Rolex and high end watches fans

[hash4u]

lovely collection Abbasi saab

[sohikun]

Wow! That's nice bro

[msabbasi]

My first watch was given to me by my father when I was 10 years old. He was a sticker for time. If he said 10:00 o'clock, it meant 10:00 o'clock. Not 9:55 or 10:05. His giving me a watch at that early age was meant to teach me the value of time. I have to say it worked. This is the watch he gave me. Sadly I have no idea where it is now. It was a Westend Prima Sowar (horse rider - ghora Sowar). This was a watch specially designed for the army solder's use during the first world war and being an Army man, it was his logical choice.

Pic is from the net.

40 years later I was roaming about in Manama, Bahrain and I found a Westend watch. The moment I saw it, memories of my father flooded in. So I had to buy it.

This watch falls in the acquire due to sentimental reasons category

By the way, one of the first things I do when I buy a watch with a leather strap is to replace the original one with a replacement one, This is to preserve the original and prevent it getting soiled with sweat.

This watch is neither a Rolex or a high end watch. So please excuse its inclusion here.

On we go to the next one. This is a watch that I bought for its Tourbillion movement. Owners of mechanical watches know that gravity effects the accuracy of the watch as mentioned in the article above. Of course French Tourbillion movements are eye wateringly expensive but one can be amazed by the complexity of the rotating escapement on the Chinese Tourbillion. I certainly cant afford a French Tourbillion so since I had to have a Tourbillion, I bought the next best thing.

Came with a brown and black strap and display back.

It is simple looking but the magic is in the the movement. In one minute the entire escapement turns 360 degrees.

This Breguet Tourbillion is infinitely more beautiful but it is also USD 46,000

https://www.chrono24.com/breguet/grande-complication-tourbillon-co-axial-36mm-in-yellow-gold-on-brown-crocodile-leather-strap-with-silver-dial--id34664560.htm?searchHash=3d72fb75_QjR8Vw&pos=10

[msabbasi]

The next one has family ties going back 5 generation. This pocket watch is a LeCoultre movement dating from early 1890's encased in case made by John Manger of Hollborn Circus London. This style of case is called a full hunter due to fully enclosing the movement. It belonged to my great grandfather, then went to my grandfather and then to my father who willed it to my son, its present owner.

Back in the day the mechanism makers sent their movement to a jewelry maker who did the case with all sorts of decorations. This one is just engraved with our family monogram

Part of the family monogram is just visible.

Note the full calendar. It also has a stop watch feature operated by a small button just visible at 12 0'clock position

Though the dial or the movement is not signed which I find very strange, it took me 4-5 years to track down this movement. It is a LeCoultre dating around the early 1890's.

The pocket watch was my father's daily till he bought the gold Rolex Day-Date in 1970 in Tehran, Iran. More about the Rolex story later. When my father passed away, I was entrusted to give the watch to my son, he was just 14 years old. I noticed that the watch was not working. I took it to Saudi Arabia where I was based at the time. The watch was taken to an old school watch smith specializing in such watches told me that the main spring and the wind spring were broken. I was able to search internationally and find almost correct parts and now the watch is fully functional. It looses about 15-20 sec per day.

[msabbasi]

@xenerking Lovely watch, can you please tell us more about it.

[xenerking]

Its a Marvin 18k gold, my father's watch, now in my use, very accurate and reliable, but sentimental value is the most important thing.

[xenerking]

Also have a similar westend, again extremely accurate and reliable. It came with steel bracelet but i like leather straps more.

[msabbasi]

What a beauty!!!!!

[msabbasi]

Up in Post # 29 a Seiko is mentioned so I guess I can mention Seiko here. As I said I am a fan of mechanical watches but I came across a range of Seiko watches that just blew me away. So I had to have one.

