Latest acquisitions.

[Anthony7]

Here are a few photos of some watches I bought at  a flea market.
No more than 30 euros for any of them.
The place is a goldmine...
but thats why i'm not saying where it is...

we'll start with the best first. 
 

Cauny Submarine. Missing the bezel (so if anyone has one let me know) and the crystal is pretty scratched and hazed, is a runner but the minute hand moves about when the watch is knocked meaning it can't keep meaningful time. But it runs fairly well when left on a bench. needs a service. Seen them online for over 250 to 350 euros so a real find there. heres also a couple of pictures of what it should look like when its done except the pic of the mint ones don't have the day date complication and my second hand is better looking than the plastic thing on them .
Looks like a proper serious divers watch as its rated to 210 metres when in good order. What a find.



Next. 
Citizen Square custom Day Date 27j.
Running original strap which is very beautiful but the clasp is a bit beat up.
The dial is a bit faded to the left hand side where the laquer has lifted but other than those two things pretty mint. Crystal is of course as always scratched to hell, but I wonder if I will be able to find another one for it. Another pretty rare find.

 

Then we have these two beat up beauties.
More Cauny watches as they seem to be a very popular model down here in Portugal.
the first one has a different name to Cauny but its as much a cauny as the rest, same movement probably and design. The crystal is totally banjaxxed and the balances on both of them were missing their pivots. A seemingly common problem with these. But other than that good watches for the money and parts for others perhaps or If I can find the balances for them cheap starter restorations, which I can practice my plating on etc...

and finally...

A Vulcain...
Which i have partially stripped as I need some new tips for my screwdrivers as being a cheapskate I have decided to buy cheapo chinese screwdrivers and replace the tips with Bergeon ones as thats the important part. So if anyone knows where I can get bergeon tips from 0.06 upwards from at a good price also let me know.
Case and dial are suitably beaten up but fairly good for the age of the piece, the crystal is almost mint. but again this was a none runner with a balance missing its pivots again even though all of these movements have rudimentary shock jewel settings but this was before Incabloc came along probably, but don't quote me on that.

So all in all a fairly good haul for under 150 bux and some nice pieces to work on,
but no 3 in 1 and car grease this time as I am going to get serious now Neverenoughwatches...But as an update that one is on my wrist right now and keeping fairly good time for the bush rebuild I did on it, but when the oils and new tips come that will be getting redone also...

So to all who have read this far, all the best for the Christmas and New Year, enjoy the Football World Cup and Happy 2023. Although with the price of everything right now i can't see how but we must try our best.

[Mike78]

Love the Cauny watches.  These are really only popular in Europe but mainly Spain and Portugal.  I inherited my dads Cauny about 12 years ago and I had it restored before I got into this hobby.  Next time I should be able to service it myself. 

 

 

[Razz]

I picked up this Elgin pocket watch today for $12 US at an antiques fair. It wasn't running and the sub seconds hand was floating around under the crystal. I think I scored. Everything is there except for 2 small screws, one on the rate adjustment bracket and 1 on the bridge holding a jewel on the 3rd wheel (I think). Anyway, spent about 20 minutes taking apart and pegging some old grease off. Finally got it to where I could put a wind in it and got it going. I count 9 watchmakers marks and the serial numbers dates to 1925. 

Not sure why I picked Anthony7s thread to post this one but saw the title and thought it was a more general thread and seemed appropriate at the time, so to speak.

[Anthony7]

No worries Razz, i'm not the sort of person that gets affronted by someone replying to my post. Happy watchmaking...

[JohnR725]

On 11/21/2022 at 1:32 AM, Anthony7 said:

but thats why i'm not saying where it is...

what on a group for we share our knowledge you don't do share the secret location of treasure? I remember one of the US auction houses decided to have a store where they would get rid of things that weren't desirable for the auction. although that definition is rather interesting I will give an example in a moment. once a week new items would come out usually the more collectible items would disappear instantly. But a lot of the stuff didn't sell right away sometimes it was even discounted and the prices were still fantastic. But then of course word got around and soon there was nothing good to be found. then the company was unhappy with how the store functioned and they closed it down. But I have hopes someday it will come back hopefully.

Here's an example of something it was undesirable for auctioning off. You see anything wrong with the dial?

oh and as this is a watch repair discussion group not a watch collecting group primarily. The reason I point this out is on watch collecting groups people love to see pictures of watches and even on this group people love to see pictures of watches but as this is a repair group I like to see movements. As interesting as the dial is I mainly purchased the watch for the movement or the movement that was in this case. So for me I can live with a dial lets less than desirable in fact I find this one quite amusing and with the bonus nearly perfect movement although I believe in their description it had think of the definition of micro scratches and on the movements. Yes that would make the movement so very undesirable. So basically I have a mint movement with amusing dial for $160 and it Time although now it needs to be serviced several years later. Another project for the future