnest watch in 1957 with the 4 mm Ref. 904, housing the 2.0 mm Cal. 9 P. Valentin Piaget of their specialist movement maker Complications SA saw unrealized potential in the micro-rotor concept. His Cal. 12 P, patented in 1958 and announced at the Basel Fair in 1960, dispensed with the center wheel and radically sliced away the ebauche. Measuring just 2.3 mm thick, this movement allowed Piaget’s Ref. 12 watches to stay at just 4 mm thick overall. Piaget has remained committed to this design, producing Cal. 1200 to this day!
The 1965 Buren Intra Matic was a modern interpretation of the ultra-thin dress watch
Image: Europa Star 35, 1965Buren embraced Piaget’s ideas, and their Cal. 1280 was similarly stripped-down, coming in at just 2.85 mm thick. This was used in their modern Intra Matic9 line, launched at the Basel Fair in 1965. Variations with date and central seconds ranged up to 3.60 mm, still over half a millimeter thinner than their original Super Slender.
The Intramatic movement made history on March 3, 1969 when Hans Kocher10 and Gerald Dubois announced the Chronomatic movement, built on Buren’s micro-rotor ebauche. This would be the first Swiss automatic chronograph in customer hands, used by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton, which had purchased Buren in February of 1966. Hamilton-Buren was taken over by the SIHH group in 1971 and the once-great Büren factory was closed the following year, with all assets sold. This came just as the Chronomatic was gaining market traction and sadly just before the launch of Buren’s great Calbre 8211.
The Universal Golden Shadow was just 4 mm thick
Image: Eastern Jeweler 93, 1966Universal also collaborated with Piaget, filing a joint patent in March of 1959 for a slim ratcheting winding system for micro-rotor movements. They continually updated their Microtor movement line, culminating in the 1966 introduction of the re-designed Cal. 66. Unlike the hand-made Piaget Cal. 12 P, the new Universal and Buren movements were designed for mass production and daily wear. And Universal once again beat Buren’s mark, with their ebauche measuring just 2.50 mm thick. This time Universal leaned into the thinness of the movement, matching Piaget with a new Golden Shadow watch line just 4 mm thick.
Everything changed for Universal in August of 1966, as the Bulova Watch Company of New York purchased the company. Flush with cash from the Accutron, a global phenomenon never before seen in watchmaking, Bulova sought to solidify its control over the luxury watch industry by bringing the Geneva firm under its control. Universal continued production of the Microtor family into the 1970s and even developed the world’s thinnest quartz movement in 197512. But Bulova was slow to embrace quartz as the market for the Accutron evaporated. The Universal factory in Geneva was bankrupt by the late 1970s and was sold in 1983 to new investors.
The Micro-Rotor Lives On
The micro-rotor is not dead. Far from it: There are more micro-rotor movements on the market today than ever before!
Patek Philippe filed for a patent their own micro-rotor movement in 1975, bringing their Cal. 240 to market a few years later. It has been continually updated and is one of the most-loved movements by enthusiasts like me. Chopard Manufacture leaned into the micro-rotor concept with the launch of the L.U.C movements in 1997, and it remains a highlight of the company’s offerings. A new Universal Genève launched in 2005, bringing a new Microtor (Cal. UG-100) to market in 2006. Schwarz Etienne and Parmigiani Fleurier both introduced new micro-rotor movements in 2010, and both supply these to other fine watch makers to this day. Armin Strom, Hermès, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and many others have also released high-end micro-rotor movements. And Piaget never stopped developing their micro-rotor movements.
Universal was re-launched as an upscale sister brand to Breitling on April 8, 2026 and two new Microtor movements form the core of the new offerings. The new Polerouter Microtor is the first double-barrel micro-rotor movement I know of, and is a lovely tribute to Hans Kocher, who was deeply involved in both innovations. And the new Compax Microtor movement recalls the pioneering Chronomatic movement.
Research Notes
- The question of whether Perrelet was the first to create a self-winding watch was a matter of great interest through the 20th century. Historian Alfred Chapuis uncovered many prior and subsequent designs, yet he concluded in his seminal book “La Montre Automatique Ancienne” that Perrelet absolutely deserved the credit. That being said, the self-winding watch “discovered” by Léon Leroy of Paris in 1949 may not have been created by Perrelet, according to a 1996 Europa Star article by Jean-Claude Nicolet with rebuttal by Jean-Claude Sabrier.
- Not being a watch industry insider, Harwood may have been completely unaware that dozens of watchmakers had developed self-winding watches for over a century prior to his invention. And L. Leroy of Paris had already produced a self-winding wristwatch a year before Harwood’s patent. But he was the first to recognize the market for a wristwatch with a sealed case and self-winding movement.
- The sliding weight concept was actually successfully revived by Pierce just after World War II. This “dissident” Moutier firm was unwilling to abide by the Swiss cartel’s production quotas, so they were blocked from working with nearly every other company. So they developed their own slim sliding-weight automatic, an amazing in-house chronograph movement, and more! In modern times we have seen another sliding-weight automatic, the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic.
- I’m not a Rolex expert, but I am confounded by the lack of definitive history for this most-important watchmaker. The earliest mention I could find of the Oyster Perpetual comes from Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in September of 1934, and it was fully illustrated in January of 1936. Given that Rolex trademarked the name in 1932, I guess that places the introduction of the Rolex Perpetual movement in 1933 or 1934. It definitely wasn’t 1931, despite countless blog posts and Rolex’s own advertising.
