#waltham watch

[stricklandvintagewatches]

Excellent WWII era military wristwatch by Waltham. Completely original and restored, with a correctly recreated khaki strap produced exclusively for Strickland Vintage Watches. Circa 1942.

[dozydawn]

[blueiscoool]

A Gold Watch That Survived the Titanic Sells for $1.5 Million

The gold watch worn by the Titanic’s richest passenger, John Jacob Astor, has set an auction record as the most expensive item of Titanic memorabilia.

A private collector in the U.S. paid $1.5 million for the 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch engraved with the initials J.J.A. The item was part of the “Titanic, White Star and Transport Memorabilia” sale held by British auction house Aldridge & Son on April 27. The watch was one of around 250 items and easily surpassed its high estimate of $150,000.

Astor, a real estate developer and member of the New York dynastic family made rich by fur trading in the 18th and 19th centuries, died at the age of 47 when the ship sank in 1912. Astor had sparked scandal by marrying a woman nearly 30 years his junior and was returning to New York following a protracted honeymoon to Europe and Egypt designed to quell the gossip.

He was last seen smoking a cigarette with the author Jacques Futrelle after escorting his wife, Madeleine Talmadge Force, and friend Margaret Brown safely into lifeboat four. Both women survived.

Astor’s body was found on April 22 by CS MacKay-Bennett, a cable laying steamer that was repurposed as a recovery ship by the White Star Line, the Titanic’s operator. In addition to the pocket watch, his cuff links, diamond ring, golden pencil, and pocketbook, along with money in various currencies, were recovered.

The possessions were returned to Astor’s son, Vincent, who restored the pocket watch before gifting it to his father’s long-serving secretary William Dobbyn in 1935. The Dobbyn family kept the item until sending it to auction in the late 1990s.

By Richard Whiddington.

[moonwatchuniverse]

40 years ago... NASA astronaut Leroy "Gordo" Cooper In 1984, USAF Colonel & veteran NASA astronaut Leroy "Gordo" Cooper appeared in Newsweek magazine, wearing a NASA-distributed Omega Speedmaster 105.003 chronograph. Between his selection among the original "Mercury 7", and his first spaceflight mission in May 1963, Gordo Cooper wore at least 5 different wrist watches. Upon selection we saw a Waltham A17 wrist watch, soon replaced by the bespoke 24 hours dial LeCoultre "astronaut watch", followed by a one-line-dial Accutron, a two-line-dial Accutron Astronaut and his personal Omega Speedmaster CK2998 chronograph. During his "Faith 7" mission, Cooper timed the retro-burn with his wrist watches as he wore an Accutron Astronaut and an Omega CK2998. On Gemini V, Cooper again wore the Accutron Astronaut and a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster 105.003. In September 1965, during a meeting with the Voskhod II cosmonauts in Athens - Greece, Cooper gifted his Accutron Astronaut to Major Pavel Belyayev, who wore it until 1970. This 1984 photo was taken after Cooper consulted "The Right Stuff" movie and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Faith 7 mission. (Photo: Newsweek)

[married-to-a-redhead]

As I contemplate my next career move for the first time without the sage advice of my father, I thought I would take out the pocket watch I recently inherited from him. This watch was my great grandfather’s watch, passed down to my grandfather, then to my father, and now to me. I plan on leaving it to one of my sons when my time is up. This watch is a source of great comfort and inspiration to me. It represents masculine continuity and strength. Whatever decision I make about my career, I know all the generations of men who owned this watch will be proud.

[operationhammond]

Hello from Watch City Steampunk Festival! If you need first aid or just want to say hello, we are located near the information booth.

[copp3rtop]

little win

I've been learning about mechanical watches and watch repair for a few months now. I've mostly been playing with junk pocket watches to get a feel for it while I acquire the basic materials.

Today i was able to transplant a working watch movement into a new case and put new hands and dial on it to make a working watch. It's not much, but having a functional product feels really nice.

The movement came from a coworker's family junk drawer and was donated to me. I was hoping to find a case that fit the partial case that it was sitting in because of the inscription, but this is the next best thing.

[mrmikemichaelmichaels]

#Waltham #pocketwatch #horology #watch #vintage https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn9u528ryzS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[marzipanandminutiae]

fun fact: one reason there may be more options for feminine watches in the vintage/antique department is that wristwatches started out as a Women's Thing(TM)! they were called "bracelet watches" and began appearing on a large scale in the mid-19th century. the idea was that, with your watch concealed in a beautiful bracelet, you could check the time behind your fan without appearing rude (or at least, so one 1850s advertisement runs).

men didn't start wearing wristwatches, generally, until after WWI. they were more practical in the trenches than pocketwatches, and many veterans just stuck with them when they returned home. that shifted the general perception from "this is something ladies do" to "this is something ladies and soldiers do," and advertisers/manufacturers jumped on it right away

obviously that's well before the 1950s, but I've always wondered if there wasn't still more of a lingering sense of Watches For Ladies that has unfortunately been wiped out today

(also, when everyone NEEDS watches, it's harder to link them to a specific gender. the presence of phones with clocks, I feel, has further enabled the tragic and infuriating gendering of watches)

and just so this post isn't a complete digression: Art Deco femme watches are also gorgeous

I fear my personal style is a little different from yours, but since you're the only watch girl i know and we're all asking for recommendations i figure i'll join in. Any pointers for a watch brand for something high-femme? Like the cuntiest watches you can think of (that are like sub £250)?

