1970's ENICAR ref. 167-07-06 automatic Swiss made men's collectible wristwatch

Caliber Enicar 167, incabloc (shockproof balance), 24 jewels, day and date indicator

It would be great find for any collector

The ENICAR ref. 167-07-06 is a vintage automatic Swiss-made men's wristwatch from the 1970s, embodying the elegance and precision of Swiss craftsmanship. Powered by the Enicar caliber 167 movement, this timepiece features both day and date indicators, making it highly functional as well as stylish. Its case, typically crafted from durable stainless steel, offers a sleek design characteristic of the era, with a dial that showcases clean lines and easy-to-read markers.

The watch's automatic movement ensures reliable timekeeping without the need for manual winding, and its classic aesthetic is completed with a versatile design suitable for both casual and formal wear. The ENICAR ref. 167-07-06 reflects the brand's legacy in producing high-quality, durable watches, making it a prized collector's item for vintage watch enthusiasts.

Very good condition! Please see the photos for the assessment of watches. Runs well and keeps time accurately. Really watches look much better than in the photo. New PU leather strap as a gift!

DEFECTS: small traces of use

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Switzerland

MANUFACTURER: Enicar

OVERALL CONDITION (10-point scale): 9

CASE

Condition (10-point scale): 8

Inscriptions on the back cover: Enicar, stainless steel, incabloc, Swiss, automatic and waterresistant

GLASS

Material: mineral

Very beautiful mineral glass with internal facets

Condition (10-point scale): 9-10

DIAL

Condition (10-point scale): 9-10

Inscriptions on the dial: Enicar, automatic and Swiss made

STRAP

New PU leather strap as a gift!

MOVEMENT

Mechanical: hand-winding

Caliber: Enicar 167

https://ranfft.org/caliber/3600-Enicar-167

Basic Information

Technical Details

Complications and Specifications

Additional Information

DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT, FUNCTIONS

Dimensions of watches

HISTORY

Enicar history

Mid 16th century Geneva (Switzerland) became the center of watch making. In 1601 the world's first watchmakers guild was founded in Geneva. Business was flourishing and watchmakers needed qualified workers. The Jura Mountains, north of Geneva, was a low-wage-area, where farmers were offered - as a means of passing the time - to assemble watches. Villages and towns like La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Locle, Tramelan, Vallée de Joux, Biel (Bienne), Lamboing, Longeau (Lengnau) and Grenchen became important centers of the Swiss watch industry. Many 'manufactures d'horlogerie' moved from Geneva to that area or new companies were founded in one of the towns mentioned. To train the local people watchmaker's schools (école d'horloger) were set up quickly in many towns like Genève and Besançon (1824), La Chaux-de-Fonds (1865), Le Locle (1866), St-Imier (1867), Biel (1872), Soleure (1884) and Sentier (1901). Neuchâtel already had a school since 1738!

The Racine family, based in the Jura, was a well-known family of artisans. For many centuries they were involved in arts and craftsmanship. In 1708 David Racine (1669-1726?) was mentioned as an 'expert maître horloger', famous for his nice clocks. His prosperous business enabled him to buy a large piece of land in 1729 in Montagne de Tramelan-Dessus, Switzerland. In 1725 his brother Pierre (±1665-1728) was allowed by the Basel Court to carry the title 'engineer-architect'. Other members  of the Racine family were active in watch industry, too.

On October 1, 1913 Ariste Racine (1889 - 1958) and his wife Emma Blatt started a 'Manufacture d'Horlogerie Ariste Racine' in the Rue du Crêt 24 in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

As the name 'Racine' was already a trademark, registered since 1870 by Jules Racine Sr., Emma Racine-Blatt proposed an anagram of the family name: 'ENICAR'. Ariste Racine registered his manufacture and that brand name on January 6, 1914. ENICAR was used - however - only as his telegram address. In his publications he used 'Horlogerie Ariste Racine'

Ariste and Emma were using the sun room of their house as their factory. Because of the limited space, they were able to house one technician, two others were working at their respective home. One of their first products was a pocket watch with the possibility to integrate a compass or a permanent picture in a second little space of the case. On February 3, 1915 Ariste registered 5 models of that design. On March 11, 1915 a wrist watch with built-in compass was registered. They produced a great variety of lever watches with movements ranging from 4 - 17 Lignes.

