Watch of Today

[HSL]

22 hours ago, HSL said:

Under the hood still the 25-661, fully serviced with oilchange, filter and sparkpluggs.

Ujujuj must have been very tired an Argonaut Automatic has of course an 25-651 as engine.

Today I will air this Certina Bristol 195 from the late 60's, it  has the 25-66 stomper ticking away the time.


 

Edited May 8, 2020 by HSL

[FLwatchguy73]

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Heritage 2.0! Heritage 1.0 was a flop. Through the generosity of @AndyHull, a donor movement was provided and now Heritage 2.0 is looking Sharp and keeping great time. It's powered by an EB8800. Heritage 2.0 is actually a direct read rather than a true jump hour, so there is still an opening in my collection for a jumper. Lots of blood sweat and cursing went into this watch, glad it's done!

[JohnD]

This vintage Seiko quartz today (7546-8720 from July 1978)......

[AndyHull]

This is a little confusing, it appears to be a French LIP R26, 17 jewel, but it could also be a Kama/Vostok “Pobeda”/LIP R26, 17 jewel.

What sways me towards it being French, is that it doesn't have USSR or similar on the dial, and Kiku is a French brand name... or maybe Swiss.. or perhaps its a Russian “Pobjeda” 2602 of the second Moscow watch factory since the 2602 was a USSR made LIP R-26. In which case the Kiku branding is a red herring.

It arrived solidly gunged up, both inside and out, but now is running like a champ, all be it with a face full of patina, and a slightly pock marked crystal. It appears to be gold plated (rather thinly) and has an indistinctly embossed crown. When I attempt to translate Kiku into Russian, it gives me кику which is about right,  this is a slightly Knky watch. The  meaning of Kiku in japanese is "chrysanthemum". Kiku is generally used as a girl's name.. I just thought I'd add that in case you weren't confused enough already.

Another curiosity ready to join the 404 club.

Edited May 10, 2020 by AndyHull

[Przemek]

Poljot 23 jewels, automatic 

[AndyHull]

The strap arrived for the junk pile Swatch today, so here it is, ready to accompany me as I head out to tackle the weeds in the garden.

[HSL]

Once again a 60's Certina gets to see the sun, this time it's just a plain one no fancy name.
It has a 28-16 pushing the hands around the dial.

[Przemek]

Poljot 23 jewels, automatic 

[FLwatchguy73]

While I'm technically not wearing this watch today, I cleaned it up and polished the Crystal. I've been after one of these Timex Skindivers for awhile. This was part of the large lot I acquired recently but wasn't initially shipped with that lot, I contacted the seller and thankfully they sent it by the slowest method, which is apparently a pack mule as it took 14 days from Nebraska to Florida! I think I could have walked it here faster! Anyways, it's a 1970 Skindiver. It only needed a polish and an external cleaning. I want a period correct strap for it and I was thinking of getting a Tropic band for it. I'm curious what @JerseyMohas on his? The bezel numbering is backwards compared to any other I've seen, another Timex quirk.

[Marc]

35 minutes ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

The bezel numbering is backwards compared to any other I've seen, another Timex quirk.

Not just a Timex quirk...

My old Accurist diver has a similarly numbered bezel.

 

[FLwatchguy73]

9 minutes ago, Marc said:

Not just a Timex quirk...

My old Accurist diver has a similarly numbered bezel.

 

I imagine many others did the same. Honestly the first time I've ever noticed one backwards.

[JohnD]

1 hour ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

While I'm technically not wearing this watch today, I cleaned it up and polished the Crystal. I've been after one of these Timex Skindivers for awhile. This was part of the large lot I acquired recently but wasn't initially shipped with that lot, I contacted the seller and thankfully they sent it by the slowest method, which is apparently a pack mule as it took 14 days from Nebraska to Florida! I think I could have walked it here faster! Anyways, it's a 1970 Skindiver. It only needed a polish and an external cleaning. I want a period correct strap for it and I was thinking of getting a Tropic band for it. I'm curious what @JerseyMohas on his? The bezel numbering is backwards compared to any other I've seen, another Timex quirk.

A Tropic would be right for the time, my Jaquet Droz divers chrono came new in 1968 with a rubber Tropic....

