For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By OCB
#1719312
Long story short, wife’s newest BFF is married to a jeweller.

He’s good fun. Likes shooting, fast things, winding his other half up etc - my kinda guy.

We had other friends over for an evening a couple of weeks back - the insignificant other is also a jeweller, and even more into old cars etc than I am!

We started talking 70s and 80s stuff, my passion for old arcade machines etc.

Then I realised - these guys have the same instinct for watches as I do for a Solex carb etc.

I’ve now launched on a very amusing hobby, which has two aims:
1. Find (and buy) the ugliest 70s watches possible. If I have the nuggets, I’ll even wear them.
2. Actually, for once in my life, try to appreciate the artistic side of watches -
rather than “it’s cheap, it’ll do” Scots utilitarian attitude I’ve carried with me since birth.

Anyone else here got an interest in watches/clocks etc?
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1719328
I bought an Omega Seamaster automatic in “Singers” in the early 70s with the moon landing movement, apparently - it has all paperwork. It is a bliddy great heavy conical shaped thing, tested to x metres depth - it’s so heavy it will take you there in a couple of minutes ! I never wear it for that reason. A 1960s gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual in its original box languishes in a drawer, never worn. It does not qualify as ugly though.
Flyin'Dutch', OCB liked this
By Bill Haddow
#1719359
OCB wrote:Anyone else here got an interest in watches/clocks etc?


This very day I took my Submariner to a watch repairer to have a bracelet pin fitted, the little pin with spring ends common to most watch straps / bracelets, (the original had fallen out.) This is a common, generic, non-Rolex part, available for about £1 a pack of 4 via Echo Cove or Large River.

The counter lady, not the watchsmith, took about 10 minutes to do it and charged £20 ! Ouch !

I'm going to take much more interest in watches in future.

Bill H
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By OCB
#1719364
Bill Haddow wrote:
OCB wrote:Anyone else here got an interest in watches/clocks etc?


This very day I took my Submariner to a watch repairer to have a bracelet pin fitted, the little pin with spring ends common to most watch straps / bracelets, (the original had fallen out.) This is a common, generic, non-Rolex part, available for about £1 a pack of 4 via Echo Cove or Large River.

The counter lady, not the watchsmith, took about 10 minutes to do it and charged £20 ! Ouch !

I'm going to take much more interest in watches in future.

Bill H


My sweet, adorable wife bought me a watch not that ago from one of the most expensive “Department Stores” in Belgium.

It needed adjustment. The “student” did a Shining on the poor thing. It was massacred. I was loathed upon loathed to say “err - wtf?”, but I did. Her boss appeared, gave it hell for leather - defending her staff, then actually looked at the piece. She looked at me, looked at the watch, looked at me again - and offered a full refund.

Problem was of course, it was a last of range, My other half had her heart set in me having that watch.

I, of course was think “da-fuuu?” My cheap-ass Scotsness needs nothing more than..,.,
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By Flyingfemme
#1719387
Adore watches.......have a small collection of cocktail watches, mostly Omega, mostly 70s. Far too small to read with the naked eye now but worn as jewellery. One is the smallest automatic I have ever seen and it keeps good time.
Also have my Dad’s 1965 Seamaster - unrestored and working well - on an original steel bracelet. I wear it a lot.
DH bought me a purple Oyster Datejust on a purple leather bracelet, from the year of my 18th birthday. It’s just so “of its time” and big enough to actually read.
Didn’t wear a watch for years but have come back to them fairly recently. Maybe it’s a sign of age?
By Bill McCarthy
#1719450
In the early days, a green matelot would buy a “genuine Rolex” in Gib, only to be told by the wise that it would stop in a couple of days when the Cockroach died.
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By akg1486
#1719476
I'm by no means an expert, but I do have a fascination for mechanical watches and clocks in general. The clock section is my favourite part of the British Museum. The precision engineering that watchmakers were capable of several hundred years ago is really impressing. In my mind, it's right up there with the Concorde and the Apollo program.

I bought myself an IWC Spitfire with a separate UTC hour display some twelve years ago. Not super expensive (some 3,000 pounds) but since it's in steel (and not gold/jewels) it looks cheaper to prospective thieves. So I dare wear it every day. :D There's not a single scratch on the (very hard) glass over the face. If I would sell it today, I'd get more than I paid twelve years ago, so not a bad investment.

It's a project of mine for retirement (in ten years or so) to really learn how they work and to be able to repair them. I may not have meticulous enough a personality for the fiddly work, though, but I plan to give it a go. Pocket watches may be the way to go: nobody wears vests anymore, so high quality pocket watches can be had for very little money considering the engineering marvel you get.
Flyin'Dutch', PaulB, seanxair and 1 others liked this
By Bill Haddow
#1719498
akg1486 wrote: Pocket watches may be the way to go: nobody wears vests anymore, so high quality pocket watches can be had for very little money considering the engineering marvel you get.


You motivated me to dig out my 1908 model Waltham (vintage c1931) which has been languishing in a drawer for yonks; I've set the time and wound it up, so we'll see. Easy to adjust the Fast / Slow lever.

While there, I also dug out my Thomas the Tank Engine watch, which seems to have run out of steam.


Bill H









Bill H
#1719503
I knew I couldn’t be the only one!

“My name’s Ian and I’m a watch collector.”

I buy watches the way that my wife buys shoes and handbags. If I see a watch I like, I have to own it. I sometimes later regret my choice of purchase, but still hang on to them. I have no idea how many watches I have, but I’m too scared to count.

They can be separated into categories of ‘the good’, ‘the bad’ and ‘the ugly’.

It all started when I qualified as a military pilot. My mother bought me a Rotary Chronometer to present to me at my Wings parade.

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30-odd years later it is still going strong and still one of my favourite day-to-day watches. Many of my collection are Rotary, but I have dabbled in other brands.

Another of my favourites is the ‘G10’ watch issued to me by the Army which I somehow failed to hand in when I left.

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Like all collectors, I have the obligatory Rolex. Not worn very much these days.

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My collection includes a couple of very nice pocket watches, some cheap plastic Casios bought when other watches have run out of battery and some very dubious acquisitions that should never have seen the light of day.

More to follow.
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By OCB
#1719517
Only one member of my family had a “grandfather clock”, I was always in awe of the thing as a young kid.

I learned about tuning/balancing the pendulum, and when the clocks went forward/back - how to “do it properly”.

The intervening 40 something years I’ve forgotten a lot of the detail, but I definitely remember being extremely focused on “not f8xking up” - in fact, pretty much exactly the same feeling I had on my first solo approach and landing. For the oldies, it was something they did with ease and pride, but first time - mess it up and your dead!

I kinda guessed I wouldn’t be alone on here with this hobby.

Once my latest finds have arrived, I’ll post the photos.

my reproduction “direct time” got out to play at the weekend. The wife hates it, her friends love the “retro futuristic” look :lol: