Post pics of your watches ***Please NO QUOTING PHOTOS***

Fabritzo

I'd probably need to wear if for a while to see how the finish lasts. I can't fault it though.
The case is quite thick but not out of proportion with the size of the watch, consequently it's a decent weight. I've a newish 100m diver Seiko automatic on a rubber strap and it's about the same weight as it, maybe a tad heavier. The weight flopping around inside it more audible than the Seiko!
The strap on the one in your picture looks a bit nicer, go for it, you wont regret it.

Mr Boom Boom

Took plunge went for this !

Mr Boom Boom

View from different angle. Quite happy with it

FanMahBrow

Nowhere near as good as some of the excellent watches just displayed, but it's actually not bad in a not-quite-understated sort of way, and has lovely big obvious hands!



The black leather strap is quite decent too.

peasant

I just couldn't love the cheap looking brown strap on my Sturmanskie ...so I replaced it with something even cheaper

An old Vostok strap from the depths of my "miscellaneous" drawer has now taken up residence. And as the only thing I didn't like about that one was its really nasty buckle, the Sturmanskie buckle was allowed to remain in place.

I love the result ...IMO the slightly rancid look of ye olde strappe goes really well with the old-look design of the watch

(and I don't care if you disagree )

Landoflemon

I was watching Mad Men, and noticed the main character, Don Draper, had quite an eye catching watch, I looked it up and it was a 1960's Seamaster DeVille with a black face. I remembered that there was an old and very scratched Seamaster DeVille upstairs in the house, on a rotting strap, that belonged to my grandfather originally.

So I took it into work with me, and polished the scratches off the glass using diamond suspension polish that I use for preparing carbon fibre, bought a new strap, and I must say it's looking an awful lot better now!

Mredsnapper

That's really nice. I read somewhere that Don's black dialed Seamaster DeVille had been redialled. The price of the black dialed ones have sky rocketed since mm aired and most of the ones on fleabay etc are white dialed ones that have been redialled black. AFAIK origional black dialed ones are very rare. Anyway, lovely watch.

blindsider

I have a 60's Omega - white dial. The dial is in excellent condition. (I've posted pics here before.) any other white dial owners out there? Maybe we could get a few white dials on TV to boost the value a bit?

Watch before I got it cleaned up.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=78309402

I'd like to get a nice strap (Hirsch?) with an Omega buckle. I'd also look to get an original Omega crown - the old one was replaced years ago.

Sigh - some day!

Wibbs

Absofeckilutely gorgeous Omega Landoflemon and a family watch too. That shít you can never buy, no matter how rich you are. Kudos for your inventive and successful restoration(ehh I have a couple of watches and you may get a PM... ). More you're bringing something that well effin cool back to life ready for wear again Mad Men notwithstanding I prefer the pale dial myself and when Mad men is as distant a memory as Cheers or MASH, the pale dial will still keep on trucking. In fact may end up being rarer, because so many will have refinished the dial in black. Well wear that watch sir as your grandfather wore it before you and it has the sort of quality that means your descendants will still be able to mark their events by it. That's what's so cool about quality watches(not even expensive just quality and I'd throw G-shocks and Suuntos in that category BTW).





Speaking of family watches. This watch featured in the fourth post on this very thread back in the day, but now as things go the external link is a questionmark so this time I'll host it on Boards, no dead links here. I had done up a set of pics for another watch forum out there on the interwebs so...



My early 1930's Zenith "extraspecial" Pilots watch with centre secondhand. Longines have recently released their homage to their version. I stuck mine in the middle of a Luftwaffe pilots wrist compass and as I had been wittering on/boring the locals about this particular aeroplane on the history forum hereabouts, a model Stuka I made as a kid, sitting on a tailwheel from a Stuka*. A pattern seems to be emerging here. In fairness I left out the cockpit instruments and bits of fuselage from same, so I'm kinda holding back on my madness. I grant you the NATO strap is far less vintage, but I like them godammit!! :mad::D







*or a FW 190, or some models of Me 109's. Practical bunch our German mates, tighter than a Cavanman on holiday in Scotland, so had lots of common parts. The damn thing, though it has had some active take off and landing wear, still takes air in the tyre without leaking. *goes off to find German tyres for my car and judging by that, secondhand won't really be an issue...*

OldRio

Landoflemon wrote: »

I was watching Mad Men, and noticed the main character, Don Draper, had quite an eye catching watch, I looked it up and it was a 1960's Seamaster DeVille with a black face. I remembered that there was an old and very scratched Seamaster DeVille upstairs in the house, on a rotting strap, that belonged to my grandfather originally.

