Strange things inside a watch

[jdm]

What have you found that was strange or remarkable?

The factory took great care to conceal the module markings inside this old cheap watch, as if it was a trade secret. Removing the sturdy paint I was pleased to find that is a working, well made ISA 1198, which retails 18 GBP plus VAT. Back then the Swiss were already manufacturing in Hong Kong.

 

[AdamC]

I think my strangest find yet was underneath the dial of an old French watch, which I bought on ebay from a seller in France. The watch movement, an HP 81, dated from the 1940s. An inscription was found scratched into the underside of the dial in what looked like French. I was intrigued and asked a French colleague at work to attempt translating it. Both he and I were baffled and humoured by his translation. Some may find the translation offensive so I’ll add the photo and see what you make of it.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JohnD]

The strangest thing that i have found was in the Montine electronic ESA 9157, bought as a 'non runner'(which I am coincidently wearing at the moment), the seller described it as 'may work I haven't tried a new battery'. Well needless to say I took that with a pinch of salt..........On removing the 'Renata No11' battery (funny number I thought?) a new battery saw it ticking away merrily..

The old battery was on the work bench and the light caught something scratched on the top of it.  I would appear that the watchmaker who last changed the battery had scratched the date on it......'16.4.82'! The number on the battery was 'funny' as it was a long extinct mercury cell, and had been in the watch  for the last 38 years, without leaking!!

It would also appear that the same fastidious watchmaker was also responsible for fitting the replacement, rather expensive, NSA watch strap as I found this scratched inside the clasp.... 'ZTX New 3.5.81'........

Oh and the same bracelet can still be bought........I think I did quite well for my £20 or so outlay...

 

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by JohnD

[FLwatchguy73]

Please forgive my Naivety, but is that watchband for some extremely rare model? Is it made with particles of Unobtanium and painted with unicorn poo? Is it the most desired aftermarket Swiss made watchband ever? Baffling!

[JohnD]

1 hour ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

Please forgive my Naivety, but is that watchband for some extremely rare model? Is it made with particles of Unobtanium and painted with unicorn poo? Is it the most desired aftermarket Swiss made watchband ever? Baffling!

I must admit that this was my reaction when I saw the sort of price that they are/were commanding on eBay, so did a bit of research. NSA stands for 'Novavit S.A.' and they were probably the most high class, prestigious Swiss watch bracelet maker in the 1960's/70's, their bracelets being fitted to Breitling, Rolex and Omega watches at the time. One seller on eBay currently has four replacement links for sale at just under £70 and another seller has a rather battered 'used' bracelet, the same as mine, with no end links and a missing clasp spring for £160!! You might just be right about the Unicorn Poo!

[AndyHull]

Well who would have thought it. That thick gummy nastiness I keep finding in old watches actually comes from mythical technicoloured horned equines. I'll need to remember to keep it and bottle it next time.

Edited June 21, 2020 by AndyHull

[jdm]

On 6/20/2020 at 6:54 PM, jdm said:

The factory took great care to conceal the module markings inside this old cheap watch, as if it was a trade secret. Removing the sturdy paint I was pleased to find that is a working, well made ISA 1198

For what is worth. In the same junk bag there was another quite same watch, this one had no marking at all on the plate. Evidently the factory could not get sterile modules all the time. They are true workhorses,  30 years (or more) later all what they needed was a new battery. Too bad they are really too ugly to picture.

[justintimewatchservice]

I always sign my initials on the inside of the watch back cover, just recently someone on facebook ask me to repair a Casio AMW-320 for him, he mailed it to me and when I opened up the case back I was surprised to find my initials on the inside of the watch back cover!! I was very surprised that after all these years, what are the chances that a watch I worked on years ago comes back to me sent by a new client that found me on Facebook. I was shocked.

[HectorLooi]

7 hours ago, justintimewatchservice said:

I always sign my initials on the inside of the watch back cover, just recently someone on facebook ask me to repair a Casio AMW-320 for him, he mailed it to me and when I opened up the case back I was surprised to find my initials on the inside of the watch back cover!! I was very surprised that after all these years, what are the chances that a watch I worked on years ago comes back to me sent by a new client that found me on Facebook. I was shocked.

You must have been in business for many years and serviced thousands of watches for the odds of that happening. 

How do you sign your work? With a sharpie or a scribing tool?

I've seen many watchmaker's scrawlings on the back cover of watches but I could never figure out what they mean. 

[KarlvonKoln]

Anybody here got kids?  Kids with watches?  Ever wonder how a daughter could get mud (I really hope it was just mud) *inside* a Disney Princess watch?!?!?  Rugged little thing, it still works!  Oh well, last time it was a mishap with the honey.  At least the honey didn't make it's way inside.  

It's kind of a "dad thing".  If one of the four prettiest little girls in the world comes up to you with her most favorite cheap glitzy bling watch and says "Can you fix it daddy?", you of course treat it better than you would a Patek Philippe because her heart is with that watch.  (For now anyway.  I think other, more expensive, watches may come along. She has a magpie eye like her mom.)

[justintimewatchservice]

I sign with a fine sharpie. F.O.

[JohnD]

Not so much 'inside a watch' this time, but 'inside a movement' and by coincidence another ESA 9158.....

I Bought a couple of 'scrap' Swissonic movements for spares, a virtually complete ESA9158 and part stripped ESA 9154, for the knock down price of £13.50 inc. p&p.

They arrived today and looking at the ESA 9158, all that was obviously missing was the day wheel and 'C' clip and more importantly the +ve battery connector. (oh and the stem was broken)

What was a little dis-concerting however was the reluctance of the balance to swing freely. I removed the electronic module to see if the coil was interfering with the balance and with it out of the way it swung freely. I could see nothing on the coil that would apparently cause the problem so looked a bit closer at the balance and found two small movement parts attached to the magnet on the balance. Very carefully removing these with tweezers allowed the balance to swing freely with the module and coil back in place. Sadly it would appear that the very delicate coil had been damaged by the foreign bodies and the movement didn't respond to a battery being fitted.

However my spares stock supplied a replacement module (and missing screws), a stem with plastic crown  and a +ve battery connector and battery clamp and it promptly burst into life.

I've examined the 'free gifts' that had been attached to the battery and they do not come from either the 9158 or 9154 movements.... another mystery....

 

Edited July 20, 2020 by JohnD

[yankeedog]

Nothing really strange  lately. Other  than an LL bean quartz watch I picked  up recently.  The dial was  marked swiss on the obverse and china on the reverse. As was the back cover. The movement  from Thailand..nothing in the watch I could find was swiss made. A fake ? Maybe. But everything about it was  well made..just not swiss  made.