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Let's See Your Watches! The Vintage Watch Thread.
- Thread starter Chamorro
- Start date
- Messages
- 16,862
- Location
- New York City
1929 Illinois Speedway 178
Given to the 10 leading drivers of the Indianapolis Motor Race, 1929
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Really cool looking watch on its own, but the story takes it up another full level.
VintageEveryday
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 383
- Location
- Woodside, NY
1948 Gruen curvex
Very nice pair of vintage wristwatches.
I especially like the alarm function of the Cricket. Those are super-
handy timepieces due to that reminder feature.
According to the Price Guide,there are less than 350 Illinois Skyways kicking about.Thanks. It looks larger in the photo. Compared to the monster watches these days
these are much smaller. The Illinois Watch Co. was the King of Art Deco.
Here is an extremely rare 1930 Illinois Skyway with White dial.
I wonder whether the dials came in colors other than white.
Agreed -- and a fairly unique complication, especially for its time.
As a matter of fact... it also came in a Black Dial.
I have been collecting these for years and that 350 number is
probably 10 times higher than the actual amount of these that have survived.
The "star" case had a screwback and bezel, and watchmakers couldn't figure
out how to get them off and pried them to bits. There are even several examples
with holes drilled in the back to get them off. Most were destroyed.
It also came in several other dial configurations, that I will show later.
I have been collecting these for years and that 350 number is
probably 10 times higher than the actual amount of these that have survived.
The "star" case had a screwback and bezel, and watchmakers couldn't figure
out how to get them off and pried them to bits. There are even several examples
with holes drilled in the back to get them off. Most were destroyed.
It also came in several other dial configurations, that I will show later.
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Your Illinois Skyways are strikingly handsome wristwatches what with the unique logo below 12 o'clock and the stars around the bezel; I understand that the caseback also has matching stars around its circumference.As a matter of fact... it also came in a Black Dial.
I have been collecting these for years and that 350 number is
probably 10 times higher than the actual amount of these that have survived.
The "star" case had a screwback and bezel, and watchmakers couldn't figure
out how to get them off and pried them to bits. There are even several examples
with holes drilled in the back to get them off. Most were destroyed.
It also came in several other dial configurations, that I will show later.
I'm generally partial to black dials but for some reason I prefer the white version on the Skyway, maybe because that logo presents itself better on a white background, to my eye at least.
I suspect that it wasn't watchmakers but rather "botchmakers" who stupidly pried & drilled the casebacks rather than simply unscrewing them. Whenever I come across a similarly mangled pocket watch case I always shed a silent tear; for such a unique watch as the rarely seen Illinois Skyway I'd perhaps bawl like a baby upon coming across a messed up specimen.
Thanks for posting shots of these & your other Illinois wristwatches, you must be quite the advanced collector & it's good of you to share your images & associated knowledge.
Looks like a great pair of Zenith wristwatches.
The second one I can recognize as the Zenith 2400 with the date window at 4:30 o'clock. Does it have the "T" for Tritium marking at 5 o'clock? Correct me if I'm mistaken but this model was made in the mid-1960's.
The first watch I cannot make out from the photos. Can you describe it better?
OldStrummer
Practically Family
- Messages
- 550
- Location
- Ashburn, Virginia USA
My father's 1968 Omega Dynamic, a self-winder.
You're quite right on the second point: but the first watch is a Longines.As for the T on the Zenith: there is none, as there is no tritium or any kind of luminous on the dial of this particular iteration of the 2400.
Certainly. It is a 1957 Longines Silver Arrow, calibre 23ZS. 33mm diameter, it was intended as a sportswatch (and originally came on a matching bracelet). It was marketed as a young and cool watch, an attempt to attract the younger generation to the brand.
It is currently at my watchmaker for servicing so I can't take more photos at the moment, but here is a one I found online of the same model, nicer than I can make:
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Beg pardon, I realized you were referring to a different post.
The first watch in the post you quoted is a Certina Blue Ribbon, also from the 1960s. It has the automatic mov't 25-651 and is of a rather large diameter (35mm).
