automatico

ARNEX 12 atm (400ft) dive chrono from 1960s with Landeron 149... It has the 12 ATM WR brag on the case back but imho, that is Bull even when new...30 to 50 feet maybe. Why? Because even with a double O ring crown, fairly large case back gasket, and thick acrylic crystal, it still has the standard pissant pushers. The Landeron 149 never got much respect, but they turned out to be pretty good and were constructed much like the Valjoux 7733. The Val 7733 later morphed into the Valjoux 7750 and turned out to be a huge hit.

I have owned quite a few mechanical chronographs and also like hand wind models over autos. I got in a tizzy in 1996/97 and sold all my mechanical chronographs but since then I bought/traded into a few with ETA 77xx, one 1960s two register Arnex 'diver' chronograph (Landeron 149), and a few Alphas etc with the ST19. I have worn a few with the 77xx and ST19 but not the Arnex because I do not want to take a chance on it seizing up. A 1960s 'Diver' chronograph! With a countdown bezel! It probably needs a drain plug more than a countdown bezel. "Bu..bu...but it says 'Waterproof Tested To 12 Atmospheres' on the back!" (about 400 ft) I say: "Like a fish." Like in... "I'm gonna whup your azz!" "Yeah, like a fish."

"I prefer quartz over automatic these days." I hear you! I always liked quartz chronographs better than mechanicals, especially if they are retro style with cushion cases. Here is one of my favorites with a Seiko Mecaquartz movement. Mecaquartz = the time keeping is regular quartz and the push buttons and center timing hand's 'return to center' actuations are mechanical. Since there is no jumping second hand, it does act like a quartz watch and the center timing hand's 'return to center' action is smooth like a mechanical chronograph. It originally had a 'Rallye' type leather strap and I put a ZRC strap on it with a steel 'Roller' buckle. 'Roller' = it has a hollow steel tube over the end of the buckle and it rolls instead of sliding over the strap when tightening the strap to prevent scuffing the leather.

"Brother, now your have crossed over the just showing off!" Yeah, it's embarrassing. The truth is since I have worked around this stuff for a long time, it does not seem out of the ordinary for me or anyone else who has worked or is working on watches to have an accumulation like this. There are also two Bulova parts cabinets, boxes of crystals, and stuff crammed everywhere in the shop. I am not alone in having parts (and projects) all over the place...I have a friend who works on high grade American pocket watches, vintage American/swiss wristwatches etc and he has a two car garage full of tools, watches, and watch parts plus a shop in his house. "Although I will change my opinion if you will send me red box number 2…" Red #1 has mostly 1570 autowind and train parts, red #2 has a few 1570 balances complete, one 3035 bal/comp, one 2135 bal/comp and assorted 15xx parts but my guess is the blue box with crowns will be worth the most if not now, in a few years. Almost all of the crowns are the earlier style with steel or gold caps crimped over the base and they are no longer available new (except from eBay etc) so if anyone wants to keep a vintage watch close to 'original' they will need the earlier crowns. They are mostly for 1960s to 1990s models. Used crowns are beginning to be worth some $$ now and a lot of the used crowns in the plastic bags are pretty good too. They are mostly gold capped crowns, SS crowns were not changed out as often. Genuine acrylic crystals are Ok to have but some of the aftmkt crystals are very good.

Swiss made Marathon CSAR by Horoswiss back when they had a contract with Marathon. It is smaller than most of the current generation of dive/mil Marathon watches at 40mm. This watch came from a special order of about 65 watches and they are very few and far between today. It was same as new but missing one link when I got it. The case/bct are bead blasted satin finish. The bezel is resin and the lume is 'Maraglow' (Marathon's version of Super LumiNova). ETA 2824-A2 movement. More info: Marathon Coast Guard (broadarrow.net)

'Takeoff' crowns from repairs... I'm glad now I did not throw all this junk away over the years.

JMB '1016'

"They make great mulch, too." I saw a bumper sticker that said they taste like chicken, it might have been rattlesnake, can't remember. It's been drizzling rain all day so nothing much going on. I went back to the shed and found two more riveters in one plastic bag and noticed the bracelet right above the tutone bracelet in the roll is also a rivet. Here are the two in the bag... I didn't just turn it around, I turned it over, there is a card between them and a bracelet on each side.

Kids make me itch but I might take one in trade if they can push a lawnmower.

