mingus2112

hey! i don't have one!. . . .YET!

Constellations are my ultimate. There are a few that I want and are on my grail list. I've got 5 vintage Omegas but still need a pie pan constellation, c cased constellation and maybe a newer constellation to round it out!

I can't keep away from vintage gens! My latest is a 1950s Hamilton Rodney. It's so damn cool! I'm sure it's a bit small for you guys, but I've been getting used to smaller watches since i've gotten a handful of vintages. Specs:

Hamilton Rodney

1953-1964

10K yellow gold filled case

18-jewel 748 movement

34mm case diameter

46mm over the lugs

16mm strap width

Comments? Wisecracks?

-James

It was my father's Bulova that I was left last year when he died that started my watch obsession. After that I got heavy into reps (I wanted an Omega SMP) and now i'm back where it all started. Vintages! They're tiny by today's standards, but I like the style. They're also affordable. I got a 1970s Omega Geneve, recently serviced, for $175 and a 1960s Seamaster Deville for $100. Even after servicing the Deville i'm only $200 into a beautiful 50 year old watch!

I got (am getting) a 20 watch box from acetime.com

Just got her in the mail yesterday! Omega Geneve ('70s I think, but haven't opened the back yet)

Good to know. The box I already have (10 watch box) can fit my big pilot in the top as long as i'm careful. . .maybe it's bigger inside than the 20 watch box.

Just an FYI, I have the AceTimer version of the Steinhausen. Anything larger than a Submariner will hit the glass/top of box when closed.

Not a biggie unless you want to display your PAM's, Breitlings, etc under the glass.

I posted this in another forum but figured i'd give it a go here too. You guys usually indulge me a little!

I know. We have one of these discussions every so often and we get the same answers. I'm really torn between to boxes right now, so bear with me. I've got about 30 watches right now (probably more. . .it's hard to tell when they're not organized!!) and storage for, let's say, 12. I've got a box from fortunoff that's kind of like this one from Sears:

10 watch box with drawer

My problem is that I want to supplement it with a 20 watch box and am not sure which to get. First up is this box from AceTimer:

Very similar to my current box with the added bonus of 10 more watches in the drawer. (the drawer on my current one holds 2 watches laying flat) Also no glass top. I kind of like that.

The next box is a Steinhausen that I can only seem to find on Skymall.

Steinhausen 20 watch box

This is the most awesome box i've ever seen. Plenty of room for each watch. Ring storage. . .beautiful finish. Great plush pillows. What's the downside? The SIZE. That thing is 20" wide and 12" deep. Compare that to my original one (and the AceTimer one), which is as wide as this one is deep!! (12")

So i'm stuck. I'm leaning more and more towards the AceTimer as i've also got a lot of vintage watches which do NOT need that much room on the pillows. Even my Big pilot fits in the current box. I think i'd only run into an issue if I had a LOT of large watches. . .and i don't. this will be my xmas present from my wife, so i'd like to sort it out sooner rather than later.

Thoughts? Even another suggestion other than those two boxes would be welcome!

-James

What about a pair of his and hers Omega Constellations?

Well. . .After hitting up the Seiko sample sale in Mahwah, NJ today I'm proud to say I only bought one watch! I really shouldn't be buying ANY watches right now, but I got a "free pass" from the wife because she knows these don't come around that often. There are so many other watches (reps, vintage Seikos, other vintages) that i'd like to buy, but resisting buying a watch at this sale wouldn't have made any of those others possible!

Anyhow, I only found one watch that I couldn't resist. I kind of wanted to get a perpetual calendar, but all of the ones they had were of the cheap variety. The one I got was the SKA389. It's a kinetic, with a dive bezel, but I wouldn't go diving with it. (although it does say 100M on the dial)

That's not my picture. that's from the web. There are better pictures of it, but this one really shows how black the watch is. In most of the higher resolution pictures I found it looked almost like a gun metal color. This watch is BLACK.