These are the Seiko Age of Discovery Series. There all breath taking in their style. Offered in a number of different calibers, Quartz, Kinetic, Automatic. Mine is the Quartz Perpetual Calendar Cal. 6M13. This series of watches are intended to be a salute to the age of wind powered sailing ships that were instrumental in discovering the world.

http://aod.oldboys.at/

The case of this watch looks like the wheel of an old ship. The watch back has such a ship engraved in the steel cover.

[msabbasi]

For Vintage Rolex Owners

There is a service offered by Rolex whereby old worn out steel/gold or all gold bracelets are replaced by like for like with an additional cost of the quantity of gold lost over the years.

Here is how it works. You take the bracelet to the Rolex dealer, who sends it off to Rolex Geneva where they first verify that it is not a fake, Then it is weighed and they determine how much gold has been lost due to wear and tear. A money amount is calculated and informed to you dealer who in turn informs you. If you approve, Rolex will mail you a brand new bracelet of exactly the same part number of your original bracelet. I know about this service because I have availed it for my gold Day-Date. Of course there are other charges, such as custom, postage, Rolex Geneva service charges etc. My bracelet service cost me SAR 14,000 In Khobar, KSA in the year 2002

[mgalaxy3]

Woah @msabbasi
That west end sowar is around 1200 usd..
That is not high end?

[msabbasi]

Really? WOW. I didn't this it was that expensive. Are you sure? I bought mine brand new from a shop in Seef Mall in Manama, Bahrain when I was stationed in Saudi Arabia. We are talking late 1990's I pulled the receipt and it was 190/-Bahraini Dinars which was about USD 500. Mine is the model called 1916 as it is a commemorative watch celebrating the time of WW I when it was first introduced. Model number is 6832.10.3245

[msabbasi]

Another watch in my collection is the Chrongraphe Suisse. These were a cheap stylish chronographs made in the late 1940 to the seventies. Not the most robust of watches but rather pretty. They have a sort of cult following amongst the horologists.

I have two of them. It happened by accident that I ended up with two. I was bidding on one on Ebay and fearful that I might loose the bid so went and place a bid on another one. As luck would have it, I won both bids and hence the two watches.

The first one has a Landeron movement identified by two minor dials at 3 and 9 o'clock positions

As bought. I was not too impressed with the dial so I was able to replace it with a more vintage looking one

The case is 18 carat gold but I have to say it is super flimsy and easy to bend. On the minor dial at 3 o'clock position there are 3 red lines at 3, 6 and 9 minutes. This came in handy when we had to book trunk/long distance calls which used to be for 3, 6 or 9 minutes. I wonder how many even know back in the day one had to book long distance calls and then wait an entire day to get connected.

18 carat gold making on the case back

The other one has a Venus movement identified by the minor dials at 12 and 6 o'clock positions

Similar case as the other one.

Even today just a hand full of watch manufacturers make their own movement. The bulk made the case and dial but the movement is obtained from movement makers.

If we take the example of the Landeron movement we can find it in a number of watches.

Baume and Mercier

Stima

Heuer of the Tag fame

Breitling

Norstel and company

Waltham.

All with Landeron 48 movement. With such a presence in the world of watches, I had to have a watch with this movement. Of course my father had one that he bought in Italy when he was visiting in the early '50s

[mgalaxy3]

@msabbasi yes I just checked the prices on some websites. I’m not sure how much it should or is retailing for in physical shops.

I have zero idea about watches. But this thread is very interesting for someone reading about the value and importance of wrist watches for the first time ever.

Also if you don’t mind sharing how old are you - since you mentioned trunk calls.. turns out I’m not from that generation so even this is very interesting to hear.

[msabbasi]

@msabbasi yes I just checked the prices on some websites. I’m not sure how much it should or is retailing for in physical shops.

I have zero idea about watches. But this thread is very interesting for someone reading about the value and importance of wrist watches for the first time ever.

Also if you don’t mind sharing how old are you - since you mentioned trunk calls.. turns out I’m not from that generation so even this is very interesting to hear.

