Watch of Today

[JerseyMo]

Nice restore of the Marlin - I just put this Automatic togetehr form NOS parts.

 

[AndyHull]

A YT57 based Pulsar Kinetic joins the motley crew today. A bit of a bargain at a very modest £2.20, this was yet another no other bids lot. The description stated the glass was scratched,  the strap was "damaged" and it was "running erratically".

In reality, one of the strap pins had been torn loose. Presumably the watch had been dropped, but fortunately it had bent in the process, trapping the end link in the place, so the original Pulsar branded strap was complete.

The strap was otherwise pretty much perfect, with only a few minor cosmetic scratches, and not even much crud. Not exactly factory fresh, but not far off.

The glass and face still have a few minor scratches, but the majority of the "scratches" were actually dirt, picked up when the watch had skidded across some filthy surface. The "erratic" ticking is normal for an uncharged kinetic, as they double tick when the ..not a battery honest it 'aint guvnor..  "energy storage device" is not charged.

So a little TLC, a good scrub, and more than a little slightly dubious looking wrist shaking action , and the thing is working perfectly.

It could perhaps do with a little more cosmetic work to bring the bezel and glass back to as near perfect as possible, but in its current condition it is perfectly wearable. The above picture is taken to deliberately highlight the marks, but under normal lighting and without magnification, they are barely noticeable.  I will re-visit the dial and bezel, if and when it has survived a full 24 hours on my wrist.

The only thing I didn't appreciate when I bid on it is quite how large it is, so now I have another weighty strap monster. If I wear the BFG866 based "Lonlay" on one arm and this on the other I'll look like Popeye in no time at all. Now if one of you guys could just pass me one of those there tins of spinach...

Edited November 10, 2019 by AndyHull

[m1ks]

Brigada Tourbillon today.

 

[m1ks]

3 hours ago, AndyHull said:

A YT57 based Pulsar Kinetic joins the motley crew today. A bit of a bargain at a very modest £2.20, this was yet another no other bids lot. The description stated the glass was scratched,  the strap was "damaged" and it was "running erratically".

In reality, one of the strap pins had been torn loose. Presumably the watch had been dropped, but fortunately it had bent in the process, trapping the end link in the place, so the original Pulsar branded strap was complete.

The strap was otherwise pretty much perfect, with only a few minor cosmetic scratches, and not even much crud. Not exactly factory fresh, but not far off.

The glass and face still have a few minor scratches, but the majority of the "scratches" were actually dirt, picked up when the watch had skidded across some filthy surface. The "erratic" ticking is normal for an uncharged kinetic, as they double tick when the ..not a battery honest it 'aint guvnor..  "energy storage device" is not charged.

So a little TLC, a good scrub, and more than a little slightly dubious looking wrist shaking action , and the thing is working perfectly.

It could perhaps do with a little more cosmetic work to bring the bezel and glass back to as near perfect as possible, but in its current condition it is perfectly wearable. The above picture is taken to deliberately highlight the marks, but under normal lighting and without magnification, they are barely noticeable.  I will re-visit the dial and bezel, if and when it has survived a full 24 hours on my wrist.

The only thing I didn't appreciate when I bid on it is quite how large it is, so now I have another weighty strap monster. If I wear the BFG866 based "Lonlay" on one arm and this on the other I'll look like Popeye in no time at all. Now if one of you guys could just pass me one of those there tins of spinach...

Though I'm no huge fan of quartz or kinetic or electronical wizardry in watches that's a bargain.

[AndyHull]

6 minutes ago, m1ks said:

Though I'm no huge fan of quartz or kinetic or electronical wizardry in watches that's a bargain.

Kinetics, in my opinion are far more interesting than vanilla quartz watches, as they are a hybrid automatic/quartz arrangement.

I agree they don't have the elegance of a well engineered mechanical watch, but they are fascinating clever pieces of engineering none the less, and if you pay more for the postage than you do for the watch, then that is indeed a bit of a bargain. 

I've left it on the watch winder overnight, which should give it a few days charge. The datasheet for that movement claims 6 months running time from a fully charged healthy "energy store", which interestingly Seiko/Pulsar doesn't like calling a battery.

In fact the Panasonic M920 rechargeable cell with a custom tag spot welded to it, is actually described as a battery by Panasonic. 

 

 

[ro63rto]

Normal watch winders are next to useless for kinetics.
I use a Philips Imageo base to charge my three.

[m1ks]

I've heard from a few folk that watch winners don't swing the oscillating weight rapidly enough to charge kinetics, but I don't know for certain.

I do know that if correctly paced on a Braun toothbrush induction charger base they'll charge up though. 

[Nucejoe]

7 hours ago, m1ks said:

Brigada Tourbillon today.

 

Compliments on your taste, this is a beautiful watch.

[m1ks]

6 hours ago, Nucejoe said:

Compliments on your taste, this is a beautiful watch.

Thank you, I have a review of it here.

It's one of those that look much much better up close than any photo can show.

 

[AndyHull]

Time for me to lower the tone again, I'm afraid.

While digging through the junk pile to find enough bits to get that BFG 886 monster working the other day, I figured I might have just enough parts, if I swapped around a hairspring, and juggled a few other odds and ends around, to make at least one more BFG 886.

I present you the "Orion". A strange animal from the decade that taste forgot, complete with space age UFO case and oddly un-necessarily (is that even a word?) faceted acrylic crystal.

Well the time-grapher results 'aint pretty, but give it 24hrs for all of those franken-movement parts to get to know each other, and once all of its moving surfaces are nicely slicked up, I think it will be well worth the "nothing" that I paid for it.  

