Mechanical watches

[meic]

Does anybody still wear one of these?

I have just been rummaging through my "inheritance" and found some of my father's old mechanical watches.

I have just slipped on a Buren Starlite slender automatic and am having fun shaking my wrist and listening to it wind up. It started working straight away despite being in a drawer for at least 20 years.

[boblo]

My name is Boblo and I'm a watchaholic....

Yes I wear wind up watches. Fancy watches are my 'thing' and some of the nicer ones are automatic (and very expensive).

[Mick F]

I have a Seiko automatic I bought in Singapore in 1971. It's been in constant use since then to about five or six years ago except for repairs/maintenance.

I stopped wearing it because I've stopped wearing a watch at all! It took me months of "training" not to wear a watch. There are so many places you can see the time, you don't need a watch - or at least I don't.

My Seiko sits in the drawer. Just fished it out, and it started ticking!

[phil parker]

I often wear my Buren Grand Prix (fron the early '60s).

[thirdcrank]

I've one I bought for what was then an extravagent 25 quid, a few months after I started work in 1967. (I got some sort of windfall and splashed out.) It was very similar in appearance to Mick F's. I bought a day/ date because even in those days, I never knew what day or date it was, especially in the night, although it took several hours for the day to change in the small hours. so it didn't help much in that respect. Resetting it at the end of every month with fewer than 31 days was a pita. I've never been much of a watch wearer, so it often stayed off when I wasn't working. In those days, watch menders were in good supply. One of the big department stores (they've gone too) had a chap who would fix most problems in a few ticks while you waited. It's been in the drawer for years unused, too good to sling, too much trouble to wear. If I'm going to need to know the time with any accuracy, I dig out my "fiver from Argos" digital watch which includes so many functions I've no idea which button does what, and a stopwatch so accurate that the biggest error is human reaction time.

[diapason0]

I still wear my 1960's Omega Seamaster 600 which I bought years ago in a charity shop

[Swallow]

I have a gold Smiths watch presented to my uncle in 1968 for long service on the railway. Only wear it on special occasions though

[York Commuter]

I still wear one.

A fairly recent (less than 5 years old) "Pulsar" Automatic. It's a self winder, but stores the energy in a spring mechanism rather than the newer ones that store energy in a battery to drive an electronic movemnet.

Prior to this I had a very similar "Citizen" branded one which i dropped so many times that the various details of trim became detached and would foul the hands, this eventually had to go when its face became detached.

Prior to that a Sekonda (USSR) self winder that you could hear the internal pendulum swinging - truly a lada amongst watches. This was unfortunately stolen in a break-in i suffered.

I still have another Sekonda - a traditional wind up, with a second crown to wind up the mechanical alarm.

For our second christmas together my wife bought me an expensive quartz watch, that looks almost exactly like my current mechanical one (obviously sensing my taste), but to my shame I almost never wear it.

Stephen

[byegad]

I spent 51 years of my life being dictated to by timepieces, at school and work, time mattered and rigidly controlled what I could do and when I could do it. I decided enough was enough and at 55 took early retirement. My two battery powered watches have been sitting with the button pulled out for the last 5 years, although as a retirement present to myself I bought a battery powered pocket watch, for those days I needed to know the time. It failed last year so I bought a mechanical pocket watch. It too spends a lot of time in a drawer not ticking, but I feel it's likely to be more reliable than the battery operated one which died, merely needing winding on the days I need the time.

[hamster]

I wear a 1956 Omega Seamaster De Ville. It's somewhat older than me, and for £250 secondhand is of way better quality than what the money gets you new. It still keeps time beautifully and they still make the parts. It's even still worth £250, unlike a new watch...

But for the pure functionality of a waterproof timepiece, I have a 20 year old Casio which cost £20 new and is seemingly indestructible.

[PW]

I normally wear an electronic one which was a long service medal when the pits shut, but...
Somewhere, when I can find it and get it refurbished, is a 1916 gold Rolex with a 3 piece case given to me by my Grandmother. It'll need a hand made strap too, the fastenings are one piece.
I suspect the original owner was killed on the Somme but I can't prove it.

[thirdcrank]

My parental grandfather was presented with a gold pocket watch for 50 years service at Fairburn Lawsons - a now defunct Leeds engineering company. His eldest son who had the same first name took his own life as a young man so I always assumed it would go to my younger brother, who also shared his first name. It didn't and I've no idea what happened to it. I remember how proud he was after it had been presented. I've no idea of the quality of the watch, but it was the inscription which was the important bit.

[meic]

The Buren is stopping occasionally so I have moved on to a Mondaine 25jewel incabloc.

I am getting the suspicion that these watches are here because they were all faulty and I am not about to pay to have them serviced.
My timekeeping needs are best served by Timex quartz watches (from Argos).

But these old watches are fascinating pieces of engineering.

[Mick F]

Here's me in 1971 - Singapore - with my new watch.
Anyone know what sort of snake that is?

[al_yrpal]

I have three Rolexes acquired on various trips abroad. I wear one on any special occasion. Day to day I wear a lovely titanium seiko quartz crystal watch purchased at Niarobi airport in 2000. Its become quite scratched over the years. I would like to get it polished, the bezel re-turned with the concentric grooves and the glass descratched, any ideas on where to get it done?

Al