So I took it into work with me, and polished the scratches off the glass using diamond suspension polish that I use for preparing carbon fibre, bought a new strap, and I must say it's looking an awful lot better now!

*snip* NO QUOTING PHOTOS.

Sorry

Understated and pure class. Lovely.
Now I must go and check those boxes in the attic.:D

Deep Thought

Wibbs wrote: »

Absofeckilutely gorgeous Omega Landoflemon and a family watch too. That shít you can never buy, no matter how rich you are.

Holy Moley....

Deep Breaths Wibbs.....through the nose and out through the mouth....

Bluefoam

Saw this on the internerd yesterday & really liked it, so I dropped into the Tag Boutique last night to have a look. I love this watch... Its €2560, feels great on & has a really simple, clear, great looking face. I also love the operation of the timer, although its a wee bit lose to turn.



http://www.calibre11.com/tag-heuer-carrera-drive-timer-calibre-5-first-look/

Eoin

Finally got the bracelet off my Hamilton and put it on this strap. I think it's an improvement over the bracelet, but I'm still not sure if the watch is for me.

Orlaw3136

Eoin wrote: »

Finally got the bracelet off my Hamilton and put it on this strap. I think it's an improvement over the bracelet, but I'm still not sure if the watch is for me.

It looks good with brown leather - if I could make so bold, I would suggest that such a strap but with curved ends would look very well with it.

Eoin

Thanks Orlaw3136 - you mean at the lug end so it fits around the face better? It's is a bit squashed looking at the moment.

Orlaw3136

Eoin wrote: »

Thanks Orlaw3136 - you mean at the lug end so it fits around the face better? It's is a bit squashed looking at the moment.

That's it exactly - you see Speedys on such straps a lot and I think they look great. Something like this perhaps (comes in 18, 20 and 22 mm) :-

http://www.hirschstraps.com/products/hirsch-medici-leather-watch-strap-brown

Eoin

Thanks a mil, I'll definitely give something like that a go. I think I'll be flipping it soon enough though; I should have known better than to go for another impulse buy.

burnhardlanger

Group shot.

Orlaw3136

Eoin wrote: »

Thanks a mil, I'll definitely give something like that a go. I think I'll be flipping it soon enough though; I should have known better than to go for another impulse buy.

Ah yes, the impulse buy. I have found that they're all that stand between us and the watch that we really want :pac:

Cutting them out allowed me to get together the five 'good' watches that I now currently hold as keepers together with one or two 'movables'. At one stage I had about 15 'affordable' (!) watches none of which were truly what I wanted.

I'm done with big purchases now and I rotate the couple of others whenever the mood takes me, the rule being that I might buy another affordable after I've closed the sale of the incumbent.

peasant

nothing whatsoever wrong with impulse buying

Homer

Two recent additions..

Breitling emergent currently on Breitling rubber strap but adding some 22mm leather straps to it shortly..











and a Seiko Spork

sparrowcar

First dibs on the Spork if you flip it

Eoin

Homer wrote: »

Breitling emergent currently on Breitling rubber strap but adding some 22mm leather straps to it shortly..

As I said on TZ-UK recently enough; when I see a Breitling Emergency, all I can think of is Father Dougal and the big red button he wasn't supposed to press. There's no way I could wear one of them out if I was drinking.

MiCr0

love the strap on the breitling - i'd love to get a black rubber strap for my Steinhard O1 GMT

Wibbs

MiCr0 wrote: »

love the strap on the breitling - i'd love to get a black rubber strap for my Steinhard O1 GMT

I love the look of them M, but I always found them uncomfortable in use for some reason.

In the spirit of our thread... Tonight I'm rocking it very old school and if you will excuse the incredibly crappy quality of the phone pic.

Great war 1916 fixed lugged half hunter(flip top lid) wristlet in silver, with black enamel numerals on the external case and fancy monogram on the screwdown caseback, 35 mm across minus winder and lugs. Pretty good quality 15 jewel movement, sold by London shop Mappins way back in the day. Well cool(IMHO) in that steampunk way and in lovely condition considering it's near a century old and had been through quite a lot in its early years. Needs a service though. Losing a minute a day. I'll get around to it I swear.

Menas

That is a fantastic design wibbs....just wow.

scwazrh

Wibbs -Have you an idea what that watch is worth?

Wibbs

It depends on a few things S. Condition and maker. The half hunter early wristwatches/trench watches/wristlets are the rarer of the breed anyway. Even crappy non running ones in small sizes(IE 30mm, which is a ladies watch of the time, if it has coloured enamel then that's defo for the women's market.) can go for a couple of hundred quid on ebay. Rarely a good bet as finding parts is gonna be a nightmare, so unless you have a donor or spares and a friendly watchmaker then best avoided.

