Timex Model 67 Series

To confuse things even more with movement Model numbers versus Calibre numbers, the Timex Model 67 is also known as Calibre 861. This is because Model 67 is actually a Laco design; Timex bought the West German company Durowe-Laco at the end of 1958 after first trying to buy Bulova, Junghens, and Gruen. Laco had a prototype electric movement that Timex was interested in getting their hands on, but unknown to Timex, it was not close to production and it was another 3 years before the first Timex electrics were sold. Due to several problems, Timex sold Laco to ESA in 1965 but retained ownership of all the machinery and personnel and moved them to another location.

So most examples of this movement have “Timex” stamped on the bridge but early versions still have “Laco”; and I think all still have “861” stamped in the movement plates. Very early Laco branded versions have a slightly different regulator but I do not have an example of this.

The Model 67 was the first electric watch by Timex and was introduced in 1962 and it followed the same principle introduced by Hamilton 5 years early in having a moving coil, contact controlled movement. It is interesting to note that the quality of this movement seems significantly better than the later, mass-produced Model 40: this 67 has 11 jewels, polished screw heads and an incablock-type shock system on the balance end stone.

By the way, this is a back-set movement, similar to the Accutron 214. The photos below show the similarity between the Laco and Timex versions.