Post pics of your watches Part II
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Saw this going with a good discount while overseas and i just couldnt say no. Lovely watch to my eye and alot of complications for the price.
On the negative side, legibility can be poor what with so many hands on the face. Still a lovely watch.
I need to take a break from buying watches for a while though i am tempted by another longines, the zulu time green/black combo https://www.longines.com/watch-longines-spirit-l3-812-4-63-6.
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Tried my hand at masking and polishing portions of my Seamaster bracelet today. Jewellers and Watchsmiths who undertake this kind of work? Are masochists.
I am a fairly decent modeller, I've masked out plenty of cockpit frames in my day 😉 but suffering jesus! Getting the right portions masked off, without relying on a blade is a skill that is beyond me in anything other than a shnakey handed tribute.
A little kapton tape, a lot of swearing and far too little patience but, it worked out ok.
Along with giving me a heads-up on what a 2 tone Seamaster bracelet would look like 🤣
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On the Seamaster rubber strap. I picked up what was meant to be a sterile version a while back via AliExpress. It's an aquaterra style strap that came with an Omega style and unbranded clasp.
Thing is, the straps themselves aren't "homage" they are 100% fake Omega branded. I use it on my Seamaster GMT and it suits the watch but I really do need to buy a better quality set of rubbers.
And as it's Friday and this is a photo thread. Today's wristwatch is my Sinn U2-W.
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Interesting the radium is still that active, I suppose it has a big half life. Would wearing it daily pose a risk or would the radium powder need to be inhaled?
Would the alarms you mention be in airports?
As a child of the seventies and eighties theres a inherent dread of nuclear threat bred into us. With the events in Ukraine and the risks of nuclear war at an all time high since perhaps Cuba its peaking again. Seafield always felt like a dark shadow cast on us too.
On the topic of lume (but the safer Swiss variety) I'm u happy with the colour match of hands to dial indicies on my new assembly so have pulled it apart once more. And have made a mix of Bergeon green and white to achieve the correct match. Should have it together again in a couple hrs, hope it dries the same colour!
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A middling success. Had to use dial dots so alignment was meh. Fixing that was limited by the crown tube extended out into the movement holder which limited tweekability so I did my best.
I matched the hand colour best as I could (after the forth attempt...) Absolutely love this "C case" shape on the slim turtle, so ergonomic and retro, this one even has the19mm lugs and is sub 12.5mm deep.
Next up is the 62 mas, with a lovely chunk of top hat sapphire and silver rehaut with bracelet.
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Interesting the radium is still that active, I suppose it has a big half life. Would wearing it daily pose a risk or would the radium powder need to be inhaled?
Would the alarms you mention be in airports?
Sorry, the alarm on my geiger counter. Yeah radium's a nasty bugger and breaks down into just as nasty buggers like radium as it decays. Its most stable isotope which is what is in old lume has a half life of 1600 years so even though the phospor material is long burnt out and doesn't glow anymore - in Trench watch adverts of WW1 they only guaranteed the glow for 2-3 years. They used a lot of radium in the original lumes - the radium in the mix is just as "hot" as the day it was made, or damn near it.
As for risks wearing it; I would be happy enough wearing most stable radium dialled watches of an evening or a day, but wouldn't wear one all the time, or store it on say my bedside table. By far the biggest risk is as you say inhaling it. That would make a 100 ciggies a day habit look as healthy as veganism. The problem is radium lume sucks up moisture like a thirsty camel and even when dry tends to break down as a material, certainly the early mixes did. So dust is a near given. Fine dust which can also get into the movement. I've had movements out of radium watches that were clearly contaminated with the stuff as the geiger counter was still picking up the gamma and beta. My strongest emitters by far were my Trench watches where the mix was strong and the laid it on thick. I've removed the radium from all of them. My world war two stuff was far less active. Radium was expensive and after the scandals of workers dying from the stuff they dialled down the mixes as the years passed, though I suspect more out of a cost consideration. Then Tritium came along which replaced it. There was also promethium, but that was almost always only in military issued watches as its half life of around two years meant dials and hands needed to be replaced at service intervals, a hard sell to ordinary Joes. For a short time strontium was considered too, but there was strong pushback in the US market and it never took off. If you look at some 1950's Swiss watches you may see a tiny thin horizontal line under the whatever writings on the dial. That was to advertise No Strontium. Some Rolex Explorers from the 50's show this. Though they still had radium.
I'm wearing this today, all the way from 1988. 😁 A very limited run of a 1000 watches in that year. Very high precision quartz, with twin oscillators, thermocompensation and fine adjustment. One of the most standalone accurate movements ever. In a titanium case and bracelet, screwdown crown, with a 24kt gold plated pure iron faraday cage/shield to protect against magnetism, hence the 1000 Oe(Oersteds, a unit like Gauss) on the dial. They advertised it to physicists, doctors and train drivers of all things at the time.
Yep I know the date is out. That'll tell ye how often I look at the date. I haven't advanced it in yonks. 😊
Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Amazing the old watches still pump out the rays yet are no longer luming! Have to ask how did you safely remove the old radium and dispose of it? Not a job I'd be happy to do knowing what I do now.
