Wristwatches

Stan Cooper

Stan Cooper

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Santa Rosa, CA
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Display name:
Stan Cooper
I've been interested in watches and clocks most of my life, and have accumulated a modest collection over the years, with both mechanical and quartz time bases. A couple of months ago I picked up a 1915 Rolex WW1 officer's trench watch in a sterling silver case that needed restoration, and finally have it reassembled with the radium lume remnants on the dial removed and relumed with modern non-radioactive Luminova. The movement is a rare Rebberg 18 jewel "Extra Prima" signed "Rolex," and keeps near perfect time.

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I have no idea who G. O. Brown was, or why the congregation of one of the hundreds of St. Andrew's churches in the U.K. thought enough of him to present him with this extraordinary gift, but the ornate engraving from 1918 makes the watch special.

Anyone else here fascinated by wristwatches?
 
That is the oldest "Rolex" I've seen. The engraving is really nice. I had P. Sovich, a watchmaker in Georgetown, adjacent to Boeing Field, rebuild my father's Fortis. I "think" he bought it in about1938. At least that is when he suddenly had a lot of money after being a penniless German immigrant in 1921.

 
kgruber said:
That is the oldest "Rolex" I've seen. The engraving is really nice. I had P. Sovich, a watchmaker in Georgetown, adjacent to Boeing Field, rebuild my father's Fortis. I "think" he bought it in about1938. At least that is when he suddenly had a lot of money after being a penniless German immigrant in 1921.

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Outer ring converts miles/kilometers per hour to seconds per mile/kilometer?
 
Love watches, weirder the better. Sadly I'll never be able to afford to get one. I love almost everything these guys do.

 
Stan Cooper said:
Anyone else here fascinated by wristwatches?
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I love the artistic beauty of watches. I could bankrupt myself buying all the ones I like. I don't wear them enough to justify a big collection. My Facebook feed is filled with watch ads.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Outer ring converts miles/kilometers per hour to seconds per mile/kilometer?
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The outer ring appears to be a tachymeter. Use the stopwatch to time seconds to traverse a known distance, such as one mile or one kilometer, and you can read off MPH or KPH directly.
 
Half Fast said:
Very, very cool!

Do you plan to wear it occasionally?
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You bet, Ed!!
kgruber said:
That is the oldest "Rolex" I've seen. The engraving is really nice. I had P. Sovich, a watchmaker in Georgetown, adjacent to Boeing Field, rebuild my father's Fortis. I "think" he bought it in about1938. At least that is when he suddenly had a lot of money after being a penniless German immigrant in 1921.

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Your dad had excellent taste; that Fortis chronograph is gorgeous.
 
falconkidding said:
Love watches, weirder the better. Sadly I'll never be able to afford to get one. I love almost everything these guys do.
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That HM6 is pretty weird and incredibly complex for sure. I wonder how heavy it is and how comfortable it would be on one's wrist.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
I love the artistic beauty of watches. I could bankrupt myself buying all the ones I like. I don't wear them enough to justify a big collection. My Facebook feed is filled with watch ads.
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It's easy to get hooked. I have to watch myself. :biggrin:
 
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This is the nicest watch I ever owned. This is a Tag Heuer model but mine was the earlier Heuer Leonidas model, otherwise identical. I lost it in the mosh pit of a Bush concert. I never wore expensive watches again, just the $5 plastic LCD's. In fact, I quit wearing wristwatches altogether 25 years ago.
 
Speaking of watches, this one arrived today.

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I tried out Watch Gang and quit after 3 watches. This was my third one.
 
Y'know, we have watch threads from time to time and we see everything from Rolex to Timex, including Breitling, Citizen, Omega, Apple, etc. But I don't recall anyone posting that they wear an IWC, despite IWC's pursuit of the pilot market and their longtime association with aviation.

Are they just not that popular?

 
NealRomeoGolf said:
Speaking of watches, this one arrived today.

I tried out Watch Gang and quit after 3 watches. This was my third one.
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That's a very tastefully done skeletanized automatic. Many of them are too busy and hard to read, but that one is really nice.
Half Fast said:
Y'know, we have watch threads from time to time and we see everything from Rolex to Timex, including Breitling, Citizen, Omega, Apple, etc. But I don't recall anyone posting that they wear an IWC, despite IWC's pursuit of the pilot market and their longtime association with aviation.

Are they just not that popular?
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Among collectors, IWC is highly regarded, One of mine is a Porsche Design chronograph with moonphase that was made for Porsche by IWC and has an IWC Caliber 630 "meca-quartz" movement in a titanium case and bracelet. These movements combine a quartz crystal oscillator time base with a mechanical drive train to achieve a very thin watch with quartz accuracy.
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@Stan Cooper
that Rolex is absolutely out of sight. I hope next time in Santa Rosa get to see it. That’s absolutely the oldest Rolex that I’ve seen a photograph of.

My Rolex isn’t near as old, it’s from 1993. I bought it for myself and reward shortly after earning my masters degree. I wear it every day, and have no complaints. It was a great decision for me to buy it.

I have a couple of other interesting watches, including a Chopard Mille Miglia, but the Rolex gets day-to-day duty.
 
I don’t like Rolexes and I def don’t hang out on the POA of Rolex forums…..nope, not me.
 