So far I really love it, but as any of you that have Seiko Kinetics knows, it's a real ***** to get the power reserve up. The watch shows that it's running low on reserve by ticking in twos. . .ticktick. . .ticktick. . .ticktick. This one keeps heading back to that. So i've got a lot of shaking to do!

All in all it was a great purchase for $150. I had to call Pecty back at the office to see if he wanted one. . .and of course he did. . .so I picked one up for him as welll.

Here's a wrist shot with my crappy camera phone:

-James

Great stuff. I just wish there was an easy way to fit Seiko auto movements in some of our reps. Solid, reliable and repairable movements!!

Agreed. Readily available too! Only thing I DON'T like about them is the inability to handwind. I'm not even allowed to have a winder in my bedroom (the noise drives my wife crazy. . .even though it's damn quiet) so none of them stay wound. When i don't shake them enough in the morning, i'm over an hour behind by lunch. Sitting in front of a computer all day does little to wind a watch! lol LOVE them though!

-James

Ah. . .here I go again. . .on my quest to have all these crazy Seikos!

This is one that I ordered awhile back. It just came in from Japan last week. Well worth the wait, I present to you my Seiko 4006-6040 Bell-Matic:

Pictures make her look a little gold, but she's stainless steel.

The serial number puts the production date of this beautiful little piece at December, 1974. I got a great deal on her from, i THINK, watchuseek, and then an even BETTER deal once the seller realized that some of the links were messed up from a botched sizing job. (see the pictures) For $100 shipped from Japan to my door, I'm really thrilled.

The Bell-Matics have an internal mechanical alarm that's set by a rotating bezel. The alarm is "activated" by pulling out on the upper crown and wound by winding the main (3o'clock) crown in the "in" position. First click on the main crown sets the rotating alarm bezel and second click sets the time. Unfortunately (not to my knowledge anyway) there is no quickest for the day of the week. The date is quickset by pushing in on the 2 o'clock crown. (have to be careful not to push too hard when turning off the alarm or you might change the date. i think being aware of it is enough to avoid it, though, as i've never pushed it by accident.)

My only dislike about it is the lack of any lugs to change the strap. The strap can be changed, but as you can see in the pictures the attachment is kind of like the AP straps. Perhaps I can get someone to make me a nice strap! This would look great on brown leather.

Here are some more pictures:

-James

I'll put a lot of carriage returns in here so it's readable. The pictures are kinda huge.

I know, I know. I'm now to be forever known as the guy who's obsessed with Seikos.

I really haven't been able to help it lately. Seriously. It all started with a Seiko 5 Superior.

I got it from a member on watchuseek and couldn't be more thrilled with it. Such a stunning watch.

I got that in the mail last week.

Well, this week I did it again! I purchased two more watches from the same guy.

This time they reached me (in NJ) in 4 DAYS from Singapore!

First up is a 6309-8070. 17 jewels.

Made in September, 1976, this beauty was bought by the seller NOS from a dealer.

It's 37mm and it's a real beauty. Love the vertical day/date too!

Only imperfections are around the edge of the crystal.

If you look close it looks like maybe it was replaced, who really knows. I still LOVE it!

Next up is a fabulous 7009-3160!

This one is either from 1976 or 1986 (seller thought it was probably '86) and is full SS.

This one is also 37mm. The pictures don't really do the dial justice!

This 7009 movement changes the day by pushing IN on the crown. Pretty awesome!

All three of these have movements made in Japan (unlike my Monsters.

The Black Monster's movement is made in Singapore and the Orange is made in Malaysia).

I hope people are reading this. I love bragging about these watches.

Hopefully they don't get me too far out of the rep game! Look for part 2 of this. . .

. . .that's when my Bell-Matic comes!!

-James

or in this case, the next next next generation!

Thanks. There are a lot of perfectly qualified people out there (The Zigmeister included!) that probably could have done right by me with this (most cheaper actually), but I really felt like it needed to go to a "specialist." He's also given me some great advice on looking for some other vintage pieces (i'm into budget-grade vintage!). With all the time and expertise that went into this, I figured it deserved a write-up.

