Watch of Today

AndyHull · June 3, 2019

From the best of times to the würst of times.

I am not making this up, but the thing didn't actually work until I added a little oil(*). It seems that in order to get the sausages movement moving, you need to add some grease. {Insert double entendre laden sausage joke of your choice here}.

(*) Actually I needed to free it up with a little lighter fluid, then oil the pivots,.

Johnnie · June 3, 2019

This one is lubricated with lard and cooking oil.

balaton · June 4, 2019

Today, this Luch EMQ with the (in)famous 3055, produced from 1981 to 1983. At 41mm and 10g, it can be a bit of brute to wear.

Regards.

Gryf · June 5, 2019

Interesting... I have my own Luch 3055 in the shop right now. It began to run intermittently, then stopped... so I gave it a good cleaning and lube, and now while the electronics drive the balance successfully, and the pallet fork is actuating normally, drive isn’t transferring to the train wheels. Interestingly, our local watchmaker is from Minsk, where the Luch was made.

gryf

balaton · June 5, 2019

5 hours ago, Gryf said:

Interesting... I have my own Luch 3055 in the shop right now. It began to run intermittently, then stopped... so I gave it a good cleaning and lube, and now while the electronics drive the balance successfully, and the pallet fork is actuating normally, drive isn’t transferring to the train wheels. Interestingly, our local watchmaker is from Minsk, where the Luch was made.

gryf

I have two of these things. My blue-dialled one runs faultlessly (touch wood!) whilst this white-dialled one will run for months but does run fast. After re-setting the time, it can be a bit of a bear to get it re-started and I'd always wondered if it wasn't de-hacking properly.

Anyway, I hope your watchmaker can get yours running properly.

Regards.

AndyHull · June 5, 2019

That looks like a very well engineered movement (for its time).

I'm intrigued by the purple conformal coating. Usually the stuff is clear, or perhaps green or white. There must have been a good gentian harvest that year.

balaton · June 5, 2019

Not so sure about the "well-engineered" bit. See here: http://www.crazywatches.pl/luch-3055-electro-quartz-1981

Regards.

AndyHull · June 5, 2019

Watches of today and a little bit of international cross dressing, who says we 'aint adventurous round here. :devil:

Well what the heck, we Scots have been known to wear the occasional ~~skirt~~ kilt (albeit with a handily placed traditional dirk in our sock to keep the childish crowds from sniggering).

First, and arguably the most interesting, a Soviet era Sekonda 17 jewel ladies. Dead on arrival, but now keeping remarkably good time following a service. Man that thing is tiny. The least little shake or sneeze and the those microscopic parts would be in orbit.

A steady hand and a lot of patience got it spruced up, oiled and dialed in to around +5 to +15 sec per day. It is swinging away quite nicely, and it too looks hardly worn. It was remarkably clean and the even the strap looks unworn, though a little dry with age. It doesn't even have any of the usual heavy kinks in it.

Next up is a a "Unisex" German Krippl (with an Epson Japanese movement). Picked up in a job lot in brand new unworn condition still with protective film, but dead battery. Not unattractive, but neither is it very exciting.

Finally the current daily work watch (the Swatch is taking a well earned rest) - the Lorus day date quartz, which you may have spotted in a few other posts.

Edited June 5, 2019 by AndyHull

balaton · June 6, 2019

34mm Accurist Divermatic with a 21j ETA 2452. OK, I get the "matic" bit, but "Diver"?? Err.. no.

Regards.

AndyHull · June 6, 2019

Fine for life onboard a submarine perhaps, but not much use for timing the air remaining in your tanks. It doesn't even appear to be waterproof. They could at least have gone to the trouble of kidding us on that waterproof to 3mm was a thing.

Mind you, some watches go completely overboard with their claims (pun intended).

Examples here.

If I end up 15,000m under water, I doubt if I will be worrying what time it is anymore, since I will presumably be on a different planet.

The maximum known depth of water on planet earth is 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) (± 40 metres [130 ft]) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep.^[2] However, some un-repeated measurements place the deepest portion at 11,034 metres (36,201 ft). (Source - Wikipedia).

Edited June 6, 2019 by AndyHull

AndyHull · June 6, 2019

Yesterday's little Seconda put in a pretty impressive performance for such a tiny movement.

Here it is more than 24hrs later, still ticking away strongly (but starting to flag slightly, judging by the slight increase in rate).

You will be glad to hear I've stopped wearing it now and gone back to something a bit more masculine. People were beginning to talk.

AndyHull · June 6, 2019

Replacing the Seconda is this Casio AQ 230 with a nice crisp black dial.

The crystal still needs a little bit of the shine restored to it, but it makes a nice companion for the white dial version I have, which I posted about back in February.

Edited June 6, 2019 by AndyHull

m1ks · June 7, 2019

Todays (old) new watch is this Brunoff quartz chrono using a Miyota movement.

I bought this years ago for a project which just didn't work, during the course of storage disassembled and reassembly I lost one of the sub dial hands hence why the 24 hour sub dial has none but (usually) I know if it's morning or night.

So this is legitimately the first time wearing out of the box. Just that it's been there years and in bits more than once ish.

balaton · June 7, 2019

34mm UMF from the good ol’ GDR with its 0j UMF 23.

This was a relatively short-lived (1961 – 1963) movement before being superseded by the easier (and cheaper) to manufacture UMF 24 series which then went on to sell more than 100 million units, mainly to the West.

Regards.

yankeedog · June 7, 2019

Wandsworth avia. 7 jewel AS1124.I suppose it's a dirty dozen copy.Well worn.Reliable and erratic.

yankeedog · June 7, 2019

On 6/6/2019 at 9:31 AM, AndyHull said:

Fine for life onboard a submarine perhaps, but not much use for timing the air remaining in your tanks. It doesn't even appear to be waterproof. They could at least have gone to the trouble of kidding us on that waterproof to 3mm was a thing.

Mind you, some watches go completely overboard with their claims (pun intended).

Examples here.

If I end up 15,000m under water, I doubt if I will be worrying what time it is anymore, since I will presumably be on a different planet.

The maximum known depth of water on planet earth is 10,994 metres (36,070 ft) (± 40 metres [130 ft]) at the southern end of a small slot-shaped valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep.^[2] However, some un-repeated measurements place the deepest portion at 11,034 metres (36,201 ft). (Source - Wikipedia).

I would hate to think of the pressure.

AndyHull · June 7, 2019

11 minutes ago, yankeedog said:

I would hate to think of the pressure.

About 1,086 bars or around 15,750 psi (or approximately 1000 times atmospheric pressure at sea level). That might cause a slight nose bleed if you came up too fast.

yankeedog · June 7, 2019

Or about the equivalent of three 1972 Cadillac sedan de villes pressing down on every square inch.

AndyHull · June 7, 2019

Three of those per square inch, now that certainly would cause a bit of a nosebleed.

Johnnie · June 7, 2019

And leave a nasty taste in your mouth!

ro63rto · June 8, 2019

Engineer today

New OEM crystal gasket and crystal

Still to do - refinish bezel, refinish bracelet, find or make bezel filler ring

2I4T0lb.jpg&key=e4efa397a0050d583419126dd7da8884a3b6eb515ba6d481c43010d392fb2df0

AndyHull · June 8, 2019

Looking good.

AndyHull · June 8, 2019

1973 Timex Marlin - This really was a diamond in the rough. The crystal probably needs replacing, but I managed to get the rather obvious dings and gouges in it smoothed out to the point where they are hardly noticeable, with the possible exception of the one over the day and the even more obvious one at half past one.

I also gave it deep clean, followed by a quick service and replaced the sticking crown locking lever. These tend to wear to the point where you can no longer pull out the crown. I have managed to file them back to life, but I had a spare, so I just did a quick swap.

It now winds, hands adjust, it runs, and you can easily see the time none of which was possible when it arrived.

A fresh leather band replaced the insanitary hair puller, and it was fit to wear. I'll do the final tinkering and polishing once it has proved itself reliable, on my wrist for a couple of days.