Longeau Watch Co.

Ariste Racine opened a radium laboratory as well, as radium was used on the hands of the (alarm) clocks and watches, making them readable in the dark. As business was booming the Racine's had to find more space. In 1916 they rented a part of Ariste's mother's house in Longeau (Lengnau). They named that branch of their business 'Longeau Watch Co.'. In 1918 they bought the entire house of Ariste's mother and some land around it. Longeau became the official seat of the company. The Racine's were also active on the (still) famous Plainpalais Market in Geneva. In January 1931 that branch was closed, though.

Oskar Racine, Ariste's brother, was joining the company in 1918. He owned a shaft factory in Biel, which he closed down in May 1930. Both Ariste and Oskar were brilliant salesmen and were quite ingenious. Again, mother's house became too small, so the Racine's decided to build a brand new factory in Longeau. Since late 1919 it became operational and the name ENICAR was used on all products.

In the new factory they started to produce their own movements (AR); until then they used mainly movements of Adolph Schild (AS).

ENICAR S.A.

Probably to spread commercial risks Ariste and Emma Racine announced a marriage settlement/contract on June 11, 1924. On April 11, 1932 the company was named ENICAR Société Anonyme (equiv. to Ltd.), with a nominal capital of 50,000 Swiss Francs. In 1934 Ariste Racine Junior, son of Ariste and Emma, entered the company and as per October 30, 1939 he became general director. His sister Paulette Racine and Otto Bratschi were allowed the company's procuration.

On April 14, 1943 the nominal capital of the company was raised to 150,000 Swiss Francs by a share issue of 20 nominal shares of 5,000 Francs each. Both Ariste Sr. and his wife Emma were resigning, while Ariste Jr. held his function as general director. Paulette and Otto retained their authority. After Ariste Racine Senior died on October 13, 1958 Ariste Jr. became CEO of ENICAR S.A. BTW: brother Oskar celebrated his 50 years cooperation in June 1968, but not known is when he left the company!

ENICAR S.A. had registered - among others - the following trademarks: ENICAR, Longeau, Etsira, Savillon, Alprosa, Swisbaby, Swisboy, Teddy, Chrono M, Sykos and Chromicar.

Switzerland has been neutral in both World Wars. These wars didn't much harm to Switzerland (neither to other Neutrals). As we all know: on the contrary. In 1914 in Switzerland was accommodating 1,8 billion Swiss Francs as savings; at the end of W.W. II this amount came to 6,6 billion Swiss Francs. If we take 1914 as an index 100, 1945 would come to 209, so the (inflation) adjusted figure would still come to 3,2 billion Swiss Francs. ENICAR did good trades with many military forces all over the world. After the W.W. II ENICAR had to focus on regular consumers. Ariste Racine Jr. was aware of the situation in Germany and Scandinavia. In 1953 a new factory and high end laboratory in nearby Oensingen was opened, where all own movements were 'ultrasonic' cleaned. A modern method that was printed or engraved on all watches. ENICAR was also able to epilamize (= avoiding oil to run on) surfaces of its movements.

Modern production methods were introduced and production and sales went sky-high. In the early 1950's over 70,000 movements were produced annually. ENICAR developed interesting watches, which were sturdy and reliable. On July 16, 1954 ENICAR received its first 'Gangschein' (certificate of accuracy) of the Neuchâtel forerunner of the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres = Swiss Official Inspection of Chronometers; founded in 1973) for its 1010 Caliber. A waterproof wrist watch with a newly developed case (with bayonet lid) was introduced as 'Seapearl' in 1955; its back has an engraved open oyster, maybe to tease competitor ROLEX. 'Seapearl' was registered as a trademark on April 10, 1953 already. In 1956 the first automatic winding chronometer (based on Felsa 1560 Caliber) was introduced. Three years later ENICAR was able to produce its own automatic caliber (1125). Caliber 1125, 1126 and 1127 were offered as 'Rubyrotor' with 33 Jewels! A steel version is the 1145 caliber.

ENICAR's first automatic chronometer wrist watch was called 'ENICAR Supertest' (caliber 1124, 30 jewels, aka Supertest 300 caliber), although it wasn't officially a chronometer watch as it wasn't officially tested by whatever testing agency. ENICAR tested the watch via a home made testing procedure of three days with a maximum tolerance of 5 seconds. Each individual watch was given a certificate with all test's results.

In 1961 the first electro-mechanic watch was introduced. Marksmen, participating in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, were wearing ENICAR watches. In 1965 the 'Star'-collection followed. Many Star models were the successors of the Sherpa models: Sherpa Dive became Star Dive etc.

Besides men's and women's wrist watches and alarm clocks ENICAR also produced chronometers for airplanes, boats and cars. Famous racing drivers, like Stirling Moss and Jimmy Clark, were wearing ENICAR watches. ENICAR was also active as the official timekeeper at various (cycle, car, boat, etc.) races. In 1968 ENICAR even sponsored its own cycling team; unfortunately it wasn't very successful.

Quartz crisis

In 1969 cheap and fancy Japanese watches with quartz movements, run on batteries, conquered the world of watches. The following so called Quartz crisis played havoc among the Swiss watch industry. Many watch makers had to close their business. ENICAR introduced in 1970 as one of the first Swiss watch makers quartz watches, using Beta21 movements, developed by CEH (Centre Electronique Horloger) in Switzerland. Even a Sherpa Quartz was presented.

Many other Swiss watch makers were saved by Mr. Swatch, nickname of Nicholas Hayek (1928-2010), founder of The Swatch Group. He was able to mobilize many Swiss watch makers to put up a fight against cheap Asian products.

Unfortunately ENICAR was suffering great losses, which led to the presentation of a bankruptcy petition against ENICAR on November 13, 1987. On that date the official receiver of the Court in Biel/Bienne, Mr. Hoff F. Lee, was informed that all material in stock and the brand name were sold to 5 creditors. On February 8, 1988 the brand name was sold by auction; the remaining watch cases were sold to a German manufacture (Mr. Gerd-Ruediger Lang, owner of Chronoswiss). An investor in Hong Kong bought the brand name and did not continue the 75-year old manufacture. The quality of his products is far below that of Racine’s products, which is worldwide regarded as a pity. The websites enicar.com/enicar.ch are telling visitors that the company was founded in 1854 by a man called Artiste Racine (sic!); and they are stating that his company has an expertise of 160 years of watch making! In the timeline on that website the period 1854-1913 is blanco, though!! BTW: the father of Ariste Racine Jr. was an well-known architect in Granges/Grenchen and had no connections to the watch industry!

Many watch magazines (Armbanduhren, Rikketik, etc.) and websites worldwide have often informed the readers that the present brand name owner is misleading the general public. The Swiss FH is fighting illegal products and imports (see its 2012 seizure at Zurich Airport). It is also tighten up the rules of the use of ´Swiss made`.

The present ENICAR Watch Co. S.A. was registered in La Chaux-de-Fonds on June 25, 1988 as a wholesale trader in watches! Registration text: import, export and sale of goods of all kinds, especially in the field of watches, their parts, their electronic and mechanical components and other products related to it and the manufacture thereof; participate in other businesses and acquire buildings!!

On July 2, 1997 ENICAR S.A. is opening a branch office in Ligornetto (Italy), which is closed on September 22, 1999. Since September 2004 the official address of that company is: rue Cernil-Antoine 17, La Chaud-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The present owner of ENICAR has his office in Hong Kong and in the well-known tax haven The British Virgin Islands.