Edited November 11, 2019 by AndyHull

[jdm]

11 hours ago, AndyHull said:

I present you the "Orion". A strange animal from the decade that taste forgot, complete with space age UFO case and oddly un-necessarily (is that even a word?) faceted acrylic crystal.

Indeed it is https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/unnecessarily

And even if wasn't before, it would have been now . Lewis Carrol docet.

[AndyHull]

11 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Well the time-grapher results 'aint pretty, but give it 24hrs for all of those franken-movement parts to get to know each other, and once all of its moving surfaces are nicely slicked up, I think it will be well worth the "nothing" that I paid for it.

... and here it is half a day later. Things are settling down quite nicely.

Bear in mind that other than cleaning the random bunch of BFG866 parts, and throwing them all together, I've done nothing else yet. No regulation or adjusting.

[AndyHull]

For the record "Orion" in this instance is probably a "Basis" watch brand.

The name seems to have been around for a long time, with a few possible origins, but it looks like it ended its days in the 1980s having been sold to/acquired by "Basis", presumably after the demise of Fabrique de Montres Orion SA / Brandt & Hofmann, or whichever one of the other Orion related entities owned the name prior to that.

This is conjecture on my part though, based on the info here -> http://www.mikrolisk.de/show.php?site=280&suchwort=Orion

... coupled with the low cost nature of the BFG866 pin lever movement.

[ro63rto]

Sector Altimeter

https://i.imgur.com/bY7BIIt.jpg

 

 

 

[balaton]

Ural with a mighty 16j Molnia 3608 crammed into its 40mm anodised aluminum/aluminium case. More the height of nonsense than the height of refinement.

Regards.

[FLwatchguy73]

Today I'm wearing my Tissot PRC200 mechanical chronograph. I got this at a heck of a deal. Going to change the bracelet as it's a bit too tight. Looks great regardless.

[ro63rto]

7a28-7040 today

[m1ks]

HMT on original bracelet, just serviced, looking more original than any I've had from eBay.

[yankeedog]

On 11/18/2019 at 9:06 PM, FLwatchguy73 said:

Today I'm wearing my Tissot PRC200 mechanical chronograph. I got this at a heck of a deal. Going to change the bracelet as it's a bit too tight. Looks great regardless.

you could add an extender.

[FLwatchguy73]

I will look into one @yankeedog

[AndyHull]

Railway time today, in the form of a British Rail Timex "Q"

I posted about one of these a while back, with a made in France dial. This one is similar but different.

This one appears to be from Dundee, but the exact date of production is not obvious. It must be pre- 1997 since that was when British Rail was "privatized"  (or arguably the profit was privatized and the loss was subsidized, but that is a whole 'nother story).

The watch arrived sans pins or strap, in a filthy condition and listed as spares or repairs, not working, but a quick scrub and brush up, and a fresh 'Timex "M" cell' (AG10) and off it went. 

These high readability dials are perfect for telling the time at a glance, or waving at customers as they charge along the platform trying to jump in to the moving carriages, or indeed ensuring you don't miss your thirteenth tea break of the day as you sit in the warmth of the guards van, guarding a few bashed parcels an old milk churn and a tandem with a wonky back wheel, or whatever other junk the traveling public has entrusted to your care that day. 

It has a few remaining battle scars, but that is just part of its history. Whether it spent its life with the 'romance' of "The Calendonian" Inverness sleeper trains or passed its days trundling back and forth on the eight fifteen to Bognor, we will never know.

Edited November 21, 2019 by AndyHull

[yankeedog]

11 hours ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

I will look into one @yankeedog

Functional  and not obstrusive. They work well  with odd ball bracelets that attach  to the watch in non standard  ways.

[yankeedog]

1 hour ago, AndyHull said:

Railway time today, in the form of a British Rail Timex "Q"

I posted about one of these a while back, with a made in France dial. This one is similar but different.

This one appears to be from Dundee, but the exact date of production is not obvious. It must be pre- 1997 since that was when British Rail was "privatized"  (or arguably the profit was privatized and the loss was subsidized, but that is a whole 'nother story).

The watch arrived sans pins or strap, in a filthy condition and listed as spares or repairs, not working, but a quick scrub and brush up, and a fresh 'Timex "M" cell' (AG10) and off it went. 

These high readability dials are perfect for telling the time at a glance, or waving at customers as they charge along the platform trying to jump in to the moving carriages, or indeed ensuring you don't miss your thirteenth tea break of the day as you sit in the warmth of the guards van, guarding a few bashed parcels an old milk churn and a tandem with a wonky back wheel, or whatever other junk the traveling public has entrusted to your care that day. 

It has a few remaining battle scars, but that is just part of its history. Whether it spent its life with the 'romance' of "The Calendonian" Inverness sleeper trains or passed its days trundling back and forth on the eight fifteen to Bognor, we will never know.

Interesting piece of history, and indicative of government function the world over.Certainly a railway conductor could afford such a modest watch.  Instead of requiring people to have a functional timepiece properly set,A whole bureaucracy is set up to procure , stamp and issue them. No doubt so someone's inept son would not have to work for a living.

[AndyHull]

1 minute ago, yankeedog said:

Interesting piece of history, and indicative of government function the world over.Certainly a railway conductor could afford such a modest watch.  Instead of requiring people to have a functional timepiece properly set,A whole bureaucracy is set up to procure , stamp and issue them. No doubt so someone's inept son would not have to work for a living.

You could always chain the inept son to the stamping machine. All he has to do is get the B and the R in the correct order.

[yankeedog]

My Friend, that is too much like work!