A Little History
The already existing Swiss company, Comor Watch. was first registered in 1925. It was purchased by Dr. Adolf L. Benz in 1970. Dr. Benz registered the Comor name in Switzerland on 29 October 1970. He registered the name in the the US Patent and Trademark Gazette which was published October 4, 1971.
Dr. Benz had been trained in horology at the Watchmakers of Switzerland and held a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Bern. Dr. Benz began his watch career by exporting watches in the 1960's. He acquired Comor to make quality watches. Dr. Benz assembled a cadre of skilled technicians with talents in watchmaking, watch design, artistic embellishment. Comor watches were intended to be attractive and useful and, at the same time, to be admired as works of art. These objectives lead to a several year collaboration between Dr. Benz' Comor and Tiffany & Co.
Dr. Benz may have had technical watch design skills hilmself. In the Horologic Times issue of July 1989, page 24, is an article entitled "Comor's Chrono-Stop Wristwatch". The article discusses the watch with its fl-back to zero design. The content is quite technical and shows Adolf L. Benz as the author. If the artcle was written by Dr. Benz himself and not a ghost writer, it shows a fair degree of technical knowledge by Dr. Benz.
The first showing of Comor watches was at the 1970 Basel Fair.
The designs were easy on the eye...easy to read and use, some including several complications. Design under Dr. Benz took place mostly in the 1970's and 1980's. Some pieces had enameled miniatures painted and applied in the Benz works. Comor did not produce in-house movements but used ETA calibers.
Dr. Benz passed away in 1992. In 1994 the Comor company was sold to Schweitzer-Uhren of Hamburg. The company was bought by Mme Cinette Robert-Nicoud in 2009. Mme Robert-Nicoud is now associated with the Dubey and Schaldenbrand watch company. The current Dubey website does not mention Comor.
The works were located in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, not far from Bern. The company used a case number to identify each watch.
Dr. Benz had an interest in Auto Road Racing similar to that of Jack Heuer of Tag-Heuer. Comor designed and marketed a watch dedicated to Rudolf Caracciola, a Grand Prix Driver (watch pictured below.)
Comor watches, in a variety of styles with various complications, can be found today in auctions, and from many watch sellers.
Self Winding, Gilded stainless steel case, round, 37.7 mm, water resistant to 30 meters (100 feet), screwed case back, case # 78 790, Movement ETA 7750, lever escapement, Power Reserve 48 hours, silver color dial, subsidiary Seconds dial at 9, Concentric Date Hand terminating in a Red Lunar shape pointer. Two side push pieces control the Chronograph complication. A push pin at 3 moves the Moon Phase indicator with each full push of the pin, while a half push moves the Date Hand only allowing correct adjustment of the Moon Phase and the Date Hand. The Chronograph shows a Concentric Chrono Minute Hand in blue with Chrono sub dials for 30 minutes and 12 hours.
Moon Phase window at 3. Hour and Minute Hands are concentric in gold tone, Syringe style. Black Leather strap, Stainless Steel buckle. Circa 1980. Dial: Outer Circle Date numbers 1 to 31; Inner Circle Seconds 0 to 59 with Numbers for Seconds and Marks for 1/5 Seconds. Inner circle of 8 small affixed raised gold tone buttons are set at several of the 5 minute points. The Sub-Dials are engraved with Cotes Circulaire concentric patterns; the face is engraved with parallel Cotes de Geneve.
The case back is inscribed "WaterResistant 3 ATU" "Stainless Steel" "Swiss Made"
Movement: ETA 7750 (also called the Valjoux 7750) is widely used by many watch brands. The 7750 exists in many variations resulting in a wide variety of complications and face designs among watches with this same basic movement. Used by Tissot, Tag Heuer, Omega, Panerai, and many others.
Here are two examples from other watch houses that use the ETA 7750 movement.
Movement 7750 variations can display Tachymeter, Chronograph, Date Window, Date Hand, Moon Phase, and more as desired by the designer. The movement hacks (stops) when setting allowing for very fine time adjustment. Over the years 7750 movements have appeared with a varying number of jewels.
For those with an interest in the ETA 7750 movement, here are a few comments. Not all these functions are found on all models.
The Crown Stem in the First postion (pushed fully in closest to the case)is used to manually wind the watch. In the Second (middle postion), the stem is used to adjust the Date Hand and the Moon Phase. Turning the Stem toward the User moves the Date Hand; turning the Stem away from the User adjusts the Moon Phase. (Not all 7750 watches have this middle Crown position.) The Third or fully pulled out Stem position is for setting the watch time.
An Automatic watch cannot be overwound. Manual winding in the First position can be done without fear of too many turns. The Crown Stem turns in two dirsctions but the movement winds in only one direction. The settings for a Watch Winder: at least 800 Turns per Day, Clockwise. The 7750 has a 48 hour power Reserve. Most of the Comor models using this movement lack a Power Reserve display dial.
An ETA 7750 adjusted to "Elaborated" (standard) precision can be expected to be accurate to + or - 5 seconds a day or about 3 minutes a month. The movement can also come adjusted to "Chronograph" standard.
Comments about a watch using the ETA 7750 movement.
In the Quartz Watch "Crisis" of the 1970's when Swiss watches were struggling to survive, Breitling sold a Chronomat (81950). To keep costs low, Breitling used an "Unadjusted" 17 Jewel ETA 7750. Breitling made no modifications or refinements to the basic ETA movement. The Breitling name does not appear on the movement Rotor. The watch face and movement had no Cote De Geneve work. Some external screws were actually glued-on Plugs, not real screws. A Plain Jane watch although trimmed in Gold to improve the look of the Chronomat. This model helped Breitling weather the quartz invasion, and today it is among the well respected Swiss brands.
Click for larger view
Example view of ETA 7750. Details will vary with specific model design.
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Precise Time Setting
The ETA 7750 movement which powers the Comor Chronograph has a Hacking function. The Seconds Hand will stop when the Crown is pulled out to the Time Setting position. The Hacking function allows the watch to be set to a precise accurate time source such as time.gov
Set the watch to a few minutes in the future. Keep the setting crown pulled out so the Seconds Hand does not move. Now watch the Source Time. When the Source Time reaches the exact setting of the watch including the Seconds Hand position, immediately push the crown in to start the Seconds Hand moving at the time shown on the Source.
The accuracy of a watch can be determined by comparing the watch time and the Source time perhaps a month later. This is effective only if the Automatic Mechanism has not stopped during the month.
Service and Maintenance
The ETA 7750 is a very popular, common movement. There are many watchmakers familiar with this industry workhorse. Repair sites on-line or local service shops should be easy to locate. Repairs can be relatively reasonable in cost especially when compared to repair of high end in-house movement watches.
About this website
This website is not related or connected to Comor, ETA, or any other watch company. Niether the watch nor the brand are endorsed or recommended. Any copyrighted material or images are shown here for educational and informational non-commercial purposes only. The opinions and comments here are those of the website owner and are for information only. Nothing on this website should be relied upon for any purpose.
© Richard Madison 2020