This watch repair gig can get expensive

[thor447]

Vintage Seamaster videos are my favorite.

I was very close to picking one up the other day, but the seller and I were $100 apart. I thought I was being a bit generous, and made a cash offer (in person), but we just couldn't come to an agreement. I like them myself, but most of them I find are just a bit too small for me personally. I absolutely love the watches though. I ended up doing some selling/trading with a few other folks and walked away with 3 watches for future projects, including a tanker style Longines from around the 40's. It was a 14K gold filled watch, and 99.9% of all the gold filling has long since gone and it's got this really awesome dulled silver patina to it.

 

[rockchalk06]

I was very close to picking one up the other day, but the seller and I were $100 apart. I thought I was being a bit generous, and made a cash offer (in person), but we just couldn't come to an agreement. I like them myself, but most of them I find a just a bit too small for me personally. I absolutely love the watches though. I ended up doing some selling/trading and walked away with 3 watches for future projects, including a tanker style Longines from around the 40's. It was a 14K gold filled watch, and 99.9% of all the gold filling has long since gone and it's got this really awesome dulled silver patina to it.

I haven't found one I think I could wear yet, but the movements are just amazing. Another YouTube channel I watch does a bunch of them.

If the deal isn't wright, just want meant to be I guess. I'm excited to see the Longines torn apart. Never seen one of their movements

 

[dlbleak]

Many Seamasters on my watchlist…

 

[ForsakenConservative]

I’ve been wearing mine nearly every day for almost 22 years

 

[thor447]

View attachment 378544
I’ve been wearing mine nearly every day for almost 22 years

That's excellent! One of the great things about the co-axial escapement is that pushes rather than slides between the pallet stones and the escape wheel, and has about 1/10th the amount of friction, which ultimately extends the service life of the watch (according to Roger Smith - who is WAAYYY smarter than me!). They are such great watches.

I find it interesting that you're good those readings on your timegrapher. I had read that you need at least a model 1900 to get the proper readouts on those co-axial movements. Perhaps that is not the case!

 

[thor447]

I haven't found one I think I could wear yet, but the movements are just amazing. Another YouTube channel I watch does a bunch of them.

If the deal isn't wright, just want meant to be I guess. I'm excited to see the Longines torn apart. Never seen one of their movements

I couldn't help myself and did an inspection on the Longines on Thursday night when I got home. It'll make for a fun project.

I also spoke too soon earlier. I just now did a serial number lookup and found this watch was made in 1967. By the look of it I was guessing the 40's, but the shock protected balance should've given it away. I was only 20+ years off!

 

[ForsakenConservative]

That's excellent! One of the great things about the co-axial escapement is that pushes rather than slides between the pallet stones and the escape wheel, and has about 1/10th the amount of friction, which ultimately extends the service life of the watch (according to Roger Smith - who is WAAYYY smarter than me!). They are such great watches.

I find it interesting that you're good those readings on your timegrapher. I had read that you need at least a model 1900 to get the proper readouts on those co-axial movements. Perhaps that is not the case!

You are absolutely correct about the co-axial….. I think it was George Daniels that got it working well, and Omega bought it and ran. My watch pre-dates the co-axial, it has the 1120 movement, based on the ETA 2892. This was the movement they originally modified into the 2500 ( I think…..), and I understand it was a bit problematic. The movements they use now were purpose-designed for the co-axial escapement, and I understand that they were designed in-house at Omega. I guess that’s not really saying much, since they are all under the Swatch Group banner.

Pretty, eh?

 

[thor447]

You are absolutely correct about the co-axial….. I think it was George Daniels that got it working well, and Omega bought it and ran. My watch pre-dates the co-axial, it has the 1120 movement, based on the ETA 2892. This was the movement they originally modified into the 2500 ( I think…..), and I understand it was a bit problematic. The movements they use now were purpose-designed for the co-axial escapement, and I understand that they were designed in-house at Omega. I guess that’s not really saying much, since they are all under the Swatch Group banner.View attachment 378551
Pretty, eh?

Yep, George Daniels invented it in the 60's. He shopped it around to several Swiss watch companies (including Patek Phillipe), but none of them decided to move forward with it until Omega. I've read quite a bit of history on it's development, and boy were those companies sorry for not grabbing it when they did.

Swatch does own Omega, but Omega engineered and developed a lot in-house. I believe you're right where now all of their movements are in-house. Even Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, and the watchmaker's watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre are owned by owned by the Richemont Group, which another very large conglomerate like Swatch. I don't think that takes it takes away from the quality of a watch if it is owned by a larger parent company. It seems that most of those higher end brands still keep everything in house, but Patek used JLC movements for years. Rolex used Zenith movements for the Daytona up until 2000. ETA makes some really good stuff, so I don't think it detracts at all from the Omegas of that time. They are solid runners, and then Omega took those movements and did their own finish work to them, added additional complications, etc.

 

[ForsakenConservative]

Yup….I failed to say ETA is part of SWATCH, so Omega doing work “in-house” kinda loses something (to me) if the employees simply changed their shirts before doing the work. I’m not knocking it, l like my Omegas.

 

[ForsakenConservative]

@thor447, is that your 65 Goat, or just a pic you like? I have a white one