Which Watch Have You Got Coming In The Mail ? Show Us !!!

[Gramham]

Hello Everyone.

Just won this one.  Elgin Antique American Gentleman's Pocket Watch Grade 303 Circa 1927 (#29296413).  The practice movement I bought is from the same Grade and a reasonably close serial number (#23687805) so I hope to be able to make a working piece out of the two. 

Practice Movement:  https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/23687805
Semi-Working Pocket Watch:  https://pocketwatchdatabase.com/search/result/elgin/29296413
 

Here's the description:

 

Wish me luck in this restoration! Does anyone have any tips for me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

g.

----

[grsnovi]

Today I received an Elgin grade 409 that I ordered because the grade 409 that I have has a balance that doesn't spin (and the seller specifically commented that the balance on the one I ordered spins).

That's because THERE'S NO HAIRSPRING!!!

[KarlvonKoln]

1 hour ago, grsnovi said:

 

That's because THERE'S NO HAIRSPRING!!!

You don't really need a hairspring to make the balance spin.  You only need it if you want the balance to stop at some point and spin back the other way. 

[Neverenoughwatches]

4 hours ago, KarlvonKoln said:

You don't really need a hairspring to make the balance spin.  You only need it if you want the balance to stop at some point and spin back the other way. 

I guess the  seller was at least telling the truth then. Always but always if there isn't a photo of the movement ask the seller to add one. Then with a good magnifying glass spend 5 mins looking over it. Its surprising what detail you can see if the photo is clear, and if its  not clear then again ask the seller for a clearer photo. If he ignores you or wont oblige with an excuse that he cant get the back off, then walk away or be prepared that you are taking a risk buying the watch.Then set your bid limit accordingly .

Edited September 9, 2022 by Neverenoughwatches

[grsnovi]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:48 PM, grsnovi said:

That's because THERE'S NO HAIRSPRING!!!

I lied, turns out after I opened it up that the last person to fool with it re-attached the balance such that the hairspring was collapsed off-center under the cock.

[Neverenoughwatches]

2 minutes ago, grsnovi said:

I lied, turns out after I opened it up that the last person to fool with it re-attached the balance such that the hairspring was collapsed off-center under the cock.

Yey .  Your not coming to England then to live near me and make me cookies. Boo.

[AndyHull]

Hopefully this early "Made in Great Britain" Dundee Timex will respond well to a service and a good scrub.
I'm unsure of the exact date, but if there is an ink stamped clue inside I'll let you all know. Somewhere between 1956 and 1963 would be my initial guess.

[AndyHull]

It seems this is from 1959. Furthermore, I wound it and it runs.

Its still due a service, which I hope to do this evening, and it does feel a little gritty when setting the hands, so it may require a little work, but all in all a fine candidate for the 404 club  and not a bad deal for 0.99p plus postage.

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by AndyHull

[Neverenoughwatches]

45 minutes ago, AndyHull said:

It seems this is from 1959. Furthermore, I wound it and it runs.

Its still due a service, which I hope to do this evening, and it does feel a little gritty when setting the hands, so it may require a little work, but all in all a fine candidate for the 404 club  and not a bad deal for 0.99p plus postage.

 

Managed to aquire a few of these just lately to go into the 404 but this is silly money as Timex seem to be building a reputation as collectable items with quite a few fans. Divers do very well but the average joe that finds one of those in a draw at home, thinks nothing of them and they probably end up in the bin during a spring clean. So matey  hows the setting up of that cracking watch bench of yours coming along Andy ? Looking good from the last photos you put up.

[AndyHull]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

So matey  hows the setting up of that cracking watch bench of yours coming along Andy ? Looking good from the last photos you put up.

Its mainly on hold at the time being. We have some family staying for a while, so I'm doing my "Scottish Tourist guide" impersonation at the moment. On the plus side that does mean I haven't managed to fill the space with clutter yet, except for my ancient Gould 1602 oscilloscope, which seems to have died of lonesomeness in the attic, some time in the last year or so and is probably next on the resurrection schedule. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by AndyHull

[Upgrade1978]

Hello folks! Attached are a few of my recent repairs / TLC projects.  Working on a vintage Q Series now. Trying to figure out how to get it moving. Have a great weekend. 
 

1967 Timex Marlin. Movement bath, light lubrication, cleaned dial with Distilled water, polished crystal with Toothpaste then PolyWatch. Leather strap from my recycle bag. 
 

I believe the other is a 1974 Sportster? Just needed a good cleaning. Arrived in great working condition. Ultrasonic cleaned bracelet and applied new acrylic crystal. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Upgrade1978

[markr]

1967  It's at the authenticators right now.

[AndyHull]

A slightly scruff 1972 Timex Viscount (also a 404 club candidate) is on its way.

Described as "Timex Automatic Gents Watch Works But Untested made in Great Britain". I'm nor sure what "works but not tested" means, but I've no doubt it needs a service and probably a crystal.

