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

Ah yes, a Vostok wristwatch proudly proclaimed to have been made in the USSR.

I've no experience with these, how do you find it as a timekeeper?

 

Been wearing my 52mm late 30's Gruen Curvex Majesty.

 

LOVE the deco dial!

 

Very much in the style of your Gruen!!! That watch looks great!!!! LOVE those curved lines!!!!
M

 

Thanks M! The Curvex is a bit large on my small wrist but I don't care

 

Approximately +10s per day. And looks very nice with suite.

 

Still wearing the 52mm Gruen Curvex Majesty.

 

Better for a watch to run a bit fast, there's nothing worse than a slow watch resulting in always being late for meetings etc.

Are you able to remove the back of the case in order to access the regulator? You may be able to slow the movement down to less than 6 seconds fast per day, which would qualify it for chronometer status in terms of the basic rate of timekeeping.

 

my Rose Gold filled 1937 Elgin. Quite satisfied with it

 

Ok, I had some really, really good luck trolling the shops this past month!!
Right to left....
1. Waltham Premier.....9 jewel 750 movement......around 1938......
2. Gruen Precision....."Guild" 325 17 jewel movement......1934-1935....pre Curvex........
3. Bulova 23 jewel self winding, six adjustments........while gold case & expansion bracelet.....1955
4. Benrus "Shock Absorber", 15 jewel unadjusted, early 30's.......gold deco "step case".
5. Waltham 18 size, "William Ellery" 15 jewel movement, key wind, key, set, coin silver hunt case....1872
All are running, but the Gruen and Benrus need a good cleaning..............do need a crystal for the waltham (very common as these are VERY thin, and this particular model is set from the face....meaning the crystal gets much abuse from opening and closing the bezel.....) but watch runs great!!!!
Yes, very good finds.....GREAT PRICES TOO!!
VERY pleased......
Cheers,
M

 

Great finds indeed!

Especially the key wind/set Waltham "Wm Ellery" in what may be its original coin silver case. Did the chain come with it & is it also silver? ~ looks like a double Albert, one end for the watch & the other for the key. I hope the key was included, particularly if it's one of those great vintage keys which allows the business end to rotate whilst the other end is held stationary in the chain clasp.

Don't ask me why, but lately I'm more & more drawn to these 18-size contraptions from the 1870s which are both wound & set with a key. Perhaps I'm becoming a "Steampunk", stands to reason in as much as my father used to call me a "punk".

 

Yes....I do love the old key winds as well..........and yes....the case is Waltham marked and correct for the period.....given the jewel count for the watch, the case is most appropriate. As for the chain and key...both came with the watch though the chain is nickle-silver...it has had the swivel clip replaced......it is a cool chain but probably did not originally come with this watch......the key is vintage as well and YES.....it has the swivel!!!!! I really did well on these...paid 100 each for two (yes..I got the Waltham for $100) and the rest averaged well less than $60 each.....actually paid $12.50 for the Benrus.
M
PS Coin silver watch chains are really hard to come by.......I have less than 6..(two came with their original watches which had the coin silver hunt cases)........when found they tend to bring as much or more than the watches!!!!!!

 

I think I see the key now, with the red thingie tied to it. At first glance I mistook it for a clasp.

That Waltham pocket watch was a really nice find & for a good price, congrats!

Although I have several pocket watches cased in coin silver, I don't think that any of my chains are coin. Probably on account of "British Commonwealth" trade restrictions, silver chains found in Canada tend to be sterling. I'd better keep a shrarp look-out on eBay for some coin silver chains to match the cases of my American pocket watches.

 

I have the exact same watch, i love it. I bought it to match my 38 Chevrolet. I would post a pic, but photo bucket is now charging a large sum to share with 3rd party. How do you share your images? I have the curvex and a very-thin model

 

Assuming that your photo is on your computer hard drive, hit the "Upload a File" button beneath your draft post & select your .jpg file & finalize the upload accordingly. I don't know whether this works with hand held devices but if you're on the Internet "logically" it should work too.

The Board does specify a max file size, which I can never remember however an error message will display if your photo is too large. I use a freeware photo imaging app to reduce the file size for uploading purposes.

 

WOW! 2 Majesty's on one forum! I love these Curvex's! Especially the large ones. You have to get a photo of your watch and the Chevy!

Sorry to hear about Photo Bucket. I have my photos on Smugmug. From there I copy the link to the image and use the image tool which is next to the smiley face icon on the toolbar above. You can also upload the image from you computer like as viclip has mentioned in his reply.

 

These are all of my U.S. WWII military watches:



Left to right: Elgin 554 Ord Dept sub-second, Hamilton USN Aviator 987s, Hamilton USMC 2987, Elgin A-11 1941 white dial, Bulova 1943 A-11 sterling silver case, Elgin USMC sweep second watch, Elgin 1945 A-11 NOS and a Waltham Ord. sub-second.


- Ian

 

It worked, my long awaited Curvex in action. My watchmaker friend kept her for a year until I found a nos balance complete to get her working. My Curvex is in nice shape, far from perfect but thats ok.

 

She looks GREAT!!!!

 

1935 Bulova Senator. NOT the original band (band is from a '38 Bulova president, removed when I replaced it with a modern black strap)