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An It's a happy day, a new watch arrived Watch Contest of a particularly twisted sort. Jpeg Attachments

Ricky Lee
October 01, 2009 04:26AM
Registered: April 2005
Posts: 5,848 (2010-02)


Ok, I hope Jeremy Dean (aka jeremd676) doesn't hunt me down for this - it's based on a PM I sent him just minutes ago - but here's the deal.

I traded Jeremy this watch..


..for this one..



Click HERE for larger photo

..as detailed in this post a couple o' days back.

The contest part: note that I have artfully GIMPed out the logo on my incoming watch, which resides at 12 o'clock in the Real World. The lucky entrant what guesses the brand name of this watch will recieve their choice of A> a 16mm faux lizard Speidel regular-length strap or B> a De Havilland quartz watch, both courtesy of Jeremy, and mentioned in the following missive.

Said following missive being my (edited) PM to Jeremey, and proving that one should Tread Lightly when trading with Ricky Lee... ROTFLMAO!

Quote
Ricky Lee
OK, I've had time to process everything, and even shot some photos. Won't be able to manage an IHD! post tonight (only fair to give you my impressions first) but probably tomorrow.

The Timex - exactly as expected.

The De Havilland - ahhhh.. a little more "out there" than I expected, but it certainly has character. :-)

The Speidel strap - too short to be of use for me personally, but a welcome addition to the spare straps cache.

And the Main Show, the H*****.

Very nice package overall! The vintage H***** box is a nice touch, even if not original to this specific watch. Thumbs Up I'd wager it is of no more than a decade or two later vintage than the watch.

The dial is not quite as good as I'd hoped. Turns out your photo was a very acurate representation, mind you, so I can't say it's less than I expected. But I'd hoped that the patina would be a bit smoother, less hard-edged than it is. Acceptable for now, sure, but right on that line where I'm torn between leaving it as is, or springing for a dial refinish job at some later date.

The case is good overall, but the ding at 8 is likewise enough to make me consider having it repaired. And whomever put that triform dent in the caseback EEK! deserves to be placed against a wall and shot! I am angry! (Unless it was you - if so, a right proper caning would do Laughing out loud!)

One last niggle before I get into The Good Stuff. ;-) The crystal ain't OEM, or even an OEM-spec replacement. Frowning, Sad It's clear, and in fine shape, but not a perfect fit - the gaps at the corners are wider than at the midpoints. EEK! Preferable to a totally trashed OEM crystal, I grant you, but.. well, "Close but no cigar" sums it up, I think. ;-)

OK, The Good Stuff. ROTFLMAO!

The strap - it does fit! IHD! Barely, mind - I'm sure 'tis a Long, and not an X-Long as advertised - but, for me, a high-quality 16mm genuine lizard strap that actually fits is a thing so vanishingly rare that the only thing I can think to compare it to is an Honest Politician. Laughing out loud!

The real surprise is {drum roll} the movement! WIS Honeymoon IHD! WIS Honeymoon IHD! WIS Honeymoon Sure, you said 'twas "in good condition 90% runs strong". But, with movements more than a half-century old, I've learned to take that statement with a grain of salt. Cases of this vintage offer no moisture resistance to speak of - you're lucky if they're moderately dust resistant! - so a bit of corrosion is the norm. But this movement is absolutlely PRISTINE! WIS Honeymoon

Accurate, too! I synched a quartz CASIO! to it ~ 2.50 hours ago and, at this point the error rate is below the threshold of determination. +/- 20 per 24, at least. And for a 60 year-old movement, that's superlative! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

So. Overall, I'm happier'n a slopped hog with the deal. In fact, I had so little invested in that CITIZEN! that I sort of feel guilty. :-)

Tell you what, next time you're down Mississippi way, I'll make it up to ye - you get the Real Down Home Tour! Plenty of good blues music, home cookin', history lessons, fast motorcycles, huntin', fishin', corn liquor, lap dances.. pretty much anything you're into, We Do It Better In The Magnolia State. ROTFLMAO!

CHEERS!

Capiche?

