Community Stories

Isolation Challenge - Buy a watch for £50 Max

Deafboy
Posts
2,398
Likes
6,933
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:
 
JwRosenthal
Posts
16,307
Likes
44,977
Deafboy Deafboy
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 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
Lovely! How would one treat a dial like that? I assume any immersion would remove the paint
 
Deafboy
Posts
2,398
Likes
6,933
JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
Lovely! How would one treat a dial like that? I assume any immersion would remove the paint
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.
 
JwRosenthal
Posts
16,307
Likes
44,977
Deafboy Deafboy
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.
Paging @Canuck - have you had experience cleaning up a silver Dial like this?
 
Archer
Posts
29,075
Likes
75,137
JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
Lovely! How would one treat a dial like that? I assume any immersion would remove the paint

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



And after:



Tool of choice was this:

staedtler-mars-plastic-eraser.jpg


Cheers, Al
 
staedtler-mars-plastic-eraser.jpg
JwRosenthal
Posts
16,307
Likes
44,977
Archer Archer
These ladies watches often used printing methods that were very resilient. Here's one example before:



And after:



Tool of choice was this:

staedtler-mars-plastic-eraser.jpg


Cheers, Al
If only they were all that easy😬
 
Archer
Posts
29,075
Likes
75,137
JwRosenthal JwRosenthal
If only they were all that easy😬

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.
 
MedicMike
Posts
42
Likes
375
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
 
Just Livin
Posts
1,364
Likes
6,251
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
 
studeb
Posts
365
Likes
454
Just Livin Just Livin
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
That’s a smokin timer! Nice score!
 
kip595
Posts
870
Likes
1,573
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! 🍿

Timex Indiglo.jpeg
 
TimeODanaos
Posts
1,795
Likes
3,652
TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
I thought I'd enjoy it just as much if I decided to play virtually (having already blown all my real money on groceries and handwipes).
Rodania Annotation 2020-04-25 185503.jpg
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... 😎
 
Just Livin
Posts
1,364
Likes
6,251
TimeODanaos TimeODanaos
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... 😎
Good luck! 👍
 
TimeODanaos
Posts
1,795
Likes
3,652
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! 😁
s-l1600.jpg
 
larryganz
Posts
2,808
Likes
8,339
UPDATE - my wish.com refund came through the other day, and I did not have to send the fake Seiko PADI back to China.
 
Tet
Posts
1,689
Likes
5,125
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:
 
Tet
Posts
1,689
Likes
5,125
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.



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

Edited:
 
MtV
Posts
3,308
Likes
12,915
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
 
Just Livin
Posts
1,364
Likes
6,251
Somewhat of a fail at £52.
But combined my love of Yachting and wanted a Digital. It was close enough 😗
1989 Japan TRW-30
s-l1600.jpg
 
129 More Posts...
Sign up or log in to reply...

Similar threads

MtV

Anker-Watch - 70s Weirdness (£50 max Isolation Challenge)

MtV Private Watch Sales
JwRosenthal
JwRosenthal
Posts
1
Views
2K
MtV

1980s Raketa 24h-watch (50£-max Isolation Challenge)

MtV Private Watch Sales
MtV
MtV
Posts
0
Views
1K