How wonderful that they mostly have the dials still. That's becoming more and more rare. Those are treasures, I'm glad you have them. Some of the early dials are so great, I just love the numbers on this one:
I only have a few 214s (just three serviced and batteried for wearing) but I think I have one that you don't! I bought this dial and hand set at a NAWCC mart 25+ years ago. I love how legible it is.
Thanks for the compliment! It would be an understatement to say that there is a lot of paper on this desk. The thing right in front of my keyboard is always a calendar with customer names etc written all over it, which I don't want to photograph. So I grab any interesting looking paper instead. A lot of the drafting work in service manuals is downright beautiful, so it's easy to find cool stuff.
I treasure some of the engraved dials. First is the one presented to my late father-in-law on his retirement. Next is a Chrysler presentation watch for outstanding performance. Another is an Accuquartz presented to the Priest who was head of Niagara University on his retirement. Any that are engraved with a vitro engraver not so much! I feel that well done engraving provides a bit of provenance.
Same watch as above, but I finally found a NIB period-correct JB expansion band with the extension link (I have an 8" wrist) that I liked. It was delivered today.
This watch caught my eye because it looks very similar to a Timex my Dad wore in the early 70's. He always used Speidel Twist-O-Flex bands on his watches, so I was going for a similar look.
SR, I have a couple of those square clocks, they have a big two tine tuning fork movement that uses AA cells IIRC. Someone once told me the movement number. I can't remember now. They're a little sensitive to the crown/stem adjustment much like a 214. I thought the movements were cool.
I have posted a lot of pics over the years but recently have been trying to update the collection pics. These are the two most recent pics of watch groupings.
I have posted a lot of pics over the years but recently have been trying to update the collection pics. These are the two most recent pics of watch groupings.
I bought a cool Speidel "Euroflex" band on ebay the other day. It's about as close in appearance to a solid-link bracelet (in an expansion band) that I've found, that looks and fits great on an Accutron...
Side note - It's an amazing example of engineering and high-speed manufacturing. I would love to have seen the progressive die stamping, automated finishing and assembly that went into making it.
I had one of those, I let it go with a different Accutron. It was just too loose on my wrist to be useful. It looked great, and if I wasn’t moving around a lot, it was great. However, I conduct HS music and a little bit of wrist throwing would make that sucker flop about.
I've found that with the correct length and a fairly light watch, expansion bands are pretty secure from moving. The two I show in this thread hug my wrist just enough so that I can flail around and they stay in place.
This 2362 came to me with all of the brushed surfaces completely polished off, and a damaged dial. I refinished it, transplanted the movement with one with a good dial, and put a KS bracelet on it...
This 2362 came to me with all of the brushed surfaces completely polished off, and a damaged dial. I refinished it, transplanted the movement with one with a good dial, and put a KS bracelet on it...
Problem with that scenario is that economy of scale doesn't apply to skilled specialized talent.
I am obviously obsessed with Accutrons (or was). I collected all of these back in the day when they were a dime a dozen except for the special ones...solid 14K, 18K, Astros and other watches. Given inflation I would probably loose money on the special watches today but I bought them because I liked them.
My rational back then was that when I was done with earning a real income (retire?) I could retreat to a cabin in the woods with my Accutrons, set up my bench, restore and sell them until I was done.
Not going to happen!
I hear you on that, srgray. At the end of the day, I'll lose money on the majority of the watches I've got if I sell them.
It's just a fun hobby for me to find a watch that catches my eye, do what I can to make it look nice, then send it off to a watchmaker that will get it working well. The payoff for me is in owning and wearing a watch that makes me happy.
For many years, I did similar to the above with vintage cars. I've found that watches are a bit more practical.
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