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404 Club


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That, I would hang on my wall.

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I might even hang this on my wall.

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I'm not so sure about this though.

The trouble is, I know the first one is worth the asking price (in my opinion), but the second one, while it probably is worth the price... its quartz, and that kind of spoils the enjoyment of a real wood  and brass clock.

I guess it all depends on what you actually want it for. The second one will tell the time just the same as the £8 cardboard and plastic clock from Argos.

The first one will probably need a lot of TLC to just keep it going, but I know which one I would put top of my letter to Santa Clause. I guess there is nothing rational about personal preferences.

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After another sleepless night I spent with a TIMEX I thought i go for a quick win after 5 o clock in the morning. This is one of the watch which did cost me £2.10 on average (bought 5 watches for £10.5). Cleaned the case, polished the crystal and put a nato strap on. Bought a bag of them from cousinsuk when they were on sale for 20p + VAT. You cannot use them for everything, but in this case it does not look too bad.

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Another £2.1 ladies TIMEX watch from 71. I know it has no value, but it is really special to me. It came with a bent hairspring - wasn't me this time -, and I UNBENT it!!!!!! ? It runs! It runs! It runs! ? Cleaned and lubricated. Even the bottom - opposite to balance screw - oil cup! Thanks @AndyHull!! ? 

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Edited by luiazazrambo
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  • 2 months later...

Here's my latest entries into the 404 club. A nice little haul of Casio's costing me a princely sum of £3.09 each posted. Pretty tatty and grubby to say the least, not all will buff up, but I've had great fun tinkering with them. They all work now despite the battering they've taken.

The one on the far left is my favourite, must be from the late eighties. It had lost it's beep. Though after about 10 mins over lunch it got it's voice back and proudly beeps away quite nicely. 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I've been having a hard time lately getting any recruits to the 404 club... Initially, I was getting about one a week. Then I changed my buy criteria slightly, and I would get one or two a month (still plenty for the quality I was getting, and the rate I was getting through them). For the past several months (probably since late last year), I haven't been able to catch anything at all! I surf eBay about once a week, make a half dozen or so bids/offers, and nothing on nothing on nothing. I just checked the exchange rate, and the dollar is continuing to lose ground to the pound; current exchange rate is $5.73 to £4.04. I had upped my "500" to $5.50 to account for this recently (back when it was accurate to the nearest quarter), but clearly not enough. Even then, when I would catch watches for 404, rarely was it at the full $5.00, so that doesn't fully account for the drought... It's not like I got all the good cheap ones, and what's left is what's left; it's a continual churn on the supply side... What gives?

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You have inspired me to see if I still have the magic touch.

I'm bidding on five potential 404 club members over the next two days. I'll keep you posted if I have any success.

The quality and number of such watches does fluctuate over time, and I often have to bid on quite a few in order to get anything. Persistence and luck seem to play their part in equal measure. If you raise the minimum bid to £8.08 the numbers and quality increase quite markedly.

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It's just cheap watches with a price point under £4.04/ea. Currently that works out to $5.70, but I've personally been rounding down to the nearest quarter to keep it simple, and so I'm not constantly googling "4.04 pounds to usd". Keep shipping "reasonable". To me, reasonable is under $10, unless I really like the watch, and then I'll stretch to $15. Unfortunately, that means the riches of the UK are mostly out of reach (though I just bid on a large job lot that would work out well). My way of thinking has the watches as the "members" of the club. I think it's just about the giggles for Andy. For me it's about cheap practice. There's a ton to be had out there, but if you're picky you can get some genuine gems. My criteria these days is European, all stainless steel, and fully jeweled (17+). As I stated a few posts back though, pickin's have been slim of late... Several months ago, I was snagging a few a month. 

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On 6/9/2021 at 8:36 PM, spectre6000 said:

It's just cheap watches with a price point under £4.04/ea. Currently that works out to $5.70, but I've personally been rounding down to the nearest quarter to keep it simple, and so I'm not constantly googling "4.04 pounds to usd". Keep shipping "reasonable". To me, reasonable is under $10, unless I really like the watch, and then I'll stretch to $15. Unfortunately, that means the riches of the UK are mostly out of reach (though I just bid on a large job lot that would work out well). My way of thinking has the watches as the "members" of the club. I think it's just about the giggles for Andy. For me it's about cheap practice. There's a ton to be had out there, but if you're picky you can get some genuine gems. My criteria these days is European, all stainless steel, and fully jeweled (17+). As I stated a few posts back though, pickin's have been slim of late... Several months ago, I was snagging a few a month. 

Got it! I will play. Yes, the watch market is nuts

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On 6/10/2021 at 1:56 AM, LittleWatchShop said:

i don't understand this club but want to join. Do I have buy with drachmas? Confused.

The rules are pretty relaxed. Buy with whatever small denomination currency suits your local needs. I suspect purchasing with 4.04 gold doubloons might be stretching the rules however.

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seller djloop79 on ebay (uk based) puts many batches up every week (ending sundays usually) if you are willing to buy lots of 5 or 6 then you may still find some under the 404 rules, but many of these lots get bid up quite quickly too!

I haven't been very active lately, time (as well as watches) seems hard to come by, I have a backlog of cheap 1 or 0 jewel movements I need to get back to! Maybe in the next couple of weeks I might get around to tackling one or two of them

 

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Well out of the dozen bids I placed, I managed to snag this fairly clean example of a USSR Era Raketa 2609.HA Sekonda 19 Jewel for £3.00 - I'm not sure if it is an a gold plated case, but some of them are.

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These are great movements to practice on.

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I kinda like the Russian watches, but the cases are always pretty poor. I've read that there were occasionally stainless steel cased Russian watches, but I have not been able to figure out any particular makes or models that fit that description. Anyone know?

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I've been trying to figure out Russian case design codes too. Check out Meranom's website. https://meranom.com/en/

That adds to the confusion. I have a Komandirskie watch with a slightly dented crown. I ordered a replacement crown and stem from ebay, but when it came, the screw down crown is too small to fit the case tube. The crown on my Komandirskie doesn't look like any of those in the Meranom catalog. It looks more like an Amfibia crown.

I wonder if someone modified it previously. 

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14 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

I got this today for $5.50 on ebay.  I will try to find a currency to get it down to 4.04.  Oh...that is equivalent to 3.9 pounds, so I think I made the grade.

Looking forward to having it arrive and open it up.

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I was kicking myself for not bidding on that, but too many projects. 🙂

Glad it went to a good home.

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