My adventures in watch and timepiece fiddling.

To set the stage, I have been getting into watches and timepieces lately. I had a yearning for a nice field watch for years that my now wife solved by getting me a Citizen as a gift a couple years ago.

For awhile that scratched the itch, though I did enjoy reading the Hmm what are you wearing? thread. I started watching some YouTube videos on watches and ended up buying an Astoria-branded Bel Air for my wedding last summer.

Then a couple of weeks ago I picked up a cheap Timex and re-strapped it to make a fun watch for track days.

Here's the start.

Here's the finish.

And lit up.

Continuing my saga, I had found a watch that absolutely had to have and ordered it. It's a DeTomaso, yes the same design house responsible for the Mangusta and Pantera designs watches.

I now felt like I had a watch "collection". Sure there was nothing pricey or even mechanical, but they all meant something to me and served different purposes. I talked with Mrs. Javelin about getting some basic tools so I could service the batteries myself and some sort of a case to put them in.

Enter this week...

We walked into an antique store and in one of the cases was a couple displays of watches. I looked through all of them and didn't see anything that caught my eye, but I really liked the displays. I asked about them and the store owner said they were actually drawers from a box and brought this out!

Now I'm really intrigued because this thing is cool! I ask how much and she says that she really would only sell it if I took all the watches, too. There's over 20 watches...

But, I was curious, so I asked how much and she says $200!! And adds in that I have to take all the tools, too, so that she never has to do watches again!

Needless to say I bought it all on the spot. 

The box has a clear top so you can stare at your 6 favorite pieces.

Inside the bottom drawer has a pull out compartment.

Underneath is a spot for 3 special watches.

And then there's 3 drawers that hold 6 watches each. All of these were included!!

I actually kind of like the 2 Timex and the Fossil, I might keep them for a bit.

The Great Northwestern one is kind of neat in that black chrome. The 3 pocket watches are hilariously bad. Two say "World's Best Grandpa" and the other has a truck on it!

Then there were the watches that needed help. The Casio has potential. 

And this really neat ladies watch in it's retail display case. It's kind of neat seeing the old design and my mom liked it so maybe this will go to her. 

Then there's the tools.

Obviously not a pricey kit at all, but this was literally what I was looking at buying.

Plus this thing for crystals and cases! There was also some spare straps, batteries, and some miscellany. 

So now I have a whole collection and a bunch of tools and not much invested! I figure I'll go through the watches I know I don't want and clean them up and replace the batteries and sell them to gain some practice. Eventually I'll be down to just my watches again and I know that I have a finite size to grow my collection to.

If you see anything you like let me know! I have to decide which one to fiddle with first.

Very cool! I have an old watch collection in a drawer or box somewhere, I'll have to dig it out one of these days. 

In reply to Javelin :

Very nice! I do love the box ... and the tools ... and your DeTomasso.

Nice buy! I would highly recommend modding a Seiko 5 with parts from https://theyobokies.com/ as a first project. Once you want to get into swiss made movements and assembling from components Otto Frei was a good source of components for me in the past.  I have an itch to make a Clive Cussler/ Doxa themed Seiko mod and this thread might put me over the top! Looking forward to watching (pun intended)

In reply to bgkast :

Ooooh, good ideas! Thanks for the links!

Seiko 5s and some others are great for modding.

Dagaz also makes parts for them.

https://www.dagazwatch.com/apps/webstore/

As far as tools, I would recommend spending a bit on tools. Get a good set of screw drivers, spring bar tool and magnifying tools at least.

My wife would be jealous of that box/combo buy.

She's been dabbling with watch repair for a few years and loves it. I can literally buy broken watches for Christmas, anniversary etc presents and she is thrilled.

good luck with the hobby

In reply to 93EXCivic :

Dang another good link! Thanks!

I do have a great magnifier (for model building) and screwdriver set (for slot cars) so I have a couple of bases covered.

I finally got time to work on watches!

The tools are a little cheap but work well enough for these watches. I got almost all of them working and set. 

Sadly the only Invicta face worth a snot has a trashed movement. 

My first mechanical! A genuine Sputnik watch just arrived from Ukraine!