Another rambling folowon to @JimInOz question (linked below)

I have a few case parts. Not as many as some here. I have had these for decades. Somehow all the backs got mixed up. One of the curious is that there were a bunch of backs engraved Hong Kong.



Where I could fit a back to a case I did. The first photograph in this thread show some possible candidates for similar watches. The A Schild movements are a fairly common 11.5L which is around 25.6MM which is really close to a 25.4 inch. 12L being the 'French inch.'

There are a lot of movements that will fit into these cases. Every now and then I find something that matches. I think these are pretty much how I got them. Probably from NAWCC Mart auctions where no one bit, or I had to take the lot to get the part needed. I have picked through this fairly often in the last 6 months.

The first photo I was going to use in the other thread. I figured it deserved a thread of it's own. As it shows some of the similar case backs to El Rusto. Of course there is not an identical case, and I have the best of the scrap cases set aside for the Santa Claus Walkmann.

I should start re-assembling El rusto. (to keep parts from getting lost.) I did get as far as getting the mainspring winder out. Then started removing more of the rust from the case parts.



Here is the result (above.) The case really cleaned up nice. Too bad I missed the missing lug tip. Does seem to be made from some sort of white metal, so I probably could grind it down. The case might have been a bit over polished. The only tools I used to clean this was a basswood stick (softer than pegwood.) and a fiber brush to clean the snapped of lug and the stem threads. The stem and the movement ring were soaked for a couple of hours in the Evap-O-Rust. The case was not.

I am curious as to why the prevalence of HK cases. The Wakmann is going into a French signed case
(which is the one it fit best.) From the style of these cases I would date them to the late 1950s through the mid 1960s.

This watch (El Rusto) was serviced at least twice. There are also some large dents and scratches on the case back. These look much newer than the broken lug which was covered in so much rust as to not be immediately noticeable.

My memory of the time these watches were from is from my first decade. What I remember were the TIMEX advertisements, what went with the Big TV productions. Even now when I watch these old 'specials' I remember the TIMEX and Xerox advertisements. Not quite sure why such companies sponsored the Kukla Fran and Ollie puppets. (I recall one of the puppets Xeroxing themselves.)

This is also where I learned my cultural Xenophobia. Cheap stuff was not 'Made in America.' (it was not until I was an adult in my early 20s that I learned that the 'Black forest' was not in Switzerland.) How I got into clocks was our cuckoo clock did not work. I was fixing computers. One of the co-workers loaned me a book when I remarked cuckoo clocks were impossible to fix.

My reply was that the worlds expert on cuckoo clocks did not live in Concord California. That they lived in the 'Black forest of Switzerland.' Actually Karl was from the Czech part of Austria. He always claimed to be German. His son was my first mentor who had a clock shop. Both taught community classes in clock repair. (Well Tom did. Karl wrote the books.) They were My NAWCC sponsors and I would later travel to Europe with Karl.

Still I had this misinformation that while the old German stuff was good. the Asian stuff was made for a price with low quality material. This is a hard cultural meme to unlearn.

Why then, was I, surprised that I had HK marked watch parts? I even though till the last few months Seiko was cheap knockoff stuff made under US subsidies. How much I have blocked Asian watches from my collecting portfolio. Typically I would tip anything not from the US or Europe in the dust bin. (Apart from some Japanese electronics. Then I do not consider Japan part of Asia. Had too many friends of JA ancestry. And love that culture.)

Probably have just as many, friends, classmates, and co-workers from HK and Taiwan, but they are just as American as anyone. This area is really multicultural. To the point where it is not noticed.

This watch, then, is what now makes me question. Not exactly sure what I question? History? The resale Value of watches , based on country of manufacture?

I guess this shows that before the Quartz crisis in the early 1970s. That the Swiss were for the most part still making the guts. With the case design following the world wide fashion trends.

This is shaping up to be a rather nice watch even if the name on the dial is one no one ever heard of.

Yeah, I am top quoting.