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Hello from Reno Nevada

TerryD

By TerryD
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TerryD New Member

TerryD

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My name is Terry and I have been following Marks You Tube Watch Repair Channel for some time.  I have worn watches now for 55 years, since I was 10 in 1966. That is when my father gave me his new Timex "electric" watch that he was unhappy with because it would not keep running due to the severe vibration from the steering wheel in the Freightliner trucks he drove which caused the watch to stop running numerous times.  I have been fascinated with time pieces ever since that first watch and it is one of my more enjoyable hobbies.

I followed in my fathers footsteps and have been a truck driver now for 44 years and counting. Fortunately for me, todays trucks ride a lot smoother and watches are a lot more rugged.

When I was 13 I picked out a Mondaine Dive watch at the local watchmakers store that was in a glass case with all the other rather mundane looking dress watches. That Diver had the requisite tough looking black dial marked Mondaine, 17 jewels, automatic, incabloc, "waterproof" 666 feet and real glow in the dark, "Radioactive" radium hands and markers and a date complication at the 6 that were under an acrylic bubble crystal. The bezel turned both directions. The back of the watch had the "speedo dude" a skin diver engraved in the center with 200 meters, automatic, stainless steel, antimagnetic, Swiss Made engraved around the circumference.  And the most impressive thing to a 13 year old, a screw down crown. What more could a kid ask for?

The acrylic bubble crystal would scratch yes, but every time Heinz Geisler the watchmaker who sold it to me got hold of it he would polish out the scratches with a cloth and I assume some fine rouge. I used to call the "time lady" at Bell to listen to her say "At the tone, the time will be" to keep track of how my watch was running. I could then tell Heinz if it was fast or slow a "few" second per day and he would exclaim 'But it's not supposed to be that accurate" but then he would put it on a vibrograph, open the back and tweak it a little, hand it back and say "see how it runs now".  It was always better after he worked on it. I think that Mondaine had an ETA 2783 movement in it. 

Spent that summer of 69 body surfing at Huntington beach wearing that watch. I wore that watch for 10 years before i lost it. Wish i still had that one. Bought a Seiko quartz diver in 1980 for $180 because i could not swing the $250 for the 6309 automatic next to it in the case. I have worn various Seiko divers ever since. The latest is a 773 Turtle. Recently bought a couple of micro brand watches. One being a Vaer D5 Arctic diver with a Myota 9039 movement and the other a Dryden Chrono Diver with a Seiko VK63 mechaquartz movement. The Vaer with old radium tint super luminova reminds me of the early style Mondaine diver without crown guards and with a domed crystal. 

There are more stories about me working on or better yet "trying to work on" and in one case, murdering a watch but that's for another time.

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LittleWatchShop Distinguished Member

LittleWatchShop

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4 minutes ago, TerryD said:

 I used to call the "time lady" at Bell

Yup, where I grew up, I dialed for time AND temperature.  Great story.  My father was a watchmaker and I had my eye on a Wittnauer Compressor diver watch he had in his showcase. He gave it to me for my 14th birthday--I still have it (my avatar on this forum). 

Is this your watch?  Hey...not all that expensive really.

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TerryD New Member

TerryD

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LittleWatchShop: Wow, you should consider yourself lucky to still have that vintage diver. I've thought about buying a vintage Mondaine like mine but there are several minor variations in the ones to be found if you search vintage Mondaine dive watch. I'm not sure if i have seen them all yet. 

Funny the link you put up is the exact picture i have bookmarked to show friends an example of what mine looked like with some small differences. I'm almost certain mine had 660 ft. not 20 ATM as most images i can find show. There is one variation that has 50 meters but it is a hand wound piece, not automatic. Some images show the watch with a cyclops. Mine had no cyclops and if i even knew what that was back then, 13 year old/new eyes did not need it!

One day when i was 14 it quit running. I know this sounds crude but using dads only pair of needle nose pliers and with the watch held firmly down on Ma's carpet, i unscrewed the back. I may have touched the tips of the pliers up on a stone before hand so they were square. With great care, even pressure and luck i did not mar or scratch the case back.

What I found were two tiny screws and the self wind rotor & bridge assembly adrift. I knew dad had a small tube of locktite and a set of jewelers screwdrivers in his big tool box and so i very carefully put what i thought was a "small" amount on the tip of each screw and put the bridge back in its place and tightened the screws. Screwed the back on and she ran!

Next day, watch stopped again. I probably went back in and seeing no loose parts had to tell Pops "we need to go see Heinz" 

After I told Heinz what I had done, He furrowed his brow and in his wonderful German accent told me "Sonny, locktite is not made for zee vatches! You stay out of zem when zay stop. Bring zem to me FIRST next time". I guess he had to disassemble the works and clean out locktite. I told him it was only a "tiny" amount and he insisted "any" was too much!

His shop was a delight for me to visit with my Dad. I remember he let me see his bench in the back and specifically his vibrograph. More wonderful small tools than i had ever seen up to that time. My folks bought a floor standing grandfather clock from him about that time and I remember him delivering the clock in the back of his Volkswagon square back with back seats folded down and the how careful he was unloading and setting it up in our living room. That clock is still in my brothers house keeping time and chiming. Tempus Fugit!

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