Jumbostar Incaflex, Wyler Vetta’s vintage and sporty-chic soul 

There are limited editions more memorable than others. The one recently presented by Wyler Vetta, the Jumbostar Incaflex in 100 pieces, has a very special value, for several reasons. Firstly, because it belongs to one of the brand’s most recognisable collections, the Jumbostar. Above all, however, because its raison d’être lies in the brand’s history and in one of the innovations that the brand has created during its 100+ years of existence: the Incaflex balance wheel. Because Wyler Vetta was, and still is, a brand capable of producing models that have entered watchmaking history, but also patents and technical developments that have indelibly marked that same history.

WYLER VETTA AND THE INCAFLEX BALANCE WHEEL

One of these patents is the Incaflex balance wheel, which provided an effective response to what we would now call the ‘mission’ that watchmaker Paul Wyler set himself in 1924 when he founded the company that bore his name in Basel: to design and create a robust watch that would withstand the shocks and stresses to which it was subjected during everyday use. A mission that had to take into consideration, first and foremost, the ‘brain’ of the watch, namely the balance wheel. A part that has always been very delicate and fragile, prone to sudden damage in the event of heavy shocks.

Paul Wyler identified the weakness of the traditional balance wheel in its classic structure, characterised by short, straight arms joining the outer part to the central pinion. Their short length and especially their straight shape made them very fragile when subjected to violent shocks. Wyler’s reasoning was simple: he had to make those arms longer and more elastic, and therefore stronger, possibly without increasing the size of the balance wheel, thus working within a very small space.

The intuition was as simple as the solution was ingenious. The two straight arms became curved and flexible, characterised by an almost spiral shape, capable of absorbing even the hardest shocks. Thus was born, in 1927, the Incaflex balance wheel, which later became the standard balance wheel in the watch industry.

A few years later, in 1931, Innocente Binda (who was also an ante litteram marketing man) proved its effectiveness with a media stunt: he threw a few watches equipped with this balance wheel from the top of the Eiffel Tower. A notary standing at the base of the monument confirmed that they still worked after the fall. An exploit that strengthened the brand’s reputation and was successfully repeated in 1956, again in Paris, and then in 1962, to convince the American market, with a launch from the top of the Space Needle in Seattle.

MARKETING BEFORE MARKETING

Wyler Vetta’s modern spirit lays in Innocente Binda’s vision. After learning his craft in Luino, on Lake Maggiore, in 1906 he opened a workshop in Besozzo, also on the lake, where he repaired and sold watches. In 1926 he moved to Milan, where he started his own business, sourcing both finished products and components from Switzerland. In 1932 Binda started selling the first wristwatches under the Wyler brand name, created in Bienne, Switzerland, by Paul and Alfred Wyler. He added the name Vetta to the brand name, because the fascist regime prevented products with foreign names from being marketed in Italy.

Binda was among the first to understand the importance of marketing and to use its principles effectively. In addition to placing its watches on the wrists of the most famous sportspeople of the 1930s and 1940s (from the Azzurri Italian football team, twice world champions, to cycling champions such as Alfredo Binda), Wyler Vetta also developed colourful advertising campaigns of great impact in those years, and later an example of ‘dynamic billposting’ that was quite ahead of its time. In the 1960s, a fleet of Alfa Romeo vans, customised with the Wyler Vetta brand name and the three-dimensional reproduction of a watch on the side, travelled across Italy from north to south to deliver new collections to retailers.

THE JUMBOSTAR INCAFLEX CASE AND DIAL

The Jumbostar Incaflex thus brings into the third millennium both Incaflex technology and the distinctive features of the Jumbostar collection, now the jewel in the crown of the Italo-Swiss company that celebrated a century of existence. It is a concentrated mix of style and technology that Wyler Vetta has chosen to produce in a limited edition to focus even more on its exclusivity, for a watch that combines modern materials with a strongly characterised vintage style.

The case, which measures 40 mm, is made of satin-finished steel and is water-resistant to 10 bar. The collection’s recognisable design is underlined by the screw-down double crown: the classic one at 3 o’clock is used to set the hours, minutes and seconds, while the one at 10 o’clock (reminiscent of the split-seconds chronograph pusher) allows to move the rotating bezel, another classic Jumbostar detail.

Particular care has been put into the dial, which is black with grey and anthracite counters. The characteristic red Jumbostar notches are placed every five minutes on the outer chapter ring, and the same red colour is repeated for the seconds hand and those of the chronograph counters, underlining the sportiness of the Jumbostar Incaflex.

The indexes, on the other hand, are applied and generously coated with luminescent material, as are the large hands, arrow-shaped for the hours and baton-shaped for the minutes. The dial is protected by a domed, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, which is also found on the case back so that the automatic calibre powering the watch is visible.

CALIBRE AND STRAP

It is an ETA 2894 calibre, specially re-designed for Wyler Vetta to accommodate the Incaflex balance wheel. Although the 2894 is a fine calibre, it would have made no sense for the brand to use it in such a sought-after reference without personalising it strongly. The decision to make the oscillating weight in tungsten and black PVD, made lighter thanks to three circular holes, goes in this direction. Sportiness and reliability are what this version of the calibre, which works at 28,800 vibrations per hour with approximately 42 hours of power reserve, offers.

Wyler Vetta chose the Tropic Legend 1966 strap, manufactured by Seacult. This is a top-quality Italian-made strap made of perforated natural rubber, featuring a design inspired by the 1960s. The surface is decorated with a classic intrecciato pattern. The buckle is a pin buckle in satin-finished steel. All at a retail price of €3,300.

‘The introduction of the Incaflex balance wheel in a current collection is a way for us to move the enthusiasts who will be able to wear such a significant piece of watchmaking history on their wrist. We have created a unique experience for them, one that goes beyond pure mechanics by taking care of every detail of the chronograph’, commented Beppe Ambrosini, partner & senior advisor at Wyler Vetta, about the creation of the Jumbostar Incaflex. 

By Davide Passoni