So the first thing is that watches are misogynist. The genre of ‘ladies’ watches’ is criminally underserved, so at the same price point you have both less technical interest and less diversity of design. The first one’s only a problem if you care about watch snobs talking about ‘fashion brands,’ which you shouldn’t. They’re all the same quartz movement but if you like it, who cares? I think it’s a shame there aren’t as many femme automatic watches, but that’s just because I find them interesting technically, you don’t have to. The second one, though - the bulk of your options are basically going to look like this:

If you like this, you’re in luck and you can basically take your pick of a bunch of brands - Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, Armani, Boss, Fossil being the main examples. If you don’t, you could try and find something slightly more expensive like a Certina or a Tissot on sale. You’ll find things like mother of pearl dials or less conventional case shapes:

You could also try buying second hand - looking on eBay I found a lot of Gucci and Fendi watches under £250, as well as vintage Omegas - I think in general they wear age less well than ‘men’s watches’ but there are some interesting choices there.

Your last option is to try a weirder smaller brand. Okay, these are ‘fashion’ too, but Cluse and Aark each have some cool watches:

I hope this helps. It’s not really my genre, so I have learned a lot just looking into this for you.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Archived Link

An onlooker at the Berkshire airfield said: “He loved it. It’s the right time to start.” The Prince and Princess of Wales watched their son soar into the air and come back to land safely just under an hour later. The treat came on the final day of George’s school summer holiday last week. William and Kate, both 42, had turned up in a three-car convoy at White Waltham Airfield near Maidenhead, Berks, a ten-mile, 20-minute drive from their Windsor home. Wills, Kate and George also relaxed at the airfield’s teeming clubhouse, home to the West London Aero Club. One person at the airfield said: “There were probably 30 or 40 people in the clubhouse. “Catherine and William watched George take off. But they were relaxed about it. All three of them had been pretty chilled in the clubhouse.”

The law in the UK allows anyone at any age to take flying lessons; however, you have to be at least 14 before you can start counting time for training hours to qualify for your pilot's license. (The Sun's article has a quick explainer.)

[stricklandvintagewatches]

Exceedingly handsome and original, this rare men's 49mm Waltham "Curvex" style wristwatch is a testament to Deco pagentry. Offered in an equally handsome period Waltham factory presentation box, circa 1936.

[marzipanandminutiae]

Haha you’re sooo funny but seriously there was a watch dial company in Waltham, MA that was active in the 1920s? And the 2019 demolition and cleanup involved radium removal?

did they…you know…[mimes getting sued by a dying twentysomething ex-dial painter with blood cancer]

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

The "MACV-SOG" Watch

This arrived while I was away, a Seiko SNK381K1. I took off its metal bracelet and attached it to this Waltham wrist compass that I had in the LRRP collection.

I'm reasonably satisfied with it as an approximation of one of the models of Seiko 5 that SF guys reputedly wore in Vietnam, but it is not perfect. This image (which I lifted from this video) compares the SNK381K1 with two Seiko 5 models used in Vietnam

So you can see the numerals' font isn't quite right, the hands are the wrong shape, the case is a bit off, and the day shows white on black instead of black on white. Furthermore, the days on the model I got show in English and Arabic; English and Japanese would be better.

Apparently there is another Seiko out there with a case and hands that match the '60s watches more closely (the SNXS79), and enterprising individuals will combine the face and mechanism of the SNK381 with the case and hands from the SNXS79. One can also swap out the day wheel. They make all this sound easy, but I'm not sure I have all that in me.

[houseofbrat]

Nothing says overprivileged parents with too much money when an 11-year-old boy is taking flying lessons.

The Prince and Princess of Wales watched their son soar into the air and come back to land safely just under an hour later. The treat came on the final day of George’s school summer holiday last week. An onlooker said: “George is only 11 years old but it is the right time to start. [...] Wills, Kate and George also relaxed at the airfield’s teeming clubhouse, home to the West London Aero Club. One person at the airfield said: “There were probably 30 or 40 people in the clubhouse. “Catherine and William watched George take off. “But they were relaxed about it. All three of them had been pretty chilled in the clubhouse.” [...] George’s great grandad Prince Philip was 31 when he began his flying training at White Waltham in November 1952. [...] William and Harry were both in the Army Cadet Corps at Eton College and did not get flying lessons until they were in the military.

[ncdweller]

My small pocket watch collection. The background is white, but my iPhone does not have a way to correct that.

Anyhow, the Waltham at the top was my grandfather’s. The Burlington Special is NOT a railroad grade watch. The Illinois with Arabic numerals is. It’s an A. Lincoln model. Ca 1915 with 21 jewels.

The Waltham is the thinnest. It’s a much dressier model than the others.

They all need cleaning, lubrication, and adjustment. But I know of no watchmakers in these parts.

The trade school I attended for electronic tech used to have a watchmaker track, but they ended that in the 80’s at some point. Probably a good idea.

So here they sit. In their obsolescent glory.

Here’s the NOT the Railroad watch with the back case removed.

Bad lighting. It deserves better.