ETA Caliber 2842

The ETA caliber 2842 is a vintage automatic watch movement found in some Swatch watches from the 1990s.

This caliber appears to be exclusive to Swatch branded watches (that could be incorrect) as there are no technical documents to be found related to this movement.

Plastic Parts:

Some, but not all, of the 2842 movements out there have been found with plastic parts inside, particularly the pallet fork. It’s interesting to think that this caliber could have been an early version of what evolved into modern ETA movements with synthetic escapement components.

Interchangeability:

If you come across a Swatch watch with the calibre 2842 and want to repurpose the movement, the dimensions are similar as well as the hand sizes. The dial feet position should also be the same. Therefore, you should be ok choosing 2824-2 parts (case, hands, dial). If the 2824-2 case doesn’t work, you could try a 2836-2 case (the 2836-2 is slightly taller than the 2824-2 due to the day-date, so this may accommodate the 2842 better, however, it really depends on the case as some 2824-2 cases may have enough space).

Please note that this is not guaranteed until we have photo confirmation from someone who has tried it – sometimes you just have go for it and try. If you do the swap, please be sure to discuss the job (pics please) in the comments below…

Additional Resources:

• More ETA movements