Love the range of emotion in the flash of a second from glee to disappointment.

 

Oh man just skip that ebay crap and if you're stateside I will hook you up with 2-4-the-price-of-1 running beauties package deal for under the $50 cap

 

Talk to me Goose


(Rats. I was hoping to some something spectacular with #200. I need to pay better attention)

 

You couldn't have done better than replying to me

 

I don't want to raise the attention of the forum police by discussing a sale in the public section but if you send me $49 I will send you 2 mystery watches that you could proudly contribute to this thread with

 

This lovely Mido now has a new hour hand. As it turns out the handset was purple. I insisted on retaining the original purple minute hand. My watchmaker really talked me out of “repurpling” the replacement hour hand, even though it’s doable, because it would be about an hour of labor, and it still won’t be the original hand. Plus they’re so tiny the difference in hue is not really noticeable to the naked eye.
Here’s a few snapshots.
Thank you so much again dear @Lucasssssss for passing on this watch to me.

Next on the agenda.... maybe a custom made purple patent leather double wrap strap?

 

Sensational @Syrte - bargain dreams can come true!

 

Had all but forgotten this thread.
Picked up a nice small (33mm)Caravel in very nearly excellent condition, only one tiny scratch on the case back where someone slipped with a tool.
Wore it daily for a week or so, keeps good time and seems to have been serviced in the not too distant past. Even a bit of life left in the lume.
Very thin and lightweight. Probably early to mid 60's.

This model used the Japanese Citizen movement.
27.99 USD plus $5 shipping.

 

Me too, for all the "right" reasons. Just me, but I think f2f, fleamarket, estate sales etc are outside the spirit of this thread, so I had no need to come here for a while. Unfortunately, it looks like restrictions are coming back round here, so... let the (remote, bio-secure) hunt resume!

 

Maroon rather than purple. Look up some samples in various shades.

 

Looks so good! Im glad it is seeing some use after all these years!

 

And I am totally thrilled!!

Thanks for the input @Professor, I am going to visit a strap shop that has an amazing selection of colors for bespoke projects (below) and I would think we’ll find something suitable

 

Picked this one up very cheaply $18 USD.
A "pratina". Apparently a popular German brand of its day.
The clincher was the unusual caseback engraving. Not a presentation watch, since there is no name just "Volksbank Erding" plus two sets of numbers, but marked as if a company issue of some sort to employees. Erding is a town in Barvaria.
Received the watch this afternoon and it works perfectly and is keeping good time.
The odd look to the first A is an umlaut.
Band looks to be period correct pigskin with little evidence it was ever worn on the wrist. Possibly it spent most of its time sitting on a desk, in a drawer or carried in a pocket.
Crystal is very good, the marks in the image were just dirt. Finish of case is very good. No brassing though the poor lighting of the photo gave the wrong first impression.
34mm but looks much larger on the wrist.

 

Saw this on eBay, advertised as working, all stainless steel, 28mm, with an 18mm lug width. Seller's only photo

Put in an offer of $35 that was accepted. Turns out the seller is bad with a ruler and it's 34mm. An hour spent with some Novus later...

 

Very cool.... one hour to polish the crystal? Is Novus the same product as Polywatch? Am trying to remove very superficial scratches from a crystal - but after 5 minutes some were still left. Any advice on how best to proceed?

 

Novus is a 3 step system that's a bit stronger than Polywatch. https://www.novuspolish.com/

I think it was originally meant for car headlights, but works on pretty much any plastic. The fine scratch remover (Novus 2) seems slightly coarser than Polywatch and Novus 3 seems to work great on deeper scratches (the kind you can feel with a fingernail) without dulling the crystal. Novus 1 is basically a cleaner and final polish (much weaker than Polywatch).

I had tried Polywatch initially, but I wasn't making much progress with anything but the finest scratches. So I went looking for something stronger. I started with Novus 2 and that definitely helped, but wasn't working fast enough for me. So I went to Novus 3 and after about 15 minutes I couldn't feel any scratches anymore on the crystal. So I did one last rub with Novus 2 (possibly unnecessary) and a final finish with Novus 1. If I had to go back and do it again, I'd take the strap off first.

 

Thank you, maybe I can find stuff like that in a hardware store here then...

 

I've found that Mother's Mag Polish can be a beneficial pre-Polywatch step in crystal polishing. Just slightly coarser, it doesn't score crystals and preps them for Polywatch. Very mild on crystals.


I've looked at a can of this sitting on my work bench, but never felt like sacrificing even a bad crystal to try it. For the stout of heart, a duplex can of Clover valve grinding compound (120/280 grit) would either remove deep scratches or else grind a hole through the crystal while attempting it, but sure would require a bunch of finish polishing. Just sayin'.

 

this project is now complete, with the cost of the strap now squarely propelling the watch budget outside of the stated topic of the thread but hey, I think it deserves it and I’m a certified strap fan anyhow. Thanks again dear @Lucasssssss for this lovely watch.

 

Wow, that really pops! Very nice, great choice of strap