This is my third dead beat jumping seconds watch. Found this from Europe. Dead beat seconds ( seconde morte ) aka jumping seconds ( seconde sautante ) is an older complication from 19th century which was first implemented in pocket watches. It was more of a doctors watch so that with every exact second the pulse could be counted. Later this complication has been transferred to wrist watches. Having less space in a wrist watch case, this complication evolved to a sophisticated watchmaking skill. Companies who were able to manufacture this was doing it simply because they could. Kind of haute horlogerie show. Not many were successful to imitate the quartz alike motion of the seconds hand vs swiping hands. It's a mechanical motion, which acts like a quartz watch, not sweeping 5-7 times per second, rather jumping once every second.
Chezard was a premium movement manufacturer back in the days and they have produced 4 dead beat seconds calibers The cal 7400, 7402 ( 7400 + date ), 115 and 116 ( 115 + hacking seconds ). Omega tried it also with their Synchrobeat models but had to collect them back due to malfunctions. Rolex did Tru-beat and they still are around would cost you an arm and a leg. The watchmaker of the watchmakers Jaeger LeCoultre has in the last years launched this complication again in their Geophysic models. So it's a movement which shows accomplishment of manufacturer with small tiny gears and parts working together.
Here we have the Chezard 7400 caliber, utilized by Avia model name Staccato ( Italian, perfect way to describe this complication ), the watch is from mid '50s.
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