Post pics of your watches Part II

Yeah like CT said, though the hole has glass alright. It was often advertised as a safety feature and anti shrapnel cover. Yeah...

Cyclingtourist wrote: »

I presume the hinge is sprung and it pops up when the catch at 6 is released?

Exactly, though some have no spring. I presume they were cheaper.

Another aspect to the cover is to cut down the light coming from the radium in the dark. When new these would have glowed very brightly. They threw a lot of radium into the mix, which tended to burn out the phosphorescent material very quickly. In ads of the time you'll often see "guaranteed luminous for two/three years", whereas later radioactive lume, radium or tritium would shine for longer because the mix wasn't nearly as strong. People who saw the radium lume reported it as being eerily bright, much brighter than later safer stuff. Not good in trench at night with snipers about.

Sonic the Shaghog wrote: »

Fascinating, as someone into my history, it's interesting see something niche like a WW1 trench watch and learn.

It was when wristwatches for men first really took off too Sonic. They haven't been around for as long as people would imagine. They had been a "women's watch" beforehand(mostly small pocketwatches in specially designed leather straps) and questions would have been raised if a man wore one. There had been some knocking around in the Boer war, when the convenience ofer fumbling about in your pocket was realised, but it was WW1 where everything changed and when men came back from that war they tended to keep wearing them for that convenience, so by 1920 wristwatches were beginning to overtake the sales of pocket watches and by 1930 had outstripped them. And now we're back to fumbling in our pockets again looking for the time on our phones.

It was also the time when many innovations in wristwatches came along. The first luminous dials, shock protection, the first water resistant watches, the first screwdown crowns, the first antimagnetic movements, the first date functions, pilot's watches, wrist chronographs...

Today I'm rocking this oul lump(feck didn't change the date...)



From 1971, Longines first in house quartz movement and one of the first quartz movements to get to market. The world's first and only cybernetic watch. Yeah baby.

TheRepentent wrote: »

Iirc he has a tail wheel off a stuka dive bomber:cool:

Here's another, a Longines Ultronic Diver that's always in my rotation, this time from 1972, with a tuning fork electronic movement. Needs a service I suspect.



As it happens and now you mention it... sitting on top an ammunition crate that housed the tankbuster rounds for this yoke...



Stuka "Cannon Bird" or "Panzer Knacker", the latter being the more descriptive. Makes a helluva wine crate.

OldBean wrote: »

That is gorgeous.

Thanks OB. It's got a bit of heft to it and the quality of the dial and hands is really high. The electronic tuning fork movement means the secondhand is really smooooooth in motion. Well a mechanical movement generally beats at 3 or 4 Hz, that runs at 300.

Homer wrote: »

Wait... there’s an incorrect way to wear chinos??

Yep. Putting them on.

Sonic the Shaghog wrote: »

Thanks

To be fair he seems the type of man that knows the correct way to wear his chinos alright :cool:

I have never worn a pair of chinos in my born days good Sir. That way lies sweaters, slippers and slacks. :eek: I'm too thin for them anyway. Jeans man all the way. I certainly won't be gracing the pages of GQ any time soon that's for sure. Maybe the hipster edition...

French LIP Nautic-Ski, second edition from the late 1960's, in Super-Compressor case.



World's first electronic divers watch. That's the "Nautic" part, the "Ski" part is because the head of the LIP company's daughter was a keen and accomplished skier and it's a very wet affair so wanted a watch that would be able to take the rough and tumble of that sport. The model was first in mechanical watches for men and women, then they put their in house developed electronic movement(one of the first and certainly successful of the type) into the man's size and voila. They were bought and used by Jacques Cousteau's dive team and the cheapest of those watches used by them. Not a quickset date, so you have to grind through the days if it's out, which can be a right pain.

It's in need of a service, but sadly the chap in the UK who used to service them stopped. There's a guy in Paris does it, but charges like a wounded bull elephant for it. You'd buy a whole NOS working movement and have mucho change for what he charges. Hell I got the watch for less than he charges.