Chinese Mechanical Chronographs ST19 (TY29) Series

The Chinese ST19 (TY29) chronograph is one of the three mechanical chronographs currently manufactured in China. It differs (in a good way) from the other two in that it is not a clone of Valjoux 7750 but is derived from Venus 175, a famed Swiss chronograph movement of yesteryear.

Some time in the 1960s, equipment for the manufacture of the ST19xx chronograph was sold to China by its original Swiss maker. The Sea-Gull factory of China started using it in its pilots' watches. Its production was suspended for some time; however it was resumed recently and the chronograph movement is now available in many watches made by Sea-Gull, by some other Chinese companies, by foreign companies such as Ingersoll, to name just one, while its cheap versions can even be found in some fakes.

Usually this particular chronograph movement is designated ST19xx - the designation used by Sea-Gull itself to refer to its chronographs - or TY29xx - where the letters TY stand for the city in which the company is located -- Tianjin. It is possible that the latter designation is used to mark movements sold for use by third party manufacturers.

ST19 is a chronograph with hand-winding based on Venus 175. According to this excellent Chinese horology resource, seven variants are currently in production:

• ST1901: 2 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3
• ST1902: 3 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, 12 h register at 6 that mirrors the time-keeping hour hand
• ST1903: 3 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, 24 h register at 6 that is not affiliated with the chronograph function
• ST1904: unused model number, possibly being reserved for an automatic winding or true 3 register chronograph version
• ST1905: 2 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, decentral power reserve at 4:30
• ST1906: 2 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, decentral power reserve at 6
• ST1907: 2 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, central power reserve indicator
• ST1908: 4 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, date at 12, real moon phase at
• ST1940: 2 register, small seconds at 9, 30 min counter at 3, automatic.

I am interested in this type of Chinese chronograph, in addition to all other reasons, for the following reason: I noticed -- as others also did -- that some time ago (two or three years back) some offshoots of the former Poljot, and namely, TD Poljot, Poljot-Stil and Poljot-Chronos made a series of automatic chronographs. TD Poljot designated such movements in its watches as Poljot 2940 while Poljot-Chronos preferred to call them 3140 (possibly intending to slightly mislead the buyers as to its relation to the cal. 3133 which is not there).

Almost certainly the movement used in those chronographs was and is ST1940 (TY2940). There are simply no other options considering the layout of its sub-dials and the fact that it is automatic.

However these chronographs are already sold out and are out of stock. 

For example, this specimen (they were all in the same style, with a peculiar way to attach the strap to the case).

Out of stock.

ETA (December 26, 2013):
I now have in my collection a Russian watch similar to the above (same case & strap, also stopwatch hand) with an ST1940 (TY2940) movement - an automatic chronograph with a seconds subdial at 9 o'clock, a central stopwatch hand and a 30 minute accumulator dial at 3 o'clock. Below is the link to the main entry on the watch.

Poljot President 2940 Automatic Chronograph with an ST1940 inside.