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Isolation Challenge - Buy a watch for £50 Max

  1. Deafboy His Holiness Puer Surdus May 22, 2020

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    A diamond in the rough. Good project for a future gift to my wife.
    A mid-1920's Bulova Deauville/Lady Lindy. It's a ladies watch for which the case has vitrified enamel inlay in several colours.
    I found a exact fitting crystal for it. The dial is silver and has tarnished very darkly over time: I'm hopeful the dial will clean up nicely without repainting. My experience is that Bulova generally had very good movements in the their watches.
    I think the bracelet completes this nice watch.


    IMG_0162.JPG
    IMG_0150 crop.jpg
     
    Edited Jun 1, 2020
  2. JwRosenthal May 22, 2020

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    Lovely! How would one treat a dial like that? I assume any immersion would remove the paint
     
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  3. DaveK Yoda of Yodelers May 22, 2020

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    +1
     
  4. Deafboy His Holiness Puer Surdus May 22, 2020

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    I'll need do a test but I think I read somewhere the "paint" might be quite resistant in a an aqueous solution that would remove the tarnish. It may be even be vitreous enamel inlay like many dials of the era.
     
  5. JwRosenthal May 23, 2020

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    Paging @Canuck - have you had experience cleaning up a silver Dial like this?
     
  6. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker May 23, 2020

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    These ladies watches often used printing methods that were very resilient. Here's one example before:

    [​IMG]

    And after:

    [​IMG]

    Tool of choice was this:

    staedtler-mars-plastic-eraser.jpg

    Cheers, Al
     
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  7. JwRosenthal May 23, 2020

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    If only they were all that easy:oops:
     
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  8. Archer Omega Qualified Watchmaker May 23, 2020

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    For these silver dials, it is that easy. I've cleaned a good number of these the same way without any harmful effects.

    For other types of dials my advice still stands - only clean it if you are prepared to destroy it.
     
  9. MedicMike May 23, 2020

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    Picked this up on eBay for 16.50usd. I haven’t received it yet but supposedly it runs. We will see. B43F5779-DEAB-4CB6-A7EA-551FD760DF1C.png
     
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  10. Just Livin May 24, 2020

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    Yep. Technically not a watch.
    But in an attempt to humour myself still and hit the monetary target I plucked for this. I actually have the same large Heuer version yacht timer. So know what a great desk paperweight this makes.
    Plus have a soft spot for yacht timers.
    Purchase price was $50 Leonidas.jpg
     
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  11. studeb May 24, 2020

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    That’s a smokin timer! Nice score!
     
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  12. kip595 May 24, 2020

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    For a few pence over 12GBP, or exactly $15.00 shipped, I couldn't resist this Timex 35mm even with it's scuffs (which are hardly noticeable in person). Too charmingly simple to pass up; took me back to being a kid growing up and seeing all the old movies where a guy is obsessively checking some watch, usually on a nice leather strap...what can I say, I watched a lot of heist flicks as a teen! ::popcorn::

    Timex Indiglo.jpeg
     
  13. TimeODanaos Jun 1, 2020

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    This isn't over! In my head, I'm bidding up to 49.50 GBP on a 1970s Bulova Caravelle with quickset date and Dynamic style (round) dial. It's at 31GBP with about half an hour left on the bay.
    Afraid I'm on a sunny bike atm, so I may not be there in time, ah well... :cool:
     
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  14. Just Livin Jun 1, 2020

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    Good luck! :thumbsup:
     
  15. TimeODanaos Jun 1, 2020

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    Oddly enough, bidding exploded about a half hour after my post, and this went for £63 in the end. Maybe that's too much. Fortunately, the bike ride was real enough, and free! :D
    [​IMG]
     
  16. larryganz The cable guy Jun 3, 2020

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    UPDATE - my wish.com refund came through the other day, and I did not have to send the fake Seiko PADI back to China.
     
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  17. Tet I prefer Dilmah do try it Jun 7, 2020

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    I purchased this beautiful(to my eyes at least) little thing a week ago, non-runner but at less than £35 delivered and seeing as I have a spare ISA 1198 sitting here doing nothing and will be a direct drop in replacement(except for second hand which I might replace with a white one), I think it was a peach of a bargain.

    Main likes: Military styling, those tritium numerals, and stainless steel case.

    Screenshot_20200607-160319.png

    With value in mind it might even replace my '80 G10 as my knocking about beater(I wear that one all the time but starting to think I should take more care of it). It's only 34mm but I don't mind smaller watches especially in this style.

    Thought worthy of adding to this thread. With movement included fits into the £50 limit nicely.
     
    Edited Jun 7, 2020
  18. Tet I prefer Dilmah do try it Jun 9, 2020

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    Well it arrived and I was very lucky as turned out to be just the second hand riding high that was stopping it from running, at least seems to be fine for now.

    [​IMG]

    And beside my favourite daily wearer which it will be partly taking over from.

    [​IMG]
     
    Edited Jun 9, 2020
  19. MtV Jun 9, 2020

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    Some really nice finds here, I’m impressed - and motivated! :)

    Here are two watches in that price range that I acquired recently from the same seller.

    1)A Pallas Adora with a beautiful red sunburst dial. Was about 6 minutes off a day, which I managed to bring down to 30s. Close enough.

    AC9EC847-5DEE-4A79-92F2-F7D64775387B.jpeg

    2) A Raketa 24h Watch

    This one I’m probably going to keep for a while, it’s weird enough for me to really enjoy it on occasion. Not sure if that’s true but allegedly, the idea behind this 24h dial and the movable bezel was the use for submarine crews. Working in a shift system of 4h on (red), 4h off (white), 4h standby (blue), 4h off, 4h standby, 4h off, the watch helps to keep track of the time of the day and your shifts, especially without the sunlight. I do doubt that this is how it was actually done in the 80s (or that crews used this particular model) but I like the story. And the 2609ha manual movement works a treat!

    E8F29521-C566-4F68-AB71-3844AEDAE97C.jpeg
     
  20. Just Livin Jun 9, 2020

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    Somewhat of a fail at £52.
    But combined my love of Yachting and wanted a Digital. It was close enough :whistling:
    1989 Japan TRW-30
    s-l1600.jpg
     
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