Watch of Today

[AndyHull 1,399]

I've seen brand new watches that don't look as good as that. Very impressive.
As to the size of the parts, they are a real challenge on some of these tiny ladies movements.

You really need a microscope to inspect things like jewel holes (or at least, I do). The opportunity to loose something vital is also much higher.

I have a  Citizen Crystron Quartz in the todo pile. I've got the service manual, and also had a quick inspection of it. It has some really tiny bits, and I have no donor if anything vanishes.  Always a bit of a worry.

[steve1811uk 89]

13 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

I've seen brand new watches that don't look as good as that. Very impressive.
As to the size of the parts, they are a real challenge on some of these tiny ladies movements.

You really need a microscope to inspect things like jewel holes (or at least, I do). The opportunity to loose something vital is also much higher.

I have a  Citizen Crystron Quartz in the todo pile. I've got the service manual, and also had a quick inspection of it. It has some really tiny bits, and I have no donor if anything vanishes.  Always a bit of a worry.

Thanks Andy, I did use an old binocular microscope that my sister gave to me, it was being thrown out from a school where she worked at. Good look with your Citizen Crystron, no idea what they are but will look it up now, interesting name.

[AndyHull 1,399]

8 hours ago, steve1811uk said:

Thanks Andy, I did use an old binocular microscope that my sister gave to me, it was being thrown out from a school where she worked at. Good look with your Citizen Crystron, no idea what they are but will look it up now, interesting name.

They are Citizen's early quartz watches.

This is the one I'm working on.

[yankeedog 509]

A thing of beauty  is a joy forever.

Keats. 

[AndyHull 1,399]

Today, just for a change I thought I'd give you a little bit of a miniature treat in the form of a 7''' 21600 Chaika 1601A Sekonda.

This movement is absolutely tiny, and the balance is so fragile that every time I picked it up I was sure I had probably done it a damage. But no,  it survived my somewhat clumsy cleaning and servicing and seems to be none the worse, and indeed much the better for it.

It was gummed up, had a very strong perfume odour and wouldn't wind when it came in a while back, and I had put it aside when I looked at the other recent Sekondas. It also had a missing crown, but the stem was still intact.

However it was too clean and new looking to simply put back in the junk pile, so I decided to risk servicing it, a task not for the faint hearted I might add.

This is a "zero coffee before you start" watch, as the slightest shake of the tweezers will send one of those tiny screws off in to the 5th dimension.

It cleaned up almost like new, the perfume smell has entirely gone, it has a new crown and I'm pretty happy with the performance. -15 to +20 sec/day and a swing of a little over 300 degrees, which I would say is pretty acceptable for a tiny movement like this.

This little thing was effectively free with a bunch of other stuff, so add in say 10p for the crown from my stash and ignore my time spent servicing it and it easily qualifies to join a number of other similar ladies watches in the 404 club.

Edited October 2, 2020 by AndyHull

[ro63rto 589]

Old pic
https://i.imgur.com/aDErTQf.jpg

[AndyHull 1,399]

56 minutes ago, ro63rto said:

Old pic
https://i.imgur.com/aDErTQf.jpg
 

I had a little trouble with that link, so here is what it links to, just to save confusion. Nice watch though.
BTW  what happened to the "paste image from URL" option that used to be on the bottom of the WRT editor?

[ro63rto 589]

http://d1v6dnm22vfd7d.cloudfront.net/monthly_2020_10/image.thumb.png.63b248df889b1ab9e43bf9b6569eadb2.png
I had a little trouble with that link, so here is what it links to, just to save confusion. Nice watch though.
BTW  what happened to the "paste image from URL" option that used to be on the bottom of the WRT editor?

Thanks, I still haven't found an OEM bracelet. They're like hens teeth and usually very worn/loose. That is just a £10 no name interim.

I tried posting the usual way in Tapatalk by clicking the IMG button and inserting that URL but all it did was post the bare link. Not sure what's going on.

[AndyHull 1,399]

Today its time for a Sekonda branded  Poljot 2460 based USSR quartz.

It had a few slight marks on the dial, but other than that, a good clean and polish and a fresh battery, I've not much else to say.

However if you want a little more ofthe story about USSR watches, then you could do worse than to click here -> https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-the-soviets-revolutionized-wristwatches/

[JerseyMo 544]

picked these up today

[markr 141]

I love every one of them.

[AndyHull 1,399]

 

A Luch 2356 based Sekonda probably from around 1984 today.

I thought it would be a 2356 from the ebay pictures, and I wasn't disappointed. It looks a whole lot better after a clean polish and service and of course once I ditched the hair puller band it came with.

Edited October 21, 2020 by AndyHull

[AndyHull 1,399]

Ingersoll pin lever with exactly zero jewels, since the "shock protection" appears to be one of those strange plastic jobs.

It arrived stone dead and fully wound, and I was a little suspicious that the balance might be kaput.

The balance however was fine, so I didn't mess with it, as I'm not convinced that those things wont faint at the fist whiff of any form of solvent, and never wake up again.

Instead it got a quick teardown, some hand cleaning and re-assembly, a spot of the horse liniment witches brew to loosen its aching pivots, a light dial and hand cleaning session and a scrub and polish of the case and crystal.

The strap stitching almost matches the second hand, and it actually looks very presentable, and indeed very readable too.

[eezy 45]

One of my first watches as a teenager was an Ingersoll, bought by my parents for a birthday.

I kept telling them it would not work and Dad wore it for a few days and it never missed a beat. Still wouldn't work on my wrist though

[Tudor 391]

I keep wearing this:

[Rdot84 8]

Figured I'd kill two birds with one stone. This thread needs a weekday bump and I need to attempt to post a photo. This pre-Invicta Glycine Combat 6 has replaced my G-Shock GW7900B as my EDC with the exception of days where I have to roll up the sleeves and get dirty.

 

[AndyHull 1,399]

Very nice. Is that a midnight blue dial or black? Hard to tell from the picture.

[AndyHull 1,399]

Its Timex Tuesday for me today. A 1972 Viscount (46562 03272) with an almost iridescent champagne dial.

[Rdot84 8]

On 11/24/2020 at 9:53 AM, AndyHull said:

Very nice. Is that a midnight blue dial or black? Hard to tell from the picture.

Thank you. It is the black dial. I'm not sure why the photo turned up so dark here. It's much brighter on my phone. 

[hammerhand7 0]

On 3/22/2019 at 10:37 PM, AndyHull said:

Today I'm road testing the black dialed Citizen Eagle 7 - 21 jewel automatic I cleaned up yesterday.

It has had a hard life, and has a plethora of battle scars, but is still keeping good time. The sapphire crystal responded quite well to the long tedious process of polishing out the worst of the scratches.

I will probably eventually replace the crystal, but it was a worth while test of my polishing skills as this one was about as bad as they get.

Best I can tell it is from September '93 - which at 25 years old, makes it a relative youngster in the 404 club.

AndyHull it is a beauty.

Did you ever get around to change the crystal?

I have the same model land would like to put in the crystal as the  old was lost... in an unfortunate accident of me trying to replace it.

 

[AndyHull 1,399]

44 minutes ago, hammerhand7 said:

AndyHull it is a beauty.

Did you ever get around to change the crystal?

I have the same model land would like to put in the crystal as the  old was lost... in an unfortunate accident of me trying to replace it.

 

Nope. I stuck with the one that is in it. From memory, Cousins have a suitable crystal. It was a pretty common size as I recall. I would go with a sapphire one if you want it to really enhance the look.

[AndyHull 1,399]

Its Big 'Q' Timex Thursday today. 

This 404 club watch is most probably late seventies or perhaps early eighties.

Either way it is not far shy of forty years old  and still going strong.

It wasn't a particularly cheap watch in its day, retailing for around £34.95  GBP which equates to about £157.00 today.

Edited November 26, 2020 by AndyHull

[steve1811uk 89]

15 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

Its Big 'Q' Timex Thursday today. 

This 404 club watch is most probably late seventies or perhaps early eighties.

Either way it is not far shy of forty years old  and still going strong.

It wasn't a particularly cheap watch in its day, retailing for around £34.95  GBP which equates to about £157.00 today.

Really like the Q at 12, very distinctive and bold.

[AndyHull 1,399]

Thanks. It took a few attempts to get the catchlights the way I wanted them in that picture.

I didn't want to break out any special lighting, so they are both done with the camera hand held and with just the table lamp next to the sofa and the main light in the living room.

They are perhaps not as sharp as they might be, but I think the softness works with the warm tones. I also managed to ruin about a dozen shots with random whiskers from my hairy arms and some distracting reflections. 

You wouldn't think taking a decent shot of a wristwatch could be so tricky. Maybe I should start a separate thread on how not to take pictures of watches, I'm rapidly becoming an expert in how not to do it.

[JohnD 344]

2 hours ago, steve1811uk said:

Really like the Q at 12, very distinctive and bold.

Likewise, this is one of my favourites