I have an old, solid-gold case Schafhausen that my dad bought at an Army Exchange in Paris, 1950. Think he paid $69.99, on sale. Self-winder, needs overhaul.
 
Stan, I'd love to hear more about having an old watch re-lumed. I have my father's 1969-70 vintage Rolex Explorer that has, to my knowledge, never had the case open. It's got the original domed crystal and all. Unfortunately, it's completely dark - I remember when it glowed very nicely, but it was a lot of years ago. I've been thinking of having it cleaned and serviced, and re-luming is the ONE thing I might consider doing to it.
 
Cool watches. I'm happy with an old timex. But I did break down and buy a Citizens eco drive with a titanium band and case. It's a sweet watch. But my son collects cool watches, these are three of them. I don't know a lot about them. He got started by buy a couple broken Rolex watches and fixing them. He'd repair them, then send them off to a rolex dealer to be inspected and resealed. Screenshot_20220319-223241.png
 
Only ever owned two watches, an Omega Speedmaster Moon Watch my late wife bought for me back in 1971 when I graduated from Grad School and a Casio g-shock to wear when the Omega is out for cleaning.

Cheers.
 
My 'good' watches are three assorted Seikos, unremarkable in the context of this thread. The watch I wear every day is an Apple Watch 7, also unremarkable in the context of this thread.

My 'special' watch is this old Waltham that Dad wore in the Pacific Theater in WWII, and during his time with the occupation forces in Japan. When the WWII Memorial opened in DC, he made his first trip to DC with me, and surprised me with the watch on the grounds of the Memorial. He'd had it cleaned, and it runs fine.

This watch is remarkable, at least to me.

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DaleB said:
Stan, I'd love to hear more about having an old watch re-lumed. I have my father's 1969-70 vintage Rolex Explorer that has, to my knowledge, never had the case open. It's got the original domed crystal and all. Unfortunately, it's completely dark - I remember when it glowed very nicely, but it was a lot of years ago. I've been thinking of having it cleaned and serviced, and re-luming is the ONE thing I might consider doing to it.
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Dale, the "go-to" guy for reluming in the U.S. is Kent Parks at Everest Watchworks in Flagstaff, AZ. He relumed my Zodiac GMT in 2015, and it still glows brightly.

Everest Watchworks Services
 
Stan Cooper said:
Dale, the "go-to" guy for reluming in the U.S. is Kent Parks at Everest Watchworks in Flagstaff, AZ. He relumed my Zodiac GMT in 2015, and it still glows brightly.

Everest Watchworks Services
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I remember my Mickey Mouse watch from childhood. The radium on the hands and dial made it useful in the dark. I really wish I could get it re-lumed with the radium paint. I think the radium paint was done away with more to protect factory workers than people who wore a watch or sat in front of an instrument panel full of radium instruments.
 
I quit wearing a watch when my last Walmart special quit working.

Imagine Walmart raising the price of a 19 dollar watch to 29 bucks....
 
I haven't had a watch for just about ever. But when i did, it was a Timex. Takes a Licken and keeps on Ticken

 
It quit working not long after I got it but they wouldn't give me my box tops back.

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Nauga,
who likes to feel pretty sometimes.
 
I have a bunch with interesting movements. Ones where the dial turns rather than the hand and a couple that sweep through 120 degrees of arc or so rather than going completely around. Alas, I've gotten so dependent on my Apple watch that I don't much use the others anymore.
 
Have not worn a wrist watch for decades. But it is common in the mining industry, to carry one inside my hard hat. You take a cheap watch and glue it to the inside of your hard hat.
 
AKBill said:
But it is common in the mining industry, to carry one inside my hard hat. You take a cheap watch and glue it to the inside of your hard hat.
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Why?
 
AKBill said:
Have not worn a wrist watch for decades. But it is common in the mining industry, to carry one inside my hard hat. You take a cheap watch and glue it to the inside of your hard hat.
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I assume that if you're mining jewels it's okay to glue a Rolex inside the hard hat.....
 
My old G-Shock keeps chugging along. Almost all the letters and plating are worn off the case and I’ve replaced the band at least once. It’s solar recharging but that’s starting to fail and unless we have some sunny days during the winter that are warm enough to be outside with my sleeves rolled up, there are times the display will go into sleep mode. Even though I’ve replaced the rechargeable battery, it just doesn’t get enough juice sometimes in the winter to keep topped off.

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Tarheelpilot said:
I received one as a gift as well. I felt the same way. I tried wearing it for a while but grew tired of it after a while. I just need a watch with the time and date. Nothing more.
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I wear mine a fair amount. I had no plans to ever buy one myself and was mildly annoyed at first that she bought it for me but I ended up liking it.
 
Matthew said:
My old G-Shock keeps chugging along. Almost all the letters and plating are worn off the case and I’ve replaced the band at least once. It’s solar recharging but that’s starting to fail and unless we have some sunny days during the winter that are warm enough to be outside with my sleeves rolled up, there are times the display will go into sleep mode. Even though I’ve replaced the rechargeable battery, it just doesn’t get enough juice sometimes in the winter to keep topped off.

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My g-shock is still running fine, but I've noticed it doesn't receive the time signal as well as it used to. Sometimes it will go a week without receiving, then one night it will catch it and update.
 
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