Which Watch Have You Got Coming In The Mail ? Show Us !!!

[JohnD]

17 hours ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

I just grabbed this vintage Citizen Bullhead with the panda dial. It's powered by the venerable Citizen, 23 Jewel,  8110A. It looks to be quite a disaster, but since I'm itching for a challenge and I've always wanted a Bullhead, this will be my chance.

Initial shopping list of parts includes:

1. New crystal as I'm quite certain faceted crystals were never available from the factory
2. New replacement or vintage dial in good shape as this one is a wreck.
3. complete set of hands
4. stem
5. possibly a new balance as the hairspring looks to be wound tight, hopefully that is just a lack of perspective
6. proper bracelet as this one is sans anything

As always, I will post updates and photos as I go through it. It seems Mark has yet to cover one of these on YouTube. Would love to see him go through one himself. If anyone here has gone through one of these or has any spares available, please let me know, I may need guidance. Hopefully I can manage it without one of those Bergeon 3rd wheel pullers as it costs nearly as much as this did.

Addendum: for those Quentin Tarantino fans, I just learned Brad Pitt's character, "Cliff Booth" in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" wore a gold tone one of these on a leather cuff band. 

I do like a man that likes a challenge ....

Seriously, IF you can find the replacement dial, it will be a great watch...

Edited June 14, 2020 by JohnD

[FLwatchguy73]

1 hour ago, JohnD said:

I do like a man that likes a challenge ....

Seriously, IF you can find the replacement dial, it will be a great watch...

I agree! Already ordered this little honey.

Same seller had a Crystal, a crown, and a set of hands, negotiated a package deal, they're on their way

[JohnD]

4 minutes ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

I agree! Already ordered this little honey.

Same seller had a Crystal, a crown, and a set of hands, negotiated a package deal, they're on their way

Result!!

[AndyHull]

Timex Big Q two hander with pusher crown.

I have a similar watch already, but this one has the relevant metal clip for the pusher, so I can copy its construction for my other version. Hopefully I will end up with two good watches. Time will tell.

[DraconianWatchCollector]

Picked up this Timex Electric and Cimier off the Bay. Both look like the will clean up well but working condition is unknown. 

Also picked up this Gotham to play with

[AndyHull]

Another 1972 Viscount. I particularly like the hands on this. Shame the crown and stem is missing, but I guess if it wasn't then the thing would have gone for a lot more.

[AndyHull]

A nice clean looking Kienzle  is on its way. Not sure what is inside. Lets see what interesting Kienzle mechanism turns up.
From the style I would say perhaps 1950s. ... maybe.

Edited June 17, 2020 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

A soviet era (Luch?) Sekonda quartz described as "Very Good overall condition with the usual minor contact marks, fitted with a new battery and keeping good time." for 0.99p
How could I resist?

[Jimg1969]

Just picked this up for 25.00. has a split stem and the seller thought the stem was broken but it just needed pushed back in to reconnect

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[handwound]

Today I received this beautiful Omega Genève from 1968 with blue dial. Iit was sold as not running, but with the optical condition and the ridiculously low price I just couldn't say no  

 

 

When I opened it a screw fell right out the movement. I noticed that it should hold one of the caseclamps in place, which was missing. I guessed that the caseclamp made its way into the train of wheels, causing the watch to stop. So I carefully shaked the watch and volià, the clamp fell out and the movement began to run. I resecured the clamp with the screw. The movement looks really dirty though, so it will definitly benefit from a service. The results on the timegrapher confirmed that, so there is still work to do

 

 I also fittet an original Omega buckle to the strap. 

 

[AndyHull]

24 minutes ago, handwound said:

Today I received this beautiful Omega Genève from 1968 with blue dial.

[AndyHull]

Some of my recent horological insanity.

No idea why this appealed, its just a cheap quartz jump hour, but I figured it was worth 0.99p

Blue dial.. Say no more.. also from the penny lots on ebay. That damaged bezel might require some creativity.

.. and a Timex.. because you can never have too many Timexes (apparently).

Edited June 21, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnD]

1 hour ago, AndyHull said:

Some of my recent horological insanity.

No idea why this appealed, its just a cheap quartz jump hour, but I figured it was worth 0.99p

Blue dial.. Say no more.. also from the penny lots on ebay. That damaged bezel might require some creativity.

.. and a Timex.. because you can never have too many Timexes (apparently).

You seem to have the knack of finding the obscure watch bargains that I seem to miss Andy....if you ever come across a battered Timex Jump minute quartz, with a working movement I have a rather nice one, with a FUBAr'ed movement that I would like to get going....

 

[AndyHull]

50 minutes ago, JohnD said:

if you ever come across a battered Timex Jump minute quartz, with a working movement I have a rather nice one, with a FUBAr'ed movement that I would like to get going....

