404 Club

[AndyHull]

A 'Delvina Genev' 17 Jewel ladies watch joins the club. This has a 6.75''' ETA 2410 with a fixed stud carrier (so probably ca. 1955)

I added the Sekonda for a sense of scale.

It is now clean, and running reasonably well. Oh, and did I mention, this is a really tiny watch.

So much so that I had to file down one of my smallest screwdrivers to access the smallest screws on this watch.

"Why would you torture yourself with any thing that small if nobody is likely to ever wear it?" I hear you ask.. well apart from the obvious mild insanity, the story is that it fell out of some bubble wrap that I was using to pad the box with the cuckoo clock that I took back this evening.

Obviously it was part of an ebay job lot and I must have entirely failed to spot it when I unpacked the watch, or watches that I actually bid on the lot for, and it got packed away in the bubble wrap pile.

In other words I felt sympathetic for the poor, ignored,  neglected thing.

I will admit my sympathy was wearing a little thin while re-assembling it, and repeatedly dropping a couple of those tiny screws.

Before you ask, the missing movement retaining screw was missing before I started, and the marred screw head on the other one wasn't me either. 

The poor thing also had a blob of what appeared to be epoxy resin on the case back which took a little bit of gentle persuasion to leave the scene.  Once that was removed,  the case back scrubbed up nicely. 

Now all I need to do is find a suitable strap for it.

[LittleWatchShop]

Won this today 99 cents

39 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by LittleWatchShop

[AndyHull]

Aviamatic - 17 Jewels (probably) automatic - £2.99

 

[AndyHull]

Joining the club today we have a late '60s or more likely early to mid '70s Kander "Marines".

It is sporting a nos Apollo tan leather strap for that authentic 1970s vibe.

BFG 158  Brevets, Swiss Made, 25 Jewels; Novodiac (Baumgartner 1582(CLD))

The plating is a little worn and there are a couple of tiny scratches still visible on the crystal if you look very carefully but the dial is perfect and the watch is running well following a clean and service.

Edited July 8, 2021 by AndyHull

[Plato]

On 7/6/2021 at 12:35 AM, AndyHull said:

A 'Delvina Genev' 17 Jewel ladies watch joins the club. This has a 6.75''' ETA 2410 with a fixed stud carrier (so probably ca. 1955)

I added the Sekonda for a sense of scale.

It is now clean, and running reasonably well. Oh, and did I mention, this is a really tiny watch.

So much so that I had to file down one of my smallest screwdrivers to access the smallest screws on this watch.

"Why would you torture yourself with any thing that small if nobody is likely to ever wear it?" I hear you ask.. well apart from the obvious mild insanity, the story is that it fell out of some bubble wrap that I was using to pad the box with the cuckoo clock that I took back this evening.

Obviously it was part of an ebay job lot and I must have entirely failed to spot it when I unpacked the watch, or watches that I actually bid on the lot for, and it got packed away in the bubble wrap pile.

In other words I felt sympathetic for the poor, ignored,  neglected thing.

I will admit my sympathy was wearing a little thin while re-assembling it, and repeatedly dropping a couple of those tiny screws.

Before you ask, the missing movement retaining screw was missing before I started, and the marred screw head on the other one wasn't me either. 

The poor thing also had a blob of what appeared to be epoxy resin on the case back which took a little bit of gentle persuasion to leave the scene.  Once that was removed,  the case back scrubbed up nicely. 

Now all I need to do is find a suitable strap for it.

Sorry to go off topic but could I ask what timegrapher set up you have please? 

[AndyHull]

2 minutes ago, Plato said:

Sorry to go off topic but could I ask what timegrapher set up you have please? 

I'm using an open source application called tg-timer, and the microphone built in to my laptop.

https://github.com/vacaboja/tg

https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/open-source-timing-software.2542874/

https://tg.ciovil.li/

It works pretty well for most things.

[Plato]

5 hours ago, AndyHull said:

I'm using an open source application called tg-timer, and the microphone built in to my laptop.

https://github.com/vacaboja/tg

https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/open-source-timing-software.2542874/

https://tg.ciovil.li/

It works pretty well for most things.

Cheers, I'll have a look at those. 

[LittleWatchShop]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:14 PM, LittleWatchShop said:

Won this today 99 cents

 

It is exactly what I hoped for!!!  A Baumgartner 866.  This solves my pivot misadventure on another watch.

[AndyHull]

On 6/29/2021 at 2:12 PM, LittleWatchShop said:

I never figured out how to remove the lower parashock jewel, so I left it alone.