Let the guessing begin! :-)

-Ricky




Messages In This Thread

IHD! Watch contest.. win valuable prizes! ;-) of a particularly twisted sort. Jpeg Attachments
Ricky Lee -- October 01, 2009 04:26AM (Views: 128)
Ok Ricky, Helbros...
Mark C. -- October 01, 2009 01:45PM (Views: 14)
or Hamilton?
Yeah. It's got to be Helbros. You wouldn't be asking people to guess Hafis, or Hafman,
bjohnson -- October 01, 2009 04:07PM (Views: 17)
or Halden, or Hallmark, or Hamron, etc, etc

Don't miss out on all the sweets in the local candy stores:
PMWF Sales & Trade Forum and The Poor Man's Watch Corner

You've heard of Ranfft's archive of watch movements: Ranfft's Pink Pages
He also hosts a free watch auction site: Ranfft's Watch and Watch Parts Auctions
Take THAT Ebay!
Thumbs up! Well Ricky, you sure know how too make a guy feel Loved Cheers! (n/t)
jeremd676 -- October 01, 2009 06:09AM (Views: 17)
My Guess
S.Hudson -- October 01, 2009 04:37AM (Views: 19)
Hudson watch?
Re: My Guess
mtgc -- October 01, 2009 02:30PM (Views: 19)
My guess is an Elgin.

MTGC
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! No, but I gotta say, The Dude abides!, you NEED this watch.... Jpeg Attachments
Ricky Lee -- October 01, 2009 04:44AM (Views: 39)
Hudson Hornet


http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?4,136199,136199#msg-136199


An It's a happy day, a new watch arrived of a more conventional sort.. and a profuse apology to Mark C. Oops!


October 03, 2009 02:16AM

'cause Mark is the uncontested winner of the abbreviated and more unconventional IHD! CONTEST! I posted back on Wednesday.

But I've got a good excuse! AKA subject line "A Day In The Life Of An NC Programmer". Frowning, Sad

I got to work Thursday morning, you see, to find meself in the middle of a full-fledged 5-alarm sh*tstorm. A certain piece of Capital Equipment had melted down is a big way (days, and possibly weeks to repair), and my mission was to move the production process to a theoretically capable, but in fact base-level incompatible machine.

Now, this may not sound like a big deal to most of y'all. Something like installing a new networked printer, right Chris L? :-) Sadly, no. CRYING! (And Dave Murphy, you're probably the only one here that understands where I'm going with this. LOL!)

The latest figures I've seen on this particular machine say that, for every minute it's down, it negatively impacts the bottom line by slightly over $4. Now, consider that it feeds not one but two pieces of Capital Equipment, each of which's hourly cost are in the same league. So every hour of delay is ~ $700. No company can afford to hemorrhage red ink to the tune of $16,800 per day EEK!, so this should illustrate the urgency of the problem.. even to you lucky Panerai and Patek owners. LOL!

But such nightmarish OMG! The Machine Is Down marathons are part and parcel of the CNC Programmers trade, and while it took a mere ~ 18 hours to Git 'R' Dun in this case (my personal record is 26 hours), I admit I'm stil a bit groggy. I ain't a young un no more, y'know? Back In The Day, I could do an 18-hour shift, drink me a beer on the drive home, knock off a quick piece of tail once I got there, and be up and at 'em 6 hours later. Thumbs Up ROTFLMAO!

Alas, no more. Frowning, Sad

But enough about my trials, travails, and tribulations. Let's relax and talk watches! WIS Honeymoon


The TIMEX! is, unfortunately not running. But it is only the 2nd fully-jewelled Timex movement in my collection (and the other is in sad condition indeed Frowning, Sad) so, who knows, I might attempt to refurbish this one at some point. :-)


No further comment other than to Mark C. - PM or eMail (to dodge_boyzATyahooDOTcom) your snailmail adress, and they're yours.


It's kinda butch, and I'd wear it meself, but the bracelet's way too short. OOPS!

OK, on to the Thomas-style reveal! :-)

A nice box:



Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

But there's more! The contents!


Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

IHD! WIS Honeymoon IHD! WIS Honeymoon IHD! WIS Honeymoon IHD!

What? You want the Full Monty? OK!



Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

And the backside too? OK!


Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

And the previously mentioned "triform dent" isn't even visible, really. :S Sorry for the "caning" zinger, Jeremy. OOPS! LOL!