I just wish I knew more about the history of the watch! There's a bit of family debate that's gone into it in the past week or so! Mom and Uncle swear it must have been their grandfather's. Then my mother's cousin said he thinks it may have been HIS father's (my grandfather's brother) because he had 4 or 5 old pocket watches. My mother is sure it's not his because he wouldn't have given it to his brother when he had sons of his own. She also says that if it's not my great-grandfather's then it must be her aunt's father's watch. So much debate!

-James

Pictures at the end. . .I promise!!!

When my grandfather died back in January of 2004, I inherited a good deal of his "stuff." My uncle already had his guns (I came home from work one day and my grandfather had them all out on a towel on the table. "Come with me down to your uncle's." He said.), his fishing poles and the family bible. The rest, however, was left to me to rummage through.

Looking back, I wish I had saved his wristwatch. It was a Timex (I think) manual wind from who knows when. Not worth much, but still his. My uncle probably tossed it with his clothes that came home from the hospital. I did however get all of his surviving WWII Army medals, a lot of my grandparents antique furniture, trinkets, and this cool looking pocket watch.

The watch sat in my dresser for a few years until recently when I started asking my Mother and Uncle about it. Neither one had ever seen it before. I dated the watch by the serial number to 1895. This puts it significantly older than my grandfather (born in 1919). I had a feeling that it belonged to my great-grandfather, a Police Officer in Burlington, VT. My uncle confirmed that this was probably the case. My great-grandfather was older (40s, maybe 50s, not sure) when he had my grandfather, so he could have very well bought this watch new in 1895.

Anyway, I started to look for someone to restore the watch. It seemed to run, but I didn't really want to turn a 112 year old watch too much filled with dried out oil! Perhaps my great-grandfather had kept it serviced, but i'm QUITE sure my grandfather did not. We're talking about over 50 years of sitting in a drawer!

Found pocketwatchrepair.com. I wanted to find a place that specialized in these antique watches, could get parts and had experience with these types of delicate antiques. Unfortunately, not only did they have a 12 month waiting list, but they weren't accepting new work!

So I found some people on the internet and sent out some feeler emails. One email that stood out was from Scott Cerullo. He responded:

Hello James,

The dial situation is tough since undamaged antique porcelain dials are hard to find. Also, repairs on dials can be very noticeable. Refinishing, unless it is a metal dial is not really an option. We can make hairline cracks almost invisible, and we can evaluate it if it is sent in for service.

At one time I was a pretty enthusiastic collector of Hampden watches and I am very familiar with them.

A normal cleaning is $99. If you need parts replaced like jewels or a staff, I will contact you with a quote and you can decide if you want the work done. If you decide against it, all you are responsible for is the shipping. All work is guaranteed for 6 months.

Usually I can get these done in 3 to 4 weeks, and the watch is completely disassembled. You are provided digital pictures of the work.

The line that I underlined had me hooked! So I sent Scott the watch. My next response from Scott:

Hello James,

I thought that I would take a quick look at your watch and give you a preliminary evaluation. It appears that all the jewels that I can see on the bridge side are in good shape. The balance and hairspring appear to be Ok so far. The barrel bridge has a scrape in it near the Hampden logo.

I wound her up and she took 50 winds. So, that has got to be the wrong spring and it is providing almost no power. I think that we are going to need a mainspring no matter what. I'll also check the mainsrping barrel for endshake and make sure there are no problems there.Othewise, this watch looks pretty good.

As far as the dial goes, there is a product that is used to fill in chips like the one at the 5, but it won't match perfectly. It is always possible to find another dial. As far as the hairlines, I can make them almost invisible when I clean the dial.

Just in case you didn't know, I would date the production around 1897. That is a really old 16 size. It was probably railroad grade back then.

Excellent! Liking this guy already.

