Watch of Today

[m1ks]

Most recent service from non running.

Trafalgar instantime jump hour, different to the usual brick and unusually with date complication and with sweep seconds hand.

[yankeedog]

I can just imagine all the little springs in that one.

[Nutiborskoku]

Today a 1956 Longines with a 12.68Z movement.

[ITProDad]

Just saw a Longines like this on the bay. Without a band I think it sold for around $60.

Very nice!!


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[Nutiborskoku]

Whenever you see a Longines like this for $60, buy it. I think you can at least triple it 

I'd like to see a link to that listing, if you have it.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Nutiborskoku

[ITProDad]

Whenever you see a Longines like this for $60, buy it. I think you can at least triple it [emoji3]
I'd like to see a link to that listing, if you have it.

Can’t find the original listing. Here is a similar listing. Similar in the face. I did not compare movements
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F163846727716


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[Nutiborskoku]

6 minutes ago, ITProDad said:

Can’t find the original listing. Here is a similar listing. Similar in the face. I did not compare movements
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F163846727716


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Yeah, it's not serviced though and parts are nearly impossible to find. It also has a loose crown. The main thing is that it has a diameter of 33mm and my ref 6417 is almost 36mm. Like you said, the movements are also different.

[ITProDad]

C’est la vie!


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[AndyHull]

This 1967 classic Timex accompanied us when we went out to the cinema with friends tonight.

[ITProDad]

Nice. Almost as old as I am!


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[m1ks]

On 9/9/2019 at 1:52 PM, yankeedog said:

I can just imagine all the little springs in that one.

The jump hour above Yankeedog?

Surprisingly fewer than I expected, only jumpers and clicks for the date and hour wheel. The minutes is directly driven from the equivalent of the cannon pinion, (this being a pressed fit centre wheel) and then the sweep seconds as normal.

You can see the innards of it here. I had no intention of filming this one as it was my first jump hour and I wasn't certain what to expect but the difficulty removing the centre wheel led to the video which is a bit choppy in procedure due to the above reasons.

If I get another I'd enjoy doing a proper strip and service video.

https://youtu.be/Dfi_z19317s

[AndyHull]

1 hour ago, ITProDad said:

Nice. Almost as old as I am!

I guess we must be similar vintage then, since it is almost as old as me too.

[m1ks]

This is one of the things I love about old mechanical watches, something that's often older than us still ticking away whilst being bounced around on your wrist.

I think this is why I tend to see quartz watches as a bit soulless.

[m1ks]

Todays, Ricoh with suitably vintage wood veneer styling.

[JBerry]

Picked up this Caravelle Superdatomatic, with a Cattin calibre C66 in need of a new balance staff and a new crystal

[balaton]

Pictured yesterday, this early ‘60s Josmar, a brand founded in 1928 by Kocher Freres of Bettlach and entirely unrelated to modern watches of the same name. 

Josmar used various movements in their watches, this one having a 21j Oberon pin-lever movement, a subject for another day.

Regards.

[Nutiborskoku]

A Nodus Retrospect II Silver Sky today

Edited September 13, 2019 by Nutiborskoku

[balaton]

Following on from yesterday’s effort, today it’s the turn of this 1950s Oberon from Erwin Rudolf’s now largely forgotten Oberon Watch Co. It has absolutely no connection to the modern day “Oberon” brand and came as something of a cosmetic and mechanical basket-case, needing a strap, new crystal, replacement sweep seconds hand, new crown & stem, new mainspring and a service.

Instead of using their own Oberon calibre, this one runs on a similarly obscure 17j Brac 903, unfortunately absent from the usual archives although it is referenced in Bestfit.

An interesting little company and one who, probably on the grounds of cost, initially used their own solitary movement before sourcing from other, more established, makers.  

Regards.

 

 

[Nutiborskoku]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:11 AM, balaton said:

Following on from yesterday’s effort, today it’s the turn of this 1950s Oberon from Erwin Rudolf’s now largely forgotten Oberon Watch Co. It has absolutely no connection to the modern day “Oberon” brand and came as something of a cosmetic and mechanical basket-case, needing a strap, new crystal, replacement sweep seconds hand, new crown & stem, new mainspring and a service.

Instead of using their own Oberon calibre, this one runs on a similarly obscure 17j Brac 903, unfortunately absent from the usual archives although it is referenced in Bestfit.

An interesting little company and one who, probably on the grounds of cost, initially used their own solitary movement before sourcing from other, more established, makers.  

Regards.

 

 

Cool. That minute track moved inward is a nice unusual feature.

[balaton]

5 hours ago, Nutiborskoku said:

Cool. That minute track moved inward is a nice unusual feature.

Thank you. It does have a certain je ne sais quoi, being able to speak some French. 

[balaton]

Terms like “De Luxe”, “Extra Special” and suchlike on things like these are almost always a sure-fire guarantee of utter rubbish, and that’s before you even get to all the nonsense usually engraved on their case backs. So this effort was bought for 199 pennies some years ago as a non-runner, purely on the remote chance, just maybe, that something interesting lurked inside.

Well, of course it didn’t, but sorting its mighty 1 jewel Baumgartner 866 gave me a spare. Like I needed another one of these.

The movement is signed for Constructa, suggesting a connection with that Mondaine-owned pin lever outfit. The Ackro name appears to have been one of several used by Gaumont Watch Co of Manchester who would have been the importers before offering these things to the unsuspecting  public.

And I’m afraid that this beauty warrants neither a new crystal nor a permanent strap.

Regards.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by balaton

[AndyHull]

24 minutes ago, balaton said:

And I’m afraid that this beauty warrants neither a new crystal nor a permanent strap.

Perhaps a little harsh, although I agree that it is not a high end piece, these pin lever movements are still an interesting engineering challenge, well executed. Think of it as the Swatch of its day, engineered to a price.

The fact that it is still working all these years later, and with all of those battle scars tells you that despite the low cost bill of materials, the engineers at Baumgartner were no fools.

I think it at lest deserves a quick sand and polish of that scratched up crystal, as most, if not all of those surface scratches look like they would be easily addressed,  though I must admit, I would probably not replace the crystal either.

One other point, I suspect that it has a rarity value, that your average Rolex from the period does not. Few of these will have survived (perhaps for obvious reasons).

[balaton]

All understood thanks, Andy, and with (currently) 70 various pin levers amongst my rag-tag collection, I have a fondness and huge admiration for what could be made out of not very much, as evidenced by the fact that they are still going strong after so many decades.

Not having been bought for any aesthetic value, this particular one doesn’t, and probably won’t, see any meaningful wrist time so is likely, if somewhat unsympathetically, to remain a potential donor for something a bit more deserving.

Cheers.

[AndyHull]

8 hours ago, balaton said:

... so is likely, if somewhat unsympathetically, to remain a potential donor for something a bit more deserving.

They do turn up in some interesting watches, this for example according to the seller has a BG 866 variant.

.. and I must confess that if one of those turned up in need of parts, I  too would be tempted to perform a partial brain transplant with the poor old Ackro De Luxe as the victim.

[m1ks]

2 hours ago, AndyHull said:

They do turn up in some interesting watches, this for example according to the seller has a BG 866 variant.

.. and I must confess that if one of those turned up in need of parts, I  too would be tempted to perform a partial brain transplant with the poor old Ackro De Luxe as the victim.

That's exactly the same as my Trafalgar, (see top of page) which has a bfg 866 1 jewel movement, really nice watch. Mines the most recent service and keeps time surprisingly well for the movement type.