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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:29:25 GMT
The 1980's continue . . . ~1982 Hamilton MIL-W-6433A GG-W-113; non-radioactive dial and hands (no Tritium); 17j ETA 2750 hacking handwind. This one took the brunt of operational use for fifteen years as it can hack (the 7j Durowe does not). Went through pure Hell more than once. Should have it overhauled which I'll probably do in the next year or so. It's not running erratically, but it is overdue considering what it's been through.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:30:50 GMT
Continuing through the 1980's here ~1982 Casio Pace Runner (aka Running Man) J-50; module 208
In addition to pace setting and distance accumulation based on pace and stride, it has an alarm, stopwatch with lap feature, and timer functions. Snap-on case back has some water resistance, but this Casio isn't made for bathing or swimming. Original strap hardened, and broke into bits from age embrittlement over 15 years ago. Common for the Casio from this era. Found replacement that was nearly identical. Resin case is still fine.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:32:31 GMT
Continuing the '80's playback with a 1983 Bulova Super Seville - ETA 2834-2 AutomaticThis one seriously irked the famous Swiss luxury watch company - to the extent Bulova changed it in later models to make it look just enough different that it wasn't a shameless clone. Reto used to have a couple of the latter ones for sale on his PMWC sales site, which is where I bought this (from Reto) in June 2006. It was one of the numerous NOS he scrounged up in the Far East. Dated it by opening the back and looking at the Bulova date code inside the watch (P3). Turned out to be older than I had thought.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:33:43 GMT
~1985 Jules Jurgensen W6652; 7 jewel PUW 256 quartz
Made during the mid to late 1980's moonphase craze. The moonphase is part of the same drive as the date complication. The wheel ratios for it are nearly exactly the ~29.5 day mean lunar cycle. Only needs to be adjusted once a year, if that often. I check it when making Daylight Savings Time changes. Bought this one in 1989 or 1990 when the Seiko SQ was acting up after a battery change refusing to restart (finally got it going a few days later fiddling with it). It was on sale at a Sears and is the only gold plated watch I've ever bought. PUW: Pforzheimer Uhren-Rohwerke in Pforzheim, West Germany. By 1950 after the war, PUW was the largest German watch movement company. It finally succumbed to the Quartz Revolution in 1990, being taken over by the Swiss SMH, in spite of retooling itself and making a number of quartz movements such as this one during the 1980's. PUW mechanical and quartz movements are found in many watches from the 1950's through the 1980's, including a number of US brands such as 1970's era Bulova and their Caravelle, and 1980's era Armitron. Gratuitous Lume Shot:
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:35:23 GMT
Soviet Восток Амфибия Maritime Radio Operator made in October 1990. Powered by a Boctok 2409A handwind. Must admire their mechanical design engineers. They were capable of designing things, including this watch, that were robust to appalling manufacturing conditions lacking precision and control of their processes. It worked in spite of enormous variation in materials and processes. This watch is a prime example of it, and I've used it to demonstrate to others what "robust engineering" can accomplish.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:36:46 GMT
~1991 Poljot Штурманские Navigator's chronographMade at the time the Soviet Union collapsed, it was the current presentation model given to graduates of their navigator/bombardier school. The chrome plated brass case and acrylic crystal were standard fare. Has "Poljot Russia" in simple block letter, single stroke machine engraving on the back where the graduate's name would be engraved, so it could be exported to the US with the required country of origin. All the other inscriptions on the back are heavily etched in cyrillic. Photo shows the original leather strap made from the hide of a sickly syphilitic soviet cow that's still on it. Had to repair it a number of times as the original glue keeps failing in various places. There's a stark contrast between the case, crown, dial and hands materials used in this one, and much more recent models. Bought it from Hammacher Schlemmer in 1991 to celebrate the fall of the Evil Empire and dissolution of the Soviet Union. Movement inside is the hand wind Poljot 3133, directly derived from the Valjoux 7734 with a half-dozen more jewels added, the beat rate increased to 21.6kpbh, and power reserve kicked up a half-dozen hours. The Soviets bought the entire production line for the 7734 directly from Valjoux, shipped it to Moscow, and set it up at the Poljot works with the help of Valjoux technicians. This occurred in 1978 as Valjoux reduced its portfolio of movement calibers in the face of the Quartz Revolution that was killing the Swiss watch industry. The newer 7750 family of automatics survived to be incorporated into ETA's portfolio.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:37:43 GMT
Not the new Aragon, but this first generation 45mm Divemaster from when Wing first rebranded his watch line. It was among the first models he released near the end of 2015. Wing came up with "Aragon" as the new name by replacing the "D" in Dragon with an "A". That came out in a podcast not long ago. Powered by one of Wing's favorite movements, the SII NH36. The iridescent blue sunburst dial on this one is the same iridescent blue sunburst as on the new one.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:38:35 GMT
45mm Android Hercules Tungsten Sapphire with SII NH35 Nope, no mistake. It's Tungsten, not Titanium, at the other end of the mass spectrum with a mass density nearly identical to Gold (it's been used to make fake Gold bullion). Case and bracelet are mirror finished Tungsten. I believe the clasp and crown are stainless. Bought it in 2014 when Wing was just starting to clear his closets out for the brand name change. Definitely heavy for its size.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:39:43 GMT
The Android Corsair 45 with SII NH35A - encased in 45mm high polish mirror finish stainless everything . . . which is why the bezel looks black with the black pedestal and background used in the photo. It was a reflection nightmare to photograph. Putting the cyclops on the crystal's underside is a nice touch, one that Wing frequently does. The 45mm fits well on my wrist . . . and it's not dive weight Tungsten like yesterday's Wing put a nice cabochon crown on this one that has the Android logo embedded in it Even the numbers on the bezel are lumed!