The old 'toot-o-matics' used the FEF 380 aka Tudor 390. I had a copper colored autowind assembly somewhere for one but lost it or gave it away. The autowind assembly was what caused most of the trouble with the 390. They do look a bit like the rolex 1030. bidfun-db Archive: Watch Movements: Tudor 390 (FEF 380) (ranfft.de) "Boy those folded oysters are gonna look good on my GMT and Snowflake!" They ain't folders, they're riveters.

"Are you really selling??" Not at this time. It is 'Show and Tell' like back in grade school.

Very good choice! Most of what we see are Standard and Elaborated grades. Top grade = better running rates, but cost more. Basically the same as their chronometer movement. ETA 28xx auto movement grade info... (1) ETA CALIBER 2824-2 GRADES - DWISS

"Nice treasure chest." Thanks, that is about 10% of the rlx junk. I just wanted to show I have been telling the truth....most of the time. I'll post some other stuff later. It's a pain to dig it out, bring it home, and take it back. "OK, I'll take these two, please let me know where to send funds." I have watches that go with most of the bracelets in another box somewhere but I heard my wife is planning a yard sale... Btw...I found a very nice Bulova Lone Eagle and a lever set Hampden wristwatch with a 'Molly Stark' movement when I was digging through the watches. Bulova - Lone Eagle | Watchophilia.com Hampden lever-set wristwatch | NAWCC Forums

"I’m curious if anyone else had noticed the low crown height positioning with Ruby cases?" Not with 'Ruby' cases (never owned one) but others, some supposed to be from 'JKF' etc. My supposed 'JKF' case has a lower case tube hole btw. I will always believe the high $$ cases are stock cases from various makers that are skillfully detailed to be high $$ cases and they can come with higher or lower case tube bores. This can be compensated for by the internal machining. My Yuki 5512 and 5513 cases from May 2014 have higher case tube bores and the fit and finish is some of the best I have seen to date. Yuki no longer sells cases however. My MBK cases are made for a rolex 1570/75 date movement or ETA 2836, even when the cases are signed 5512 or 5513 and they have slightly lower case tube bores to accept the .4 or .5mm thicker rolex date movement or ETA 2836. I never paid very much attention to higher or lower crown positions and just go with what I get. Imho (and from past experience) the luck of the draw determines what you end up with.

Ref 1010... 14K Bombe from early 1960s. It still looks like new and I have owned it for about 30 years.

"I do not know how long you have had the parts in that case, but gen Rolex parts have been going pretty steadily up since I began collecting." "Are those holding 1030 movements? If so I get the first two." I hate to be the bearer of bad news but they are all reeplikkas. I have a similar box of tutones and another box of SS models...all DJ. I need to dig them out and take pics so you all will not think I'm kidding. Also a box or two of swiss ETA stuff, and a few boxes of assorted this and that. Almost all of it was taken in on payments on debts and it has been stacked up for years. I still have three watches with cal 1030 left...a 1956 tutone 6605 with swiss '56 marked tt bracelet, a 1959 steel 6605 with a like new swiss jubilee (probably 1970s), and an early 1960s gold top 6634 on a strap. The tutone has a refinished dial and pretty good case and bracelet, the steel 6605 and gold top 6605 both are in very good condition. I sent the tutone bracelet to Michael Young about 10 years back and he tightened it up a little. I never wear any of them (afraid one might throw a rod) and I'll try to dig them out someday and post a picture or two. My Empire of Dirt. Edit 10-30-21 The two pics I had on here went south so I'll post some others later...they are buried in storage and not easy to dig out.

"Today's outrageous asking price for a Rolex <fill-in-the-blank> will seem like a bargain a year from now." I'll be ready if these ever go up in value...and the box is five rows across, Ha! ...and if they quit runnin' I'll 'patch 'em up (the 16oz hammer is out of sight). Can't remember what that is on the 'butcher block'.

"The average price of a Rolex Daytona has increased 34% over the past year to reach nearly $48,000." $48K!!! It sure would be nice if I had kept mine... A new steel white dial Zenith Daytona in December 1992 from a rlx AD was $3685 out the door (list + shp). The next three (one white, two black) from October 1996 to May 1998 were $5120 (list + shp) otd. A new 16610 in August 1994 was $2065 otd...discounted a few $$. They were not very hot back then. A new white dial Explorer II in September 1994 was $1865 otd...discounted a few $$. They were dead in the water around here back then. A new leftover AK was $990 otd. All included shipping out of state to dodge sales tax. I paid $3515 in November 1999 to a watch trader for a like new tutone Zenith Daytona w/bp. All gone...

