a photo dump

I’ve recently got an iPhone, and I’m quite impressed at how good the camera is. On Twitter, a group of self-proclaimed ‘watchnerds’ has begun posting daily wrist shots under the hashtag ‘womw’ (what’s on my wrist) — see http://search.twitter.com/search?q=womw

Here are a few of my casual iPhone WOMW shots:

Bernhardt Globemaster GMT. This is a modern watch ‘inspired’ by the Rolex GMT Master, albeit more on the scale of a Seadweller/Deepsea at 42mm diameter and very thick. It uses a modified ETA automatic movement to provide a separately adjustable 24-hour hand. Along with a rotating 24-hour bezel, it’s easy to read three different timezones at a glance (I currently have it set to show local time on the main hands, GMT/UTC with the red 24-hour hand and New York time on the outer bezel). It’s 200-metre waterproof with a screw-down crown, and has a sapphire crystal.  Made in limited editions by Fred Amos in the US using Swiss movements and German-made cases, Bernhardt is one of the many bespoke watch brands popping up that only operate online and which draw their custom from the keen watch fans who frequent internet forums. This is one of my favourite ‘everyday’ watches, at home on a NATO or stitched brown leather strap as well as on its very well made, solid-end-link oyster bracelet. (see http://www.bernhardtwatch.com/globemaster.html )

This is a Chinese-made Seagull 1963 chronograph. There is quite an interesting story behind these: in the 1950s, China saw what the Russians were doing with watchmaking (brands such as Poljot and Vostok) and while they’d been making basic, reasonable quality watches for some time, the Mao government wanted a flagship watch. Enter the Swiss movement company Venus, who made wonderful chronographs in the 1930s and 40s using a column-wheel: they needed capital to develop new technologies, so they sold the machinery and patents for their classic 175 chrono movement to China. The Seagull was born, and in 1963 about 1500 of these fine (but even by then rather dated-looking) watches were issued to pilots and navigators in the Chinese airforce. By the quirks of Chinese history, this movement, dating back to the 1940s, has never gone out of production, and seeing an opening to sell a retro-styled watch to Western collectors, the ‘1963’ has recently been reissued.

This watch also uses the Seagull (ex-Venus) manual-wind, column-wheel chronograph movement, but it is British. The Precista PRS-5 is a contemporary reissue of a classic military chronograph made for British forces in the 1970s. Originals used a Valjoux 7734 movement and were made by Hamilton, Breitling, CWC and Newmark as well as the original Precista. The Precista brand is one of a number of historic brands bought up and revived by Sheffield-based Eddie Platts with his Timefactors company (http://www.timefactors.com/). The first reissued Precista chronos used the Russian Poljot 3133 movement (itself based on dies from the V7734 sold to the Russians by the Swiss), but this second batch uses the Chinese Seagull. Either way, it’s a very attractive watch, with a thick, satin-finished case and domed acrylic crystal.

From reissues to the real deal: this is a CWC G10, issued to someone in the British army in 1977. Simple, robust, highly legible: an archetypal military watch.

This Omega Seamaster cal.1020, known as a ‘TV’ model for pretty obvious reasons, dates from about 1975. My partner Kathy found it NOS from a dealer in Hong Kong and bought it for me a few years back. Automatic, day/date, matching bracelet.

I don’t usually go for quartz watches, but I made an exception for this Seiko, a 7a27 chronograph from 1983. With its very high-quality, 15-jewelled movement, this is a mechanical watch in all but its power source. A version of this watch was issued to the RAF and is highly collectible: this civilian version is still somewhat rare but was an inexpensive buy on eBay.

Another Seiko, this time a 1968 World Time (cal 6117). The dial was originally silver-white but has aged (pretty uniformly) to an attractive gold. The red 24-hour hand is matched with an inner bezel showing world cities. Oddly, this watch has an error: it shows GMT as a separate indicator, with London sharing a timezone with Paris and Rome — London and mainland Europe are always an hour apart. This error was corrected on later models.

Last one for now: this is a Titoni Airmaster, probably dating from the late 1960s or early 70s. It has an ETA automatic movement and the design is an interesting mix of Rolex/Tudor (Oysterdate) and Omega (Railmaster) styling cues. For its era it’s quite big: 39 or 40mm. Inexpensive to buy, and runs well: although the movement is somewhat loose in the case and it is low on power, running accurately when worn but stopping pretty soon after its taken off the wrist.

