Let's See Your Watches! The Vintage Watch Thread.

[John in Covina]

Worldlux or is it world lux on the web has some fine watches and often competetive pricing. They also carry a fine selection of fountain pens too. I got my Bulovas from them.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Well, I just dropped my vintage Benrus Dial-O-Rama off at the watch repair place to be oiled and cleaned. It's going to take an estimated 6-8 weeks and cost me $75.

It's amazing. Sad to see how times have changed and it is getting harder and more expensive to maintain the treasures that we have found and grown attached to. Only a few decades ago, it would have been easy to find a place to get a watch maintained, and it would take less time and cost less as well.

So I'm going through seperation anxiety already. I purchased this watch just over three years ago, and have been wearing it fairly regularly ever since. I've really bonded with it and I plan on wearing it for numerous years to come. I just hope it doesn't eventually become impossible to find someone to work on it; I may just need to try to learn myself someday.

So, does anyone else notice this? Are there any items that you own; rather it be a wristwatch, or vintage piece of electronic equipment that you struggle to keep maintained and working? Just thought I'd see if anyone else could relate to this.

Well, I finally got my watch back just about an hour ago. So roughly three months, and about $64 and change later, its running smoothly again. I sure missed it!

 

[Miss 1929]

Unfixable, apparently

I have a gorgeous white gold and diamond, 1930s Longines - and the winding stem will not stay fixed! I have had it done 6 times and given up. It always pops out and gets lost. And this was done by the best repairman in the West...
I am tempted to have the entire works replaced with something sturdier, but I feel it is sacrilege to do it to such a fine watch. Maybe I will just wear it as a bracelet on days when I don't care what time it is...

 

[panamag8or]

Lamenting the loss of wristwatches

From the Sarasota Herald Tribune:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071007/COLUMNIST23/710071127/-1/COLUMNIST

 

[RondoHatton]

Watch this...

Saw this in the paper yesterday, looked around the bar, and darn if it didn't seem to be true about over 50/watch, under/none (my favorite beer parlor dive has a "diverse" clientle). I then looked at my watch and realized it was time for another round.

Ever see someone with a drink in their left hand and asked him what time is it?, and in an automatic motion, pour said drink on himself? Great gag.

 

[Tomasso]

I've seen several articles lamenting the demise of the wristwatch yet the manufacture and sales of wristwatches are skyrocketing, especially the luxury brands. It seems that everybody and their brother are getting into the watch game; in the last decade hundreds of new brands have hit the market.

I collect watches, so I'm very observant of what the people around me are wearing and I've never seen so many wearing 3k+ watches. Rolex alone sold ONE MILLION watches last year. :eusa_doh:

 

[kpreed]

Did not know this, but I have always been a pocket watch kind of guy anyway.

 

[The Wingnut]

I forgot my watch today. I feel naked without it.

Having your watch on your wrist where you can simply glance at it is far better than having to dig in your pocket for your phone. Than again, it's not 'trendy' enough.

Thbbbbbpt. Fine, they're out of style? More for me, and I can keep sticking my finger in the eye of fashion.

 

[Brad Bowers]

A loss of tradition is lamentable, but I'm not one to speak. I gave up wearing a wriswatch about 26 years ago, my freshman year in high school. Decided I didn't want to be a slave to the clock. I did carry a pocket watch for a few years, but even that went by the wayside. I've done just fine without one.

Brad

 

[Gideon Ashe]

Loss of your wristwatch.lol lol

At first I read it as you having lost your own personal wristwatch.

I was NOT aware that people are not wearing wristwatches any longer.
I have not noticed any particular shift away from them.
I notice things like that.
maybe it is a regional thing, but I do not decern any such move.

I wear a Steel Rolex Submariner that I bought for $90.00US in Hanoi in 1960.
Goes for slightly more than that these days.
It goes back to Rolex (NYC) every three years for a checkup and buff.
It is my only personal nod toward jewellry, that does not cut or go bang.lol lol lol

I have another Rolex, I recieved as a gift, but it is one of those shiny faced gold Datadjust jobs, and I cannot tell the time without taking our and wearing reading glasses.lol

By the by, who said that wristwatches are out of style or being used less than before?
Curious, that's me.

 

[David V]

I recall a few months ago, I was sitting on the train during my morning commute and happened to look out the window during one of the stops. There was a fellow wearing a wristwatch. He looks at the train, then reaches in his pocket and looks at his cell phone. Puts the cell phone back in his pocket and returns to reading his paper.

 

[Alan Eardley]

From the Sarasota Herald Tribune:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071007/COLUMNIST23/710071127/-1/COLUMNIST

I'm still lamenting the demise of pocket watches - with fusee movements!

Alan

 

[Mid-fogey]

Interesting...

...notion. I've seen some articles about the demise of watches also. I guess I understand it. Time devices, many tied to the atomc clock waveform, are everywhere.

Being that I'm so old fashoned in so many other ways, I don't suppose I'll be giving up mine anytime soon.

 

[panamag8or]

I wear an old accutron with a UF Alumni Assoc. gold face, and it has been through some rough patches, but I, too, feel naked without it. Even if I glance at my phone for the time now and again, I still think a fashionable wristwatch completes the man.

 

[panamag8or]

I took my accutron into a reputable watch/clock repair shop because the back popped off, and I don't have the tool to tighten it. The fellow put it on the machine and told me it was stripped, and the only fix was to get a new case, but of course, there are no new Bulova cases.

Anyway, I took it home and removed the o-ring... the back screwed right on (by hand) with no problem, and has remained tight since. It's not water resistant anymore, but at least it's on my wrist.

I have a matching pocket watch and ladies pendant watch to get fixed (My Grandfather left the batteries in both of them when he bought them in 1980), but maybe I'll look at another shop first. The shop in my old town told me it would be about $400-$500 apiece to fix, and I think that would be worth it, to have running accutrons.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I love my wristwatch. It was a gift to me when I graduated high school. I've worn it almost every day since.

 

[WideBrimm]

I'm over 50. I'm not wearing a wrist watch! I'm wearing a pocket watch
I've even got a cell phone. But since I got the cell phone back in 2004, it's now an antique

 

[jeep44]

I don't feel right without a wristwatch, either-but I'm a few north of 50,too.
In business and social situations, it is just so much easier to discreetly check the time on your wrist, as opposed to pulling out your phone and checking the time ,which can come across as rather rude.

 

[CharlestonBows]

Let's look at the operative words, here:

Mobile Phone

Phone, short for Telephone.

Pronunciation: ?te-l?-?f?n
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Definition: an instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance; specifically : one in which sound is converted into electrical impulses for transmission (as by wire)

I'm also in law school, and I often get lectures from Federal Judges about apperance (because I dress most of them in my district, lol). One once told me, "When an attorney doesn't wear a watch, that communicates to me that they do not care about their time, the court's time, or their client's time. This is particularly vexing when they are late to court, as is often the case." (Does this mean he holds those who go watch-less in contempt? Pun highly intended.)

 

[aliados]

Rude?

. . . In business and social situations, it is just so much easier to discreetly check the time on your wrist, as opposed to pulling out your phone and checking the time ,which can come across as rather rude.

Seems to me that the concept of "rude" is somewhat antiquated, no? How often do we see mens wearing their hats -- or more often, caps -- indoors, or screaming into cellphones, etc . . . But then again, I'm over fifty, too -- and so are my watches!