Watches

I like mechanical watches and I have 4 of them. My 5th watch is a solar powered quartz. I will post them as I wear them. Anybody else with "nice" watches?

Hamilton UTC Auto from the Khaki Navy collection. Automatic movement, caliber 2893-2, 42mm, sapphire crystal, screw down crowns, stainless steel case with leather strap. Hamilton was an American watch company in PA. They began supplying railroad watches due to accuracy. For WWII they produced over 1 million watches for the US Military and also Chronometers for the US Navy. Hamilton was bought by SSIH in 1974 (which became Swatch Group in 1983) and transferred all manufacturing to Switzerland in 2003. Hamilton produced the first digital LED watch. They also placed watches in movies, namely with Elvis in "Blue Hawaii" also "2001 A Space Odyssey", "Men in Black", "Independence Day" and most recently "The Martian"

I bought this one from Amazon and that makes it a grey market watch. Swatch will never service it because it wasn't purchased through an authorized dealer, but at the price point authorized service would be cost prohibitive.

 

Number 2. Longines HydroConquest, caliber L633 automatic, stainless steel case and bracelet, 41mm diameter, screw down case back and crown, unideirectional bezel.



Longines is Swiss and began in 1832, but became known as Longines in 1867 with a new factory built in the Es Longines section of Saint-Imier. In the 1880's Longines became associated with timing for horse racing. In 1913 they developed an automatic movement for a wristwatch. They had a relationship with F1 racing, the first LCD display watch (1972) and became part of SMH (later Swatch Group) in 1983. They continue their relationship as official timer of most horse racing events.

I purchased this one "used". I have a colleague who is Swiss and a family member works for Swatch. He gets a significant employee discount and was able to purchase the watch for me.

 

Number 3 of 5. This is the only non-mechanical watch I own. CITIZEN Eco Drive model BM6400-00E, Japanesse Quartz movement, 40mm diameter stainless steel case with canvas strap. Screw down crown and 200m (about 600') water resistance. This watch does have a mineral crystal as opposed to a sapphire, so it can be scratched. It had been discontinued, but there are very similar models available. CITIZEN was founded in 1930 and developed the solar powered Eco Drve in 1976. The Eco Drive watches are the very accurate quartz movements but do not require a battery. The dial serves as the light collector and the energy to power the movement is stored in a capacitor. Matt Kenseth, my favorite NASCAR driver, is a CITIZEN ambassador.

I got this watch, again from Amazon, as a weekend beater watch to be water resistant and relatively inexpensive to save on wear and tear on my more expensive watches. The ding in the case around 10 o'clock happened while I was moving around large rocks around a lakefront underwater to make an easier path in and out.

Mechanical watches eventually will need service, quartz watches will eventually need a battery, the Eco Drive capacitor will eventually fail.

 

4th watch. Tissot Le Loce, automatic caliber ETA 2824-2, 39mm diameter, skeleton case back, white dial with silver Roman numberals with a black leather strap with butterfly clasp.

Tissot was found in the 1850s in the town of Le Loce in the mountains of Switzerland. They took the approach of mass production of pocket watches for the "common" people. As with most smaller watch companies that struggled to compete against Japannesse Quartz watches, they became part of what is now Swatch in 1983. Their recent technology is the T-Touch and have a sponsorship relationship with Danica Patrick of Indy car and NASCAR racing. They are also the official timers of International Basketball, fencing and still are the official timer of NASCAR.




I bought this watch from an Authorized dealer. When I lived in Switzerland two colleagues had this same watch, but with a steel bracelet. I looked to purchase it in Switzerland but there are no deals to be found there, it was much less expensive in the US.

 

Last one. Omega Speedmaster, the moon watch. Automatic movement 1164, steel case with steel bracelet, chronograph, sapphire crystal, date and small seconds.

Omega built the watch that went to the moon. Omega started in 1848 and merged with Tissot is 1925, went into the SSHI group in 1930 and finally Swatch in 1983. Omega has been the official timer of the Olympics since 1932. After going to the moon, they developed the Swiss Quarts movement to compete with the Japanese. Omega has been affiliated with James Bond since 1965, with the exception of Casio for the Roger Moore era. The collection consists of the Speedmaster, Seamaster and new Globemaster. It also has the Constellation and DeVille lines.



This was my first nice watch and I purchased from an authorized dealer before the prices for Omega's skyrocketed. A new Omega is simply out of my reach financially.