- Incredibly, some of the earliest known self-winding pocket watch movements also have clever bi-directional winding solutions: The four controversial maybe-Perrelet movements have a pawl winding system similar to the much-later Pellaton and Magic Lever, and many of the “shaker” movements had bi-directional winding too. But Felsa’s elegant Bidynator inspired the whole industry to adopt this concept. Surprisingly, modern movements are dropping bi-directional winding, finding that it’s not actually all that useful.
- Ball bearing support for a winding rotor was patented in 1929. But these typically placed the bearings at the periphery, supporting the rotor itself. ETA’s original Eternamatic was a tiny movement for ladies watches so the engineers brought the ball bearings to the center. Seeing how well it worked, the “five balls” became the logo of Eterna!
- I should clarify that the name of the town is “Büren an der Aare” and it is commonly called “Büren”. But the brand name of the watch company, officially adopted by H. Williamson in 1916, was “Buren Watch Company” without the umlaut. This was generally used by the company through the 1960s, though they sometimes did include the umlaut in advertising and public communication. Confusingly, most patents list it using the Anglicized form of the name of the town, “Bueren Watch Company.” I try to be consistent (or perhaps confusing) and use “Büren” to refer to the town and “Buren” to refer to the company.
- Oops! The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was working on another thin automatic winding system at the same time, filing patents on their peripheral rotor on September 11, 1956. This was before the announcement or publication of the micro-rotor, and they no-doubt thought that their “Fontomatic” Cal. 65 would be the thinnest automatic movement at just 4.5 mm. This came to market in 1959 as the Sandoz 333, and advertisements for this latecomer specifically neglect to mention that number, which was surpassed a year earlier by both Buren and Universal.
- Buren trademarked “Intra Matic” in 1964 and used this name in the 1965 launch. But they also used “Intramatic” in this period, variously using both names. They had a sub-model called the “Intramatic Polestar” or “Intra Matic Pole-Star” in the 1960s as well, and I can’t imagine Universal loved this name.
- This would be Hans Kocher-Aeschbacher, the son, rather than his father Hans Kocher-Rinner, who retired that same year. The younger Hans Kocher was a truly remarkable man, deserving of a Prix Gaïa award in all three categories: Watchmaker, businessman, and historian. He was also incredibly magnanimous, not giving undue attention in his industry history writing and speaking to the Buren “planetary rotor” despite considering it his life’s greatest work.
- I’m wearing my Buren Calibre 82 watch as I write this!
- The 1975 Golden Shadow and White Shadow Quartz movement measured 3.45 mm thick. It was rapidly surpassed by Citizen, just under 1 mm in 1978, Seiko, 0.90 mm that same year, and the incredible Swiss Delirium movements.
-
The Day the Micro-Rotor Was Introduced: Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, representatives from Buren Watch Company and Universal Genève announced “the greatest technical advance in 30 years,” the micro-rotor automatic watch movement. This joint announcement, and the actions of the inventors and companies before and after it, contradict the oft-repeated story of conflict between them. In fact, the invention and introduction was friendly, thanks to the cordial Hans Kocher, who invented the micro-rotor yet allowed others to share the limelight and the credit.
Buren and Universal collaborated in the simultaneous introduction of the micro-rotor automatic movement in 1958Debunking the Legend
Like so many areas of watchmaking history, the story of the micro-rotor automatic watch is rich with folklore. And like too many other topics, most of those stories are flat-out wrong. I have been hearing this particular story for years, and was shocked to find that it is entirely contradicted by the plain facts published at the time.
Here’s the gist of what I was told about the launch of the Buren and Universal micro-rotor movements:
- Buren was first to market, introducing their micro-rotor movement in 1957 or maybe even 1954
- Universal infringed on Buren’s patent, didn’t have the technical expertise to design a new movement, and maybe never even had a patent of their own
- Buren sued Universal or tried to block them from marketing the Microtor
- And inexplicably that Universal actually produced the Buren movement because they couldn’t get it to work
None of this is remotely true.
- Technician-watchmaker Hans Kocher of Buren Watch Company invented the micro-rotor movement, filing a patent in 1954
- Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, skilled technician-watchmakers at Universal, independently invented their own micro-rotor technology, filing a patent just 11 months later
- Kocher and Bandi collaborated on the launch, co-authoring an article on the technology and writing about each other’s work in supportive terms
- Buren and Universal announced their work at a joint press conference on February 18, 1958 and released their micro-rotor watches at the Basel Fair that year
- The companies targeted different markets and there is no sign of a lawsuit or any acrimony
- Both companies, along with Piaget, continued actively to develop micro-rotor movement technology for over a decade
- The technology was abandoned after both were purchased by American companies more interested in quartz electronic watches
So let’s sit back and enjoy the true story of the development of the micro-rotor watch movement!
Coverage of the joint 1958 launch of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
Image: Europa Star Eastern Jeweler 46, 1958The Rise of Self-Winding Watches
Le Locle watchmaker Abraham-Louis Perrelet is usually credited for building the first self-winding watch in the 1770s. Many1 have questioned the primacy of Perrelet’s “montre à secousses” (“shaking watch”), but many subsequent watchmakers, including Abraham-Louis Breguet, Louis Recordin, and the Jaquet-Droz family, claimed to have been inspired by his design. Perrelet’s watch used a weight mounted to the side of the movement, causing it to shake when moved. The concept of automatic winding (and even the name “perpetual”) were widely known through the 19th century but such a complex mechanism was deemed unnecessary to bring to market.
Harwood saw a market for a sealed self-winding watchAfter World War I, Englishman John Harwood saw a need for self-winding watch. Soldiers were increasingly wearing wristwatches, and these were often damaged by moisture and dust. Inspired by a playground see-saw, Harwood independently2 invented a rocking weight segment that could wind the watch without a hole in the case. He patented the concept in 1923, built a prototype using a Blancpain movement, and brought the Harwood Perpetual to market with the help of A. Schild and Fortis of Grenchen. The watch only went into production late in the decade, and just a few thousand were produced before the Great Depression soon spelled the end.
You might also enjoy reading about “The Backward Evolution of the Rotating Bezel“
Harwood showed that the advent of the wristwatch had created customer demand for a self-winding movement, and the race was on to deliver a more practical one. I previously wrote about Eugène Meylan’s automatic winding mechanism, which was sold by Glycine starting in 1931. Another early player in automatic watches was Blancpain, which built a patented sliding watch called the Rolls for the French firm, Léon Hatot. Another modestly-successful automatic watch in this period was the Wig-Wag, which used the motion of the movement relative to the strap to wind the watch. But these oddball automatics soon fell by the wayside3.
It was the Rolex Oyster Perpetual that brought together all of the elements of the modern automatic wristwatch. Introduced about 19344, Rolex used a centrally-mounted rotor and winding mechanism stacked on top of their excellent movement. This technique was impractical in a pocket watch (which tended to sit vertically in a pocket) but made much more sense when strapped to a wrist. But the Rolex Oyster Perpetual movement was so thick it had to be mounted in a so-called “bubble-back” expanded case.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual really was ahead of its time!
Image: Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, January 1936Seeing their success, especially though World War II, every Swiss company was racing to compete with Rolex with their own waterproof automatic watch. Felsa’s 1947 Bidynator brought bi-directional winding to the table5, ETA’s 1948 Eternamatic showed the potential of a rotor supported by ball bearings6, and Patek Philippe developed a “circumferential” rotor that extended down and around the movement. But all of these mechanisms added thickness, even as stylish consumers of the 1950s demanded ever-thinner watches. But making a thin automatic watch was inconceivable until the late 1950s, and the slimmest offerings (Zenith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) were bumper automatic movements, thin by accident rather than intentional design.
Hans Kocher and the Micro-Rotor
Hans Kocher grew up in the shadow of the H. Williamson watch factory in Büren an der Aare, Switzerland. He ran errands for the company as a young boy, and his work ethic so impressed the company’s chairman that he was sent to London to learn the business. But Kocher’s life took a turn when he met Austrian-born Josefine Rinner, a confectionary entrepreneur living in Zürich. The couple moved to Spain after the war, and their son (also named Hans) was born there in 1919. Kocher only settled down in 1923, marrying Josefine and returning to Bienne to work for the Williamson company. But the factory was bankrupt by 1931, with a group of local businessmen purchasing it. They invited Hans Kocher to return to Büren to take over management of the factory in 1932, and he spent the rest of his career there.
This rotor-in-a-rotor concept shows Kocher’s progress of inventionBut this is the story of the younger Hans Kocher, who apprenticed in Büren before studying at the Technical school in Bienne. Following World War II, young Hans Kocher moved to Saint-Imier and worked in the technical department of the nearby Cortébert Watch Company. He was a wunderkind, filing patents, developing a central-seconds movement, and reorganizing the company’s manufacturing process. In 1951, after he proved himself, Kocher returned home to become technical director of the Buren Watch Company7.
Kocher believed that technology could elevate Buren in the competitive Swiss watch market and decided to build the best-possible automatic watch movement. Although many aspects of automatic winding were already patented by others, he saw an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of contemporary automatic watches. For example, Kocher invented a mechanism to allow an automatic watch to be wound by hand, addressing widespread anxiety about power reserve. He also invented a few different bi-directional winding mechanisms and a more effective jewel pivot.
Another Kocher invention seemed to go nowhere: He embedded a tiny rotor inside the main winding rotor, creating a “Tilt-A-Whirl” effect to accelerate startup. Although this didn’t make it into production, this was the first glimpse of a micro-rotor winding system. A month later, Kocher filed a patent that he would later call his greatest work.
Hans Kocher’s design for Buren had a symmetry lacking in the production movementOn June 21, 1954, Buren Watch Company filed a patent for a fully-realized micro-rotor automatic watch movement. Rather than adding a rotor on top of an existing movement, Hans Kocher redesigned the entire ebauche, reorganizing the wheel train to sink a tiny rotor inside. This was much more than a re-packaging effort, with nearly every component re-designed.
It would take nearly four years of development to bring the micro-rotor movement to market. The Swiss government had largely restricted companies from producing their own ebauches, but this was allowed for in-house and complicated movements. And the micro-rotor was indeed a very complicated movement, requiring entirely new design and tooling to be installed at the factory in Büren!
Kocher’s original micro-rotor movement design was elegant and symmetrical, already quite well-developed even in 1954. He called it a “planetary rotor” because he thought it resembled the planetary gearsets in automatic transmissions. But he spent years working on the construction and mechanics of the rotor and the exact arrangement of the wheels and bridges. And he soon had an unexpected collaborator.
Universal, Froidevaux, and Bandi
On May 27, 1955, Manufacture des Montres Universal of Geneva filed a remarkably similar patent for a micro-rotor movement. This was 11 months after Buren’s filing, yet three years before either patent would be published. Although the Swiss patent is un-signed, the American patent specifies that the inventors were Jean-Michel Froidevaux and Fred Bandi, two technician-watchmakers even younger than Hans Kocher. Both were incredibly talented and had made numerous inventions related to automatic watch winding and other areas of horology.
The original Universal design is similar to Büren’s at a glance but obviously not derivativeAt a glance, the Universal patent looks very similar to Buren’s, but a closer examination shows that nearly every aspect of the design is different. The American patent authorities examined it closely, rejecting only the most broad claim made by Universal. Given these differences, and the evident skills and imagination of Froidevaux and Bandi, I believe that it was independently invented.
Froidevaux left Universal by 1956, just as the company was developing the micro-rotor watch movement for production. This was the same year that Universal opened its own new factory near Geneva, severing ties with the chronograph factory in Ponts-de-Martel that had been the source of complicated in-house movements for Universal since 1941. The new Carouge-Genève factory was likely outfitted with new machinery to produce the micro-rotor, along with other in-house movements developed by Fred Bandi.
It is very likely that the amiable Hans Kocher knew of the work underway in Geneva by this time, and he may have offered Fred Bandi some technical advice. Indeed, we know that the two collaborated on a paper outlining the benefits of the micro-rotor movement, which was published in the September/October 1957 edition of Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie. They cite the improvements gained by this design in reducing movement height, stress on the rotor bearings, and ease of servicing.
Hans Kocher of Buren and Fred Bandi of Universal jointly announced the micro-rotor movement in this 1957 article in the Journal Suisse d’HorlogerieUp this point the thinnest automatic watch movements (Zénith’s Cal. 133 and Movado’s Cal. 331) had “bumper” movements rather than a free rotor. This is no surprise – the “sandwich stack” required to have a free rotor was inherently thicker than a winding mass that sat on the same plane as the wheel train and balance. But no bumper movement could match a micro-rotor embedded completely into the ebauche. Although not much thinner than hand-winding movements, the Büren and Universal movements were 20% thinner than most automatics at 4.1 to 4.2 mm8.
The Joint Release of the Buren Super Slender and Universal Microtor
On February 18, 1958, Raoul Perret of Universal Genève and Hans Kocher of the Buren Watch Company held a joint press conference in Geneva to announce “the greatest technical advance in 30 years.” Journalists from the major Swiss papers and industry journals learned about the revolutionary new micro-rotor technology, that would enable the companies to deliver the thinnest self-winding watches in the world. The companies promised that new watches using these movements would be released at the Basel Fair in April.
Ten days before the fair, on April 2, 1958, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article with more detail on the technology of these new movements. Noting that “the fundamental concept behind this novel winding mechanism is identical in both designs,” the article praises both companies’ products, noting that “the specific technical solutions employed differ significantly.” This article was written by Fred Bandi, Technical Director for Universal Genève. Hans Kocher also wrote articles about the two companies’ launches, both independently and jointly with Bandi.
This 1958 advertisement, coinciding with the Basel Fair, shows both the Universal and Buren logos. The example preserved in The Watch Library even features a hand-written formula for the moment of inertia of a solid rotor, likely penned by a curious watchmaker!Finally, on April 12, 1958, the Basel Fair opened, with both companies showcasing watches housing their new micro-rotor movements. They even placed a joint advertisement in the Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie, featuring the logos of both companies.
The Büren showcase focused on the theme of “universality”The Buren Watch Company showed off their new Super Slender watch line at the fair, featuring Cal. 1000. This was a new ultra-thin watch line with a case meant to make the most of their “thinnest-ever” automatic watch movement. Confusingly, the company’s Basel Fair booth was a generic paean to post-war globalization, dedicated to the theme “l’universalité.” The new Super Slender movement was depicted on a small card at the corner, with the ultra-thin watches arranged among other more mundane products.
The Universal Genève display was dedicated to the Microtor Universal used the Microtor movement in the famous PolerouterUniversal Genève presented a strong contrast, dedicating their entire display to the new Microtor movement. They even built a large model in a transparent plexiglass case, demonstrating the internal relationship between the micro-rotor and wheel train. The new Cal. 215 was used in an existing product line, the Polerouter (which had been introduced as “Polarouter” in 1954). Although Universal offered new dial designs for 1958, the Microtor’s slimmer profile was not leveraged for a watch that was notably thin.
Buren proudly proclaimed that their Super Slender was the thinnest automatic watch in the worldBoth watches were brought to market in the following months with no hint of production delays. They are widely seen and advertised over the next few years in press coverage, company advertising, and retail promotion. For example, an April 1958 ad for international retailer Turler lists the Universal Polerouter Microtor for 270 francs in steel or 820 francs in gold. Meanwhile, the Buren Super Slender was advertised in 1959 for 170 francs in steel or 185 francs for the model with a calendar complication, called Cal. 1001.
What Happened Next
Buren and Universal leaned heavily into their micro-rotor watch movements for the next few years, developing and updating them continually. And two more ultra-thin automatic movements appeared at Basel in 1959 and 1960: The Sandoz 333, which used a peripheral rotor movement designed by FHF, and Piaget’s knock-out 2.3 mm thin micro-rotor Cal. 12 P. But the introduction of the Bulova Accutron on October 25, 1960 upended the entire industry.
Buren modified the wheel train bridge in 1959Buren actually introduced two micro-rotor movements at Basel in 1958: The base Cal. 1000 was truly “super slender” at 4.2 mm, but they also showed Cal. 1001, which added a date complication and 0.6 mm thickness. Although not as revolutionary as the micro-rotor, Paul Marmier’s patented date mechanism was quite innovative. It used an eccentric cam to keep the advance finger safely back from the date wheel teeth to avoid the risk of damage. The date advanced in just 12 minutes at midnight, and the mechanism also allowed quicker setting of the date by moving the time back to 11:30.
By 1959 Buren added Cal. 1002 and 1003, which featured a thinner balance cock to make way for an elongated wheel train bridge screwed to the base plate for greater stability. The original Cal. 1000 and 1001 remained in production, however, into the 1960s.
The Universal Polerouter collection expanded in 1959 with the Jet and Date modelsUniversal added a date complication as well, though theirs added over 1 mm to the thickness of the base Cal. 215. This did not pose an issue because the Microtor was used in watches of more ordinary thickness like the Polerouter Date. But the Geneva company did finally lean into the thin profile of the basic Microtor movement with the new 1959 Polerouter Jet, boasting that it was as thin as a hand-winding watch and the thinnest waterproof automatic watch in the world. Universal put the Microtor-Calendrier movement on a diet over the next few years, beveling the edges and slimming it to 4.7 mm (once again 0.1 mm thinner than the competing Buren movement). And Universal proved the robustness of their movement by equipping members of the Swiss Greenland Expedition with Microtor-powered Polerouters during the International Geophysical Year.
Other watches had previously been advertised for their ultra-thin profile, including Omega’s Centenaire and Cyma’s Navystar, but Movado, Sandoz, and Piaget were the strongest contenders. Movado had claimed the crown for the thinnest watch in 1935 with the Novoplan and delivered the automatic Cal. 331 in 1952, which was just 4.3 mm thick thanks to a beveled bumper rotor.
The Sandoz 333 was supposed to be the thinnest automatic watch but was launched a year too lateSandoz announced the “thinnest waterproof watch” in 1954 with their hand-winding Cal. 55, allowing them to produce a 6.9 mm watch. And they saw an opportunity in a peripheral rotor concept under development at the Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon. Unaware of the micro-rotor8, Sandoz and FHF targeted the 1959 Basel Fair to launch this new ultra-thin automatic watch. Despite being upstaged, the Sandoz 333 remains the first peripheral-winding automatic watch to market.
Piaget claimed outright victory for the thinnest watch in 1957 with the 4 mm Ref. 904, housing the 2.0 mm Cal. 9 P. Valentin Piaget of their specialist movement maker Complications SA saw unrealized potential in the micro-rotor concept. His Cal. 12 P, patented in 1958 and announced at the Basel Fair in 1960, dispensed with the center wheel and radically sliced away the ebauche. Measuring just 2.3 mm thick, this movement allowed Piaget’s Ref. 12 watches to stay at just 4 mm thick overall. Piaget has remained committed to this design, producing Cal. 1200 to this day!
The 1965 Buren Intra Matic was a modern interpretation of the ultra-thin dress watch
Image: Europa Star 35, 1965Buren embraced Piaget’s ideas, and their Cal. 1280 was similarly stripped-down, coming in at just 2.85 mm thick. This was used in their modern Intra Matic9 line, launched at the Basel Fair in 1965. Variations with date and central seconds ranged up to 3.60 mm, still over half a millimeter thinner than their original Super Slender.
The Intramatic movement made history on March 3, 1969 when Hans Kocher10 and Gerald Dubois announced the Chronomatic movement, built on Buren’s micro-rotor ebauche. This would be the first Swiss automatic chronograph in customer hands, used by Breitling, Heuer, and Hamilton, which had purchased Buren in February of 1966. Hamilton-Buren was taken over by the SIHH group in 1971 and the once-great Büren factory was closed the following year, with all assets sold. This came just as the Chronomatic was gaining market traction and sadly just before the launch of Buren’s great Calbre 8211.
The Universal Golden Shadow was just 4 mm thick
Image: Eastern Jeweler 93, 1966Universal also collaborated with Piaget, filing a joint patent in March of 1959 for a slim ratcheting winding system for micro-rotor movements. They continually updated their Microtor movement line, culminating in the 1966 introduction of the re-designed Cal. 66. Unlike the hand-made Piaget Cal. 12 P, the new Universal and Buren movements were designed for mass production and daily wear. And Universal once again beat Buren’s mark, with their ebauche measuring just 2.50 mm thick. This time Universal leaned into the thinness of the movement, matching Piaget with a new Golden Shadow watch line just 4 mm thick.
Everything changed for Universal in August of 1966, as the Bulova Watch Company of New York purchased the company. Flush with cash from the Accutron, a global phenomenon never before seen in watchmaking, Bulova sought to solidify its control over the luxury watch industry by bringing the Geneva firm under its control. Universal continued production of the Microtor family into the 1970s and even developed the world’s thinnest quartz movement in 197512. But Bulova was slow to embrace quartz as the market for the Accutron evaporated. The Universal factory in Geneva was bankrupt by the late 1970s and was sold in 1983 to new investors.
The Micro-Rotor Lives On
The micro-rotor is not dead. Far from it: There are more micro-rotor movements on the market today than ever before!
Patek Philippe filed for a patent their own micro-rotor movement in 1975, bringing their Cal. 240 to market a few years later. It has been continually updated and is one of the most-loved movements by enthusiasts like me. Chopard Manufacture leaned into the micro-rotor concept with the launch of the L.U.C movements in 1997, and it remains a highlight of the company’s offerings. A new Universal Genève launched in 2005, bringing a new Microtor (Cal. UG-100) to market in 2006. Schwarz Etienne and Parmigiani Fleurier both introduced new micro-rotor movements in 2010, and both supply these to other fine watch makers to this day. Armin Strom, Hermès, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and many others have also released high-end micro-rotor movements. And Piaget never stopped developing their micro-rotor movements.
