<Just to muddle the picture even further, I have at least one Helicomatic on which <the outside of the bearings (I thought) was stamped "Sealed France". So I thought <the later Helicomatics use sealed cartridge bearings. But later I discovered in an <LBS NOS Maillard axles of the era, with a thin metal plate with the same markings <held in place between the cone and the adjacent axle nut. So the "Sealed" may <have <meant nothing more than a metal dustshield on the same conventional bearings as <any <other Helicomatic. That doesn't exactly strike me as "sealed",
Actually that mechanical sealing method works quite well! My main bike for the past eight years has a Maillard Pro front hub with this sealing method. I log a minimum of 1500 miles a season on this bike. Every couple a years I would check the grease and it was as white as the day I bought the hub! Finally decided to overhaul this past summer. It does work!
Jules Meihofer
Ft Collins, CO, where it is snowing today