Watch of Today

[yankeedog]

A once great American  retailer. Montgomery (monkey) Ward sold watches  under  the legant  lable.This Hamazawa powered version  came with a bad mainspring. After  cleaning  lubing swapping. this example  runs surprisingly  well. Don't turn up your  nose  at a 17 jewel Hamazawa. They  are better  than you might  think.

[nichod]

You got any naked pictures of it, Yank?

I didn't remember MW selling a house brand watch.  70's from the style I'd guess.

[yankeedog]

When  I get the chance..I hope I don't  get banned 

[AndyHull]

59 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

When  I get the chance..I hope I don't  get banned 

Its only the watch we want to see..

[JerseyMo]

A Timex by any other name?  Quartron?  yes, a 1970 prototype ...  took a bit of work and some JerseyMo know how and here you go.

 

[AndyHull]

A 1973 champagne gold sunburst cased Timex Marlin with a well preserved cross hair dial on my wrist today.

It looks and run a whole lot better than it did when it arrived, although there are a few minor pin marks on the crystal which didn't quite polish out. 

I spotted it this lot, and was the only bidder, so I landed the whole bunch well within the 404 club rules. In fact they work out at sixty five pence each. I'll see how many of the rest I can get going, and keep you posted.

[yankeedog]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:30 PM, nichod said:

You got any naked pictures of it, Yank?

I didn't remember MW selling a house brand watch.  70's from the style I'd guess.

Sort of a seiko meets timex affair.

 

[AndyHull]

I see what you mean about TImex meets Seiko.

https://17jewels.info/movements/h/hamazawa/hamazawa-5026b/

That 17jewels.info link is an interesting read.

 

[yankeedog]

I didn't  go crazy  with this one. I just uncased it.removed the dial, hands  and date complications. And gave  it a naphtha bath.I changed the mainspring  and lubricated  it with hypoid gear oil. It's  chugging  along at about 255 degrees  rotation about 10 seconds  fast and at 0 beat error. You really  can't  complain. From the looks  of the crown it was  well  used.i have other  similar  vintage  watches with swiss and Japanese  movements  that don't run nearly  as well. 

[AndyHull]

Today I'm sporting an Amida "Calendar" 21 Jewel with an as yet unidentified movement.

Feel free to chime in if anybody knows exactly what this is. 

I had almost convinced myself it needed a new balance, but after a second bath, and a careful cleaning of the top jewels it is now running acceptably well (though not brilliantly) with a swing some where between 260 dial down and 220 dial up, which, given that it refused to go at all when it arrived is OK. I may pursue some extra amplitude when I have more time, but for now it is getting a well deserved day out on my left wrist.

On the right wrist for the last week or more, I have that TV dialed Sekonda, which is my current favorite, and is keeping extremely good time for such an old codger (+/- 4 sec/day or so).

Edited September 24, 2019 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

A little more tinkering and I have over 270 dial down and over 250 dial up for the Amida.

There is no easy way to adjust the beat error, so I think I'll declare this fixed. I wouldn't want to push my luck too far.

I'm happy with those numbers.

[yankeedog]

Curious  looking thing. Reminds me of a reworked 1080.. 

[AndyHull]

9 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

Curious  looking thing. Reminds me of a reworked 1080.. 

Yup. It is also similar to the HMT 1802 but only similar. Amida look to have made their own calibers, so it may be an in house movement, but I checked all the ranfft and 17jewel.info and couldn't find an exact match. It is less of a problem now that I have it running without having to replace the balance, but it would be nice to know for sure what it is. I have seen a couple of other similar watches on line, including some "Andrew the Hatton" stuff which was re-badged Amida, but nothing so far that gives me a positive ID on what the heck the movement is, or who actually made it.

Edited September 24, 2019 by AndyHull

[yankeedog]

What caught my eye was the bridge over the mainspring  winding gears.I can't decide whether I like it or not. It gives the caliber  a clean  look.but makes it seem  less mechanical. Almost  doesn't  look swiss.but it is an adjusted movement..so theoretically  higher  end.maybe amida  was somewhat  like  wyler.  Taking  partial movements and adding  their own touches. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by yankeedog

[m1ks]

6 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Today I'm sporting an Amida "Calendar" 21 Jewel with an as yet unidentified movement.

Feel free to chime in if anybody knows exactly what this is. 

