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

[gpraceman]

3 hours ago, Galilea said:

Nice job! Without a Bulova or Timex among them (although they are both excellent), and only one stem missing, for $8?  They are right in my aesthetically-preferred zone.

I have them in hand now.  There's plenty of issues to address with these.  Two are missing stems and crowns.  Two where the balance will spin but the escape wheel won't turn (just rocks a bit back and forth).  One of the Wittnauer's is missing a lug, crown and stem. The Elgin that attracted me to the lot was made about 1937, so no shock protection and it won't wind.  I love the look of that watch.  What I thought was a Benrus with a nicely patina dial is actually a Seeland dial and movement in a Benrus case (fraken watch I assume).  These will certainly be a challenge.

[Galilea]

Heheh and now we know why I am in the classes (and why I ought to spend more time in the Safe Zone) - I missed all but the one stem/crown. Good luck.

[gpraceman]

4 minutes ago, Galilea said:

Heheh and now we know why I am in the classes (and why I ought to spend more time in the Safe Zone) - I missed all but the one stem/crown. Good luck.

Thanks, I think I'll need all the luck I can get with these.  These may convince me not to buy any more watch lots. lol

[Galilea]

38 minutes ago, gpraceman said:

Thanks, I think I'll need all the luck I can get with these.  These may convince me not to buy any more watch lots. lol

Well, I did notice the Benrus with dial feet problems....

Your thoughts of swearing off lots? Blasphemy where I live, Mister. Unless, of course, you work or have a family, or other interests.

Maybe I should have thought about that hundreds of watches ago. So many watches, so little time! 

[gpraceman]

3 minutes ago, Galilea said:

Well, I did notice the Benrus with dial feet problems....

Your thoughts of swearing off lots? Blasphemy where I live, Mister. Unless, of course, you work or have a family, or other interests.

Maybe I should have thought about that hundreds of watches ago. So many watches, so little time! 

Lots seem to be a mixed bag, I guess.  I can get better at troubleshooting and fixing a variety of problems.  It gives me some experience with brands that I haven't worked on before.  There were rather more problems with these than I expected.  There's probably a reason these lots have been sitting around some watchmaker's shop for ages.  Not so sure that I can make good wearable watches out of all of them, but I'll give it my best.

[AndyHull]

Not much to go on with this one. No view of the mechanism. Stem wind and set pocket watch with a very readable font, in what appears to be a quality case. I'll let you all know what is in it when it arrives.

[AndyHull]

 

This may have a few purists gnashing their teeth.

A "Saxon" LCD. Probably Hong Kong made, but it has a blue dial (otherwise I may not have bid on it), looks pretty well unworn and at a quid fifty, it was well within the 404 club rules.

[Waggy]

Finally treated myself to a Tag... Just won the auction within the last hour!

Unless I mess this up I plan to have this as one of my 'daily drivers"

[Neverenoughwatches]

Just sneaked this a few quid under my maximum bid. Just the style of watch i love ,  raised numerals, a minute track which also looks raised ( nice to keep clean and no worries over loosing any  print,  simple hands , sub dial , lovely patination with that and contrast against the cream dial and horned lugs my favourite and it look fairly big. Any guess as to the movement, the brand Tell seems familiar,  I think ive  seen TellTime before. 

[RichardHarris123]

Working? 

[Neverenoughwatches]

14 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Working? 

The seller says the balance swings but overwound. As we know there is really no such thing as overwound, broken from overwinding yes, i think he means fully wound and not unwinding. We'll see, i just really liked it, not super cheap but ok if i can make it run accurately. The movement has me thinking KF for some reason? 

[RichardHarris123]

8 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

The seller says the balance swings but overwound. As we know there is really no such thing as overwound, broken from overwinding yes, i think he means fully wound and not unwinding. We'll see, i just really liked it, not super cheap but ok if i can make it run accurately. The movement has me thinking KF for some reason? 

Hopefully just a  service.  You've lost me with KF?

[Neverenoughwatches]

9 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Hopefully just a  service.  You've lost me with KF?

Eyup Rich. So kf is kurth freres or kurth brothers. Also known as kfg that would be kurth freres grenchen, Grenchen a place in Switzerland near the jura mountains this is were the brothers began watchmaking.  Also the Certina brand and the Grana brand.

[AndyHull]

On 7/9/2023 at 3:52 AM, AndyHull said:

The 404 club recruiter has chased so many Ronda 1223-21 17 Jewel Memocalls, always without success, that I finally admitted defeat and stumped up a little more than the rules allowed (but not much more), for this "slightly chipped" version.
There are quite a few variants of this watch, including some rather nice blue dialled ones, which I'm still keen to pick up.

Other than the damaged crystal, it looks complete, and in reasonably good (if somewhat grubby) condition.

These were not particularly high end, or complex watches, back in the day, but the quirky alarm movement scratches an itch for me.

Next problem will be sourcing a crystal for it. I'll keep you posted on progress when it arrives.

This one arrived a while back, and I finally got a chance to look at it tonight.

It was a bit of a mess unfortunately. However the 1223-21 17 shares a lot of parts with the other movements in the Ronda 12xx -xx series and I happened to have a suitable donor, so parts were not an issue. Fortunately the damaged parts were not part of the alarm mechanism, but rather, two of the train of wheels and the mainspring.

Initially when I first tried to wind it, I thought it just had a broken mainspring, however it appears that when it let go, it must have done so rather violently as the train wheels were sitting askew.

