Movement Monday! - ETA/UNITAS CALIBER 6498-1

Hello All! Thank you for joining us for our first Movement Monday, where we will have a deep dive into both popular and widely unknown movements that we think deserves some love!

Today we will be looking at the ETA/Unitas Caliber 6498-1.

The base of this movement was originally designed for pocket watches and was adapted for use in wristwatches. It beats at 18,800 beats per hour which is relatively slow for today’s standards, but ultimately helps slow down wear and tear, causing it to last for longer periods without needing a service.

Let’s go ahead and get the technical specs out of the way so that we can look at some more interesting points about this great movement:

Technical Specifications:

Manufacturer: ETA

Caliber Number: 6498-1

Base Caliber: 6498

Diameter: 16.5”’ (36.6mm)

Height: 4.5mm thick

Vibrations Per Hour: 18,800 BPH

Power Reserve: 53 hours

Jewels: 17

Hacking: No

Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds at 6:00

Manufacture: Swiss

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The ETA 6498-1 is a hand-wound (Manual) movement, which means, the movement is only able to be charged by winding via the crown.

Here is a great video of the movement in action, brought to you by Caliber Corner:

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We find that that the 6498-1 is a great “workhorse” movement. A “workhorse” movement is generally known as a movement that performs well for long periods of time without needing to be serviced and is also relatively low in terms of cost to replace, should something go wrong.

The brands that are known to use the movement widely in their service lines are:

Baume & Mercier

Tissot

Longines

Laco

Sinn

Hamilton

Mido

Zelos

Here are a few pictures of the Zelos Skyraider 2 Titanium (2020) for reference:

Courtesy of a friend from my favorite Facebook Group

Thank you for taking time out of your very busy days to read the first iteration of Time to watch’s Movement Monday, and as I always say, let us make the most of our time together to spread it with joy and love with others!

See you all on the next edition!