"I personally said forget it, and turned my interests toward used/vintage pieces." Me too...over 20 years ago. Last new rolex I bought from an AD was in May 1998, Bought a few new/like new presentation AKs at bargain prices from the owners since then but that's it for modern rolex. "Here are a couple that are guaranteed to go to stupid prices within a few years. The interest is starting to stir and they're cheap now." Bulova Devil Diver. Zodiac Sea Wolf. I sold way too many of my 'valuable' watches too soon but that's life. I did save a lot of 1960s through 1970s watches though and probably still have 8 or 10 assorted Bulova '666' divers that I put away because when I bought them they were going for $40 to $100 and no one wanted them. Have a few Caravelle '333' and '666' too...the Cv '666' are automatics and the '333' are hand crankers. All are mechanical except one '666' Accutron in very good condition that I got for $0 but it needs a movement. Still have 12 or 14 Bulova 333ft half devil dress Oceanographers (no rotating bezel), all tutone except two. They all have solid 10K gold bezels (even the SS models) and are slow set with reliable 11BLACD movements and they 'look like a rolex'. They are going for $300 or so now. They will not make me rich but they will buy a Big Mac or two. I have owned a LOT of Bulova watches, more than anything else...there are 365 entries in the 'B' section of my inventory, almost all Bulovas with a few Benrus, Breitling, and one Blancpain (one was enough!) etc. Many Bulovas are gone but quite a few remain. 'blanc pain' = white bread in English. Ha! Kept about a half dozen Zodiac Sea Wolf watches, both date and no date models including one with the disco dial...orange/black with white acrylic insert. Got them real cheap and some were free. They have A. Schild movements and parts are easy to get but the snap on case backs are a royal pain to get off and on. This one is $3595 on eBay! OBO. Mine was free. Before the wu-flu hit, a group of watch traders met every weekend for 30+ years and I would guess a few thousand watches passed over the trading table in that time and I snagged my share, some I'll never forget...bought a real nice gold cap rolex 1550 oys perp date in 1996 for $150...THO no bracelet. I still have the OPD...sold it in 2002 and the guy traded it in on something else. THO = time head only. The guy I bought it from walked up to the trading table and asked if anyone knew anything about rolex watches. I said: "I can tell if it is running or not." He handed it to me and asked if I wanted to buy it. I said: "I'll give you $100 for it." I was kidding. He said: "$200," I said "$150." He said: "Hand it over." Bought a like new manual wind 18KYG Patek 'Golden Ellipse' on the original woven mesh bracelet for scrap in the summer of 1998 and no one wanted to buy it so I traded it even for a nib rolex 16233 with a factory diamond dial a few months later. There were deals like this every week. Not now though. We stopped showing up not long after Christmas 2019...thanks to the wu-flu. Still see a few traders now and then. I bought an Illinois 21 jewel Abe Lincoln 16 size RR grade lever set pocket watch (made 1918) with a pristine dial/hands for $10 a while back in an undesirable oversize 'swing out' case from one of them. A PW mechanic friend c/o/MS the mvt and put it in a nos Star Watch Case Co. nickel case...no charge. It is running on my work bench now and loses 4 or 5 sec/day...the RR mech PW standard is +/- 15 sec per day. Not too shabby for $10. BTW...that Roamer chrono is super nice! I have a Seth Thomas 'Stingray' dive watch made by Roamer in my 'collection' somewhere, the case shape is the same as the chrono. I got it in 1993, sold it in 1999, and got it back in 2009. It still has the original signed bracelet, crystal etc. Some ST Stingray pictures... Seth Thomas Stingray Case Restoration – TM Watch (tmwatchco.com)

"Keep up the good work mate!" "Well done, automatico." Thank You! The watch is still running fine and I am wearing it now. 10-19-2021 Facts and figures... I measured the 'shortcut' case and compared it to my J&W com case from 10 years ago: Cartel case: Total thickness 14.75mm. Mid case thickness measured at 9 o'clock: 4.8mm. Bezel OD: 37.4mm. Case width across 8 to 2: 39.3mm. Case back OD: 35.55mm. Has 383xxxx (approx 1974/75) fair serial number etc, laser etched. Case made for Miyota clone GMT, ETA 2836 with GMT mod, or rolex 1565/1575 GMT. Needs case spacer with Miyota clone or ETA 2836 'GMT', not with rolex 15xx. Very good fit. Cartel dial is a little bit larger OD than oem. An oem size dial is a hair too small for the dial opening. J&W com case: Total thickness: 13.9mm. Mid case thickness measured at 9 o'clock: 5.2mm. Bezel OD: 37.35mm. Case width across 8 to 2: 38.3mm. Case back OD: 35.9mm. Has 342xxxx (approx 1973) serial number, very good letters/numbers. Case made for rolex 1565/1575 GMT. No spacer needed. Very good fit. Accepts original dial. Top quality. There could be a minor mistake or two in the measurements.