Universal was re-launched as an upscale sister brand to Breitling on April 8, 2026 and two new Microtor movements form the core of the new offerings. The new Polerouter Microtor is the first double-barrel micro-rotor movement I know of, and is a lovely tribute to Hans Kocher, who was deeply involved in both innovations. And the new Compax Microtor movement recalls the pioneering Chronomatic movement.
Research Notes
- The question of whether Perrelet was the first to create a self-winding watch was a matter of great interest through the 20th century. Historian Alfred Chapuis uncovered many prior and subsequent designs, yet he concluded in his seminal book “La Montre Automatique Ancienne” that Perrelet absolutely deserved the credit. That being said, the self-winding watch “discovered” by Léon Leroy of Paris in 1949 may not have been created by Perrelet, according to a 1996 Europa Star article by Jean-Claude Nicolet with rebuttal by Jean-Claude Sabrier.
- Not being a watch industry insider, Harwood may have been completely unaware that dozens of watchmakers had developed self-winding watches for over a century prior to his invention. And L. Leroy of Paris had already produced a self-winding wristwatch a year before Harwood’s patent. But he was the first to recognize the market for a wristwatch with a sealed case and self-winding movement.
- The sliding weight concept was actually successfully revived by Pierce just after World War II. This “dissident” Moutier firm was unwilling to abide by the Swiss cartel’s production quotas, so they were blocked from working with nearly every other company. So they developed their own slim sliding-weight automatic, an amazing in-house chronograph movement, and more! In modern times we have seen another sliding-weight automatic, the Corum Golden Bridge Automatic.
- I’m not a Rolex expert, but I am confounded by the lack of definitive history for this most-important watchmaker. The earliest mention I could find of the Oyster Perpetual comes from Journal Suisse d’Horlogerie in September of 1934, and it was fully illustrated in January of 1936. Given that Rolex trademarked the name in 1932, I guess that places the introduction of the Rolex Perpetual movement in 1933 or 1934. It definitely wasn’t 1931, despite countless blog posts and Rolex’s own advertising.
- Incredibly, some of the earliest known self-winding pocket watch movements also have clever bi-directional winding solutions: The four controversial maybe-Perrelet movements have a pawl winding system similar to the much-later Pellaton and Magic Lever, and many of the “shaker” movements had bi-directional winding too. But Felsa’s elegant Bidynator inspired the whole industry to adopt this concept. Surprisingly, modern movements are dropping bi-directional winding, finding that it’s not actually all that useful.
- Ball bearing support for a winding rotor was patented in 1929. But these typically placed the bearings at the periphery, supporting the rotor itself. ETA’s original Eternamatic was a tiny movement for ladies watches so the engineers brought the ball bearings to the center. Seeing how well it worked, the “five balls” became the logo of Eterna!
- I should clarify that the name of the town is “Büren an der Aare” and it is commonly called “Büren”. But the brand name of the watch company, officially adopted by H. Williamson in 1916, was “Buren Watch Company” without the umlaut. This was generally used by the company through the 1960s, though they sometimes did include the umlaut in advertising and public communication. Confusingly, most patents list it using the Anglicized form of the name of the town, “Bueren Watch Company.” I try to be consistent (or perhaps confusing) and use “Büren” to refer to the town and “Buren” to refer to the company.
- Oops! The Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon was working on another thin automatic winding system at the same time, filing patents on their peripheral rotor on September 11, 1956. This was before the announcement or publication of the micro-rotor, and they no-doubt thought that their “Fontomatic” Cal. 65 would be the thinnest automatic movement at just 4.5 mm. This came to market in 1959 as the Sandoz 333, and advertisements for this latecomer specifically neglect to mention that number, which was surpassed a year earlier by both Buren and Universal.
- Buren trademarked “Intra Matic” in 1964 and used this name in the 1965 launch. But they also used “Intramatic” in this period, variously using both names. They had a sub-model called the “Intramatic Polestar” or “Intra Matic Pole-Star” in the 1960s as well, and I can’t imagine Universal loved this name.
- This would be Hans Kocher-Aeschbacher, the son, rather than his father Hans Kocher-Rinner, who retired that same year. The younger Hans Kocher was a truly remarkable man, deserving of a Prix Gaïa award in all three categories: Watchmaker, businessman, and historian. He was also incredibly magnanimous, not giving undue attention in his industry history writing and speaking to the Buren “planetary rotor” despite considering it his life’s greatest work.
- I’m wearing my Buren Calibre 82 watch as I write this!
- The 1975 Golden Shadow and White Shadow Quartz movement measured 3.45 mm thick. It was rapidly surpassed by Citizen, just under 1 mm in 1978, Seiko, 0.90 mm that same year, and the incredible Swiss Delirium movements.
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Now You See Me Live
Magic! Illusions! Danger!
We haven’t seen any of the Now You See Me movies, but B was excited to see the stage show featuring professional magicians and escape artists in action. So back to the Sydney Opera House for the second time this month, just a couple of days before Christmas, this time with Alex coming along too.
On the way in we are asked to take four playing cards from a bin.
What follows is about two hours of sleights of hand, illusions, escapology and mentalism, performed by American Adam Trent, Italian Andrew Basso, Frenchman Enzo Weyne, Canadian Gabriella Lester and Englishman Matthew Pomeroy. There’s card tricks, supposed teleportation, an escape from a water torture box and a live scorpion. There is also plenty of audience participation, so if that’s not your thing don’t sit in the front few rows.
For those of you who might watch, I have no wish to spoil the fun by describing the stunts. Many of them leaving you wondering how they were done, which I think accounts for some of the subdued applause during the show.
Aside from the escapology, which is obviously a largely physical skill on the part of the practitioner (primarily Basso, in this case), magic works by clever contraptions and distraction, along with the fact that our conscious thoughts are preceded by subconscious actions and assumptions. Does free will even exist? Perhaps not, and this is of use to those who would manipulate thought and observation.
Rather than appreciating the deception, I find myself more interested in how the tricks were performed. Of course, this will not be revealed here, so I am left a bit unmoved by the experience. Though I have never watched a professional magic show live before, the performances also feel far too familiar from having sat through too many of the America and Britain’s Got Talent shows that B likes to watch.
If that’s your thing then you will probably enjoy Now You See Me Live. B and Alex certainly did. The audience, many of whom gave a standing ovation seemed to as well. Guess I am a bit disillusioned by magic!
#escapology #illusion #magic #mentalism #NowYouSeeMe #show #SydneyOperaHouse
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026: Marama Premieres Today on Digital
#horror – #horrormovies – #Marama – 1859. When a young Maori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
#ad #horror #Marama #Premieres
https://54.156.10.201/2026/05/tuesday-may-12-2026-marama-premieres-today-on-digital/
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026: Marama Premieres Today on Digital
#horror – #horrormovies – #Marama – 1859. When a young Maori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
#ad #horror #Marama #Premieres
https://54.156.10.201/2026/05/tuesday-may-12-2026-marama-premieres-today-on-digital/
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026: Marama Premieres Today on Digital
#horror – #horrormovies – #Marama – 1859. When a young Maori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
#ad #horror #Marama #Premieres
https://54.156.10.201/2026/05/tuesday-may-12-2026-marama-premieres-today-on-digital/
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026: Marama Premieres Today on Digital
#horror – #horrormovies – #Marama – 1859. When a young Maori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
#ad #horror #Marama #Premieres
https://54.156.10.201/2026/05/tuesday-may-12-2026-marama-premieres-today-on-digital/
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Tuesday, May 12, 2026: Marama Premieres Today on Digital
#horror – #horrormovies – #Marama – 1859. When a young Maori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
#ad #horror #Marama #Premieres
https://54.156.10.201/2026/05/tuesday-may-12-2026-marama-premieres-today-on-digital/
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Members of the ecclesia uniting and seeking God’s help in tribulation
Tuesday-night at the meeting of the Ecclesia Brussel–Leuven we read Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 1+3, looking at the difficulties we have encountered the last few months and how we had to cope with it but also how we should continue our way.
Sometimes we do get to recognise we could not re-conciliate but have to turn over the page and leave those who did not want to be amicably connected with us on their own. Sometimes a community has the priority to protect its own flock and has to take measures which do not seem so pleasant for all people involved. When certain people prefer to stand on their own and are not willing to co-operate the community than has to decide to let them go their own way, but when they themselves did everything to blacken that community, they should not have to keep contact any more. As such we decided to leave the man from the North and his organisation far what they are, and shall concentrate ourselves on bringing people to Christ ourselves, without their help.
Jesus Christ is the man who opened the way to his Father. He is the One Mediator between God and man and is the cornerstone of the Church of God.
We do trust the Most High, Elohim Hashem Jehovah, Who shall call people and Who shall guide us and give us that what we need according to His time.
In Him we trust and give all our hope to build up His Church in Belgium and other parts in the world.
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Related articles
- New on the ASOR Blog- Ecclesia Diaboli (I Thought It Was Going to be about the Methodists…) (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
Alexander Michalak writes: My preliminary examination of several Second Temple texts, 1 Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, Joseph and Aseneth, Testament of Job, the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs indicates that there is already at this time a connection between demons and the cult of foreign gods, although they are not always explicitly identified with one another. Sometimes the demonic spirits are said only to lead people astray, that is, to lead people toward Gentile worship and toward idolatry, whereas in other cases it is the demonic spirits who are the objects of worship, or the pagan gods themselves. - The House of Worship (causeitfeelsright.wordpress.com)
The Greek word that should have been translated to church was only used twice in the New Testament. It means “the Lord’s” and was used for the Lord’s day and the Lord’s supper. But this instance is ecclesia. It means “to call forth from out of”. Matthew says if you and the other person can’t work out your problems go get help. Go find a few more people to help because maybe they’ll understand a different perspective. If that doesn’t work go find the ones who have been called out of darkness (1 Peter). When you are in darkness you can’t see clearly and when you are “in the dark” you are ignorant which simply means you don’t know. So someone who has been called out can see clearly, or they are knowledgeable or “in the know” which is having “inside” information. - Mary, Martha & Lazarus – the family in Bethany (hadvarim.wordpress.com)
The gospel narrative then is largely concerned with Christ exposing the apostate Jewish leaders, and building up his apostles as “other husbandmen” to replace them. The parables recorded of the Kingdom of heaven throughout Matthew describe the kingdom of Israel in existence (Mat 11:12), under the governance of the prince of this world – the apostate Jewish leaders (John 12:31, 16:11, Eph 2:2, Luke 10:18, Mat 24:27), and then later to be replaced with the new heavens founded upon Christ as the Abrahamic seed stars are raised to the political heavens (Gen 15:5, Dan 12:2-3, Psa 19:4, 1 Cor 15:40-49, Apoc 4:1).
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A people for his Name
Christ is described as the second Adam as compared to the first Adam (1 Cor 15:45-47). Both of them the “son of God” (Luke 3:38), and both typically created the same way. The body of Christ is the Ecclesia εκκλησια (Eph 5:23, 30, Col 1:18,24), and it is being formed from the Abrahamic dust, the seed of Abraham according to the promises of old; compare Gen 2:7 with Gen 13:16, 28:14.
