Post pics of your watches Part II

sligopaul

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120458863#Comment_120458863

Folks, long time lurker here have a Speedmaster for 20 years , metal bezel ( as in coloured numbers ), really like these Erika straps, being stupid here, do I measure in between the lugs to order, I think my watch is a 38mm ( could that be correct , skinny wrists) and possibly 18mm between lugs but not sure if 18 or 19 mm does that sound correct, thanks in advance SP

sligopaul

Here, as said above 23 years on my wrist and going strong

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473889#Comment_120473889

yep just stick a ruler across it and measure the distance between lugs or current strap fitted. For your wrist size, wrap a string around your list - cut it and measure the length.. i think on the erikas website they ask for cm length

IrishPlayer

Took a trip into London today to visit The Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

ironictoaster

Gave up trying to get a moonswatch mission to Pluto after travelling around Europe for the past couple of weeks, trying multiple swatch stores.

I got my first mechanical watch from Kildare village instead.

Roycropper63

Well done!

Have similar in a 40mm

IrishHomer

Courier just delivered this, bracelet is a bit loose even after I fully adjusted it. Embarrassed to take it to a local jeweller :)

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120488577#Comment_120488577

They are really nice for the money!

IrishPlayer

A walk along the River Thames to end the day

H_Lime

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120489180#Comment_120489180

Had to Google it, so cool!

https://youtu.be/sx1QJafvJp4

mondeo

I was trying to sell this on adverts and couldnt even get €50 for it so decided to keep it and use it as a work watch. It's a good reliable little watch with the Seiko automatic inside.

IrishGrimReaper

I spotted this one Chrono24 (only discovered this site thanks for the forum) and managed to get it for €407 inc delivery, which I thought was great as it looks brand new - it also came with a set of leather straps, original box, receipt etc.

I wasn't sure I'd like mechanical watches but with the Timex I found I actually liked it because I've got figidity fingers and wanted something to be an everyday wearer.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120496397#Comment_120496397

Those are nice Hamiltons.

I had a quartz version myself but moved it on as I found the lug length a little long and it just didn't feel right on my little girls wrists!

Slutmonkey57b

The only lip shop left in France apparently? In Toulouse. Couldn't pass by without having a nose on wibbs' behalf, they had some nice nautic-skis and a couple of the classic 70s designs

H_Lime

Big chunk of steel.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120502689#Comment_120502689

Mad how they fell so low. Once they pretty much were the French watch brand. First to add radium lume to watches(the founder was a friend of Marie Curie), big pioneers in electronic watches and went on to develop their onw inhouse quartz movement(generally only the big boys had the cash and the expertise to do that). They always had very French quirky offerings alongside their traditional stuff, but in the 60's and 70's went outside the watch world and hired designers from the fashion and industrial design world. They came up with some very quirky and innovative designs using interesting materials and manufacture and were about the first "fashion watches"(though they weren't that cheap). EG These are a decade before Swatch came along:

One for each of the four seasons. As you do. They were well made and not nearly as cheap to make as the later Swatches so that didn't help them.

Funny thing was it wasn't the so called "Quartz Crisis" that did them in(they actually got in early on digitals which was what really buggered the Swiss industry), though it delivered the coup de grace. They had been on the slide since the 1960's because of really bad management, in fighting and waves of industrial action, including a well known in France sit in and takeover of the factory by the workers that got the government involved. Quite a bit of stock went "missing" and at least some of the NOS stuff that shows up on ebay these days came from that.

They also had a big retail infrastructure with shops everywhere and helped push the first modern diving watch Blancpain 50 fathoms in France with their cobranding on the dial. Did the same with Breitling and others. Now down to just one shop...

Wibbs

And as it happens today...

A 1972 LIP "Sportville" Electronique. I originally got this for around 60 quid IIRC(can't go wrong) as an organ donor for another LIP I have, but I got that one going and couldn't bear to break this apart anyway, even with the "foxing" on the dial(what is it with 1970's blue dials?). No doubt a NOS dial will show up in due course.. And yeah the date is arseways. One major issue with the LIP elctronic movement design is no quickset date, even the trick of going back and forth between 11 and 1 to move it forward doesn't work. The French bastids. 😁 really strong lume on this as it happens.

Mick Tator

I looked at their site following these posts. Lip has a huge retail dealer network in France, Belgium, a few in the UK, Holland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal etc. No mention of Ireland. Also have on-line sales.

Their site says that in 1954 the business peaked, with 1500 employees and an annual production of 300 000 watches at the factory in Besancon. They added a new factory in 1960. However, Fred Lip was not able to adapt to the changing market driven by the arrival of quartz and in February 1971 ceded control.

Their ‘Churchill’ model appeals to me, even though I prefer Roman numerals.(So-named as the French Government bought a solid gold version to give to Sir W. after WW2.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120506229#Comment_120506229

However, Fred Lip was not able to adapt to the changing market driven by the arrival of quartz and in February 1971 ceded control.

I'm not sure why they run with that line Mick, though the "Quartz Crisis" has been a handy get of gaol free card for a few watch companies who fell on their arse due to not reading the markets and/or woeful mismanagement. The latter was certainly the case with Lip(Heuer and Breitling were other examples). Their troubles started long before quartz came along.

When Fred Lip resigned in 71 quartz had barely left the egg. They were extremely expensive, rare in the wild and the vast majority of watches sold were still mechanical. The Seiko Astron had come out in 1970, more a working prototype and famously cost the same as a "small Japanese family car". A few months after Seiko the Swiss Beta21 quartz and the Longines Ultraquartz rolled out and in greater numbers than Seiko, but watches using them cost between 600-1000 dollars(more from brands like Patek) when an Omega Speedmaster was 200. In any event rather than quartz itself, it was the rise of digitals, first from America and then far cheaper from Asia from the mid 70's on that cooked the mechanical goose.

Lip's problems started in the early 1960's with rising costs(their electronic research and movements cost a lot and returns weren't enough) and in a time of rising political and employee/employer unrest in France(the general strike of '68, riots in the street etc. The Rolling Stones "Street Fighting Man" and the Beatles "Revolution" referencing it and the general vibe of the era). Lip's workers unionised and strike actions kicked off. Fred Lip lost control of the situation, went public to try and raise funds and sold off nearly half the company shares to a conglomerate(who were connected to what ended up as SWATCH iirc). To stop the rot they let go hundreds of workers and then the fun really started. The workers took over the factory, staged a lock in and took a few hostages as bargaining tools(The French don't feck around). Riot police went in and rescued them, cracking heads as they went, so then the workers took "hostage" thousands of watches from factory stock and hid them outside the factory, did the same with manufacturing tools and data. Then after some back and forth the workers tried to restat production themselves. It went well at first as they sold a lot of watches and had support of much of the population. Then the army were sent in. This went back and forth until 1980. A crazy and interesting time and one well known to a generation of French folks.

Personally I think that's a cooler history to reference. I suppose it's a troubling one so the "Quartz Crisis did them in" is safer from a marketing standpoint?

Mick Tator

Fascinating story Wibbs, thank you. I knew the owner of the first quartz watch in Ireland, it made the main evening news on RTE back when Charles Mitchell was the newsreader. It was a solid gold square block of a thing, bought I think in Wests. (wrong thread for this, sorry)

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120504103#Comment_120504103

If I'd seen this here, before I'd seen it elsewhere? The penny would have dropped a tad quicker 😉

As it stands? It sounded more like a manhole cover when it landed 🤣

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120506820#Comment_120506820

Yep, they were mad expensive at the time and very much "of the Future" and in demand and very desirable even at those high prices. On the other hand AP's mechanical Royal Oak took years to sell its first run and they bought in a quartz movement when funds allowed. The Longines UltraQuartz even came with its own insurance policy against theft and was also sold through Concorde's sales dept to their jet set customers. When the first digitals hit the market they were more expensive again. The US president Gerald Ford got one as a gift from a Pulsar executive and it raised eyebrows because its value was higher than US presidents were allowed as gifts and his wife thought it looked bad politicallyNixon had previously turned down a limited run for the success of Apollo solid gold Speedmaster for similar reasons). It even made the papers on a few occasions.

Krombopulos Michael

Finally got a box to put my watches in, mostly because I didnt want to get my Seiko Arnie scratched up. I have a Pebble Steel and another random watch AWOL in my house somewhere that will get added later when I find them

H_Lime

Love the arnie, how long you have it, shout me if for sale:)

Pictars!

Krombopulos Michael

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120509076#Comment_120509076

i don't think ill ever let go of the Arnie but i'll let you know. Have it about 2 years, bought it from banie01 here on Boards.

H_Lime

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120513903#Comment_120513903

Don't blame you, lovely piece.

Cienciano

Yeah, the arnie is very cool.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120513903#Comment_120513903

Glad to see it's getting the appreciation it deserves. It is a fantastic watch and one that if I didn't already own another very sentimental Ana-digi, that I'd have happily kept.

o1s1n

Ah the Arnie is designed to take a beating, I wouldn't be too worried about it, nice rugged shroud on the thing!

I tend to use my Arnie as my activity watch, so going away, playing sports. It's been everywhere from walking safaris in South Africa to being shot at in airsoft games.

Here it is looking blurry the weekend before last on a yacht in Portugal. 😁

H_Lime

That watch has presence sir!

Put a ceramic pepsi Bezel insert and uncle seiko H link strap on the slim turtle. Loving the Seventies vibez:)