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:43:12 GMT
Bulova Champlain 262kHz Precisionist HAQAbout the same size as the new Aragon at just about 48mm dia. without the crown, and 16mm thick. Smaller than the Androids from the past two days. Not as heavy which means less steel and more spacer inside. Blatant faux diver in spite of screw down crown and 300m water resistance. Bezel cannot rotate for two reasons. - Crystal, bezel and top of case are curved, and
- Even if the bezel was flat, the bolt heads would prevent it.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:46:23 GMT
Bulova Claremont Precisionist 262kHz HAQ Watched a YouTube video of a crystal replacement on a Claremont. It's only curved on the top side. It's flat on the underside, contrary to what most would imagine, but it makes sense. Why curve both sides if you don't need to. The watch case itself curved, only its upper surface. The replacement for the dead Longwood, its dial has dimensional depth dimension and several textures that make it visually ineresting.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:52:53 GMT
Bulova Accutron II Moonview - an obvious homage to their original (and much smaller) Accutron Astronaut with the same 262kHz P102.12 movement found in their Precisionist and UHF sub-brands. The tragedy is Bulova making this with a fixed bezel when it should rotate to allow another time zone. Why they did this is inexplicable as it killed the market for this model as soon as the faux bezel lack of feature was discovered. This one was made in 2014. It was discontinued in 2016 with the rest of Bulova's Accutron II line in 2017, as Bulova continues its long-term wandering in the Brand Identity Wilderness, attempting to find itself.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:53:55 GMT
In Perpetual Motion today: Seiko Arcadia Perpetual 196kHz 8F32 HAQ
Seiko did this one well in a "named" model with a very comfortable bracelet and sapphire crystal. They were two decades ahead of Bulova with high accuracy quartz watches using quartz oscillators running at 196kHz, 6X the standard 32kHz (Bulova's run 8X). This one was made in January, 2001. Not only that, unlike the Bulova P102 three year battery life, they are powered by a 10 year battery (3V CR2412 Lithium) and have a true perpetual calendar complication that handles Leap Years. No need to advance the date at the end of any short month. I only set it when Daylight Savings Time changes in the Spring and Fall. The perpetual movement does the rest. It's on its 3rd battery. The 2nd one, put in by a local jeweler (who knew the procedure), was an old Seiko battery that had been sitting on a shelf for many years. The trick with getting 10 years from one is using as fresh a battery as possible.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:54:53 GMT
Seiko Le Grand Sport Perpetual Kinetic Auto Relay
Perpetual calendar complication that can run continuously until 2100 (the next year without a Leap Year), with Seiko's "Auto Relay" feature that puts the movement to sleep conserving energy when its kinetic rotor isn't moved for 24 hours, with only the date changing. Reawakens when moved again and sets hands to current time. Small window between 8 and 9 shows Leap Year. Shot photo on 6 May 2018, 2 years after the 2016 Leap Year. Shows "L.Y." in window during a Leap Year. If I were to change anything, I'd ditch the 24 hour subdial, which cannot be set independently, and replace it with a day of week.
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Post by marsss25 on Sept 29, 2020 10:56:32 GMT
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