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cristos71
·I seem to have reached a point with my collecting whereby it has become an interesting exercise to take on the odd challenging restoration project that in my earlier collecting days I would have deemed too daunting.
About 20 months ago in Feb 2023 a Spanish watch collecting connection of mine sent me an interesting photo of some dials that he had just acquired as part of a lot, amongst them was a dial that I was pretty certain to be from a 1940’s 33.3 chronograph.
A few more photos followed to be sure, the condition pretty good, not perfect by any means, but the kind of character and vintage charm that I like. We did a deal and I purchased it.
And so I started my hunt for a suitable and affordable subject to place it in....not so easy actually as I was quite limited in both the references that this dial was correct for ( 2393 and 2404 ) but also to complicate matters somewhat the dial is signed “Swiss” which my research told me would only be correct for a 1940's watch with a movement serial number of 10 million or later.
So the search started for a steel 33.3 with the characteristics I mention and also one with a knackered dial, or of course a redial.....also it had to be ‘cheap’, otherwise what's the point, I may as well just stump up for a correct and decent watch in the first place. The problem there in is that no matter the condition sellers of 33.3's invariably think they are sitting on top of a gold mine
So after over 12 months or so of searching in March 2024 low and behold this one popped up locally to me on a watch forum....exactly what I needed- correct reference, correct serial range and a total loss water damaged dial- quite amazing really! Owners photos:
The owner came to a forum and was originally considering restoring it himself but quickly realised that was going to be too much for him in time, money and hassle as he wasn’t a collector, but had inherited it. A deal was done and a fair price was paid....now what exactly had a bought....
Well non-running, clearly missing a chrono pusher, with a broken chrono seconds hand and also with missing parts, amongst which were some of the important chronograph parts. Potentially missing parts to facilitate the missing pusher too. OK...I’m happy with the price I paid as the 2393 case is in excellent shape, with sharp lug edges which are for me the selling point of this reference. The other hands are good and apart from the missing parts the movement looks in good shape.
Now with the watch in hand the hunt for parts can begin in earnest...Trying to find the 3 chrono parts I needed was turning into a time consuming and expensive headache, these hammer springs seemed to me to be the most common bits to fail in these 80 year old movements, virtually impossible to locate nor cheap if found.
So when @Aludic kindly pointed me in the direction of this one in the hands of a friendly gold buyer I jumped...my easy thinking was buy the complete watch- scrap the 18kt South American case, salvage the parts I need from the movement, sell the rest of the movement/dial/hands- recoup more than my outlay with parts in hand....
Hmmm...sometimes things don’t quite go to plan in this hobby....
After doing a quick deal over Whatsapp and having collected the non-running watch I was happy...until a week or two later when I finally got around to closely inspecting the movement and I discovered that of the three parts needed there was here only one of them, with one being broken and the other missing completely.. Doh!
So stupid...but at least I got one of the three needed...
Ok, scrapped the case for some serious cash to plough back into the last missing parts needed and sourced a NOS olive chrono pusher from the US.
Then this Lemania 15TL chronograph pocket watch popped up on Ebay.....hit BIN...really as a back up plan knowing that there is some interchangability in parts which could potentially come in handy down the line depending on what my watchmaker uncovers....
Sourced what I hoped to be the last missing chrono parts from Argentina and off to my Watchmaker we went with this pile of stuff
After a suitable watchmaker’s wait of many months I was very happy to hear from him that he had everything required to do the job and would be starting soon.... a few weeks later at the end of September it was complete and I rushed over there in full anticipation....I was not disappointed and hope you'll agree it has turned into a great looking watch...
About 20 months ago in Feb 2023 a Spanish watch collecting connection of mine sent me an interesting photo of some dials that he had just acquired as part of a lot, amongst them was a dial that I was pretty certain to be from a 1940’s 33.3 chronograph.
A few more photos followed to be sure, the condition pretty good, not perfect by any means, but the kind of character and vintage charm that I like. We did a deal and I purchased it.
And so I started my hunt for a suitable and affordable subject to place it in....not so easy actually as I was quite limited in both the references that this dial was correct for ( 2393 and 2404 ) but also to complicate matters somewhat the dial is signed “Swiss” which my research told me would only be correct for a 1940's watch with a movement serial number of 10 million or later.
So the search started for a steel 33.3 with the characteristics I mention and also one with a knackered dial, or of course a redial.....also it had to be ‘cheap’, otherwise what's the point, I may as well just stump up for a correct and decent watch in the first place. The problem there in is that no matter the condition sellers of 33.3's invariably think they are sitting on top of a gold mine
So after over 12 months or so of searching in March 2024 low and behold this one popped up locally to me on a watch forum....exactly what I needed- correct reference, correct serial range and a total loss water damaged dial- quite amazing really! Owners photos:
The owner came to a forum and was originally considering restoring it himself but quickly realised that was going to be too much for him in time, money and hassle as he wasn’t a collector, but had inherited it. A deal was done and a fair price was paid....now what exactly had a bought....
Well non-running, clearly missing a chrono pusher, with a broken chrono seconds hand and also with missing parts, amongst which were some of the important chronograph parts. Potentially missing parts to facilitate the missing pusher too. OK...I’m happy with the price I paid as the 2393 case is in excellent shape, with sharp lug edges which are for me the selling point of this reference. The other hands are good and apart from the missing parts the movement looks in good shape.
Now with the watch in hand the hunt for parts can begin in earnest...Trying to find the 3 chrono parts I needed was turning into a time consuming and expensive headache, these hammer springs seemed to me to be the most common bits to fail in these 80 year old movements, virtually impossible to locate nor cheap if found.
So when @Aludic kindly pointed me in the direction of this one in the hands of a friendly gold buyer I jumped...my easy thinking was buy the complete watch- scrap the 18kt South American case, salvage the parts I need from the movement, sell the rest of the movement/dial/hands- recoup more than my outlay with parts in hand....
Hmmm...sometimes things don’t quite go to plan in this hobby....
After doing a quick deal over Whatsapp and having collected the non-running watch I was happy...until a week or two later when I finally got around to closely inspecting the movement and I discovered that of the three parts needed there was here only one of them, with one being broken and the other missing completely.. Doh!
So stupid...but at least I got one of the three needed...
Ok, scrapped the case for some serious cash to plough back into the last missing parts needed and sourced a NOS olive chrono pusher from the US.
Then this Lemania 15TL chronograph pocket watch popped up on Ebay.....hit BIN...really as a back up plan knowing that there is some interchangability in parts which could potentially come in handy down the line depending on what my watchmaker uncovers....
Sourced what I hoped to be the last missing chrono parts from Argentina and off to my Watchmaker we went with this pile of stuff
After a suitable watchmaker’s wait of many months I was very happy to hear from him that he had everything required to do the job and would be starting soon.... a few weeks later at the end of September it was complete and I rushed over there in full anticipation....I was not disappointed and hope you'll agree it has turned into a great looking watch...
Edited:
