Chinese standard movement

To build upon this, the 4th Five Year Plan called for a program of 'consolidation' for the industry, in which a standardized watch design would be manufactured in factories in (almost) all provinces.

[2] Though the movement was the predominantly-produced watch movement in China until sometime in the 1980s, its manufacture was not immune to the quartz crisis of the watch industry that occurred during that decade; changes in economic policy, replacement designs, factory closings, and the re-purposing of a number of Chinese watch-producing facilities would contribute to declines in its manufacture.

[2] The movement is frequently seen today in its skeletonized and simple automatic variants in watches whose list prices range between US$10–100.

Liaoning Watch Factory is producing a new automatic standard movement distinguishable by a wider auto-winding bridge that partly covers the mainspring barrel.

In 2008 the Shandong Liaocheng Zhong Tai Watch Company introduced a new skeleton version on a 33mm main plate with a simple auto-winding module on the 'magic-lever' principle.

All of these variants have been enthusiastically adopted by the many new lower-priced Shenzhen-based brands such as Fineat,[2] and some foreign watch companies such as Invicta.

The often elaborate case-backs and signed crowns of many vintage Standard watches are a testimony to the pride of the local enterprises that built them.

A typical lower-quality skeletonized variant of the Chinese Standard Movement, frequently found today in cheap mechanical watches mass-produced and marketed by a large number of brand names. Note the rough finishing of the movement. The white plastic spacer ring designed to hold and stabilize the movement in its case is clearly visible around the movement. (photo 2008)
A skeletonized variant of the Chinese Standard Movement, this time in a higher-quality watch. Movement has been handled outside of the case, but metalwork and striations from finishing are still visible on this movement. (photo 2023)