The early days of nuclear innovation were a risky frontier from the Curies to the Radium girls.
The spec of your Longines is pretty robust. I can see someone who works in medical imaging science or the likes having a total geek out at that spec. How long does it have to run to notice it gaining or losing a second and does it gain or lose?
I could do with a Faraday cage on my nh movements coming from Asia. That recent bum movement proved to be magd. I thought I had ruled that out but I was not using my new machine correctly. It seems it takes multiple passes and your meant to rotate the bare movement each time to randomise any specific polarity. Either way it's got a fat amp and holds steady time now with normal nh varience when moved to crown down etc. The nerd in me would love to know where and how it picked up a mag charge along the way to me...
And for pig iron here is that movement in its new home
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Good spot on the magnetism, a good result in the end and looks good in its new home. 👍️
Amazing the old watches still pump out the rays yet are no longer luming! Have to ask how did you safely remove the old radium and dispose of it? Not a job I'd be happy to do knowing what I do now.
With ceramic dialled Trench watches it's relatively easy H_L. What I did was to submerge the dial and hands in high end epoxy resin minus the activator/hardener and carefully scraped the lume off with a cocktail stick "underwater" as it were. I also did it outdoors on a summers day wearing a proper respirator and surgical gloves. The full Darth Vader, or a really weird fetish. 😁 When the dial/hands looked clean I gave them a once over with the oul geiger counter to make sure and then added the hardener to the resin, mixed it with the same cocktail stick, which I left in the resin, and left it to cure and go solid. Which funny enough noticeably attenuated the radiation.
The early days of nuclear innovation were a risky frontier from the Curies to the Radium girls.
What I find interesting about the Radium Girls is how many didn't get sick, or at least so obviously or acutely sick. Plus a couple of generations of watchmakers came and went who worked on such watches and clocks throughout their career, for most of which the dangers weren't known, yet as a demographic I've never seen anything that would suggest their longevity was affected and surely that would have been spotted. I'd still be very cautious(see above) dealing with the stuff.
The spec of your Longines is pretty robust. I can see someone who works in medical imaging science or the likes having a total geek out at that spec. How long does it have to run to notice it gaining or losing a second and does it gain or lose?
Well the original spec and aim for Longines and an IT engineering company they partnered with was a five year battery life and under one minute gain/loss in those five years, or around 10 seconds +/- per year. Unheard of accuracy(and battery life) at the time. Omega's incredible high frequency quartz Marine Chronometer of the 70's was rated to +/- 12 seconds per year and it ate batteries like it owned stakes in Duracell. And cost a bloody fortune, like five grand when a Rolex Sub was five hundred. Here's a pic of the movement and faraday/gold plated iron shroud.
Those two tabs at 12 o clock are the adjustments. That was before I ran it through the ultrasonic to get rid of the DNA. 😁 Note the screwdown crown, the threads are internal to the crown rather than on the stem, maybe to avoid Rolex patents? I did find out a few yeas ago that Longines filed a patent themselves on the crown design.
These Longines VHP's weren't cheap at the time. One reason I was searching for one was my late dad(a watch nut before it was a thing & who got me into it) bought one in the mid 80's and I clearly recall oohs and aahs from rellies when the price was mentioned. A 1000 quid, or near to it. I still have his watch.
He wore that every day, in all weathers and pursuits right to the end, only swapping it out for his other mostly Longines(he was a big fan) on "special occasions". You read that titanium is soft, but Longines' titanium nitride treatment was daftly tough. The damn thing still looks like a new watch 40 years on.
Only thing is it's tiny, like 33mm, as was the fashion in them days. But in the late 80's I saw a magazine ad for the 1000Oe version that was bigger at 38mm and lusted after it, but it was way beyond my pay grade at the time. Because they were such a small run they very rarely show up for sale on the usual outlets, but in 2018 one popped up, badly described, with photos taken by potato cam on a search on an auction on UK fleabay. I was the only bidder, just over a hundred quid(I've seen them change hands at 500-1000, as the high accuracy quartz nuts love them). Finally. Result. 🙂 And it shows there are still some good and cheap buys out there.
They're also daftly 80's looking with the grey and gold. All I need is a Miami Vice suit with the sleeves rolled up. 😁
Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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New watch (to me) arrived last night. New Monta Skyquest GMT. I have had my eyes on it for a while, and contrary to popular opinion I think the newer version of it looks better then the older version. I saw it at a good price, so scooped up this 4 month old watch for a nice discount!
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Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,092 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 59021
German datewheels seem fierce aggressive of a Tuesday...
And I set the date corrrectly on this one. Wee push button on the side. Another button advances the seconds in ten second intervals, for reasons best known to Omega.
Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.
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Watch Whisky Wednesday, an enjoyable Lagavulin 16 along with the sub which I picked up in December to celebrate January’s bonus and March’s promotion, or at least that’s what I’ve convinced myself! Love both the above. (For full disclosure pic was taken last night!)
Post edited by C0N0R on13 -
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