Thank you for your kind words. I was born in 1961. We had rotary dials on phones and flip up phone books next to the phones with all our precious phone numbers. And phone numbers were 4 digits and later 5 digits

As they say, stay tuned for more watch stuff..

[msabbasi]

As a horologist, one has certain features that one finds attractive. For me blued hands, Roman numerals, display back, complications, Guilloche dial, onion winder, automatic movement, moon phase, a calendar to name a few do the trick.

I was just browsing the inter net and came across this Armand Nicolet Tramelan Complete Calendar watch. I caught my attention as it features quite a few of properties I find desirable. Not too high end and not too well known. Just recently a shop in the Beverly center has obtained the dealership for Armand Nicolet. Of course I bought mine some 15 years ago.

This one has the Guilloche dial, blued hands, a complete calendar, chronograph, 24 hr display, Roman numerals and of course automatic movement with display back. It ticks a lot of the boxes for me.

I am partial to the old look of watches, not saying that modern chunky look is bad but my taste in watches leans to the classic look. Sadly Armand Nicolet has moved away from the classic look and now are well and truly into the modern look.

Guilloche
A guilloche watch dial is much more ornate than standard faces and it comes with an engraved wave-like pattern. Many watchmakers hand engrave their guilloche designs but the practice is more and more uncommon as the years go by.

A bit of background about Armand Nicolet

https://www.armandnicolet.com/ohm

[msabbasi]

Chronoswiss and the quartz watch scene 1975 - 2003 Quartz watches

A brand of watch not many know of is Chronoswiss. Before I go into Chronoswiss, I have to mention the Quartz watch revolution. In the mid 70's the quartz watches made an appearance. These were cheap, accurate, had unbelievable features with calculators, digital readouts and much more. The introduction of the quartz spelled the death of the mechanical movement. Many old established watch companies shut their doors forever and other more established brand grudgingly tooled up for quartz production. An example is Rolex who put out the Oysterquartz

In 1983 a man by the name of Gerd-Rüdiger Lang driven by the passion of mechanical watch making founded Chronoswiss in Munich. Despite the quartz watch challenge he stuck with his passion of making mechanical watches with one complication after another. Eventually the world began turning back to mechanical watches and so Chronoswiss and others were able to establish their place in the world of horology. Today both quartz and mechanical watches live harmoniously side by side.

I personally find Chronoswiss ticks many of my boxes. In post number 59 I discussed my Chronoswiss Tora and here I introduce my Chronoswiss Lunar.It has the onion or turnip winder, Guilloché 925 Sterling-Silver dial, with printed Arabic numerals, moon phase, date, chronograph and much more priced brand new at Euro 10,800. Of course I bought it in the mid 2000's for much less, USD 5000 if I remember correctly.

Sorry for poor pics. I took them when the I got the watch. It has been gifted to my son so this one I no longer own.

https://chronoswiss.com/en/intl

.

[msabbasi]

Sharing here my other LeCoultre watch. Called the Futurematic, it had a very complicated bumper automatic movement. Some say that it was expensive to produce and that LeCoulter lost money of each watch they sold. Dont know if that is true

This one I got due to its place in the world of horology and the power reserve indicator. Note that it has no winding stem.

I just took it out of its case and put it on. As I move about the bumper winder will charge up the power reserve spring and the indicator will move to full position. This is an extremely accurate watch 14 carat filled gold case. Filled gold means a very heavy gold plating.

Here is the catalogue of Lecoultre from the same time as the watch

We had this clock in my parents house. Works by measuring minute differences in the atmospheric temperature. Never needs batteries, or winding.

The Moon Phase one is very interesting

Sales catalogue from the 50's

[xenerking]

guess its from the era before it became jaeger lecoultre

[msabbasi]

Also have a similar westend, again extremely accurate and reliable. It came with steel bracelet but i like leather straps more.

A bit of history about your West End Sowar