So got a tip that a local place had a large watchmaker's parts cabinet full of parts. I was interested in the parts and the cabinet, so I spent a few hours going through it all today.

In the end he wanted too much for the cabinet, and he would only sell the contents by the drawer. Since most of the drawers were filled with junk, I put in an offer on 6 of the drawers, but he wanted far too much. We were just too far apart so I condensed my offer to 2 drawers. We were still too far apart, so I countered taking only one movement out of one of the drawers, and leaving him the rest, and I dropped my offer by $100, and he took it!

The complete drawer I bought was labeled "Omega" so it of course had Omega parts inside - here are some of the items - there are some usable parts there, but the cases are not really any good - various brands here though, and yes one Omega barrel bridge from a Cal. 610:



This shot gets a bit better with a selection of 3 Omega movements, and a bunch of Tissot and one Gruen that was in there too:



Here is what I was really after in that drawer though:



And there are even a few dials that might be of use - the one on the left is a redial, but the other 3 are original - one is attached to a Cal. 351 right now so one of the movement shown above:



And here is the single movement with dial that I snagged from the drawer full of cheap stopwatch movements:



That dial should be worth a few bucks on it's own, and here is the movement:



Unfortunately missing the balance, but as a parts watch I'm sure it will have some value.

Of course there were quite a few packages with stems, staffs, and various other Omega and Wittnauer movement parts, and also a bunch of blued steel mainsprings that went straight into the trash, but overall a good buy I think.

Wish I could do this every day...

Cheers, Al

 

Fascinating stuff Al

 

It's a Gruen Cal. 415, so it has sub seconds at 6, so not likely. It's also missing a few parts, but they should not be too difficult to find.

Cheers, Al

 

Oh and here is a shot of a complete German WWII pilot watch I took in the museum in Glashütte last fall to give you an idea what the movement I bought is for. Of course this one is a Lange and not a Laco, but the Laco is still a good one to have.



Since my own line of watches includes some models inspired by these, it was pretty cool to find a movement local to me.



Cheers, Al

 

Al, do you still make a line of watches? Do you have a website?

 

My new marketing department has spoken!

 

Awesome collection of parts

 

Sold!



Let's just say I made out okay on that one.

 

As you should. These are hard to come by, so I'm sure both parties are quite pleased with the arrangement.

 

Al,
What's a "ResidUmeter" that you have pictured there?

 

Magnetic flux? Just a guess.

 

Gauss meter.