Detlef Rode

In October 2023, there was a surprise donation from Detlef Rode.

He is a collector of russian watches and obtained a large stock of “watch scrap” from a watchmakers’ estate. It contained many parts for his russian watches, but also two movements, which were donated as a thank you to the movement archive.

First, there’s a Müller-Schlenker (Emes) 10 caliber and the second one is a not yet identified, high quality lever movement from the early 20th century, marked as “A.E.S.”. This hallmark was used by a department store in Essen, Germany, who bought raw ebauches and sold them in their own watches, much to the annoyance of long-established watchmakers.

The execution of this “A.E.S.” movement reminds of early Zenith movements, and also the engraved serial number matches Zenith movements of this time, so, it is pretty sure, that we have a Zenith caliber here.

In February 2026, there was a second donation of four movements from scrapped golden or golden pated watches, which would have been thrown away otherwise. Fortunately, the movements could be saved and given the movement archiv, which is happy for an FHF 60 (as Elgin 749), an AS 655 (as ZentRa 175), a Kasper 600 new and a working Durowe 89: