Cameras and Watches...

[NickTrop]

I love the ticking in my mechanical watches. Sometimes when I am at work, sitting in front of a computer all day, I hold the watch near my ear and listen to the wonderful mechanical sound or I watch the gears through the glass bottom.

Me to... Like a kid, I sometimes put it to my ear. It makes me smile. Why? Dunno... I only have one with a glass back to see the gears that I don't wear too often. It's a new Chinese eBay special for like $20. It runs a couple minutes fast each day (which is really no biggie actually...) and it's a BIG skeletal. I prefer the classic old styles, though. But for $20 shipped it amazes me that this watch is as well-made as it is... How can the Chinese make a metal/glass watch with a real leather band, metal movement... and sell it for $20 that includes shipping from China?

 

[Travis L.]

Rolex, phew, it's for golfers 😀

I've never golfed... 😛

 

[NickTrop]

Interesting thread... what about people like me who enjoy their mechanical russian-made watch? The FSU of watches 😀

Great point.

Another similarity... Like the FSU Leica and Contax clones, the Russians made some excellent undervalued timepieces. I had a nice, serviced 17 jewel vintage black dial Poljot that I stupidly sold. I sometimes get GAS for another Poljot but I "have too many watches already".

Sound familiar?

 

[pakeha]

Here is a story about watches and customer service, as customer service is involved it is an old story.
1990 i lost my prized Tag Heuer while on the water. The strap pin broke. I wrote a letter to the CEO of Tag Heuer, not complaining just asking for an alternative strap set up for my next one. Received a replacement watch 10 days later with a personal note from CEO.I live on the other side of the world from Switzerland..impressed.
Unfortunately lost the replacement some years later .
regards
CW

 

[Joao]

Then if you have ever had to take photos at a TV (UHF) transmitter site with an all electronic camera, you may be in for a surprise. .

Will you please clarify ? What can happen ??
Joao

 

[yoyo22]

(...) It's a new Chinese eBay special for like $20. It runs a couple minutes fast each day (which is really no biggie actually...) and it's a BIG skeletal. (...)

Isn't that part of the beauty of mechanical things - the mechanical tolerances which stand in contrast to the binary zeros and ones of all those computerized things. That certain uncertainty of a complex little mechanical miracle, made of gears, jewels and springs.

 

[gavinlg]

Great analogy. I wear a dw5600 g-shock for gym and everyday beating and a citizen nighthawk when things get a little nicer. I have a gorgeous tissot dress watch that my grandfather used to own as well - quartz I think, but so thin and pretty.

I personally don't mind how it's powered that much - quartz/mechanical/solar. Each watch has it's own character. I've put my g-shock through hell over the last 3-4 years and it still looks and functions new, and is only about 4-5 seconds fast a year.

When I can afford it I'll buy a Nomos Zurich, a nice Speedmaster and the current Casio G-shock Frogman. Those 3 watches make up my dream list, and pretty much represent everything I could ever need in a watch!

 

[filmtwit]

Honestly if you're going with Japanese camera's, then you go with Japanese watches. The Seiko Automatics come to mind.

 

[andydg]

It would be cheaper for me if....

It would be cheaper for me if....

I did not wear my Rolex on a daily basis. I just sent it back for service a 3rd time since buying it new in '87. While in the military and receiving flight pay, I could afford the buy it (although it was purchased at a local store at home.) The service cost has been as much as the purchase price to date.
Original watch price $2k. First service $500, second $1.2k, 3rd $600. (I don't baby it at all. The rotor came loose 2nd, 3rd time, band wore out, case is dented, crystal has been replaced, etc.)
The quote Rolex sent me last week stated that their insurance amount, in case my watch is lost comes to $9k.

Hmmm, I'm not that attached to it, an M9 would be a nice replacement and it has a built in clock.