Hello James,

I started work on the Hampden. She does need a mainspring. I think she will be OK with just that. I'll know if she needs any balance work when she is cleaned, oiled, a new spring is installed and she is put on the timing machine. Overall, it is a nice watch. Definitely railroad grade. Cost for the spring is going to be $40. So for the full job the total should be $139. I'll email you some pictures of the watch all apart.

Thanks,

Scott

Now onto the pics!. . .

James,

Here are some pictures of where we are at until the mainspring arrives. I believe that at one time this watch movment was gold flashed or gilt.

Scott

Hi,

Your watch is done. Check out the pictures. I'm just letting it run a bit. I think you will be pleased. I cleaned up the dial the best I could, and I don't think it looks too bad, considering. The watch could probably tell a few stories. It is possible that the movement was gold flashed in a two tone nickel, gilt, design. I think that cleanings with ammoniated solvents over the years probably took its toll and made the movement look dull, but she runs strong. This watch is a real railroad watch, which means it would have passed the stringent standards to be used by a conductor, fireman or engineer at the time it was made. Some of the standards were: lever set, 17 jewel, and adjusted to three positions. As time when on, the standards went up, but this was and is a fine watch. It was probably one of the most expensive purchases your ancestor made besides his home.

The new mainspring is in and the jewels all look good. I polished and cleaned the case. You can see that it is worn down the the brass in places, but it is functional. The only casualty was the second hand, which was frozen onto the arbor it was attached to. It came apart when I took it off, so I replaced it.

The total for the cleaning was $99 and the the mainspring was $45 installed.

And here's the watch all done!

What does everyone think? I'm super excited about the whole thing. Probably going to put it in a desk stand to keep on display in the house. It's in the mail now!

-James

How about an Omega Aqua Terra? They look really smart on a leather strap

I just got a brown leather strap for my Aqua Terra and it looks AWESOME! Unfortunately the rotor screw fell out and i haven't found a screwdriver "sharp enough" to put it back! DOH!

I just ordered a brown leather strap with deplyment from trysty time for my Aqua Terra (they say it's for the 45mm PO, but it's the same size as my larger AT.) I'll post pics when I receive it. Only ordered this weekend.

-J

i thought it was a new trend as well. . .but when my dad passed away i found an old timex on a leather wrist-cuff thingee. It obviously hadn't been worn since before i was born (i'm 30). . .so you decide!

Mingus fan by chance?

And a fellow Who nut!!

wow. . .i'm a member on a lot of forums (i get way too into my little hobbies!) and i've never seen such a quick response to an introduction!

thanks guys!

-James

Hello everyone! I figured that before i went and browsed through the posts, I would introduce myself!

My name is James and I'm from NJ. I'm an avid enthusiast of anything I take interest in (guitars, photography and now. . .gulp. . .replica watches??). I recently inherited a handful of old watches from my father who passed away last month. After doing my homework I found that, although not particularly valuable, they were quite neat. I've got a Bulova mechanical from 1960 (i just had the band replaced), a Timex from around the same time period, a few "junk watches" and a Versailles (?) that my father got from Nabisco for 30 years of service. When I brought the watches in for servicing (batteries, band adjustments, etc), the repairman said "It was a pleasure to work on this one! Nabisco gives out great gifts! This has a similar swiss movement to what Omega uses."

So then I started looking at older Omegas on ebay. Some of the older Seamasters can be had for great prices! Now i'm interested in the look of a newer one, but can't justify $2,000 for it. My wife and I are also looking at some Movado replicas, as we always wanted a matching pair. (we got THAT bug when we were on a cruise to Bermuda and were promised $300 for a pair of Movados. Once we saw them, we didn't like the style they had. . .but that was the only option. We passed.)

So anyway, been browsing a few sites. . .one site in particular (not going to post names yet. . .haven't read the "rules" yet and don't want to break them!) pointed me to a few sites that seemed pretty good for buying watches. . .and then another lead me here. Hoping this site can steer me in the right direction to get what we're looking for. . .and perhaps I can stick around long enough to learn something!

OK. . .off to read the forum rules and then start browsing posts!

-J