I'm probably a little late to the party, but that Caravelle/Bulova  movement is almost identical to the Citizen 0270 (it is a licensed copy) and the HMT 0231 (also a licensed copy) so this video may help.
 

roo

[LittleWatchShop]

57 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

I'm probably a little late to the party, but that Caravelle/Bulova  movement is almost identical to the Citizen 0270 (it is a licensed copy) and the HMT 0231 (also a licensed copy) so this video may help

I did figure it out.  Good video though!

[AndyHull]

It was the Avia Matic's turn for a little bit of TLC today.

I've cleaned everything except the dial and hands. The reason is that I suspect if I so much as sneeze next to the dial I'll make the patina look much less interesting.

I was almost convinced initially that it is actually meant to look like that, but the more I look at it the less likely that seems. It is however strangely attractive just the way it is. Those words will almost certainly get you in to trouble if used unwisely.

I've decided to simply leave the dial well alone for the time being.

The FHF 905 inside however seems to have enjoyed the attention as you can see from the trace. I would also suggest that it makes better use of its 17 jewels than the 25 used in the BFG 158 in the Kander above. 

[spectre6000]

Woo! It's been MONTHS since I snagged a 404 despite trolling eBay at least weekly that whole time. I finally got one last night, and I got it all the way!

$1 plus my personal $15 max shipping limit reserved for when I think a watch is super cool. A fully jeweled jump hour totally fits the bill! It's a plated brass case, which I'm not a huge fan of, and that crystal will be a challenge, but jump hour!

The description just says, "Doesn't work, traces of existence. The balance is alive. 35 * 40 mm." in Russian according to google translate. I haven't dug into the movement yet, but it looks French. Stoked!

Hopefully it actually makes it here. The last time I bought a watch on eBay from overseas (Germany, and two of them), shipping was astronomical and beyond what the seller had accounted for. The deal died, and the watches never made it here. The Russian seller has 0 feedback, so a hitch like that would probably disappear the watch real quick.

Edited July 12, 2021 by spectre6000

[markr]

$5 each at a yard sale today. The Omega has a 625 in it.  Both are running.

[markr]

[spectre6000]

That's a hard win right there!

[LittleWatchShop]

Whoa!!

[LittleWatchShop]

I just nabbed a lot of 12 watches for a TOTAL of $93 (less than $8 per watch with shipping included).  Hope I was not bidding against any of you!!

[spectre6000]

I've been super strict with myself re: buy price vs. shipping. I've been keeping it under £4.04 regardless of whether shipping was included or not. I don't typically go after lots either. I should probably reconsider both, and just keep it under $15-$20 per watch all-in... I'm the only person playing my personal 404 game after all. Worst case scenario, I still get a jaw droppingly cheap watch.

Also, I should go to garage sales...

Edited July 19, 2021 by spectre6000

[AndyHull]

The latest entrant to the club. The price was well inside the 404 club rules, even if you  include shipping which was only a pound.

If you look carefully you will see it says 375 on the rim.... You really have to pay attention to those listings. 375 means the case is 9ct gold.

EDIT: The poor battered thing arrived and with the case weighing in at just under 3g and with 9ct scrap prices  at around £11.85 per gram, its not too shabby a purchase for around three quid at all.

Sadly the mechanism is probably beyond fixing, and it is missing the front of the case, but even for scrap it was worth the money.

Edited July 29, 2021 by AndyHull

[Plato]

This purchase must qualify:

[spectre6000]

Here's a meta 404 for you... I wanted to post a screen shot of a 404 error message for the on-the-money win. I typed in random crap for a URL and got a domain registrar park page. I typed in even more randomer crap, and google actually just searched for it. The "404 Not Found" for the 404 could not be found...

[markr]

Thursday yard sales I found nothing but Friday I found these with 3 watch bracelets for $25.  All working except the newer Mickey.  Older Mickey looks to be from the late 30's.

[markr]

Today's haul. $1 $25 $20.  Not posting to brag but because of the lack of 404 watches on eBay.  10,000 people looking for deals on eBay.  How many are looking for watches in your neighborhood? I've found 2 Omegas 5 Longines Tones of gold retirement watches.  Trick is you have to ask if they have any old watches inside working or not.  They always forget about there watches.  You do have to go to lots of yard sales to get a watch but the hunt is the fun and I get outside and off the computer.  Good luck hunting.

[LittleWatchShop]

I need to do some garage saling!!

[Plato]

7 hours ago, markr said:

How many are looking for watches in your neighborhood?

Don't think I've ever seen a garage sale in my part of the UK, only thing close is when people leave stuff at the end of their drive with a sign up saying to help yourself. Shame!