If you want to take the risk? Here's one on ebay at 99 pence. Bear in mind the hands are wrong, the enamel dial is bollexed, it's missing it's glass cover/bezel and it doesn't run.

Here's another example. Again problems like the wrong hands, the movement looks well tampered with and the wrong crown.

A working, in good condition with a name like Rolex*/Longines/IWC**/Omega/Zenith one then a thousand plus, usually more. One like mine? Good condition with a good movement, I'd say 5-600 euros. If you can find one. I'm an ebay slut so I got this example a few years ago for 150 quid all in, so you might get lucky, but I will admit that over the years I've gotten lucky, much of my now expertise was down to bad luck. :o;):)

I got VERY lucky with this particular watch. It even had it's original strap :eek::eek: Here it is with the strap, after a few days soaking in moisturiser(no really. Well it was once skin...)


And here it is with the flip top lid/half hunter open


As usual I've gone long winded. Sorry about that S. I've always been really interested in the very early days of the wristwatch(a remarkably short history too, 1900, but really 1910 onwards) and have collected a few of that type through the years. I love to know they're still being worn a 100 years later.

Basically I don't want you or anyone else reading to get a crappy one. IMHO they're still woefully undervalued given they're the ground zero of what we think of the wristwatch today. Still there is a lot of shíte available, often at silly money. Many watches with the wrong hands, crown etc. Not surprising given they're nearly a century old. Even so, if you bide your time you can still find clean, working, well preserved examples of the early history of the wristwatch for a couple of hundred quid. I picked up a very early 1912 Longines for the price of a mid range Casio only two years ago(180 quid).


TL;DR? Bloody understandable too... :o:o Figure 300 quid for a good un. Look for condition and originality in all parts. That is everything. If you like S, I can keep an eye out for you and PM you an ebay link? That way I can live vicariously through you





* the joke is. back then outside of the odd prima movements Rolex stuff was pure shíte. Very low grade. They only got quality consistently in the 20/30's

** rarely enough supplied full watches, more a movement vendor, contrary to what their current official PR history would suggest. Nice movements though in fairness.

Deep Thought

Well after some deliberation and discussions with Wibbs, I decided to get me a real antique Flieger

Wibbs was a gift , his knowledge and advice is fab

So, got this and am gonna get the sub seconds hand replaced and then off for a service and new Flieger Strap

Hopefully, this is one that will appreciate in value over the years



DT

Wibbs

Glad I could help a little. Man DT I can't wait to see it all wristed up on a strap. I always loved the propeller logo on the dials of these. In case there was any doubt this is made for pilots motherfuc.... No mistaking it for a dress or divers watch that's for sure. One of the earliest "tool" watches(and enormous for the time), an actual pilots watch made at a time when IWC were mostly selling pocketwatches and Breitling hadn't been invented. Well wear DT.






Plus my Flieger needs a relative close by so it doesn't get lonely.

Wibbs

Another Saturday night oldie. The earliest wristwatch I have. 1912. Now officially an antique wristwatch. Same year as the Titanic went down. Crazy thought. Funny enough, though it looks kinda odd it doesn't look like a Victorian pocket watch with lugs welded on as most do from that time and later. Even the winder crown looks "modern"

Again apologies for the crappy fone pic.


Hampden Company wristwatch/wristlet with a silverine case(nickel). US made(though ended up in France of all places), with a very fancy movement, proclaiming Canton, Ohio as it's birthplace. Most of the later ones had a so so 7 jewel job, but this has the 15 jewel, with screwed chatoned jewels, Breguet spring, micrometer regulation, gorgeous finishing and gold writing all over the place. Real US of A bling

That's the movement in a ladies fob watch.

Odd thing about this is the winding/setting part. It's a lever set. This means you have to pop the front open, slide a tiny lever just below the 5 and then the crown turns the hands. Apparently the patent for the crown doing all the work of winding and setting was held by others and they didn't pay for the patent at this early stage.

IMH at this time our American friends were blowing the European makers out of the bloody water on the mid to high end range stuff. Their mid range stuff wouldn't look outa place on some serious Swiss names. That watch is one of the most accurate I own. In the last 24 hours it's lost 10 seconds(and consistently does so) and it's long overdue a service(and a new crystal).




And what ever happened to the Hampden watch company from Ohio Main Street USA? Odd one. After the Great war, they didn't keep up with the times, or fashion and slowly started going downhill, ending up bankrupt by the late 20's*.