 

[AndyHull]

This 404 club candidate just arrived. A Star cased 10K RGP Vintage 15 jewel Wittnauer rectangular mens dress watch for £1.99

The listing didn't show the mechanism, but the star on the case back piqued my curiosity.

It is admittedly a non runner. It needs a main spring and a second hand, and obviously a service. 

Here are a couple of images of what is inside (following a quick scrub of the case and crystal, but not a strip down of he mechanism).

I'm not sure who made the mechanism. Longines or Tissot are possibilities, but then again so are AS and ETA. Does anybody have any information in this regard?

EDIT: The AXA mark according to www.mikrolisk.de is a registered mark of Albert Wittnauer & Cie. SA designating a US-Importcode for Wittnauer & Cie. Uhrenteile; Genf, Montreux, Carouge, Schweiz; New York, Montreal, Chicago, USA. So there is a good chance this watch was originally sold in the USA, most probably around the 1940s

I'll post more pictures once I have it fully restored and running.

Edited October 5, 2022 by AndyHull

[Neverenoughwatches]

23 hours ago, AndyHull said:

This 404 club candidate just arrived. A Star cased 10K RGP Vintage 15 jewel Wittnauer rectangular mens dress watch for £1.99

The listing didn't show the mechanism, but the star on the case back piqued my curiosity.

It is admittedly a non runner. It needs a main spring and a second hand, and obviously a service. 

Here are a couple of images of what is inside (following a quick scrub of the case and crystal, but not a strip down of he mechanism).

I'm not sure who made the mechanism. Longines or Tissot are possibilities, but then again so are AS and ETA. Does anybody have any information in this regard?

EDIT: The AXA mark according to www.mikrolisk.de is a registered mark of Albert Wittnauer & Cie. SA designating a US-Importcode for Wittnauer & Cie. Uhrenteile; Genf, Montreux, Carouge, Schweiz; New York, Montreal, Chicago, USA. So there is a good chance this watch was originally sold in the USA, most probably around the 1940s

I'll post more pictures once I have it fully restored and running.

Wittnauer, predecessor/part of Record ? Nope got that wrong. It was Longines that had a connection with Wittnauer. From my reading, Wittnauer was a big importer of Longines watches along with some other high end brands. The Wittnauer house brand was their next best thing to offer America against their more expensive import watches that they sold. Their business dealings with Longines lasted decades and when Wittnauer finally sold in 1936 the buying company kept the same arrangement with Longines. That business changed its name to become Longines-Wittnauer, probably a generous agreement with Longines to promote both brands. But apparently neither owned by each other, just a shared name to benefit both parties. Or so it seems. 

Been after one of these for a while but they dont come cheap.  I was lucky not much interest in it. Great retro 70s feel, i read somewhere that they were given away at petrol stations if buying a full tank of fuel, i wonder how true this is. Good condition and runs, but the alarm is not working. It coes look like the alarm set stem has been swapped as it has a logo on it. Lets have a look at that. hmmm Tissot ? I was under the impression Secura ( This guy bought Breitling, nice when you can just go out and buy yourself a major watch brand on a whim eh ) made these.

Edited October 6, 2022 by Neverenoughwatches

[Neverenoughwatches]

23 hours ago, AndyHull said:

This 404 club candidate just arrived. A Star cased 10K RGP Vintage 15 jewel Wittnauer rectangular mens dress watch for £1.99

The listing didn't show the mechanism, but the star on the case back piqued my curiosity.

It is admittedly a non runner. It needs a main spring and a second hand, and obviously a service. 

Here are a couple of images of what is inside (following a quick scrub of the case and crystal, but not a strip down of he mechanism).

I'm not sure who made the mechanism. Longines or Tissot are possibilities, but then again so are AS and ETA. Does anybody have any information in this regard?

EDIT: The AXA mark according to www.mikrolisk.de is a registered mark of Albert Wittnauer & Cie. SA designating a US-Importcode for Wittnauer & Cie. Uhrenteile; Genf, Montreux, Carouge, Schweiz; New York, Montreal, Chicago, USA. So there is a good chance this watch was originally sold in the USA, most probably around the 1940s

I'll post more pictures once I have it fully restored and running.

Futher confusion lol. Wittnauer used Revue Thommen along with a few other early on and Wikipedia says Longines bought Wittnauer in 1950 ? . Different sources , Different stories.

[Neverenoughwatches]

7 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Wittnauer, predecessor/part of Record ? Nope got that wrong. It was Longines that had a connection with Wittnauer. From my reading, Wittnauer was a big importer of Longines watches along with some other high end brands. The Wittnauer house brand was their next best thing to offer America against their more expensive import watches that they sold. Their business dealings with Longines lasted decades and when Wittnauer finally sold in 1936 the buying company kept the same arrangement with Longines. That business changed its name to become Longines-Wittnauer, probably a generous agreement with Longines to promote both brands. But apparently neither owned by each other, just a shared name to benefit both parties. Or so it seems. 

