Any watch bearing the diving watch indication undergoes corresponding tests, at least at depths of 100 meters. And when it comes to safety, no joke with professional divers. Therefore, to qualify for this specification the watch must:
- Be waterproof to a minimum of 100 meters.
- Be readable at 30 cm in absolute darkness: its figures must be luminescent.
- Be proven, ie the tightness of all parts has been tested in real conditions of use.
- Have a unidirectional rotating bezel with ratchets, with a graduation of at least the first 15 minutes and comprising a luminescent reference point.
- Have a seconds hand allowing you to see the operation of the watch at any time.
- Be antimagnetic, resistant to shocks, thermal shocks, helium atmospheres.
The inspection of each diver's watch is thus divided into certification tests and 100% proofs.
LOV is a French brand, Company Hubert LAMBERT&Sons from Villers-le-Lac in Haut-Doubs which made watches in the 50s and 60s, the initials are: LacOaVillers. In August 1966 Henry Louis Belmont (the owner of Yema) joined forces with Herma and LOV to offer "a real range of watches allowing them to fight against parallel circuits by creating CORONA watches". This collaboration will last 3 years and then these two watchmakers, Lov and Herma, will join forces to form the Finhor group.
Dimensions : width excluding winding crown 31 mm, total length 35 mm at the end of the handles, and 12 mm thick glass included.
Housing
:
With the classic lines of divers from that era, a "tonneau" shape typical of the seventies period, and a bi-directional rotating bezel. This Espadon has a screwed back in stainless steel, as you can see in the photos, new from stock, it comes from an unsold stock of a watchmaker.
Dial : INCREDIBLE this orange color, putting it in the context of the time it is a style that "shakes"... Observe the geometric indexes, hands and luminescent numerals (see the photo in complete darkness). Large "broad arrow" type hands and its delicate railroad on the circumference. Note the double day and date window at 6 o'clock, rather rare at this time.
Glass : Plexi, domed, banded, new.
Movement : In 1856, Virgille CUPILLARD created the CUPILLARD house which later became CUPILLARD RIEME. CUPILLARD RIEME is the birthplace of great watchmakers like Emile Pequignet. The project culminated in August 1978 with the birth of Framelec in Morteau, Jaz having become the sole shareholder of the companies Cupillard-Rième and its subsidiaries, Lov and Herma (Finhor group). The new entity occupies 5,000 m2 rue du Maréchal Leclerc and employs 525 people.
To return technically to this mythical Cupillard 233/70, the base was created in the mid-1930s, modified many times, taken over by France Ebauche when Cupillard was taken over at the end of the 1960s and built until the end of the 1970s. It is mechanical with manual winding, 17 jewels, shockproof, performing 18,000 alternations per hour with the day and date at 6 o'clock. Overhauled by me, it is in perfect working order.
strap
: The strap accompanying this model is a Tropic type, exactly of the same manufacture but not signed TROPIC, it is 18 mm on the watch side and 16 mm on the buckle side, new from stock from the same period as the watch. For a maximum wrist of 21 cm.
Comments
: Espadon model, day/date, rare, which you are not likely to find easily in this condition, equipped with a very high quality French movement. Given the Yema rating, which has been rising for a few years, this Lov is following the same path...
CONDITIONS OF SALE
PayPal: I offer you the possibility to pay by PayPal, please contact me at 06 75 86 37 50 for all your questions.
If you want other information or photos, do not hesitate to contact me every day:
Eric BALDIN “O Heart of Time…” (by message ask me on ocoeurdutemps at orange.fr).