Omega participated to the development of the Beta 21 movement as part of the CEH and also as an important member of the ‘Community of interest in Beta’ (see parent section). Finally the brand participated in developing the vibrating motor for the movement and served as one of the three movement assembly locations for industrial production and distribution.
Next to Omega, also Ebauches SA, was responsible for the assembly of 1913 Beta 21 movements made in their facility and their distribution to the 8 CEH members associated to the Ebauches SA assembly facility (Complication SA (Piaget), CHP (Communauté d’Horlogerie de Précision), Elgin, Enicar, Crédos, Rado, Bulova and CEH).
The CHP group itself consisted of the 8 manufacturers Borel, Cyma, Doxa, Ebel, Juvenia, Eberhard, Favre-Leuba and Zodiac. As the CHP group received 320 movements, it is plausible, that the 8 members of CHP received 40 movements each.
One of the 40 movements attributed to Cyma can be seen below
Ebauches SA for Cyma, ‘Zero’- Series, 1972
Categories: aesthetic prototype, preproduction watch
Description: Uncased, Beta 21 movement made by Ebauches SA for Cyma. Anthracite dial made of white metal with golden printed ‘CYMA’ at ’12’ and ‘Modul – O- Quartz’ above ‘6’, ‘Swiss Made’ below ‘6’. Date window at ‘6’, golden plastic date wheel. Golden metal hands, hour and minute hands highlighted in black, all golden second hand.
Dimensions: 28.9mm (without stem) by 30mm
Movement: Beta 21, ESA 9173 (branded: ‘Synchron 95’), #00004769
Additional info: Ebauches SA made this watch for Cyma. This watch contains movement number 00004769, hence it is number 4769 of the experimental ‘zero’-series comprising 5980 movements. According to the CEH archives it was produced during the first half of 1972.
As mentioned above, this watch is one of about 40 pieces made by the Ebauches SA assembly facility for Cyma.
Cyma marketed this model as ‘Modul – O – Quartz’ a name which is shared among all members of CHP using Beta 21. Not only the model name was shared also the dial design and to some extent also the case design was almost identical. All pieces through the 8 members of CHP seem to have been cased in 18ct gold. This might be the reason why this movement has survived uncased (and lacking the gold crown), the case and the crown have most probably been scrapped. Finally it is unknown how many of the 320 movements were used to produce complete watches.
Omega Prototypes 