Enter, stage left and way out of left field, the Communist Soviet Union. They bought this US company lock, stock and barrel and shipped it to Russia, along with hiring a few master watchmakers to train in the locals. It became the Moscow Watch Factory and so in the end the Hampden Watch Co(with a little help from German stuff after WW2) gave rise to the Poljots, Raketas, Vostoks and the like.

So in a way without the crowd that made my watch all those years ago our own mate Peasant would be down quite a few of his very cool timepieces.




And so ends my usual Saturday night boring history meanderings. Ah sure you're all out getting beered up so... This will help sober you up in the morrow.:D






*really weird one, their watches feature in the film "The Maltese Falcon". not the Bogart one, but the original from 1931. Bet many of ye didn't know that was a remake. So no slagging remakes.

peasant

Wibbs

Thanks for that!

Heres a WUS post about some early soviet watches with Dueber Hampden movements:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f10/gostrest-tochmekh-type-2-pocket-watch-965777.html

Menas

Lovely watch Wibbs, and a nice history lesson too. An early wrist watch is on my wants list, the 1880s pocket watch that I have is not for taking out!

Deep Thought

On a black Nato Temporarily

Its cracking...

Now, off for a service

DT

Wibbs

Looks fantastic! DT and the right amount of patina IMH. It is the bigger sized one too(was slightly worried it may have been the 32mm version). Looks like the minute hand got a bump in transit Still a good watchmaker should be able to stabilise that(actually hang on, Ill have a root around...). The movement won't be an issue as they've a good un. Solid, simple and dependable and yours is the "proper" full sized one and the better quality one with it. Well may you wear DT.

gafarrell

Purchased this in NYC in 2008. I didnt wear it in a few years. Took it out this afternoon and put in a new battery. Its now proudly on my wrist again.

Wibbs

Yet another Saturday night special...

This time another early wristwatch, or wristlet or bracelet watch as they were often called at the time. Made a year after the 1915 New York National Retail Jewelers' Association of America, where an august delegate by the name of Louis Ebeling mused this; "The wrist watch will never be a common timepiece, while it is stylish, it is going to give us a lot of trouble. I think we'd better let matters stand as they are."

Slightly better fone pic from earlier today;

One 1916 Longines "trench watch". Solid silver hallmarked case and unusually for the time movable lugs and better again a decent size, 37mm.

I have to say I do like silver as a material as it changes with wear*. When I first got this many years ago it was as black as your boot from tarnish and even now it picks up funky patterns of patina from the strap.

Built like a pocket watch with two hinged cuvette backs to it, even has the original pumpkin crown with a tiny L in the top. Longines 13.34 15 jewel movement. Serial number on movement and case, something very few makers did at the time. Makes gauging the history of a Longines easier than nearly all the rest(and if you email them with said serial they'll give you the details of it's history from their handwritten ledgers going back to the mid 1800's). Also marked with the UK import hallmark for 1916 and "AB", one Arthur Baume from Baume & Co who was Longines' sole agent in Britain(and it's empire) at the time.

This is also a "birthday watch" of our country in a way. While the Great War raged, Irish streets were fighting a long sought revolution to give us all our autonomy today. When I glance at the time for our more mundane reasons these days, every so often I do glance a little bit longer.

As a day to day watch? I've read all sorts of good advice about vintage watches, that they should be special day watches, cosseted, pampered, delicately worn. That is V good advice BTW, especially for these old codgers. However.... I've had this one for a long time. I've worn it a lot, daily for many a year and it gets wrist time on a very regular basis to this day. I've had all sorts of thrills and spills with it. The only real care I've given it is that I kept it away from water, well immersing it in water anyway, I've defo worn it in the pissins of an Irish winter and walked home pissed as a fart in the snow obsessively checking the time as a went(as you do when pissed :D). Even so, it's been one of the most accurate and dependable watches I have ever owned/looked after. Not too bad for a leaky 98 year old.



*they often say it's too soft a material for modern watches. ORLY? Just shy of a century and still goin strong boyo. :D

Mredsnapper

That's a really nice wibbs. I know I'm being irrational but the lack of radium on the dial makes these early early watches even more attractive to me. (Less radium wabi is a good thing imho)

Wibbs

+1 M. You can see the typestyle far better. Safer too. It's a relatively easy task to clean the enamel dials of radium, the metal dials can be an issue sometimes. Either way, don't try that at home folks. Although it will have long lost it's glow(the phosphors burn out), the radium is still very radioactive. Inhale a tiny speck of that into your lungs and a 60 a day smoking habit would start to look healthy by comparison.

Eoin

Got this in the post today. It's a "Maranez Layan", which is basically a cheap version of a Magrette from Asia, with a Seiko movement. It has a bronze (not brass) case, which is developing a nice patina.

