Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

Trigger Happy

I bought an old banger of a watch intending to flute around with it, mod it.
But the b@stard stem tightening screw is stuck and I cant get it open. Normally I would ask a friendly jeweller to work his magic and open it for me but all shops are closed.
Any ideas on how to overcome this?!

hitemfrank

Hammer?

This may cause other irreparable issues though.

Trigger Happy

hitemfrank wrote: »

Hammer?

This may cause other irreparable issues though.

It has been this close to getting fcked out the window already...

david

As in the screw down crown is stuck? Probably pinched the gasket from over torque or cross threaded. If there isn’t a huge crown guard I’d say some kind of rubber to protect it like a piece of bicycle inner tube and a needle nosed pliers.

david

Or just set it on fire, fire usually helps

Trigger Happy

david wrote: »

As in the screw down crown is stuck? Probably pinched the gasket from over torque or cross threaded. If there isn’t a huge crown guard I’d say some kind of rubber to protect it like a piece of bicycle inner tube and a needle nosed pliers.

No, it's a traditional pull crown. The screw is the internal one that prevents the crown/stem been removed from the case. And you need to remove them to be able to remove the movement from the case.

blue5000

Trigger Happy wrote: »

I bought an old banger of a watch intending to flute around with it, mod it.
But the b@stard stem tightening screw is stuck and I cant get it open. Normally I would ask a friendly jeweller to work his magic and open it for me but all shops are closed.
Any ideas on how to overcome this?!

Any pics or what make is it. If it's a Seiko there's a metal flap that you push, that's on a 7s26.

Trigger Happy

blue5000 wrote: »

Any pics or what make is it. If it's a Seiko there's a metal flap that you push, that's on a 7s26.

It's an unmarked movement but likely to be a landeron 52 I reckon. So about 50 years old!
The screw is seized and I need to get it unseized!

banie01

Trigger Happy wrote: »

It's an unmarked movement but likely to be a landeron 52 I reckon. So about 50 years old!
The screw is seized and I need to get it unseized!

A couple of drops of penetrating oil/fluid dripped in carefully and left for a day or 2.
Then some rubber around the crown and a small vice grips or needle pliers and rotate slowly.

Cyclingtourist

Hope I'm not too late for the pen discussion.

This is my Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 4810 from the early 1980s.

micks_address

Must be a correlation between people who like watches and writing pens... My writing is awful and as I've a career using a computer all day most of my communication is via typing... I blame that for my mostly illegible writing..

Trigger Happy

micks_address wrote: »

Must be a correlation between people who like watches and writing pens... My writing is awful and as I've a career using a computer all day most of my communication is via typing... I blame that for my mostly illegible writing..

I reckon I should have been a doctor given the state of my handwriting.

eljono

micks_address wrote: »

Must be a correlation between people who like watches and writing pens... My writing is awful and as I've a career using a computer all day most of my communication is via typing... I blame that for my mostly illegible writing..

Ditto, I jot notes in work for myself but rarely have to write anything that others may see. Earlier this year I wrote a large batch of Thank You cards and I was genuinely embarrassed at how bad my handwriting has become :pac:

redlead

micks_address wrote: »

as I've a career using a computer all day most of my communication is via typing... I blame that for my mostly illegible writing..

I think that has a big part to play. Now being honest, my writing was always bad but you could read it. Because I've written so little since leaving college which is about 13 years ago, it's absolutely diabolical now. I struggle to read it myself. There would be no chance of anyone else being able to read it. When my son starts to learn how to write I might have to join along :-P

banie01

My mother always reckoned Medicine was where my lack of any legible handwriting would lead me

My cursive is an abomination, and much of my previous work involved note taking and extrapolation of my notes into meaningful action...
Quite often I had to get help to read my own notes :pac:

Going back to college and writing a lot more has helped improve my legibility somewhat, but I think the move to online will scupper the improvement fairly soon.

The poor TA who had to read my autumn Semester exam script....
Fair play to him for giving me an A, Cos I had no clue that cuneiform was still acceptable :pac:

Thirdfox

redlead wrote: »

I think that has a big part to play. Now being honest, my writing was always bad but you could read it. Because I've written so little since leaving college which is about 13 years ago, it's absolutely diabolical now. I struggle to read it myself. There would be no chance of anyone else being able to read it. When my son starts to learn how to write I might have to join along :-P

It actually makes it hard for professional exams I'm still taking - in the US they moved to being able to use a computer for answering exam papers which makes a lot of sense - my typing speed is probably at least 2x my handwriting speed.

And beneficial for the examiner too to be able to read what was written on the paper (though that would depend on if the examinee wanted to their answer to be clearly read or not :pac: )

Cyrus

Seeing as we are on pens, i got this MB at christmas having trialled a relatively expensive parker for a year to make sure i wouldnt lose it.

I really like it but my hand writing is gick as well. This one has a matte finish so you dont get the scratches and a trick magnetic cap.

i put it on my lv wallet for extra ponce points

micks_address

Cyrus wrote: »

Seeing as we are on pens, i got this MB at christmas having trialled a relatively expensive parker for a year to make sure i wouldnt lose it.

