What was your School watch?

Evitzee · May 21, 2021

My grandmother walked me down to a small Wisconsin jewelry store in 1958 to buy me my first watch as I was seven years old and it was time for me to get a watch, so said my dad and grandmother. We walked back home and my dad asked to see my new watch. "This watch won't do, it's made in France, it has to be a Swiss Made watch", he said. We didn't know any better, so we walked back downtown and exchanged it for a 'proper' watch. It was $3 more than the first watch, for a total of $17. But I was the proud owner of a 17 jewel 'Cadillac' watch with modern, for the 50's, styling. Stainless steel case, screw back, it was a nice watch. Wore that watch until about 1972. During countless moves, foreign and domestic, I never lost track of the watch. I last had it cleaned in about 1983, but it still runs fine when I wind it up every few months. It still has the original crystal which I took some Polywatch to a couple of months ago, untouched dial, original hands and crown. Otherwise it sits in my display cabinet in my home office.

jimmyjay · May 21, 2021

Something about like this:

Spruce · May 21, 2021

Evitzee
My grandmother walked me down to a small Wisconsin jewelry store in 1958 to buy me my first watch as I was seven years old and it was time for me to get a watch, so said my dad and grandmother. We walked back home and my dad asked to see my new watch. "This watch won't do, it's made in France, it has to be a Swiss Made watch", he said. We didn't know any better, so we walked back downtown and exchanged it for a 'proper' watch. It was $3 more than the first watch, for a total of $17. But I was the proud owner of a 17 jewel 'Cadillac' watch with modern, for the 50's, styling. Stainless steel case, screw back, it was a nice watch. Wore that watch until about 1972. During countless moves, foreign and domestic, I never lost track of the watch. I last had it cleaned in about 1983, but it still runs fine when I wind it up every few months. It still has the original crystal which I took some Polywatch to a couple of months ago, untouched dial, original hands and crown. Otherwise it sits in my display cabinet in my home office.

Nice story - and a great looking watch 😀

Flatfoot · May 21, 2021

I received this JLC from my dad after he upgraded to a 145.022-69 in late 1969. He bought the JLC while on leave in Switzerland in 1945. I wore the hell out of this JLC pretty much continuously through high school and college. I had it serviced numerous times during that time. It shows up on my wrist in many family pictures of that time.

Upon college graduation I received a quartz Bulova, which ultimately had a corrosive battery “melt down” which effectively destroyed that watch.

Funny to think that the old mechanical movement watches have survived, while the quartz watch went to scrap.

The well-travelled JLC:

And the also well-travelled 145.022-69:

Andrew C · May 21, 2021

ikanbilisclub
One day, I was ruminating and realised the watch I wore during my University days was stashed somewhere at home.

It was a CASIO CMD-40 TV Remote Watch and it was the coolest thing I remember seeing on a family friend in primary school. Fast forward to when I left for university, my parents managed to pick up one of these for around SGD$90 in one of those neighbourhood pop and mop watch shops. I wore this quite proudly during my earlier part of university only to switch it out to a G-shock Mudman/Luminox Sentry 0200 later on.

After some rummaging I found it in my missus drawer. Watch head only but with springbars in-situ, crystal had a big gash down the middle and evidently battery was dead.

A quick trip to the shops brought back a CR2032 battery and after some googling how to access the battery compartment I managed to get the new battery in. Finally an AC reset brought it back to life! I actually feared it would've been all but dead.

Managed to score a NOS CASIO strap for this watch on the Bay and after a couple of nights with polywatch it looked good to go! I daresay the lumed numbers even look slightly patina-ed.

So what was your School-going watch? (doesn't matter if you don't have it in your possession!)

This is so weird - but this exact same watch. I used to love changing the TV channel during class just to be an ass...

Jones in LA · May 21, 2021

I went through a lot of Timex “Ironman”s [Ironmen??], none seem to have made it to the present day. Fun fact: most spray-on insect repellents available in the 1980s to 1990s would completely dissolve the lettering and any other markings on the case of a plastic wristwatch.

ghce · May 21, 2021

Here is my first school watch, still ticking and keeping time 49 years later.

Caliber561 · May 21, 2021

Can't help but feel like we need more young people here...

YY77 · May 22, 2021

Caliber561
Can't help but feel like we need more young people here...

How did you obtain this document, was it included with a service?

ikanbilisclub · May 22, 2021

Love how this thread has brought up so many watches of ages past and i'm sure many memories too!

Paedipod · May 22, 2021

Jones in LA
I went through a lot of Timex “Ironman”s [Ironmen??], none seem to have made it to the present day. Fun fact: most spray-on insect repellents available in the 1980s to 1990s would completely dissolve the lettering and any other markings on the case of a plastic wristwatch.

yup....dissolved away my first Swatch on a bug-infested weekend golf trip in late '80s, strap was "crispier" afterwards and broke before the end of the first day....left a stain on my arm for about a week.

Caliber561 · May 22, 2021

YY77
How did you obtain this document, was it included with a service?

If you contact Omega customer service, they can help you order the COSC certificate for your watch, provided it's not too old. If I remember correctly, you can also send vintage pieces to be serviced and recertified as chronometers too, if you're interested in that.

What was your School watch?

Evitzee

jimmyjay

Spruce

Flatfoot

Andrew C

Jones in LA

ghce

Caliber561

YY77

ikanbilisclub

Paedipod

Caliber561

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