+The mortal children of Israel are described as Elohim, mighty ones, or as we have in the AV “gods”. Elohim describes the the mental state of the person, not their physical nature. Ambassadors of the father, regardless of whether they are mortal people or immortal angels. If they are empowered by the will of the spirit, they are indeed mighty ones.When mortal Elohim, mighty ones, do not keep the commandments of Yahweh then they are not immune – by any means – to the consequences of their actions. They will “die like men”.
Therefore we ought to take earnest heed to the things which we have heard. We have all the scriptures… even the testimony of the Son, which brings with it great responsibility (Heb 2:1-3). We comfort in that if we turn from wickedness we will be forgiven. Yet vigilant in the warning that turning to wickedness means rejection (Ezk 33:11-19).
- Ecclesia Plantanda (vicaranne.wordpress.com)
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787) … Englishman William Carey … Both men understood that sharing good news need not and must not wait for people to learn the evangelist’s tongue. - church oh church1 (ozyikhiedwardblog.wordpress.com)
why substitute “ecclesia” for “kyriakon”?to support the regular congregating of early Christians,who didn’t understand what Paul and Silas were doing!
What did the New Covenant writers mean when they used the word “Ecclesia” to describe a Christian body of people?? We can safely denote that they intended to convey the original Greek meaning of the word:”A body of Christian called out of Roman and Judean systems of Government,to live under a seperate civil mentality,”a politically autonomous body of Christians,under no other King but Yeshua,under no other civil laws,than that of Yeshua.But some misguided folks misunderstood the missions of Paul, that was why these Christians ran into trouble with kings and rulers,were arrested,crucified,and martyred. They dropped Caesar as their King,and took up Christ. The writers of the New covenant didn’t substitute “kyriakon” with “Ecclesia” to mean entertainment every Sundays,and Tuesdays,and so on! - Apostasy in the Highest Places (mysteryoftheiniquity.com)
The church, the Ecclesia, is a body of people who are redeemed called out to represent GOD and HIS Authority which means they are called to carry our HIS Laws. We are granted the responsibility of not only this but we are accountable for these actions.
The fact that the church is failing man is an undeniable truth but it’s also devastating to the people. How do I mean they are failing the people? - Priority to form a loving brotherhood (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
There might be people who do not like that others share the love of Christ with each other and do not mind being under Christ instead of being under one or the other organisation. - Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
Coming together in each-others houses, forming housechurches as a church of disciples they also were an assembly of learners. We too so many years later should be like them a church of Christian disciples and an assembly of persons who believe the things of the Kingdom of God, and of the Name of the lord Jesus, and, thus believing, have been immersed into Christ and patiently continue in the faith and well doing of their vocation, reading, marking, learning and inwardly digesting all things revealed in the scriptures of truth.
In the readings of today we look at the brothers and sisters in Corinth some 2000 years ago.
In Belgium the community has been troubled by persons perhaps wanting to claim to have the right to make foundations and to direct the groups of people wanting to come together under the name of Christ.
Paul the Apostle, Russian icon from first quarter of 18th cen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We remember how the apostle Paul makes the argument that he has borne witness to the people of Corinth, he has shared the gospel, he has brought them to Christ and showed them the way but that he has to be sad because he only could see division between those who should be united as brethren and sisters in Christ.
The apostle Paul in his 5th letter to the Romans and his first three letters to the Corinths, also talks…
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#ApostlePaul #Belgium #Brethren #Christadelphians #cityOfCorinth #CoOperation #Community #Corinthians #Cornerstone #Difficulties #Division #Ecclesia #Ego #Endurance #Faith #FocusOnSonOfGod #FollowersOfChrist #FollowingAChurch #FollowingJesusChrist #FoundationOfTheChurch #Gain #GainingPeace #Inion #InstrumentsOfGod #LettersToCorinthians #LettersToRomans #Meeting #Peace #Perseverance #Problems #Rejoice #ServingGod #Sorrows #Sufferings #TempleOfGod #ThinkingInHarmony #Trials #Tribulations #UnionWithGod
- New on the ASOR Blog- Ecclesia Diaboli (I Thought It Was Going to be about the Methodists…) (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
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I, too, am worried about where this is heading. And I'm a white Englishman from multiple generations of white English heritage.
The government needs to get a grip.
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10k run today to celebrate the 108/10 years of independence of Finland.
The artillery fired ten times this morning at the Castle Island (Linnansaari) near city centre. To the surprise of tourists and those recently moved in the city.
Behind the artillery men in the photo the Oulu river delta and the Island of Pitch (Pikisaari). The city was a major hub of tar trade in the age of wooden sail ships.
Pitch is material made by distilling tar. It was used to treat the outside of wooden ships to protect them from sea water and creatures. Long time ago, before the independence, Englishmen came and burned the tar warehouses down due to some stupid war. Too bad they had already paid for the tar to be delivered to them…
☁️ 1°C no snow unfortunately.
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London Bridge: an anonymous 'country dance' from The Dancing Master, 1710.
Alison Kinder: bass #viol
Robin Jeffrey: #baroque #guitarImage: Claude de Jongh - View of London Bridge, 1632
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wHrK7BSI8s&ab_channel=Passamezzo
#london #londonbridge #londonhistory #historyoflondon #recordingartist #recordingsession #video #youtube #baroque #earlymusic #guitar #violadagamba #viol #musicians #englishmusic #countrydance #eighteenthcentury #oldlondonbridge
#18thCentury
#histodon
#histodons
@earlymusic
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