Post pics of your watches ***Please NO QUOTING PHOTOS***

Ohhhh that's very nice CB. I love the case shape, really distinctive. I love that period of watch design of the late 60's up to the mid 70's. Real design innovation all over the place and the big names were all at it. These days the big names are very staid for the most part and raid their old cataogues and cheap "fashion" watches are where the actual design stuff seems to be(honourable mention for Seiko mind you).

And from the same era; another one of my Girard Perregaux 300 series quartz(72 going by the chip).



This one is a real bruiser in heft. Very solid. Seems to be a much tougher steel than others I have.

Funny you mention bracelets CB, I got lucky just last night and sourced one for the above for a tenner P&P included. Result. It's not GP branded, but it is a distinctive design they used(and I've seen NOS ones with unbranded straps attached). The GP branded bracelets if you can find one are mad money, for me anyway. Nearly always more than I pay for the watches themselves. 80 quid for a watch, 200 quid for a strap. Eh... nope.

Actually that's some advice I'd have for folks looking at vintage stuff, if it came with a bracelet originally, or as an option* and you want that look, don't be tempted by the bargain watch head only examples(unless it's a scarily rare piece), try and buy one with its bracelet attached, it will turn out a lot cheaper in the long run. Better for resale too. Even more if you split the sale.

I've had the case of the disappearing ebay item myself. Very frustrating.



*from what I can gather, other than examples with integrated bracelets most came with a strap/bracelet options at the time.

CarltonBrowne wrote: »

A chap on TZ-UK who's currently studying to be a watchmaker "did" one of these a while back. I think it's my perfect GP-branded 352 derivative with that slate grey dial.
http://raulhorology.com/2013/03/the-great-grandad-of-quartz-girard-perregaux-calibre-352-project/

Yep that's the same case alright. Sadly not the funky dial. Fantastic lapping job on that one. Mine is in better condition than his was originally, but that case working makes it a new watch. Him finding it was a dead quartz can seems to be the only thing that goes on these in my experience. great he found an original one. Diamond cut natural quartz by all accounts. The rest of the circuitry seems very solid and the stepping motor is bulletproof.

60 quid? Nice one. You really can't go wrong at that money TC. The only issue may be that it's a smaller size than you may be used to.

*looks at twiglet wrists and thinks... vintage, yea baby*

EDIT. that said, this very day I was in my local supermarket and while waiting at the till a very well dressed elderly gentleman put the talk on me and referred to my watch, my blue dialed Girard Perregaux. Instant mutual recognition of another watch nutter. It's a pheromone thing His equally very well turned out lady wife looked at us both and knew "oh god, not another one". Turns out he was wearing a 1950's stainless steel jaeger leCoultre. In near new condition. I'd reckon 35mm in size and he was of a way more manly wrist than me. Looked good. Very good. IMHO there's a lot to be said for the sub 40mm that is unfashionable these days. Then again he was that kind of a chap who could have worn a pink 5 euro Hello Kitty watch and it still would have worked.

Looks very like my 1940 Alpina in layout and size. What is it TC?



Looks good on the Nato strap too. Nice watch.

Looks 40's alright TC. The movement(and design) pretty much seals that date. Very nice watch. The Alpina is slightly larger at 30mm. There was a KM example that was 35mm apparently but they rarely show up. And when they do... Big money. Joke is that the KM's ten years ago you could have for under 200 quid(IIRC I paid 130 at the time). How times change.

I have to say D I have a lot of time for Fossil. They push design and have done for many a year. The "big" names for the most part have almost if not completely given up. They've gone all "post moderne". Either they raid their historical back catalogue to sell "authenticity" or they make tiny increments of change that often get their fans in a tizzy. "OhMiGod!!! the new Rolex has a puce coloured bezel, it's slightly more puce coloured than the last" kinda thing. It's a real pity IMH. For me anyway and for the most part, if you want to see out there designs in watches the "fashion watch" shop has way more goin on one display than Weirs has in its entire stock.

Annnyhooo... Don't think I've posted this one before. It's a Yema. A French company that has had some nice designs over the years. Some way out there wacky and some derivative, but they have an interesting history. They even have a "space watch" in their lineup.

My example is a Yema Superman, one of a few models to carry that name from the early 1960's to today. They were in many ways a "poor mans" Rolex and were advertised as such, but IMH there was feck all "poor" about them.. They had the twist of their unique locking device for the bezel, held down by a screwdown crown(of a diff design to Rolex et al), which you can see at the 3 O'clock position.

My particular example as you can see is quartz and has the (R) attached to the Superman title, so they're known as Superman R's. They also came in automatic. I also have the original bracelet with the divers extension. Now while these first kicked off in the 60's mine is a late 80's example, powered by a Seiko movement(Seiko bought them out at this time). Nothing pretty to look at, but accurate and near bulletproof*. It also has tritium lume, though no T on the dial. The back case does say "T9 001 6E", a number that doesn't come up in the searches. Normally they have a Y instead of a T, so maybe T = Tritium? I dunno, but even with the half life of Tritium of 12 years this watch still weakly glows in the wee hours. It must have been blinding when new.

What really impresses me about the Yema Supermans of any vintage? How thin they are. These are not a bulky watch by any measure. They're 10mm or under in thickness(38mm minus crown) and that's mostly the crystal. So what, sez ye? And well ye may ask. As the dial reads these were/are rated to nigh on a 1000 feet/300 meters/30 bar in water pressure. Not BS either as mad French folks have tested this and have used them in anger on (shallower)dives. Line one of these up with a Rolex or Omega or Squale or whatever rated to that depth and they look like the welterweight who has shown up to a heavyweight boxing match looking for trouble. That's some damned good engineering in my book.


I like to add in a Buying guide, in case someone takes a fancy....There was a time when these could be picked up for buttons. Like 20-50 quid buttons. The French folks hadn't seen their value. They soon caught on though. The automatic ones run from 500 to 1000 quid depending on type, age, rarity and condition(there's a German market only one with a funkay dial or an early 60's one that's in the 1000 area). The quartz ones are cheaper as you might expect, though even there 2 to 300 quid is BIN price on the Bay and add a few more hundreds for a dealer price. IMHO the trick is to look for a quartz one, non working for spares, no worries, easily fixed. EG this current one. Snipe that for under 150 odd quid, peruse the Bay for a movement and a bit of fettling later = V cool watch. Early Quartz one too as it has the French FE movement so around 1980. Orig bracelet too and if it's original to the watch it's a very early quartz as it's a late 70's bracelet. Most of all it has its locking doodah at the crown. Never buy one without it as they are maddeningly hard to source after the fact.


Don't say I don't keep ye bored ta fuq with your inane rantings up to speed on bargains. :D




*well... except for me. This one is on it's second (NOS vintage) movement. I seem to kill post 1980 quartz with a vengeance. I've killed G-shocks by just wearing them, yet can daily wear a 1916 wristlet with no issue. Go figure. Exorcists welcome...