====== Lemania ======
{{wst>menue_mov|Lemania}}

**Lemania** was a historic Swiss [[ebauche movement]] manufacturer. It is now called **Manufacture Breguet** and is part of [[Breguet]] in the [[Swatch Group]].

===== Foundation =====
The [[watch]]es and [[watch movement]] [[manufacture]] **Lemania** was founded in [[1884]] by Alfred Lugrin (1858-1920), who had acquired his expertise as a laborer at [[Jaeger-LeCoultre]] in [[Le Sentier]]. Because of the outstanding quality of his watch movements Lugrin received top awards and gold medals at exhibitions in [[1906]] in Milan and in [[1914]] in Bern. From the beginning he had specialized in the production of [[chronograph]]s, stopwatches and [[repeater]]s.

Till the year [[1930]] the factory had the name to Lugrin S.A., until Lugrin's son in law Marius Meylan established the brand name **Lemania Watch Co.** with headquarters in [[L'Orient]]. In [[1932]] Lemania, [[Omega]] and [[Tissot]] joined to form the [[SSIH]] group. In close collaboration with Omega great chronograph [[calibre]]s were created.

The Lemania [[Lemania 1873|Calibre 1873]] (Omega [[Omega 861|Calibre 861]]) became particularly famous with the [[Omega Speedmaster Professional|Omega Speedmaster]], which in [[1962]] was selected by NASA for manned space flights and on 21 July [[1969]] accompanied Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. Lemania then worked with Omega to develop a high-quality [[cam switching]] [[automatic chronograph]], launching their [[Lemania 1340|Cal. 1340]] in [[1972]]. This was followed by the [[1974]] introduction of [[Lemania 5100|Cal. 5100]].

With the advent of electronic watches in the 1970s the sales of mechanical watches by the [[SSIH]] group broke in massively. In [[1980]] the creditor banks gave [[Hayek, Nicolas G.|Nicolas Hayek]] the mandate to restructure the group. As part of a management buy-out Lemania was separated by the [[SSIH]] Group in [[1981]] and changed its name to **Nouvelle Lemania**. In [[1992]], Nouvelle Lemania was brought under the //Groupe Horloger [[Breguet]]// banner. At this time, the company re-introduced their cam-switching automatic chronograph as [[Lemania 1350|Cal. 1350]]. They constructed a new manufacture in [[L'Abbaye]] in [[1996]].

Breguet was acquired by the [[Swatch Group]] in [[1999]]. Over the next decade, the Lemania name was retired, with the company now called **Manufacture Breguet**. The company primarily produces calibres for Breguet, but many of its products are also used by other Swatch Group brands. Although Lemania's ownership by [[SSIH]] brought it very close to [[ASUAG]], [[Ebauches SA]], and [[SMH]]/[[Swatch Group]], it was never part of this conglomerate or of [[ETA]], their movement manufacturer.

===== Movements =====
Lemania has produced many famous movements, including the following 

  * Manual Chronograph
    * [[Lemania 1270|1270/1275/1276/1277]] - cam switched, 30 minute counter and 60 second subdials
      * [[Lemania 1280|1280/1281]] - cam switched, 30 minute and 12 hour counters and 60 second subdials
    * [[Lemania 1872|1872]] (1961) - cam switched, 30 minute and 60 second subdials
      * [[Lemania 1873|1873]] - cam switched, 30 minute and 12 hour counters and 60 second subdials, optional 24 hour display (aka [[Frank Mueller]] 1870, [[Omega]] 861/863, [[Universal Genève]] 84)
      * [[Lemania 1874|1874]]
      * [[Lemania 1877|1877]] - [[Breitling]] Calibre 12
      * [[Lemania 1883|1883]] (1983) - cam switched, 30 minute and 12 hour counters and 60 second subdials, date and moon phase
      * [[Lemania 1888|1888]] - (aka [[Ulysse Nardin]] UN 53)
    * [[Lemania 5200|5200/5250]] - pillar wheel
    * [[Lemania 2310|2310/2320/2612]] (1942) - pillar wheel, [[Patek Phillipe]] 2872 (2310) and CH 27-70 (2310), [[Omega]] 321 (2310), [[Vacheron Constantin]] 1141 (2320)
  * Automatic Chronograph
    * [[Lemania 1340|1340]] (1972) - cam switched, central chronograph seconds and 60 minute totaliser hands, 12 hour counter at 6 00, small seconds at 9 00, quickset date at 3 00
      * [[Lemania 1341|1341]] - adds 24-hour hand at 9 00 ([[Omega 1040]])
      * [[Lemania 1343|1343]]
    * [[Lemania 5100|5100/5012]] (1974) - cam switched, central chronograph seconds and 60 minute counter hands, 12 hour counter at 6 00 and small seconds and 24 hour hand at 9 00, quickset day and date, hacking
    * [[Lemania 1350|1350]] (1994) - cam switched
    * [[LWO 283]] - [[ETA 2892]] with [[Dubois-Depraz]] chronograph module - [[BM 13283]]
  * Automatic time-only
    * [[Lemania 8810|8810/8815]] (1991) - date and seconds (aka [[Ebel]] 080, [[Longines]] 990.2, [[Robergé]] MMR 3213)
      * [[Lemania 8811|8811/8816]] - seconds
      * [[Lemania 8812|8812/8817]] - date
      * [[Lemania 8813|8813/8818]] - time only (aka [[Longines]] L987.2)
      * [[Lemania 8831|8831]] - jumping hour
      * [[Lemania 8840|8840]] - perpetual calendar
      * [[Lemania 8875|8875]] - (aka [[Robergé]] MMR 3243)
    * [[Lemania 2010|2010]] (1978) - [[Lassale]]

===== Weblinks =====
  * [[http://home.xnet.com/~cmaddox/nouvelle_lemania_5100.html|Watch Legends: The Calibre Lemania 5100]]
  * [[http://ninanet.net/watches/others02/Mediums/mlemania.html|Lemania chronograph, Cal. 2310, circa 1950]]


{{tag>Movement_manufacturers Movement_manufacturers_Switzerland SSIH Swatch_Group L'Orient Vallée_de_Joux Investcorp}}