The Kienzle caliber 057/21d, the so-called Volksautomatik, which was launched in
the mid fifties, was the only inhouse selfwinding movement of the german watch factory, locaed
in Schwenningen.
Unlike the handwound watches by Kienzle, the Volksautomatik cost with 65.- DM twice as
much, what is the reason, why it is relatively rare and already put out of production in 1963.
movement view without oscillating weight
The caliber 057/21d is a real inhouse construction, which had a better quality, than the
handwound movements.
oscillating weight
The oscillating weight is axle-beared and contains a lead circlet.
selfwinding mechanism, top
The selfwinding mechanism can be released as a unit from the movement by removing three screws.
selfwinding mechanism, inside
The flying beared changing wheel, which is driven by the oscillating weight, drives in both
directions one of the two wheels and realizes the bidirectional winding. The disadvantage of this
solution is, that it has got a rather long empty running way, so when the oscillating weight
changed its direction, it spins freely quite a long time.
selfwinding mechanism
The upper ratchet wheel is exclusively driven by the selfwinding mechanism with the
help of a reduction wheel.
click of selfwinding mechanism
The click on the leftmost driving wheel avoids unwanted running down.
click of selfwinding mechanism, below
With the exception of the flying beared wheel, all other gears are located in ruby bearings.
movement without selfwinding mechanism
A coupling, which is simple and genious the same time is used for the upper ratched wheel: Not
the ratchet wheel, but only the barrel axle with its connected slide coupling in attached to the
barrel arbour. When manually wound, it decouples the selfwinding system; when wound by the
oscillating weight, it connects.
gears and trains
As you can see, the wheel mechanism of the Kienzle 057/21d bases on the
caliber 48.
gears and trains, side view
The time mechanism consists of: Mainspring - minute wheel - third wheel - fourth wheel
(decentral second ) - escapement wheel.
escapement
The Kienzle 057/21d uses a ruby pin-lever, which is developed inhouse. It's a good compromise
between the expensive and sophisticated swiss pallet lever and the cheap, but unprecise pin
lever with metal pins.
escapement lever
The pins have got the shape of half of an cylinder, of the escapement wheel
teeth matcg perfectly.
According to Kienzle, this type of escapement shall be equivalent to a swiss pallet lever
excapement.
main plate
Of couse, on this movement, all bearings contain rubies; the ring balance is secured by two
inhouse shock protections, where the protection on the dial side only offers protection against
frontal shocks and not against side shocks.
The mainspring barrel with its towing spring can be released as a whole by pulling
a spring at "12".
dial side view
On the dial side, you can see the rocking bar winding mechanism and the click
mechanism. It is a well made construction.
screwable dial foot
A very odd detail are the dial feet, which are held by screws(!) on the movement plate.
Technical data
Manufacturer
Kienzle
Caliber
057/21d
Number of jewels
21
Escapement
pin lever
Balance
Nickel
Shock protection(s)
Kienzle
Balance cock direction
clockwise
Hairspring stud
fixed
Regulator type
Long regulator arm
Movement construction
Fork Escapement wheel, Fourth wheel, Third wheel, Center wheel, Mainspring barrel
Construction type
pillar construction
Bridge shape
full plate including esc.wheel,
escapement with own cock,
4 gears
Winding mechanism
Rocking bar
Features
s,a
Functions
Hour, minute, small second, selfwinding
Beats per hour
18000
Size
123/4''' (measured: 29,6 mm)
Production time
1956-1963
Factsheet
Test Results
The specimen tested here came into the lab without case. It got a full service, but the
oiling of the escapement pins was non trivial and maybe not optimal done, too.
Timegrapher Protocol
The timing results are quite OK, especially for a pin lever movement.
Probably due to the problematic oiling of the release pin, they are worse than they have to be.
dial down
dial up
12 up
3 up
6 up
9 up
Measured Values
horizontal positions
dial down
+-0 seconds/day
dial up
-8 seconds/day
vertical positions
12 up
-60 seconds/day
3 up
-65 seconds/day
6 up
+10 seconds/day
9 up
-5 seconds/day
timegrapher measurings
A maximum deviation of 75 secs of all positions os not bad, and since the rest of the
deviations are quite small, it shows the potential of the Kienzle ruby pin-lever mechanism.