I have seen 'cloudy' spots inside MG crystals but not sapphire. It may be like Freddy said and the blemish can be removed. If not, here is some info on crystals: You need to know if the crystal is mineral glass (MG) or sapphire because it takes different equipment to cut a sapphire crystal. Regular MG crystals can be cut without much expensive equipment but sapphire is another story. You could also have an MG crystal cut to save $$ if the original is sapphire. Square, rectangular or any shape other than round crystals are generally referred to as 'fancy crystals' or 'shaped crystals' and back when many watches were snap back non water resistant types, most retail repair shops had a crystal grinder and could cut a glass/MG crystal to size. Newer watches with fancy/shaped crystals will have them either cemented to the case or pressed into a plastic gasket and you can get by with very small irregularities with a cemented crystal but a crystal fitted into a gasket has to be exactly like the original. Some supply houses have crystal cutters made using the pantograph tracing method and they can duplicate a MG crystal to perfection. You need to send them the original unbroken crystal and/or the case for a pattern. I have cut a lot of 'fancy/shaped' MG crystals and will say the ones with straight sides and 90 degree corners are not too hard to do but if the crystal has rounded corners or is a shape other than square or rectangle it is much harder to cut to a good fit. Sometimes I can cement the original crystal to a piece of MG and cut a crystal that will be very close by carefully cutting the excess away...most of the time. I use superglue to stick the crystals together and soak them in acetone to release the original crystal when done. My crystal cutter has a fine grit stone mounted flat like on a record player with a water tank that drips water on the stone to keep it wet and prevent glass dust build up. It turns at a few hundred rpm and has a small flat area at the front for a hand rest. You can also use a small diameter fine grit diamond disc in a battery powered Dremel tool to 'final shape' MG crystals using Windex etc glass cleaner to keep the disc wet. It works Ok but is slow going and takes a lot of practice. I never tried it on a sapphire crystal although it might work. A larger diameter diamond wheel mounted on a machine similar to a stone wheel crystal grinder would probably be good too. I do not take in any outside work, I have enough of my own. The only outside work I do is for friends/family who bought a watch from me. Them: "The watch you sold me quit running." Me: "Did you drop it on carpet or concrete?" Them: "Uh, uh..." Me: "Gotcha!"

Fine looking watches! Never had a manual wind Daytona, missed one in the mid 1990s for about $1500. Same guy had a steel V72 Wittnauer 'Professional', I snagged it. When you snooze, you lose. Had quite a few V72 in other brands and they are all gone except for one nos mainspring in my parts stash. All I have now is some swisseta 7750/7753 powered stuff...Hamilton Khaki, Victorinox Air Boss, and a 7750 Invicta diver about the size of a 5 pound barbell weight. "In my experience, a well-crafted franken, where all of the user-accessible components are gen, will have the same feel as the gen." I agree. My rolex powered Frankensteins are not much different from genuine except for the case, dial, hands, and bracelet being replicas. The 'feel' of the watch is the same...and the cases are not beat up/rotted out like many true vintages. As far as that goes...a replacement '444' case from rolex service is not original either so a J$W com, Ruby, Yuki etc case is just as good for every day wear and a hell-of-a-lot cheaper. Imho. Matter of fact, you could probably take a J$W com case with a 444 serial number, correct case back stamping, genuine dial, crown etc and never get called out if it was opened up. Probably/maybe. 'Case' in point...I have a DW '1680' case with a rolex 1570, original date wheel, white Lemrich dial, genuine crown etc and a few 'quasi-experts' have closely eyeballed it and the only thing they said jumped out at them was the bezel insert was not genuine. About half of them wanted to buy it. Rolex 1680 Submariner Fantastic Lemrich Dial Circa 1977 - Rolex Passion Market

