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In January 1998 I went to work for a jet modification center in Basel, Switzerland. In April of that year, I attended the annual Basel watch and jewelry exposition, which I refer to as "the world's biggest toy store for adults." This was where I became hooked on Swiss mechanical watches. I took day trips by train to see a number of watch factories throughout Switzerland, including Oris in Holstein, Mido in Biel-Bienne and Revue Thommen in Tenniken. I conducted research on the Lunar Roving Vehicle used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17 and the Mars Exploration Rovers and Lunar and Planetary Rovers: The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars (pictured, left) was published in 2006. The Lunar Roving Vehicle was an amazing engineering achievement, and mechanical watch enthusiasts would find the story of how it was conceived, designed, built, tested and finally driven on the Moon would find this book interesting. Several years ago, I created the UNITAS Reference Site which is devoted to the history of UNITAS and the mechanical movements the company made within the watch company Auguste Reymond. I own several watches with UNITAS movements. I chose to create the Valjoux Reference Site to provide a brief history of this legendary watch movement company, illustrate and describe some of the many calibres it produced over the decades, and provide links to excellent articles with specific details on contemporary Valjoux movements. I hope you find it useful. My Valjoux movement watches: Tissot Seastar Navigator (1980)
I purchased my Tissot Seastar Navigator in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1980. The dial is white with two subdials in grey, with the date at six o'clock. It has the wonderful Valjoux 7734 manual-wind movement inside. Glad I hung onto this one. George J. von Burg Chronograph I purchased this striking chronograph in August 2007 from Von Burg USA in Washington state through their website at http://www.vonburgusa.com/index.html It has, of course, the Valjoux 7750 and it is a pleasure to wear. I look at it constantly, and not to just tell the time. Visit the website and you will understand.
Anthony Young, webmaster |
I received a Bachelor
of Industrial Design degree from Pratt Institute in 1975 and began
writing in 1977. I specialized in post-war automotive history and my first
book was published in 1984. I continued to write automotive history books
while working as a design engineer. 