It has been a while since I worked on a 12xx Ronda, and I had forgotten that the barrel doesn't actually have a lid. When I popped the mainspring out, I dropped it, and  just for a second I thought I'd lost the lid on the floor. 

I have it all back together and it is running nicely. I'll let it run for 24 hrs just to be certain that nothing else is amiss, then do the final adjust and regulate probably tomorrow. I've still to look through my stash of "fancy" crystals to see if I have a replacement.

Either way I'll post a few pictures of the finished article soon. I'm not sure the alarm would be sufficiently loud and obtrusive to wake me up in the morning however, so I may have to stick with my alarm clock.

[RichardHarris123]

9 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

This one arrived a while back, and I finally got a chance to look at it tonight.

It was a bit of a mess unfortunately. However the 1223-21 17 shares a lot of parts with the other movements in the Ronda 12xx -xx series and I happened to have a suitable donor, so parts were not an issue. Fortunately the damaged parts were not part of the alarm mechanism, but rather, two of the train of wheels and the mainspring.

Initially when I first tried to wind it, I thought it just had a broken mainspring, however it appears that when it let go, it must have done so rather violently as the train wheels were sitting askew.

It has been a while since I worked on a 12xx Ronda, and I had forgotten that the barrel doesn't actually have a lid. When I popped the mainspring out, I dropped it, and  just for a second I thought I'd lost the lid on the floor. 

I have it all back together and it is running nicely. I'll let it run for 24 hrs just to be certain that nothing else is amiss, then do the final adjust and regulate probably tomorrow. I've still to look through my stash of "fancy" crystals to see if I have a replacement.

Either way I'll post a few pictures of the finished article soon. I'm not sure the alarm would be sufficiently loud and obtrusive to wake me up in the morning however, so I may have to stick with my alarm clock.

Alarm clock, what is it  1952? Hehe. 

56 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

The seller says the balance swings but overwound. As we know there is really no such thing as overwound, broken from overwinding yes, i think he means fully wound and not unwinding. We'll see, i just really liked it, not super cheap but ok if i can make it run accurately. The movement has me thinking KF for some reason? 

I have just found out that Certina is a brand from KF, learn something new every. 

[rehajm]

Hamilton cal 972 from about 1912 sent off today...literally grandpa's pocket watch. I knew it once existed but thought it went away in the estate sale over thirty years ago. Dad kept it and pulled it out last week. Who knew I was getting an inheritance? It's missing a balance jewel screw but otherwise looks in fine condition. Someone serviced it carefully...

Fun watch fact about grandpa- he lived most of his life a few minutes from the K&D factory in Lebanon, New Hampshire USA...

[RichardHarris123]

4 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Alarm clock, what is it  1952? Hehe. 

I have just found out that Certina is a brand from KF, learn something new every. 

Oops, meant for @Neverenoughwatches post. 

6 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Alarm clock, what is it  1952? Hehe. 

I have just found out that Certina is a brand from KF, learn something new every. 

Oops meant for @Neverenoughwatches post. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

8 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Alarm clock, what is it  1952? Hehe. 

I have just found out that Certina is a brand from KF, learn something new every. 

More importantly Grana

[rehajm]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Just sneaked this a few quid under my maximum bid. Just the style of watch i love ,  raised numerals, a minute track which also looks raised ( nice to keep clean and no worries over loosing any  print,  simple hands , sub dial , lovely patination with that and contrast against the cream dial and horned lugs my favourite and it look fairly big. Any guess as to the movement, the brand Tell seems familiar,  I think ive  seen TellTime before. 

The brand on the dial is fun- you have a Tell...

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 minutes ago, rehajm said:

The brand on the dial is fun- you have a Tell...

i haven't played poker for years and i never give anything away

[AndyHull]

33 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Alarm clock, what is it  1952? Hehe.

They still make alarm clocks for us old fogies. Besides, they are more reliable than my phone, 'cos I have a habit of forgetting to charge that.
https://braun-clocks.com/collections/analogue-clocks/products/bc22-brahttps://braun-clocks.com/collections/analogue-clocks/products/bc22-braun-classic-analogue-alarm-clock-blackun-classic-analogue-alarm-clock-black

Mine is the predecessor of this little beauty.
I also have a couple of wind up alarm clocks too. The batteries *never* go flat on those.

[ManSkirtBrew]

1 hour ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Alarm clock, what is it  1952

Know what's funny, I've got a vintage Bulova alarm clock coming in the mail right now.

[JohnR725]

2 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

The seller says the balance swings but overwound.

if you're lucky this translates to just needs servicing. In other words the balance wheels swings hopefully both pivots are still intact. The watch is wound up tight and it doesn't run. In the olden days of organic oils that we used to love because they would get sticky with time it just means sticky and dirty oil. Unfortunately with modern synthetic oils it means they just quit working and the watch grinds itself to dust with time especially if you can throw in a little rust for grinding compound. so basically if it's wound up tight the staff is broken it's probably just a cleaning. Which is why a lot of times the sellers will spray it with lighter fluid the universal hobby is cleaning fluid and see if they can free things up so it can at least run then they'll sell it as a running watch even if it only runs for a few minutes before it comes to a stop.

[ManSkirtBrew]

It arrived, and it sure is cool. Anyone know how to date a Bulova alarm clock?

Also, it was sold as not running, but it started ticking right up and the alarm works, so that's a nice treat.

[oldhippy]

A photo of the movement might help.