[JerseyMo]

3 hours ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

While I'm technically not wearing this watch today, I cleaned it up and polished the Crystal. I've been after one of these Timex Skindivers for awhile. This was part of the large lot I acquired recently but wasn't initially shipped with that lot, I contacted the seller and thankfully they sent it by the slowest method, which is apparently a pack mule as it took 14 days from Nebraska to Florida! I think I could have walked it here faster! Anyways, it's a 1970 Skindiver. It only needed a polish and an external cleaning. I want a period correct strap for it and I was thinking of getting a Tropic band for it. I'm curious what @JerseyMohas on his? The bezel numbering is backwards compared to any other I've seen, another Timex quirk.

these did originally come with a Tropic strap.  You can find many good alternatives like these I have on my 600 ft series.

[Hopgoblin]

My 1961 Omega Constellation. Hard to believe its 60 years old. I don't think the Omega bracelet is correct . I believe these types came out in 62'. Doesn't matter since I like these more squared grains more. CAL 561 under the hood. 

[HSL]

Another clean design, but this time they were ahead of time. Long before Water World with Kevin Costner where he swinged his bangs in the ocean the Certina Water King made its appearance, sometimes in the mid 60's.

This one has a sub second and a 28-10 rocking the balance.

[Przemek]

This is third one on same page so you probably know what this is

 

[AndyHull]

14 hours ago, Przemek said:

This is third one on same page so you probably know what this is

Finest USSR goodness is what it is. I haven't seen any similar Sekondas, but I suspect these may have been available with the Sekonda moniker in the UK. I'll need to keep my eye out for them.

[HSL]

Todays Cert... Naah, Why not pop some Asian bling on the wrist.
A 1968 Seiko Sportsman 6602 whith a whooping dark black dial..

[Przemek]

8 hours ago, AndyHull said:

Finest USSR goodness is what it is. I haven't seen any similar Sekondas, but I suspect these may have been available with the Sekonda moniker in the UK. I'll need to keep my eye out for them.

I've never seen one too... it could be also Cornavin but i have'nt seen one too(either way Poljot is also export one, one in this photo was made for inner marker)

Here's next one, the dial is nice green but it's pretty hard to get it on photo

[AndyHull]

1 hour ago, Przemek said:

the dial is nice green but it's pretty hard to get it on photo

Its is tricky to avoid light reflections when taking these pictures. The angle of the incident light is critical to avoid distracting reflections and/or hazing but some reflections can look cool. However, you also generally need to get the light to reflect from the dial to pick up its texture or shimmer, all the while keeping the subject in frame without any distracting objects in the background, and make sure you have removed all of the dust, and don't have any strange catchlights, or fingerprints, and that there are no obvious scratches on the glass.. and that's just the half of it.

You wouldn't think taking a perfect photograph would be this tricky, but it is almost as challenging as fixing and finishing the darned watch.

Maybe we need a separate thread on how to take perfect pictures of watches.

 

I'll need to look out for Cornavin too, another USSR export brand name I hadn't come across.

They seem to have done some quirky and interesting  designs if this dial is anything to go by.

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by AndyHull

[AndyHull]

The brand name "Cornavin" has some rather convoluted history it seems. The name seems to allude Cornavin in Switzerland, but there  are Russian caliber watch examples, and Swiss claiber watch examples shown online.

Furthermore the brand is currently trading (ostensibly from Switzerland, and certainly with a .ch domain name). https://www.cornavin-watches.ch/

(Genf -> Geneva - Switzerland)

I wonder how much of a tie in with Poljot there is/was, as their historic  paths are somewhat similar.

Edited May 14, 2020 by AndyHull

[HaxSmash]

Nice and simple. 1909 Elgin 165 in a case that looks to be from the 30s going off the chrome finish.

[FLwatchguy73]

An Elgin with a Waltham dial?

 

[HaxSmash]

16 minutes ago, FLwatchguy73 said:

An Elgin with a Waltham dial?

 

Ha, yeah clearly my brain is working today..  Of course it won't let me edit that post now.  It is definitely a Waltham 

 

 

 

[NguyenNgocHai]

Hi everyone, I'm Hai, from Vietnam. Nice to join you guys. Wearing a 1941 Gruen Veri-thin, small and fit. Too small for men's wrists, maybe consider it as unisex 

Have a good day, stay safe!