This is an old post but I wanted to warn anyone thinking about buying a Tissy Powermatic. Alligoat hit the bull's eye when he said "Good luck!" I thought about going the opposite route...put a quartz movement in an Omega SM with a Miyota clone in it. The case, dial, and bracelet are fine but the clone movement is not much good. Never got around to it. "ETA has also modified the 2824-2 and come out with a series of new movements that are detuned so to speak and run at 21.6K with a longer power reserve. Maybe CO811 or something like that- Tissot uses them and they're referred to as Powermatic." Afaik the Powermatic is available only in watches made by Swatch and may not be for sale separately (??). Besides that, I would beware of the 'Powermatic' movement because it is supposedly not to be repaired/serviced by anyone except ETA 'Factory Service Centers' if it breaks or gains/loses time. Imho it is was made for a longer running reserve and low cost. It reminds me of the movements used in Swatch automatics, they ran fine...for a while. From Caliber Corner... The Powermatic 80 is not equipped with an ETAChron or other type of regulating system. Similar to the Sistem51, the Powermatic 80 laser regulated at the factory. This is what Tissot refers to as their “High-Tech” escapement. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the movement is impossible to adjust or service, but good luck finding parts or a watchmaker who will want to work on it. This is something for hardcore mechanical watch lovers to take into consideration before spending $1,000+ on a two-tone Tissot Luxury. Tissot Caliber Powermatic 80 Watch Movement | Caliber Corner The eta F06.111 3 jewel movement is in reality a 'handsome cheapie' as it has some 100% plastic train wheels/pivots and they put jewels on the plastic pivots to make them appear to be expensive when used in higher $$ watches. Imho the F06 series is not too hot compared to the tried and true 7 jewel, metal plate/wheel train ETA 955.xxx series of quartz movements. ETA also makes a bottom feeder movement that is used in place of the 955.xxx and F06.111 in many applications...the 805.xxx and you might see one in lower priced watches. ETA 2824 info... ETA Caliber 2824-2 Watch Movement | Caliber Corner

Is the date quickset? If it is maybe the day of the week is not QS and the watch must be stopped and restarted on the correct day. I have a few vintage day and date watches made this way, not any of them being Universal Geneve though. Something else...does it have more than one language on the day disc? You may need to see the day changing to tell but I have no idea how to adjust it to the desired language if it has two. Note: It is not a good idea to run the hands around and around to set the day or date because it can result in wear to the 'canon pinion' which is basically a slip clutch so time can be set without damage to the watch works. If you could find out what caliber (calibre) the movement is, you should be able to find information about it on the internet. To find the caliber number you will need to find a similar watch on the internet and see if the movement specs are listed. A similar watch may not need to be solid gold, it can be 'gold cap/gold top' or stainless steel. 'Gold cap/gold top' = a layer of gold is pressed and soldered onto the case top. Do not let just anyone open the watch up to see what caliber it has if you can not find the info on the internet because 18K gold is soft and prone to damage. In my experience, many so called 'watchmakers' cause as much damage to watches as the owners/careless owners. Btw...I had a similar nos 'gold top' Universal Geneve in 1996 but it was quickly sold without looking in it and I can not remember if it was quick set or not. I have the serial number but not the caliber, probably number 72. Collectors Note: Matching Polerouter dials with movement calibers | The Polerouter Reference Website (universalgenevepolerouter.com)

I dug through my accumulation of riff raff and found three A7750 Daytonas, two seconds at six and one with seconds at nine. Here are the case thicknesses and bezel outer diameter measurements. All the bezels are solid steel. Sec @ 9 14.4mm thick with 39.5mm bezel. Sec @ 6 13.7mm thick with 39.0mm bezel. Sec @ 6 14.4mm thick with 39.5mm bezel. All are 'nos' from about 10 years ago and they started running when I shook them a little. Wonders never cease. A 39.0mm bezel might look Ok as .5mm is hard to spot on something that big in diameter. Also measured a sec @ 6 model with a Miyota clone of some sort and it is 13.7 thick with 39.0mm bezel same as one of the A750 sec @ 6 models...probably the same case. All below is afaik... The 116520 and 16520 are both 12.2mm thick. 116520: Diameter: 40mm Crystal: 30.5mm Bracelet: 20mm 16520 and 116520: Bezel outside diameter: 38.5mm Bezel inside diameter: 30.5mm Steel 116520 bezel thickness: 2.4mm. Do not know about 16520, might be the same. Some good pictures: THE FIRST SERIES ROLEX DAYTONA 1652X : AN IN DEPTH ANALYSIS OF “200 UPH” BEZELS – VWCltd