Been after one of these for a while but they dont come cheap.  I was lucky not much interest in it. Great retro 70s feel, i read somewhere that they were given away at petrol stations if buying a full tank of fuel, i wonder how true this is. Good condition and runs, but the alarm is not working. It coes look like the alarm set stem has been swapped as it has a logo on it. Lets have a look at that. hmmm Tissot ? I was under the impression Secura ( This guy bought Breitling, nice when you can just go out and buy yourself a major watch brand on a whim eh ) made these.

Here is the inside. It is made by Sicura the guy who used to own Breitling.  Still unsure about the alarm crown by Tissot, i would guess just to replace the original crown as the stem winds the alarm but doesnt set the hand. Beautiful inside, completely untouched which is nice. So 2 wins today, the second was a Dirty Dozen movement in a random watch of a DD brand .  The memostar case back has a pin mounted on the inside. For the alarm hammer to tap against? 

[Neverenoughwatches]

20 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Wittnauer, predecessor/part of Record ? Nope got that wrong. It was Longines that had a connection with Wittnauer. From my reading, Wittnauer was a big importer of Longines watches along with some other high end brands. The Wittnauer house brand was their next best thing to offer America against their more expensive import watches that they sold. Their business dealings with Longines lasted decades and when Wittnauer finally sold in 1936 the buying company kept the same arrangement with Longines. That business changed its name to become Longines-Wittnauer, probably a generous agreement with Longines to promote both brands. But apparently neither owned by each other, just a shared name to benefit both parties. Or so it seems. 

Been after one of these for a while but they dont come cheap.  I was lucky not much interest in it. Great retro 70s feel, i read somewhere that they were given away at petrol stations if buying a full tank of fuel, i wonder how true this is. Good condition and runs, but the alarm is not working. It coes look like the alarm set stem has been swapped as it has a logo on it. Lets have a look at that. hmmm Tissot ? I was under the impression Secura ( This guy bought Breitling, nice when you can just go out and buy yourself a major watch brand on a whim eh ) made these.

Hey so some research earlier has lead me to this extra and different info. The Secura alarm watch was offered by the AA in the 70s for new members, not a give away with fuel ( i did think that was strange ) . The maker and cal. Was an A S 1931 date version.  1930 no date. Preceded and based on  the 1475 the most widely used and made mechanical alarm cal. 750.000 in its 16 year span from 1954. Also rebranded for Benrus , Bulova and TISSOT ( this maybe explains why mine has a Tissot crown ). Polijot and Sekonda also based their 2612.1  alarm watches on the AS 1475 and supposedly are almost identical to it. Would be interesting to compare this fact if anyone has either of those. 

[AndyHull]

A blue dialled Montine 17 Jewels (FE 233), hopefully heading for the 404 club.

Edited October 10, 2022 by AndyHull

[GuyMontag]

 

On 10/7/2022 at 4:04 AM, Neverenoughwatches said:

Hey so some research earlier has lead me to this extra and different info. The Secura alarm watch was offered by the AA in the 70s for new members, not a give away with fuel ( i did think that was strange ) . The maker and cal. Was an A S 1931 date version.  1930 no date. Preceded and based on  the 1475 the most widely used and made mechanical alarm cal. 750.000 in its 16 year span from 1954. Also rebranded for Benrus , Bulova and TISSOT ( this maybe explains why mine has a Tissot crown ). Polijot and Sekonda also based their 2612.1  alarm watches on the AS 1475 and supposedly are almost identical to it. Would be interesting to compare this fact if anyone has either of those. 

 

Yep, looks like the same movement as my Bulova 11AURCD.

 

 

 

 

 

[AndyHull]

I don't tend to purchase unless I can see the mechanism, or unless the price is right.
I'm now two quid poorer and have no idea what is in this. I'll keep you all posted when it arrives.

[Neverenoughwatches]

On 10/10/2022 at 11:18 PM, GuyMontag said:

 

 

Yep, looks like the same movement as my Bulova 11AURCD.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank guy. It's nice to have confirmation on some research  🖒

[GuyMontag]

This is my first quartz watch as I haven't really been all that interested in non-mechanical watches, but the blue and yellow on this watch go together like chocolate and peanut butter, and I really dig that the alarm can be set with both an hour and minute.

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

21 minutes ago, GuyMontag said:

This is my first quartz watch as I haven't really been all that interested in non-mechanical watches, but the blue and yellow on this watch go together like chocolate and peanut butter, and I really dig that the alarm can be set with both an hour and minute.

 

Nice watch Guy. A tad reminiscent of the Pogue. One of my grail watches ( I have many  ☺ )

[mbwatch]

$22 USD, couldn't pass up a 1969 Mickey Mouse Timex. I'm sure a quick cleaning and new crystal will make it near perfect, then I'll give it to a niece. Or maybe I'll sell it serviced for $50 then buy two more and give one of those to my niece so I can keep one.

When I was about 6, a teenage relative wore one of these and this was the watch I aspired to.

(sold as "not working but good balance wheel" - you'd have to be pretty deliberate to damage the balance on one of these)