I think I would prefer that there was a second hand, and that the crown and buckle matched the material of the case a little better. It's also available with a California dial, which looks pretty cool. It has screw bars instead of spring bars, which makes it easy to change straps.

fulladapipes

My Speedy on a leather curved end Hirsch Medici (I think)....

Wibbs

There's me going on about silver as a case material that patinates up nice and along comes Eoin with a bronze case. Sweet. I gather you can age them up more quickly using eggs. Yep eggs. Hard boil a couple, crumble them up, stick the resultant mess into a zip lock bag and then put the watch in the same bag, not touching the eggy goo. The gasses from the egg speeds up the patination. Not as real as the real thing over the months years though. Old bronze has a gorgeous colour.

I bloody love the Omega Speedy. One of the few vintage/modern Omegas I like. Looks good on the leather fulladapipes. Hell one of those would look good on a piece of torn bedsheet tied to your wrist.

fulladapipes

My only issue with the Speedy is the lack of a date. I wear a Submariner a lot which has a date, but then I miss the chronometre. I wear the Speedy and I miss the date. New Speedy models with date are 44.25mm which is a bit big (and expensive) I reckon. So, a 42mm Speedy 3573 like my one with a date would be perfect... It is a fine watch though.

Wibbs

Funny enough F the lack of date is what I like about the Speedy. Not a big fan of date windows TBH, but especially on a chrono. For me they add just too much "busyness" to a chrono dial. Bear in mind F, I am an odd bastid, someone for whom the Submariners do nothing for, so that says it all. :D

Here's a very cheap and cheerful pic of my only chrono(no date goddammit!!).



A(pre TAG) Heuer 1550 SG two register handwound chronograph* on a BUND leather strap, as issued to the German Bundeswehr from the late 1960's down to today, usually touted as "pure" pilots watches, but issued to other sections too. Column wheel chronograph, with a "flyback" function, which means it can be reset to zero on the fly and time a second event(This video demonstrates this. Interestingly, mine doesn't have issue marks on the back case, so wasn't an issued piece. It's an early one too, with a very low case number(also has polished pushers and crown unlike the standard matt finish). Odd as they weren't offered/easy to get as a "civilian" until the mid 80's when the Germans sold off a job lot of them through SINN of all people and even then they had the case markings. I've only seen one other like it. Pure fluke on my part. Didn't know when I bought it. The strap has the issue numbers though so that's "official".








*it's an update of a Leonidas chrono also issued to the German and Italian forces, that Heuer updated when they bought Leonidas. Investment advice? Try and buy the Leonidas. Far more rare, far less likely to be made up from spare parts, but only 10% more expensive and often cheaper than the later Heuer. For my money both are still undervalued. Try getting another issued military column wheel chrono for the money. I got mine for under 1500, under 2000 is common enough

burnhardlanger

fulladapipes wrote: »

My only issue with the Speedy is the lack of a date. I wear a Submariner a lot which has a date, but then I miss the chronometre. I wear the Speedy and I miss the date. New Speedy models with date are 44.25mm which is a bit big (and expensive) I reckon. So, a 42mm Speedy 3573 like my one with a date would be perfect... It is a fine watch though.

Want a date function with the Speedy?
Today is the 3rd.
Start the chrono and stop the chrono hand at 3.
Start/Stop again tomorrow for the 4th etc

Deep Thought

burnhardlanger wrote: »

Want a date function with the Speedy?
Today is the 3rd.
Start the chrono and stop the chrono hand at 3.
Start/Stop again tomorrow for the 4th etc

Very Clever

fulladapipes

Just a thought, but does anybody know what Speedies come in 42mm with a date function (as opposed to just 'a date'!)?

Menas

Can anyone explain to me why I have 3 bids out on 3 Trench watches at the moment? Need to pull back from viewing this thread!!

Wibbs

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me why I have 3 bids out on 3 Trench watches at the moment? Need to pull back from viewing this thread!!

Ahhh *rubs hands together* I have successfully infected you with the Wristlet virus. No known cure. :pac: On that score a few days ago I saw a bloody lovely JW Benson label one with a longines movement and a black dial go for little over the 200 quid mark. Actually there is a cure TH. Being broke. :mad::D

Wibbs

burnhardlanger wrote: »

Want a date function with the Speedy?
Today is the 3rd.
Start the chrono and stop the chrono hand at 3.
Start/Stop again tomorrow for the 4th etc

Y'know I should warn you for trolling, but I like that kinda twisted thinking BHL and it means no need for a date on a chrono. Kudos sir.