I had almost convinced myself it needed a new balance, but after a second bath, and a careful cleaning of the top jewels it is now running acceptably well (though not brilliantly) with a swing some where between 260 dial down and 220 dial up, which, given that it refused to go at all when it arrived is OK. I may pursue some extra amplitude when I have more time, but for now it is getting a well deserved day out on my left wrist.

On the right wrist for the last week or more, I have that TV dialed Sekonda, which is my current favorite, and is keeping extremely good time for such an old codger (+/- 4 sec/day or so).

That's a nice looking movement.
I find that a 'large' cheap ebay etc oiler and a balance tack enable beat error adjustment via the collet relatively easily, the BE on the Trafalgar jump hour was vast, 5.odd ish and I couldn't cope with that, when not easily adjustable i'll put up with up to 2.0 but dislike anything higher.

[m1ks]

My last submission on this thread appears to have vanished.
Does anyone know if there's a 'no replica' policy? I did check the rules but didn't catch anything.

[AndyHull]

10 hours ago, m1ks said:

My last submission on this thread appears to have vanished.
Does anyone know if there's a 'no replica' policy? I did check the rules but didn't catch anything.

I don't think there is a "No replica" policy, I have seen a few replicas discussed here. Try posting it again.

[m1ks]

Trying again,

Fauxlex sea dweller today.

Was a daily wear for a long time s evidenced by the beat up crystal and bezel and did really well, sat in a drawer for probably as long and stripped cleaned and serviced yesterday.

[AndyHull]

What is inside it?

 

[m1ks]

1 hour ago, AndyHull said:

What is inside it?

 

The finest quality Chinese unidirectional automatic movement.

Not sure of the brand or calibre.

It's not bad. 21600vph and a variance of about 10s between positions and was remarkably decent condition internally considering it was worn for several years and looked like it hadn't ever been lubricated from the factory.

[nichod]

On 9/23/2019 at 6:37 PM, AndyHull said:

I see what you mean about TImex meets Seiko.

https://17jewels.info/movements/h/hamazawa/hamazawa-5026b/

That 17jewels.info link is an interesting read.

 

"Lateral Lever".  Fascinating. 

[balaton]

On ‎9‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 10:52 PM, AndyHull said:

Yup. It is also similar to the HMT 1802 but only similar. Amida look to have made their own calibers, so it may be an in house movement, but I checked all the ranfft and 17jewel.info and couldn't find an exact match. It is less of a problem now that I have it running without having to replace the balance, but it would be nice to know for sure what it is. I have seen a couple of other similar watches on line, including some "Andrew the Hatton" stuff which was re-badged Amida, but nothing so far that gives me a positive ID on what the heck the movement is, or who actually made it.

Hi Andy, it's an Amida 530 or 535 and will, or should, be ID'd on the dial side.

Cheers.

[AndyHull]

56 minutes ago, balaton said:

Hi Andy, it's an Amida 530 or 535 and will, or should, be ID'd on the dial side.

Cheers.

Thanks. I have no idea how you figured that out.  I had a quick look online at the time, but it didn't match any of the Amida movements I found, however armed with your observation, I then did another trawl and sure enough there is one on ebay, (with a missing balance jewel).

Fortunately I don't need parts, but it is good to have a correct ID for it. It is almost certainly an in house Amida movement, and quite well thought out. Note the "anti-orbital launch" screws holding in the springs in the image above for example . 

[AndyHull]

A while back, I fixed up my brother in law's old HMT, which had suffered some blunt trauma injuries.

It ran for a few weeks before it packed in again. Any sensible person might have given up at this point and dropped it quietly in the bin but it has enough character to give it another chance. It looks like I missed some damage or wear, as the cause of the failure is below, so the donor provided this and the rest of the parts under that bridge, just in case any of the others are similarly fatigued.

While I had it back on the bench, I also took the time to replace the cracked crystal and give it a polish, and now I have it back on my wrist.

So today's "Watch of Today" is the worlds scruffiest HMT, packed with battle scars and great sentimental value.

 

Lets hope it keeps going this time, if not I have till January before I see him again, so I can always have another crack at it.

Edited September 26, 2019 by AndyHull

[m1ks]

Huuuuge fan of HMT (and Allwyn).

Always worth saving.

Not all heroes wear capes.