10 Of My Favourite Watches I Wear -Vintage and Modern

Just above is a picture of 10 of my favourite watches which I wear on a regular basis . They are not all stock watches on the Watches Of Westminster site , they are my personal watches and I thought I would share them with visitors to the web site rather than leave them hidden away.

I’ll start at the top left with one of the most recognisable watches being the Omega Speedmaster Professional ref 145022 76 ST the serial dating it to 1975.

I actually bought this through a wanted ad in Gumtree and for a reasonable price.

It does however have a strange smear slightly fading the left hand side of the script “Omega Speedmaster Professional” and when it arrived one of the pushers was totally seized. Otherwise the Speedie just needed a good service.

The Type B2.861 movement is present and correct and running nicely after its service.

I’ve been wearing the Speedie most of the week and it does sit very well on the wrist as its not a big heavy watch . The Speedmaster is definitely a every fay watch with huge character. Add its history and you have one of the most collectable watches at a affordable price.

Next up is a Pulsar Quartz Chronometer which was a Nato issue watch I believe to the RAF and looking at the serial numbers it was issued in 2008.

As you would expect it keeps perfect time and with its 39mm case it is not too small and not too large.

It times to one tenth of a second but for some reason the minute counter does not reset to zero. Its not a expensive watch and I tend to wear it when Im out and about doing other things not related to watches and which might end up damaging the watch ( I have many other interests ! )

Heres an intersting web site with more information

https://anordain.com/blogs/news/100-years-of-british-military-watches-part-3

It has a lot of useful information on British military watches and as we have a couple on the web site take a look at this rare Jaeger LeCoultre

https://watchesofwestminster.co.uk/sale_watch/very-rare-1948-jaeger-lecoultre-6b-346-mark-xi-raf-military-issued-watch/

Next up on my list of 10 favourite watches is a particular favourite of mine and whilst I don’t wear it too often ( for reasons that will be obvious ) when I do Its a real treat.

As you will see its a marriage watch that I put together about a year ago . After buying a Omega marriage watch a few years back I thought I would have a go at ” creation “. I had started to buy pocket watch movements on Ebay if I liked the dial.

This to my mind is a very nice silvered dial and with the case it weigss in at a very healthy 47.5mm diameter but you may have noticed by now that there is no crown . Well there is a way round that !

You just need to pop off the crystal back and wind it with a key just like in the old days !

Its not a high grade movement , its not a high grade anything but with the suede leather strap I really do enjoy wearing it and it makes a really pleasant ticking noise you can hear from across the room.

MY FOURTH FAVOURITE WATCH

I bought this from a dealer at a good price and I had never seen one before . I actually bought 2 from him and kept this for myself . The Lemania Elvestrom has a long and interesting history and Paul Elvestrom was a Danish yachtsman who won multiple Olympic gold medals and many world titles on top.

There were many different models of this watch including a titanium version and movement was used by Omega. The basis of the design is that on pushing the timer button the five discs turn blue and then every 2 minutes the discs turn red so you have a 10 minute timer.

This is pretty handy when you are bouncing around on the deck of a racing yacht and need a very quick visual reference as to when to tack.

If you want to know more on the timeline of this favourite watch take a look at this link.

http://www.regatta-yachttimers.com/brands/lemania/

My 5th Favourite watch

The good old “hummer” known as this because if you put the watch to your ear you can literally hear it humming and it is certainly close to the top of my 10 favourite watches

The watch contains a unique movement in many ways and its very accurate ( one minute a month i.e. 2 seconds a day ! )

The watch is effectively a electro mechanical device and was the worlds first fully electronic watch ( the mechanical bit being the drive to the hands.

A electronic oscillator turns power on and off to the 2 wound copper coils and these in turn drive the mechanical section of the watch at 360 times per second .

Being very accurate it even found its way to the moon as a cockpit instrument in the Apollo lunar missions ( you would be surprised how many watches actually went into space ! )

This is the space view model which was only actually produced to be displayed in dealers shop fronts but after a lot of customers asked to buy the demonstration watch Bulova then made many versions of the space view and have recently come out with a fascinating new model concept model which is run with a electrostatic motor the power being generated in a similar way to a automatic watch.

The Vintage space view watches can be picked up for between £400 and £1100 and its pretty much up to you which model you go for.

Ive put in the middle of my 10 favourite watches as I’ll wear it for a week and then put it away for about a month .

Im going to put the next five on the next blog !

WoWadmin May 6th, 2020

Posted In: Second Hand Watches, Sell My Watch, Sell my watch during Covid, Watches For Sale