 

[Richard G]

I have my grandfather's Cymaflex, popular with GIs in Europe after the war. He wasn't one of them. Very nice watch. Too good except for occasions. Very good time keeper. My father's Omega Seamaster was a rugged watch that never kept good time. It gained 2 minutes a day. He bought it in Singapore on his honeymoon in 1958. I had a quartz Seamaster for many years, but I got tired of it's 1986 look, and more tired of it needing a new battery which was never convenient, and saw me either without a watch for a week or two or risking my grandfather's to work and the street. My best friend had lost his grandfather's watch on a hike in our teens and I have never forgotten that.

So this year I did something exceedingly rational. I went into a jeweller I knew and asked for a waterproof, automatic steel banded watch as plain as possible. The Raymond Weil looked too precious, but the Oris was just right, and $900. It' s not a chronometer grade time keeper, but many days it comes within those parameters. I do like seeing the smooth sweep of the second hand of a mechanical watch. I am disappointed by the very rapid high pitch of the watch movement. But I am pleased I can still hear it. And it's 26 jewels by the way.

In an episode of Colombo he needs to interview a jeweler in a very Fifth Avenuish store - this is LA. He asks the woman front of house if he can get a new strap for his own watch. She examines it. "Oh, 7 jewels." He smiles proudly. She suggest a replacement band option, with the price. "Oh no, I just want a new band, not a whole new watch."

 

[mathomas]

...

And - if you're a Leica shooter, you're apt to sport an Omega...

...

Guilty as charged. I've had an automatic Seamaster for about 15 years now, though I don't wear it much these days. I've joked that a diver could have less weight on his belt if he is wearing this watch on a dive.

 

[gilpen123]

Rolex to a Leica and CLE to Omega

 

[hausen]

I like the analogy as well. My wife is Swiss which means we go there a bit. I used to have 9 automatic watches but have recently exited a few as my Leica GAS has taken over, still have:
Omega Planet Ocean Chrono
Tag Link Chrono
Mont Blanc Timewalker Chrono
Oris Worldtimer

They all work well with my M9.

 

[jky]

I must have the Voigtlander Cosina of mechanical watches... Seiko Spirit with the 6r15b movement. Much cheaper than the Omegas for example, but accuracy beyond its price point (+4-5 seconds/day)....

 

[Chris101]

Six Westclox, a Benrus, a Waltham, and a Majestyme. All work, all were cheap, and two of them - the Wesclox Pocket Ben, and the Benrus wristwatch - have radium paint faces. None of my mechanical camera lenses have thorium elements, but I want one!

 

[NickTrop]

Six Westclox, a Benrus, a Waltham, and a Majestyme. All work, all were cheap, and two of them - the Wesclox Pocket Ben, and the Benrus wristwatch - have radium paint faces. None of my mechanical camera lenses have thorium elements, but I want one!

LOL! Very funny... Love your collection by the way. I'm drawn to the cheaper "every man" watches too.

 

[brachal]

Oh man ... I have:
A 60's Omege Speedmaster, the model that went to the moon.
A 70's British Army G10
A pair of great Poljot Comanderski's
A Traser quartz
And a G-shock.

 

[NickTrop]

Oh - man, my own thread is giving me GAS! Damn!
Now I want a Seiko and another Poljot.
I see two new watches in my future.
Already watching a couple on eBay...
Grrrrrrrr.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Six Westclox, a Benrus, a Waltham, and a Majestyme. All work, all were cheap, and two of them - the Wesclox Pocket Ben, and the Benrus wristwatch - have radium paint faces. None of my mechanical camera lenses have thorium elements, but I want one!

I have a Westclox Pocket Ben that belonged to my great-grandfather. He gave it to me before he died, when I was a little kid. It still runs great and is very accurate.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Great point.

Another similarity... Like the FSU Leica and Contax clones, the Russians made some excellent undervalued timepieces. I had a nice, serviced 17 jewel vintage black dial Poljot that I stupidly sold. I sometimes get GAS for another Poljot but I "have too many watches already".

Sound familiar?

I have a Soviet KGB Automatic watch. One of the originals, not one of the copies that Russian factories have put out in huge numbers since the fall of the USSR. Last year, it quit working. I loved it, it was very accurate and was a cool watch. Liked it better than my expensive Seiko Quartz Chronograph. I can't find anyone who will work on it though. Who serviced yours, Nick?