I have recently purchased a Constellation Pie Pan shown in the photos. It is replacing a non-pie pan Constellation which was stolen from me a few years ago. For one, I see very few of these with the Arrowhead markers, and even fewer with the smaller Arrowheads, which this watch has. From similar looking ones Im guessing it was made between 1956 and 1958, but I cannot be certain. This watch has recently been exhibiting an issue. It will (sometimes) have a very low power reserve, on the order of a few hours. Sometimes it will be completely fine for 12 hours sitting on my desk and others it will stop after just an hour or so. I have even looked down at my wrist to find the watch has been stopped for 20 minutes. Any clues? Apparently it was serviced in September and I have been wearing it every day since.
Sorry, I forgot to include more information. It is a Cal 505. And I forgot to ask about the winding. With the crown snapped in, it will only turn counterclockwise, and makes a ratcheting sound. For some reason I never knew with my old Connie that you could manually wind it. But winding it doesn't really seem to do anything. If the watch is dead and I wind it, should it immediately starting ticking?
It should wind clockwise, if it doesn't wind that direction at all it needs to go back to the watchmaker
I am testing it now, and it does wind clockwise, but it requires some force. It almost seems like it would be a little too much. What could this indicate as an issue?
That crown is hard to grab and twist. Steve / cicindela tipped me off to putting a wide rubber band around it for better grip. Sounds to me like somebody didn't have it 'serviced' properly - was it an eBay seller who claimed it was serviced?
Definitely not going to work properly if not fully wound manually first. However if its been OK until now it could have weak mainspring or an issue with the auto-wind function. Really tough to say about the winding force without having the watch in hand. In the photo the crown seems to be sitting away from the side of the case, is it like that now or only in the photo. If the case tube is interfering with the crown seating properly it could make it difficult to wind. Also are you aware that the dial has been refinished? Hopefully that was pointed out by the seller.
Yes it was an eBay seller who said it was serviced. He had quite a few other watches out there and 99+% positive feedback. He's offered me a free service if I send it back.... I assumed the dial had been refinished but was fine with that. Does there seem to be anything wrong it it? And yes there is a visible but small space between the crown and the case.
He said it was serviced already, so do you really trust him to service it this time? We've seen 100% feedback for sellers of crappy watches because most eBay buyers don't know the good from the bad.
Yeah I did notice that the crosshair is absent from the logo are on the top, but have seen a few others like that so I figured it could just be a variation. Is that the telltale sign?
Also I've noticed that since I have been winding it clockwise now the crown rest more flush with the case.
Sounds like the watch needs servicing. Also, the dial has been refinished and it wasn't a very good job. And as pointed out as well, the hands are not correct for this model. The case also has been polished - a picture of the back will help clarify how much polish was done.
Yeah it has definitely been polished, as it looks as if new. Why are the hands incorrect? Based on the photos they seem the same to me.
This is a nice model, shame about the refinished dial...To be honest I don't think it's really been serviced. Shouldn't have those issues if it had. Here's a couple identical case references for comparison. The one on right is almost exactly the same markers and case style, and it's got an original (aged) dial. The hands have been relumed tho.