Enicar Sherpa Guide GMT

I actually have two of these. Both date from 1969, but they have subtly different dials and inner bezels. And neither of them works properly … soon I’ll hand them over to an acquaintance who is a highly trained, professional watchmaker currently working for ‘a major Swiss brand’ who isn’t meant to moonlight but who likes to take on ‘challenging projects’ from his friends to do in his spare time. With luck, he’ll be able to make me one good, fully functional one from the two, and I’ll probably then sell on the remaining bits to some brave soul!

This is the first one: it has a non-original sweep second hand, but the inner 24-hour bezel works perfectly and the red and black checkered 24-hour hand is also there and operational. The case is in very good shape (although the back has been over-polished and has lost some detail). The outer ‘world cities’ bezels on these are made of soft aluminium and are almost always damaged: this one is is so-so condition.

Unfortunately, after running well for a few weeks I noticed that this watch had a tendency to stop overnight, usually a few hours after the date change-over. I got into the habit of re-setting it in the morning, but one day I went to set it and it had really seized up just before midnight, to the extent that when I stupidly tried to force it a little, the setting crown came out of the watch altogether! I could slip it back in and it would wind the movement, but not set the time. I took it to a watchmaker with a good reputation for repairs and restoration, but his verdict was that it was beyond economic repair.

This is Enicar #2. As you can see, it has a slightly different, plainer dial and inner bezel. Overall, it’s in very good condition. All hands are correct. The movement runs strongly and keeps pretty good time. However, the 24-hour hand doesn’t run properly and the date changes over at about 8pm rather than midnight, so something is awry there; and the inner bezel is jammed and the upper crown mechanism (which turns the inner bezel) is broken (I’ve just stuck the crown from watch #1 over the end of the crown tube so it looks complete). The case-back still has all its detail, but its ‘Super Compressor’ mechanism doesn’t seem to lock into place the way it should, so the back is always slightly loose (which makes the ‘666 feet’ waterproof rating pretty useless!). The outer bezel on this one is in better condition — you can still see its orange highlights — but the little pointer on the red anodised inner ring has broken off.

Sandoz sub

Until such time as I can afford a proper Rolex Submariner … this is actually a pretty good alternative. Sandoz is an old Swiss brand that from about the 1960s on concentrated on sales in Asia, and eventually took the cost-cutting measure of putting their watches together in Hong Kong and Singapore, using Swiss ETA movements. This one has a 25-jewel automatic movement, a nicely domed acrylic crystal and a screw-down crown. With its yellowing, aged lume, the colours of the ‘real Bond’ NATO are a good match.

Tudor Ranger I

I’ve long hankered after a Rolex Explorer I, but if any Rolex is expensive, Explorer Is are particularly so given how plain they are. So instead I turned my eye to Rolex’s ‘budget’ brand Tudor, and came across this little gem:

It’s a Tudor Prince Oysterdate Ranger I, and dates from sometime in the early 1970s. It came on a black leather band, and I’ve also tried it on a black and grey ‘Bond’ NATO … but it really needed a proper Oyster bracelet. It’s not too big at 35mm, but with the black face and smooth bezel, it doesn’t look too small on the wrist.

Certina DS-3

This is one of my more recent purchases from eBay. It’s an early 1970s Certina DS-3. From what I’ve been able to find out so far, it’s quite rare — Certina made some very chunky dive watches with a similar case, including the DS-3 Super PH, of which some were issued to the Royal Australian Navy. But I haven’t seen many other dress watches using this big cushion case.

Unsurprisingly it’s heavy, even more so on the Watchadoo ‘lumpy’ bracelet. But it is comfortable, with the case curved on the sides so it sits snugly on the wrist.

It has a slightly sparkly metallic blue face with silver baton markers, and slight traces of lume left. The movement is a Certina house automatic, c. 919 (which I think might be based on an A. Schild movement). It runs very well on the wrist, but doesn’t have a lot of life when unworn, so it may need a service soon.

It is also completely silent — the Certina ‘double-shock’ insulation is so effective in isolating the movement from the case that you can’t hear it tick even when it’s right against your ear (either that or I’m going deaf!).

And all this for under A$200!