Swiss made ENICAR watches(1913-1988) were and still are high end wrist watches, that were/are equaling the quality of watches made by Rolex, Omega, IWC and many others. On second hand markets prices are remaining relatively high. Very early AR branded watches and clocks made for the aviation industry have become very rare.

All Antique watches are mechanical. Many repairs will not be cheap, as most likely they will require replacement of non-standard parts (unlike most late model watches).

• Antique watches should not be beaten or dropped - because repairs may be expensive.
• Antique watches are generally NOT waterproof. This is because waterproofing was not in general production until the middle of the 20th century for most watches. Therefore you should protect your antique watch from exposure to moisture.
• If your watch becomes wet it should be dried off quickly. Carefully open all covers and use a hair drier to blow dry the movement, dial, covers, crown. This will reduce the amount of rust.
• If your watch becomes wet with any kind of salt water you should immediately immerse or spray your watch with fresh (no-salt) water to remove all the salt from the works before drying the watch completely. Any salt left in the watch will combine with moisture in the air to rust metal components of the movement, case etc.
• Winding any mechanical watch tight may break the mainspring. If you can avoid it do not wind the watch hard.
• When adjusting the hands of your watch, move them in a clockwise direction only. Counter-clockwise adjustments may damage the movement. It is desirable to adjust the hands of your watch at the same time every day. An automatic or self-winding watch should be worn for at least 8 hours a day. It is a mechanical watch in which the mainspring is wound automatically as a result of natural motion of the wearer's arm, to provide energy to run the watch, making manual winding unnecessary.
• If you must adjust counter-clockwise make it for small adjustments only (i.e. for minutes, NOT hours).
• Be careful and gentle when adjusting the movement speed (faster or slower). Don't make sharp movements, and don't touch other components in the movement especially the pendulum mechanism.
• Every 2-3 years it is necessary to service and oil vintage watches. If the course of your watches is worsening and the accuracy of the reduction in the duration of the clock (autonomy) from one fully wound spring - it need a service.
• IF the watch is dirty - allow the watch to run down, don't wind it again until you have it serviced by a qualified watch repair expert. Dust will absorb and remove important lubricants and cause the movement pieces to wear down.
• To clean the case, dial and crystal you should use a cloth that does NOT leave fibers as these may get caught up in the movement. Check with your Watch repair expert to get an appropriate cloth.
• Keep your antiques watch away from magnets. Strong magnetic fields may affect the accuracy of your watch since some vintage watches were made with iron based components in the movement.
• Most Cases and Covers are fine components and will not handle abuse well. The watch should not be shaken, beaten, or stressed.
• Antique watches generally experience an error of up to 5-7 minutes a day. Any accuracy of +- 5 minutes is very good.
• Mechanical watch is not recommended to use for engage in extreme sports, and expose them to excessive vibration loads. Recoil force, which take on the clock, affect their reliability and precision. No matter how perfect was not anti-shock mechanism, there is always the chance of excessive load that details of the mechanism can not survive.
• Watch with calendar. It is not recommended to adjust, the date between 20.00 and 06.00, because at this time involved a mechanism for automatic adjustment date. Translation pointers calendars manually in this position arrows may damage the mechanism. Date changes should be made, relegating pre-clockwise to lower sector of the dial (for example, to position 6 (18.00) hours).
• Chronograph watches. In most cases, these watches contain the "start/stop" button and "reset" button. It is strongly recommended not to press the "reset" if the chronograph is running. Before you use the "Reset" button need to stop the chronograph by button "start/stop". Using the "reset" when running chronograph can damage the mechanism of most models of watches.

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We ship to any country. This item will be shipped to you from Europe (Ukraine) via registered airmail with tracking number and insurance within 7-14 days (except for the weekends and holidays) after the payment is fully received.

Typical Delivery Time

• European Countries: about 7-10 days;
• USA, Japan & other: about 10-14 days.

NOTE: Delivery time may increase because of postal services and/or customs. Please, don't worry and check location of your parcel using provided tracking number. In spite of delays all our previous lots have been successfully delivered!

The item will be packed very carefully!

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