Anyone know anything about these?
Not a bad looking piece for cheap...

 

Looks like Jeambrun to me.

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk&Jeambrun_23D

From Dr. Roland Ranfft's archive.

 

Here is another

 

Are these good movements? Collectable at all?

 

NOS for only $175...sounds good to me...looks nice

 

Very true!

 

I can see why it would be attractive to own. At least for awhile....

You would most likely be a fairly exclusive owner of one of these, at least in the US of A; it would be unlikely you'd see anyone else with one...

I was intrigued by the 'Yema' brand a few months ago, and picked up a few for about the same price... but, of course, turns out, I only wore them for a day or two until their novelty wore out, and I bought another Swiss vintage with more heritage (then wore for a week, and....repeat...)....

 

It is interesting to see from the standpoint that I never heard of it.

Does the enlarged view of the movement really indicate it to have 7 jewels?

 

Yema is a different kettle of fish. It has an interesting history, and produced some nice and attractive watches in the '60s. Worth collecting if you like the style, I'd say, although their most loyal following is the French collector community.

 

It's hard for me to understand the mentality that a watch is attractive because fewer people also own it.

I'm not saying that in some ways, all of us collectors fall for this trap, but it seems silly when you think about it. Like - why does it matter if nobody else is America is wearing the watch? Does that have any reference to its quality? That could mean it's anything from a one-off Philippe Dufour to a crappy Omega frankenwatch. We should let the watch rest on its laurels, which aren't too impressive.

"Exclusivity", I guess, is part of the luxury game, though.

 

Well, for me, it's more about the fact it may be a small and under-appreciated brand that makes nice-looking, reliable, and afforable watches.

Perhaps I was a bit naive, but until I ran across Yema, I didn't even know that there were French companies making their own designs, and using their own movements, so I thought I'd add one or two to the collection.

I don't know much about the 'Crosby', but if their movement contains only 7 jewels, I think you'd be correct!

As for Yema, I do agree with @Tony C. that they do have some laurels that they CAN rest on... in the early '50's, they made the first in-house French automatic chronometer, if I remember correctly . My sub-seconds Sous Marine (above) has this one...

Edit: I mis-spoke here; my Yema's are both hand-wind... I never acquired one of their historic chronometers ...

...and, my apology goes to the OP for hijacking this thread!

 

It is true that (unknown brand) + (good quality/design) =

 

Whats with the antichoc on the dial !?

 

Duh!

No chocolate for you when you wear me!

Everyone knows that!

 

Im equally fond of My Zenith, Omegas, Panerai and Ug
and my irrelevanlty rare decent quality no namers...

The rarity factor I dont care about at all, i just love having a bunch of secent quality swiss vintage beaters that I love the look of. Im also happy to get them serviced ...

 

Crosby is a common watch in the US. I come across them plenty. I would consider them better than Timex and lower than Caravelle in quality. They don't bring any money. Findind a NOS one wouldn't get $20 out of my pocket. The initial build quality is not there.

 

So the guy the other day shaking the banana strawberry milkshake should buy this....