So... I've been lurking long enough that it is now time to register and introduce myself.

Hi!

My name is Thomas, and I'm from Germany, having lived close to the Rhine all my life. I'm still a fairly recent convert to the glory (and pitfalls...) of watch collecting, which I started in 2019. At first, I fell in love with American-made watches of the 1930s to 1950s, first and foremost Hamilton, but also some (Lord) Elgin and Gruen.

Of course, I have made my fair share of beginner's mistakes, like buying a few too many cheap watches, buying watches thinking "oh, I don't mind that the dial looks like this", and later going on the hunt for a replacement dial ... I was lucky to find a good watchmaker, though, so a lot of the initial "mess" is sorted, but some of the early trophies are still being pushed aside because shiny new things keep showing up.

At first, I had mostly been haunting eBay, but later I started having an interest in Seiko watches... So again, I was focusing on a rather narrow time span - the time between 1970 and 1980, exclusively on dress watches, a few mechanicals but also some of the higher-end quartz ones from that time (King Quartz and Grand Quartz). That led to camping Japanese auction sites, which, oddly enough, finally led to an interest in Swiss watches (Longines, Universal Geneve, Zenith, and finally Omega).

So that's when I found this forum - and wow, it has been helpful. Researching watches is half the fun in collecting for me, and I did find a lot of really good information here. It also helps that the atmosphere here is very civil, and that people share knowledge freely and extensively - one could believe that this isn't the internet, after all.

Of course, no thread is good without pictures - so here is a selection of some watches that are not currently in the "watchmaker spa" and that I loved adding to my collection:

Hamilton "Brockton". This is the one I replaced the dial on - a 1967 presentation watch with the 770 movement:


This is the one I'm wearing right now, a Hamilton Thin-o-matic T-451 from 1960 with the Hamilton 663 micro-rotor movement (= Buren 1000A):


A fairly recent arrival, my 1975 Longines ref. 7823-15 from 1974, with the 847.3 manual wind movement:


And, finally, my UG White Shadow from the late 1970s (still hoping to find out a more precise production date) with the ultra-thin 2-66 movement:


Right, that should do it with the photo-bombing
I'm looking forward to hanging out on these boards, and getting to know you guys & gals better!

Always have a great time!
Thomas

 

Welcome to the Forum, Thomas! It's clear that you'll fit right in here. The examples shown from your collection are beautiful.

I thought you'd find this watch interesting, my only Elgin, from the late 1940s or early 1950s. The dial is in poor condition and the watch was not running when I first found it. I spent more than the watch is worth to get it running again and now wear it proudly because it belonged to my Grandfather.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! Having such a watch as a heirloom is really great, it very much helps with the whole "time travelling aspect" of a vintage watch, I think

I consider Elgin - and especially the Lord Elgin ones - to be a bit of an "insider tip" if you like the old American style watches. Certainly, their styling was right up there with the Hamiltons and Wittnauers of their time, and a fair amount of models kept using enamel accents - which I like - right into the 1950s and '60s.

 

Welcome on board !
And thanks for this nice introduction : lovely watches you have here.

 

Welcome from Los Angeles.

One of the best things about this forum is the variety you'll find here.