I really like it but my hand writing is gick as well. This one has a matte finish so you dont get the scratches and a trick magnetic cap.

i put it on my lv wallet for extra ponce points

Ok wallets is something i can get on board with.. anyone good suggestions for lots of cards and not to bulky..

Thirdfox

Secrid - moved to them a few years ago and never looked back.

Fits in trouser/jeans pockets, "cool" slider mechanism to dispense cards - I have the double thickness one which holds around 12 cards and some cash. What more is needed?

Even MsThirdfox likes the single thickness one I gave her - uses that instead of bigger/bulkier wallets.

https://secrid.com/en-us/wallets/



And if you prefer not to pay 90 euro for a Dutch made full grain leather product it has been more than 10 years since their patent came out so you can get a Chinese homage version with pleather for 20 euro on aliexpress :pac:

shano76

I also moved to Secrid a couple of years ago. Was sick of big bulky wallets & carrying all sorts of unnecessary stuff around.

I use the one below as I never use cash these days. If I can't fit it in a 6 card wallet, I don't need it. I have a folder in my phone with pics of other important cards that only get used occasionally just in case I need them (AA membership card etc.). Highly recommend.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrid-Cardprotector-credit-holder-protection/dp/B007XU88ZE/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1AFJO17YEEALH&dchild=1&keywords=secrid+wallet&qid=1590400768&sprefix=secrid%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-10

Cyrus

micks_address wrote: »

Ok wallets is something i can get on board with.. anyone good suggestions for lots of cards and not to bulky..

that lv pocket organiser in my pic is relatively small, its a card holder really.

david

Just to get things back on topic. Two of Japan's finest exports. My tool of choice (the Casio F91 of the pen world) and well patina'd Ace Hotel Midori Traveller's notebook. Just to take the ponciness to another level, my preferred refill is squared 64 GSM Shiraoi Japanese paper in edokosome white-cream.

banie01

Another +1 for Secrid and Secrid style here, also if you have 5/6 cards only...
I-clip are worth a shout too.

Ryath

Big fan of my secrid, have mine must be nearly 10 years old now. It's still in pretty good nick considering the use it gets. I'd buy another in the morning if it broke. Have the one without the press stud makes it a bit slimmer. Can take a lot more cards than you think, need to do a cull every now and then though I have a few gift cards from Christmas bulking it out now that I can't spend!

James Bond Junior

Hard to beat the secrid, I have one as does my wife, brother and mother in law. My father in law has a huge Belroy he swears by even though he has 2 or 3 secrids sitting in boxes that he got as gifts over the years. Then again he is a funny fish in ways, he has a collection of nice watches, Omegas and Tags mainly and he prefers his Samsung smartwatch. We bought him a MB ballpoint last year and he was chuffed. He has one years ago but some knick knack robbed it from his office. My own father has the same battered brown leather wallet for the past 20 years and the same stainless steel seiko from the mid 80s, still going strong.

Another note to encourage the secrid, I had mild back discomfort which disappeared when I got the secrid. Apparently sitting on a stuffed wallet in your back pocket wreaks havoc with the back and spine over the years. Also my cards don't break anymore.

Ryath

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Another note to encourage the secrid, I had mild back discomfort which disappeared when I got the secrid. Apparently sitting on a stuffed wallet in your back pocket wreaks havoc with the back and spine over the years. Also my cards don't break anymore.

I stopped keeping mine in my back pocket for this reason. The secrid is compact enough to keep in a front pocket. Definitely used to notice it on long drives if I left it in my back pocket.

Eoin

And another +1 for the secrid - has made me a lot more disciplined and not carrying around receipts from 2 years ago "just in case". It'll take a Tile Finder card as well, for anyone like me who thought they lost it, started replacing my cards and then finding it down the back of the sofa. Paying by phone is really handy - don't even bring my wallet with me most of the time when getting groceries.

When it comes to pens and wallets, I'm very much "form follows function" (i.e. I don't really care, just want it to do its job), so reading all the talk about pens, I've realised what it feels like for non-watch people when I tell them about the movement in my watch after they comment on it out of politeness.

Not much weird fascination with knives here? Still can't figure out why so many people feel the need to have a knife they bring everywhere.

Time

I have the same LV card holder as Cyrus but in a different finish. It's better than secrid in every way except price, the main benefit is that its more practical to take cards out of and is around the same size as a secrid. That whole RFID blocking thing is all marketing anyway, i tried holding my wallet up to the card reader in work and it won't read them through the leather.

Birneybau

Anyone know if I could get one of these anywhere? I love burning my sleeves.

https://twitter.com/BBCArchive/status/1264911597392343041

shano76

James Bond Junior wrote: »

Another note to encourage the secrid, I had mild back discomfort which disappeared when I got the secrid. Apparently sitting on a stuffed wallet in your back pocket wreaks havoc with the back and spine over the years. Also my cards don't break anymore.

Credit card sciatica I think it's called. Not sure if that's an official term or not but it's a recognised thing alright!

Even still, I only bring my cards with me nowadays if I'm going to somewhere like tesco (that haven't updated their systems for contactless over €30 yet) and keep the Secrid in my front pocket. It also has a nice weight to it so you know it's there but without the bulk!