Watch of Today

[AndyHull]

Today we have a Chromatic EB8807 "Digital" probably from around the same period as the previous Keinzle stopwatch/chrono.

Hamilton produced their first LED "Pulsar" in 1971 (for a whopping $2,100.00 - the price of a small car at the time).

These "digitals" were designed to have the look and feel of an LED watch, but without the eye watering price tag. 

This Chromatic actually changes its appearance slightly depending on the light, which I guess was an attempt to further emulate some of the novel appeal of the  LED display.

The effect is quite subtle, and I doubt it would fool anyone, since it is entirely passive, and down to the choice of colours used on the dial.

This watch arrived in a pretty tatty condition "overwound", in other words in need of a clean, but once cleaned and serviced it has scrubbed up to look almost new.

It feels pretty huge on the wrist, although most of the case is empty space, as the EB8807 mechanism sits in a large, offset plastic holder.  As you can see from this Rannft picture of the mechanism there is a lot of empty space to fill to make up for those large numeral disks.

 

 

The 18mm case lugs and narrow strap have the effect of making the case look even larger,  so it would appeal to the modern "dinner gong full of fresh air on the wrist" design aficionados.

All in all, strangely,  I actually like it. It exudes 1970s charm by the bucket load.

Edited March 9, 2020 by AndyHull

[FLwatchguy73]

8 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Nice. The exhibition case back is a nice touch, and that is a very Kienzle looking take on a chrono/stopwatch mechanism.

Now I wonder what the chances of one of those showing up "spares or repair" for under £4.04 are. I suspect I'll need to  open my wallet a whole lot wider if I spot one.

There are currently 2 available on eBay. One has a solid case back and the plastic casing is missing, the other has the clear back but is tough to search for on eBay, google found it for me.

[AndyHull]

On the "testing strap" today, the fruits of last night's labours.

A late fifties or very early sixties Timex Model 22 Marlin.

This one predates the use of reference numbers on the dial (introduced in 1963 I think), but does have "Scotland" stamped on the mechanism, and a Dundee accent to its tick. 

It seems to be running well, but will require a slight correction to shift the -120 sec/day or so back to something more respectable.

I'm not looking forward to that, as its mechanical brain needs to be extracted from the front of the case without marring the dial or the crystal. I can see why they dropped this approach in favour of a two part case, and why the changed the design away from the M22, as it is pretty temperamental to work with.

Edited March 10, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnD]

This arrived in the post this morning........15 minutes on the bench and it's running like a dream and all cleaned up and fitted with a 'near suitable' bracelet so that I can give it some wrist time

It's a JDM 0922-8060 from August 1975 and at the time quite an expensive watch at 38,000Yen...

as a comparison these two watches, in the same 1975 catalogue, had a combined price of 35,500Yen

Sadly I know which ones are worth more now.......

[AndyHull]

26 minutes ago, JohnD said:

t's a JDM 0922-8060 from August 1975

That looks remarkably clean and shiny for something that left the factory in Japan the best part of 45 years ago.  They are very solidly built, and that dial is very clean and sharp.  Those who say the seventies was the decade that taste forgot, evidently didn't see that little beauty.

[JohnD]

4 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

That looks remarkably clean and shiny for something that left the factory in Japan the best part of 45 years ago.  They are very solidly built, and that dial is very clean and sharp.  Those who say the seventies was the decade that taste forgot, evidently didn't see that little beauty.

Much the same as this one I have Andy, that stands the test of time very well.......mind you it did cost 100,000 Yen in 1977 (which would have bought you four 6309-7040  Divers.........)

[AndyHull]

12 minutes ago, JohnD said:

mind you it did cost 100,000 Yen in 1977

Say whaaaat!!!

According to the internet (which is never wrong) that translates to approx £12,371.86 or $16231.83 US in 2020 money.

Edited March 10, 2020 by AndyHull

[luiazazrambo]

Pop it on ebay for 10k then!  20% discount!

[FLwatchguy73]

With all this Seiko talk today, I Coincidentally wore my 1969 vintage DX with a striking green dial. It's in great shape other than the crystal. 

 

[JohnD]

4 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Say whaaaat!!!

According to the internet (which is never wrong) that translates to approx £12,371.86 or $16231.83 US in 2020 money.

Not sure about the maths there Andy, I think you are out by one decimal point....However this page from the 1975 catalogue should address that, the middle watch is a mere 1.25 million Yen........

[AndyHull]

14 minutes ago, JohnD said:

I think you are out by one decimal point...

https://www.inflationtool.com/japanese-yen/1960-to-present-value

I may well be, but I was relying on the interwebz, so it may be more than one decimal point.

EDIT: Maybe $1912.00 might be loser to the mark.

Edited March 10, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnD]

22 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

https://www.inflationtool.com/japanese-yen/1960-to-present-value

I may well be, but I was relying on the interwebz, so it may be more than one decimal point.

EDIT: Maybe $1912.00 might be loser to the mark.

Sounds more like it, that would put the Grand quartz of 1977  closer to base model Grand Seiko's prices today, mind you the 18k Gold ones that were more than one million Yen in 1975 are something else!

I got a bit of a bargain with my Grand Quartz,  (as a non runner), from a eBay seller in Japan, only costing me $83 (and the 0922-8060 in the original post only £14.99 )

[AndyHull]

14 minutes ago, JohnD said:

mind you the 18k Gold ones that were more than one million Yen in 1975 are something else!

Now those are closer to my original wild estimate.  ¥18,000,000 in 1975 appears to be ¥35,693,859.55 in 2020

That is a pretty steep rise. Somehow I doubt if you would get anything like that for the watch today. £265,562.32 would be a pretty impressive price for a Seiko. It would also pay for 65,733 members of the 404 club.

Edited March 10, 2020 by AndyHull

[FLwatchguy73]

My new to me Sheffield electronic arrived yesterday. I popped a battery in it and off it went! I gave the crystal a polish this moring and here it is. I was inspired to get this watch by an earlier discussion about these watches which was started here 

 

[AndyHull]

I'm on the lookout for one of those, and that is a particularly pristine looking example.

 

[AndyHull]

A Ronda 1317 based Ingersoll Sealion 17 Jewel Day/Date from the mid seventies with, of course,  a blue dial.

This one fought back at every step of the way, but eventually I managed to wrestle it in to submission.

It wouldn't wind (the clutch pressure spring was misplaced).

The hands wouldn't set (the keyless work was all over the place).

The crown and stem kept falling out (also down to the keyless work.

It rattled (the mechanism retaining ring was missing).

The hairspring was mangled (fat thumb disease caused by the previous "repairer").

It was filthy (blame the previous owner and Mr Fat Thumbs).

The date mechanism didn't work correctly (the disk wasn't fitted correctly, and it was missing a dial washer).

The day mechanism didn't work correctly, (the day jump spring was in back to front). 

Other than that and the fact that it had presumably not been serviced since it left the factory, it was fine.

One other thing, I have yet to figure out how to re-fit the crown without the clutch jumping off its spring and eventually resorted to removing the barrel bridge and fixing it all from the back. It didn't seem to matter how much care I took, nor which position I had the thing in (winding or hand set, face up or face down) when I extracted the crown, it invariably jumped apart, either as I extracted the crown, or the moment I tried to re-fit it.

Edited March 11, 2020 by AndyHull

[JohnD]

2 hours ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

My new to me Sheffield electronic arrived yesterday. I popped a battery in it and off it went! I gave the crystal a polish this moring and here it is. I was inspired to get this watch by an earlier discussion about these watches which was started here 

 

They are rather nice aren't they. I see that yours is different to mine (other than being stainless instead of GP) in that the dial indices are different, mine being hexagonal to match the crown and mine doesn't have 'Transistorized' on it....... What is the lettering before 'West Germany' at the bottom of the dial? On mine it says 'Pm'....

[FLwatchguy73]

3 minutes ago, JohnD said:

They are rather nice aren't they. I see that yours is different to mine (other than being stainless instead of GP) in that the dial indices are different, mine being hexagonal to match the crown and mine doesn't have 'Transistorized' on it....... What is the lettering before 'West Germany' at the bottom of the dial? On mine it says 'Pm'....

"Lic. Ato. West Germany"    I think

[FLwatchguy73]

17 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

A Ronda 1317 based Ingersoll Sealion 17 Jewel Day/Date from the mid seventies with, of course,  a blue dial.

Your watch oozes with 70's charm, lol. Love the blue though!

[JohnD]

15 minutes ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

"Lic. Ato. West Germany"    I think

I suspect that Pm on mine means 'Part manufactured' and yours probably 'Licenced something or other' . Just opened mine up for a picture of the movement and was pleasantly surprised to see it is the earliest version of the Junghans movement, in a Sheffield watch, being marked 'Sheffield 600.01'

I suspect that yours is a later watch... Apparently the movement was made in 600.30 form, up to 1977....mine being 1968....

 

[JohnD]

Back on topic, latest acquisition, Montine Electronic (ESA 9157)......

apologies for the incorrect date, sadly can't yet get it to change

 

 

[yankeedog]

On 3/10/2020 at 11:17 AM, AndyHull said:

That looks remarkably clean and shiny for something that left the factory in Japan the best part of 45 years ago.  They are very solidly built, and that dial is very clean and sharp.  Those who say the seventies was the decade that taste forgot, evidently didn't see that little beauty.

Ever been  to Japan? Everything  is different  there.I swear even the gravity.Not being in close  proximity  to the western  world the bad taste of the seventies  may have passed  it by.

[FLwatchguy73]

I picked up this very 70's Texas Instruments Quartz LCD in a lot with the Sheffield I wore yesterday. A fresh battery was all it needed. This is my first lcd in close to 25 years, lol. 

[JohnD]

1 hour ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

I picked up this very 70's Texas Instruments Quartz LCD in a lot with the Sheffield I wore yesterday. A fresh battery was all it needed. This is my first lcd in close to 25 years, lol. 

Looks 'Very 1970's' .......

[JohnD]

1 hour ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

I picked up this very 70's Texas Instruments Quartz LCD in a lot with the Sheffield I wore yesterday. A fresh battery was all it needed. This is my first lcd in close to 25 years, lol. 

If we are 'going digital' today how about my only Timex digital?

 I had a problem with the display fading out and had to do a total strip down, removing the LCD and connecting strips and cleaning all with alcohol prior to re-assembly to cure it.....