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Bleurk
·Hello everyone ,
A google search about a specific stopwatch I recently found in my grandfathers toolbox led me here. I have scoured what I could of the internet and I cannot find an image of a watch identical to this one, although there are many of similar ones. The Nero Lemania split seconds stopwatch for example is very similar in design but the main dial goes to 60 seconds and not 100. This is my first time posting and I know very little, if anything, about vintage stopwatches. I'm excited to learn a bit more!
My grandpa passed away nearly two years ago and when helping my father emptying his home, I acquired his toolbox. Recently when digging through it I came upon this Lemania stopwatch, with three dials. A 100 second main dial, a 60 second dial below and a what I believe to be a lap-counter above. I would really like to find out more about this.
Here is what I gathered:
1. It wasn't moving when found, but after clicking on both buttons a few times to see if it still worked, it started moving again. I don't know what I did to spring it back into action. The main dial has two needles the black one works seconds and the second red one can be ''sent'' to where the black on is to set a lap I think. When the black needle does a full circle and crosses the red needle it clicks the top lap-counter dial up by one if that makes any sense. The lower dial has also just started running and is just counting seconds up to a full minute. I can't seem to stop it from spinning.
2. The back is very very very hard to open and it is impossible to do so by hand. I might have committed sacrilege by prying it open with a thin screwdriver. I managed to do it without damaging the chassis to take some pictures and closed it immediately. It is now closed, and I don't want to force it open anymore just in case I break it.
3. There are two layers of chassis covering the internals. Both were impossible to open by hand. The first layer has a large sticker with the numbers 249. They don't represent anything specific about my grandfather but am I right in assuming this is not from the manufacturer? In the internals there is a small engraving of the numbers 386033 almost like a serial number.
4. It seems to be in working order. The internals are very nice, I have never seen this type of thing up-close and its absolutely fascinating. The small lip you are supposed to use to open the back is already a little dented from someone who tried to pry it open before me but it isn't in terrible shape. The plastic (I don't think it is glass but it could be) of the stopwatch is a little blurry above the center. This is the part of the plastic that sticks out the most and has probably dragged on many surfaces with time.
Here is what I would like to know:
1. A general idea about its make, year, use case. Was it used for sports, horse-races who knows. And how do I operate it? Is is normal that the bottom dial just keeps going?
3. If I'm standing over an uncommon and coveted piece I might try to sell it, I don't think it had any sentimental value to my grandfather since it was left in a toolbox, and I think it might better serve in a collectors stash who could appreciate it far more. Ballpark what do you think the value is? Is it worth it to get it serviced and cleaned up pre-sale?
4. If it's not worth that much, I might just get it serviced, cleaned up and easy to open if its not too expensive to do so that I have a nice memento to give my father. It seems like its working fine. If anyone has some recommendations, I live in Montréal QC, Canada.
Thank you!
A google search about a specific stopwatch I recently found in my grandfathers toolbox led me here. I have scoured what I could of the internet and I cannot find an image of a watch identical to this one, although there are many of similar ones. The Nero Lemania split seconds stopwatch for example is very similar in design but the main dial goes to 60 seconds and not 100. This is my first time posting and I know very little, if anything, about vintage stopwatches. I'm excited to learn a bit more!
My grandpa passed away nearly two years ago and when helping my father emptying his home, I acquired his toolbox. Recently when digging through it I came upon this Lemania stopwatch, with three dials. A 100 second main dial, a 60 second dial below and a what I believe to be a lap-counter above. I would really like to find out more about this.
Here is what I gathered:
1. It wasn't moving when found, but after clicking on both buttons a few times to see if it still worked, it started moving again. I don't know what I did to spring it back into action. The main dial has two needles the black one works seconds and the second red one can be ''sent'' to where the black on is to set a lap I think. When the black needle does a full circle and crosses the red needle it clicks the top lap-counter dial up by one if that makes any sense. The lower dial has also just started running and is just counting seconds up to a full minute. I can't seem to stop it from spinning.
2. The back is very very very hard to open and it is impossible to do so by hand. I might have committed sacrilege by prying it open with a thin screwdriver. I managed to do it without damaging the chassis to take some pictures and closed it immediately. It is now closed, and I don't want to force it open anymore just in case I break it.
3. There are two layers of chassis covering the internals. Both were impossible to open by hand. The first layer has a large sticker with the numbers 249. They don't represent anything specific about my grandfather but am I right in assuming this is not from the manufacturer? In the internals there is a small engraving of the numbers 386033 almost like a serial number.
4. It seems to be in working order. The internals are very nice, I have never seen this type of thing up-close and its absolutely fascinating. The small lip you are supposed to use to open the back is already a little dented from someone who tried to pry it open before me but it isn't in terrible shape. The plastic (I don't think it is glass but it could be) of the stopwatch is a little blurry above the center. This is the part of the plastic that sticks out the most and has probably dragged on many surfaces with time.
Here is what I would like to know:
1. A general idea about its make, year, use case. Was it used for sports, horse-races who knows. And how do I operate it? Is is normal that the bottom dial just keeps going?
3. If I'm standing over an uncommon and coveted piece I might try to sell it, I don't think it had any sentimental value to my grandfather since it was left in a toolbox, and I think it might better serve in a collectors stash who could appreciate it far more. Ballpark what do you think the value is? Is it worth it to get it serviced and cleaned up pre-sale?
4. If it's not worth that much, I might just get it serviced, cleaned up and easy to open if its not too expensive to do so that I have a nice memento to give my father. It seems like its working fine. If anyone has some recommendations, I live in Montréal QC, Canada.
Thank you!