My favorite view, face-to-face! Thumbs Up



Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

Yeah, you can see the mismatch in the crystal. Yeah, I wish the patina was a bit more.. err, homogeneous. :-) But what a grand old soldier it is, regardless! Vintage, baby! Thumbs Up Just like a woman, I love a watch with A History. ROTFLMAO!

Sure, I uncased it for a proper look!



Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo

Couldn't get a 'clean' shot of the caseback, so you get the two extremes, demonstrating my shocking photography imcompetence. Frowning, Sad


Click HERE for larger photo


Click HERE for larger photo

Likewise, I could not for the life of me get a Movement Photo I was happy with. CRYING!

But, make no mistake, that's purely my fault. This movement is a Horological Work Of Art! WIS Honeymoon Thumbs Up



Click HERE for larger photo


Click HERE for larger photo

Sure, the second is a Flash Photo, pathetic photographer that I am. Frowning, Sad

I wish y'all could see what this 7-jewelled beauty truly looks like in person.. it really is special! Thumbs Up WIS Honeymoon

And, for good measure, a HWS! or two...



Click HERE for larger photo or HERE for supersized photo


Click HERE for larger photo

That's the one thing you were wrong about, Jeff. It is NOT too small for an 8.5 inch wrist! :-)

Not for THIS 8.5 inch wrist, anyway! ;-)

Peace, y'all.

-Ricky




Messages In This Thread

IHD! of a more conventional sort.. and a profuse apology to Mark C. OOPS! Jpeg Attachments
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 02:16AM (Views: 188)
:-) Ricky, sorry to here about your machine, but glad our trade worked out Thumbs up!
jeremd676 -- October 03, 2009 06:10PM (Views: 38)
Re: ..I slapped a new Hadly Roma Jubilee bracelet..
Ricky Lee -- October 04, 2009 12:50AM (Views: 22)
That is a lovely piece, Ricky! JUst curious, but what>>
Dave Murphy -- October 03, 2009 03:35PM (Views: 35)
>>machine did you break, and what did you move the process to?

I've had days just exactly like that. Although, on my scale of machine tools, each minute of downtime equates to fifty cents to a buck of lost opportunity.
.
Dave
Somewhere on the South Shore of Lake Ontario

Re: ..what machine did you break.. Jpeg Attachments
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 04:17PM (Views: 36)
Oh no! Ya can't pin this one on me, copper! RAGE! Laughing!

'twas a Kiwa horizontal machining center, similar to this one..

Stock photo

..but a slightly earlier version. The spindle self-destructed EEK! and there is, as far as we can tell, no replacement currently on this continent. OOPS!

We moved the job to our monsterous 600mm 5-axis which, as you can imagine, required some creative thinking due to being a totally different layout. We're wasting the 5-axis capability, naturally, and the work 'flow' is all messed up.. but we are making parts, so all's well. Thumbs Up

Quote
Dave Murphy
I've had days just exactly like that. Although, on my scale of machine tools, each minute of downtime equates to fifty cents to a buck of lost opportunity.
Even so, I invite anyone who doesn't think that's a serious issue to sit down with a tall stack of $1 bills and start tearing them up at the rate of one a minute. LOL! That'll drive home the point real quick... ROTFLMAO!

-Ricky


Hello there Ricky ! :-) Thumbs up!
IF -0 October 03, 2009 10:48AM (Views: 30)
Your Helbros is a real beauty and it wears very nice ! Soon it seems that it will be very hard to find good old and vintage timepieces. It is also very good that you have the box, lately it also seems that they have become a market by themselves ( crazy prices for a box only, especially vintage ).
I must also say that I really like this post, the way of presenting the watch and everything. Enjoy it !

( Congratulations for your achivement at work. It must have been a hard time, we are all happy you managed that ! )


Thank you Ioannis! Yes, while..
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 04:39PM (Views: 32)
..the box is apparently not original to this specific watch, it is a nice touch, I think. :-)
Quote
IF
I must also say that I really like this post, the way of presenting the watch and everything.
Well, shucks.. BLUSH! BLUSH! BLUSH!

:-)

Quote
IF
Congratulations for your achivement at work. It must have been a hard time, we are all happy you managed that ! )
But not as happy as my boss is, I'll bet.. ROTFLMAO!

It was a bit tricky, from a technical standpoint, but really not too hard. The main hurdle was that we were compressing a task that would normally take 3 to 4 full days into a single day (albeit a double shift). EEK!

CHEERS!


-Ricky


Hey Ricky no apology needed. I have had my work marathon nightmares! Jpeg Attachments
Mark C. -- October 03, 2009 04:19AM (Views: 45)
Also believe me I know what there like!!!!!

A really nice Helbros you have there Ricky. Congratulations on that score.
This was my Grandfather's Helbros. Under the 6:00 it says Western Germany.

Photo courtesy Mark c.

It Keeps great time. I am sure it needs a service because I know it has never had one.

I'll send you a PM.

Thanks Ricky and remember no worries. I know what it's like.

Sincerely,

Mark C.

Very nice! Your grandpa had excellent taste in watches! Thumbs up!
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 04:27PM (Views: 28)
Quote
Mark C.
Under the 6:00 it says Western Germany.
How cool is that?! Thumbs Up I don't know that I've ever before seen a watch marked Western Germany!

-Ricky


Thanks Ricky. (n/t)
Mark C. -- October 03, 2009 11:24PM (Views: 19)
Very nice, a watch with a lot of character for a character indeed! (n/t)
DJM -- October 03, 2009 03:47AM (Views: 29)
Lovely piece, Ricky! Has the same character of an IF watch! ROTFLMAO! Thumbs up! (n/t)
JohnnyT -- October 03, 2009 03:24AM (Views: 29)
Re: Has the same character of an IF watch! ROTFLMAO! Thumbs up!
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 03:27AM (Views: 13)
And then some.

I rest my case.

ROTFLMAO!


-Ricky


Wonderful vintage piece Ricky. Clapping!
Chris L -- October 03, 2009 02:30AM (Views: 40)
I don't envy anybody when they have to pull a marathon job like you did. My brain would have quit working about 11 hours in. ;)

BTW, I believe you will be interested in my post from last night with a certain metal strap on a VOSTOK!

Re: I don't envy anybody when they have to pull a marathon job like you did. Jpeg Attachments
Ricky Lee -- October 03, 2009 02:59AM (Views: 39)
If you're lucky, there are compensations. My boss was aware of what transpired (not a given in the Olde Days - cell comm and text messaging can be a wonderful thing) and his comment to me when I arrived this morning (an hour late) was "WTF are you you doing here? It's running OK, I checked".

But I had to make sure. I was home by noon, though, caught a leisurely catnap, and then got up at ~ 5, had a cuppa, and punched up the PMWF. :-)

Quote
Chris L
My brain would have quit working about 11 hours in. ;)
Aye. After 12 or so, it's all brainstem instinct. EEK!
Quote
Chris L
BTW, I believe you will be interested in my post from last night with a certain metal strap on a VOSTOK!
Ah! The Full Metal Bund.. sure, I saw your teaser. I'll go look right now.

CHEERS!

-Ricky

Been there .. pulled a 72 hour stint at the data centre.....
Harold Clitheroe -- October 04, 2009 02:41AM (Views: 26)
one long weekend when we were bringing the then-new robotic mainframe tape librarys on line for the first time (6 STK silos).. Took a sleeping bag and sacked out in an unused office..

Needed to hack it a bit, but we were up and running fine, and ahead of time too.. (had to do a bit of HW hacking on on of the control units when the guy who did the gen for the control software got the addressing screwed up..) Ah.. the good old days..

Cheers
Harold

72 hours?! Eek! Scary! Lord, I don't even want to know what kind of chemical enhancement that required! Eek! Scary!
Ricky Lee -- October 04, 2009 03:06AM (Views: 24)
Quote
Harold Clitheroe
Took a sleeping bag and sacked out in an unused office..
Ah!

You cheated! RAGE!

26 hours balls-to-the-walls, nonstop. That's the target ye've got to best. :-)

-Ricky


And, FYI, it took about 10 pots o' coffee. LOL!

There was one stretch that went for about 25 hours...or so..
Harold Clitheroe --October 04, 2009 04:51PM (Views: 29)
when we were doing the final HW tests and checks, and loading the suckers up.. Coffee was the main fuel, with donuts as the chaser..

Cheers
Harold


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