Look for Timex "Q" ladies watches from that period, with the same "Timex '??' cell" designation on the back, and with two hands and a winder, the movement is not that uncommon in those. (Sorry I don't remember which cell it is). There is not much interest in them unless they are in immaculate condition so they usually go for pennies.

Check the coil is OK, and if so, give the thing a quick bath and spray the area round the crown with contact cleaner and see if it springs into life. They are not really serviceable apart from that, as the movements are heat staked or riveted together. 

If that doesn't work, let me know, I'll have a look through my junk pile, I may even have one.

Edited June 21, 2020 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

 

Fit the battery, then short between the two points marked X, and see if it springs to life. Remember it only ticks once per minute. 
If it does wake up, then the issue is dirt in the contacts at the crown. 

When you pull the crown it hacks, as I recall. This is done by disconnecting the + of the cell with contacts operated by the crown. If dirt gets in, these contacts get very nasty, but some electrical contact cleaner may well bring them back to life. If cleaning them doesn't work, but shorting the two points does, you might try tacking (soldering) a very small jumper wire between the two points I indicated. A bit of a nasty fudge, but it would get it going, at the expense of its hacking ability.

Edited June 22, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnD]

33 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

 

Fit the battery, then short between the two points marked X, and see if it springs to life. Remember it only ticks once per minute. 
If it does wake up, then the issue is dirt in the contacts at the crown. 

When you pull the crown it hacks, as I recall. This is done by disconnecting the + of the cell with contacts operated by the crown. If dirt gets in, these contacts get very nasty, but some electrical contact cleaner may well bring them back to life. If cleaning them doesn't work, but shorting the two points does, you might try tacking (soldering) a very small jumper wire between the two points I indicated. A bit of a nasty fudge, but it would get it going, at the expense of its hacking ability.

Thanks for the info Andy but my one has physical damage to the wiring of the circuit covered by the black plastic box....

[AndyHull]

At the very least its going to need a crystal.

Internally however it looks reasonable, without any obvious battery juice related nonsense.

Filthy of course, but that's not a major issue.

Not sure of the date. It came in slightly over budget (but the postage was cheap, so I may give it honorary 404 club membership).

[AndyHull]

On 6/22/2020 at 11:34 PM, JohnD said:

Thanks for the info Andy but my one has physical damage to the wiring of the circuit covered by the black plastic box....

Show us a picture of the damage. I may be able to suggest a fix.

[FLwatchguy73]

My Tissot chronograph, which I got for a song at a local Pawn shop, has been sold as I wasn't wearing it much. It was bulky and needed a link in the bracelet to fit more comfortably. I was seriously considering building a 7750 clone from eBay parts when I chanced across this Accurist chrono. It is powered by a Landeron 248. It looks to be of a late 60's vintage, but have no idea how to date them. Coming from the UK so it will be a couple weeks. It was sold as running, which is a plus, looks like it'll need a crystal polish for sure.

I absolutely ADORE the complexity of mechanical chronographs! 

[AndyHull]

An early Buler  (circa 1978) solar quartz is heading my way.

Edited June 28, 2020 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

More from the penny lots.

This time a Kienzle 57/03a black dial.

Hopefully I have something suitable to replace the missing stem, otherwise I may need so spend more on a replacement than I spent on the watch. The seller stated that the balance was good, so I suspect it should be relatively easy to restore it to its former glory.

Edited July 1, 2020 by AndyHull

[luiazazrambo]

On 7/1/2020 at 8:28 PM, AndyHull said:

More from the penny lots.

This time a Kienzle 57/03a black dial.

Hopefully I have something suitable to replace the missing stem, otherwise I may need so spend more on a replacement than I spent on the watch. The seller stated that the balance was good, so I suspect it should be relatively easy to restore it to its former glory.

Do you usually do luming when there is a need?

[JohnD]

This Hamilton electronic (ESA9158)....

Needs some TLC and possibly a replacement circuit board, but I have some spares for this movement....

 

[AndyHull]

On 7/6/2020 at 3:40 PM, luiazazrambo said:

Do you usually do luming when there is a need?

Sometimes. In this case I think I might. The watch is not a particularly high value item, so arguably not worth the effort, but the missing lume is quite distracting. It will give me a chance to experiment with "patina lume". Time to break out the acrylic paints to try and get a suitably aged colour I think. Plain fresh modern lume would look too bright. 

Edited July 8, 2020 by AndyHull

[luiazazrambo]

1 hour ago, AndyHull said:

Sometimes. In this case I think I might. The watch is not a particularly high value item, so arguably not worth the effort, but the missing lume is quite distracting. It will give me a chance to experiment with "patina lume". Time to break out the acrylic paints to try and get a suitably aged colour I think. Plain fresh modern lume would look too bright. 

If you decide to go for it, let us see the result please.