Thinning out the collection

I retired two-and-a-half years ago and since then have discovered new interests and time-consuming activities.
Therefore I have decided to thin out my assortment of collectibles, including my watch collection.
They will be offered on eBay or, if you are interested in anything, you can contact me directly.
My email address is bhk AT outlook DOT com DOT au.
Just replace the capitalised words with the appropriate symbols. :)

So much for New Year's resolutions!!

Not that I'd made any, but if I had, it would have been to not buy any more watches!

But I couldn't resist two very nice, vintage, Orient time-pieces that popped up on the old eBay recently.

SOLD MARCH 2015
The "Multi-Year Calendar" (scroll down) is still available.
The first one to catch my eye was this beautiful gold-plated charmer from the early 1960s.

 Don't you just love the name?!

"Olympic Orient Weekly Swimmer". Delightful!

That dial is in excellent condition, as are the gold hands and indices.

This is a day/date complication, with the day being displayed in Kanji only - no English characters.

The watch was a Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) model only.

The wording on the case-back is just as charming as on the dial...............

Note that it is "Perfect Water Proof"!

Well, I'm not tempted to try and prove it - certainly not after 50+ years. I'll take their word for it.

Now, you'd probably think that this watch would be an automatic.

Uh-uh. It's a manual wind..............

Just look at that mechanism.........not a blemish on it.

This model is featured in a Japanese-language catalogue and was actually made in 1963.

Just a lovely piece.

I removed the (non-original) expanding bracelet - with the intention of cleaning it - but when doing so I discovered that there was hardly any stretch left. When attempting to remove some links several of the little connecting wires snapped, most likely due to age.

So the bracelet has been replaced with a very nice genuine alligator-skin, tan, leather item with gold clasp which suits the watch perfectly.

You know what?

I've been wearing this watch since I received it - that's nearly a week ago.

I give it a 30-click wind each morning, it keeps time perfectly and is so comfortable to wear.

UPDATE:
This Orient has an incredible power reserve.
On Friday morning (14th.) at 6:30 AM I gave it a normal winding and deliberately let it run until it stopped, which I expected to be around 30 hours later, based on my other manual-wind watches.

No - the Orient ran past not only the 30-hour mark but breezed past 36-hours, past 40 hours and finally called it a day at 5:27 this morning - Sunday 16th..

That's nearly 47 hours!

Amazing.

UPDATE to the UPDATE - 25th. January:

This watch has become a permanent fixture on my wrist - other than when showering and doing grubby work in the yard.
I would not have believed that I would have chosen to have this 50+ year-old timepiece as my daily watch!

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Okay, I mentioned at the start that there were TWO Orients.

Here's the second one, which I bought two days ago and hope to receive in the next week or so.

This is a 1959-vintage Orient "Multi-year Calendar" 17 jewel, manual-wind watch.

It has been stripped, restored where necessary (all gold items replated with 20 microns of 14-carat gold) and fitted with a new crocodile watchband.

I can't wait to see this in the metal - it looks superb.

One thing about the perpetual calendar - 2011 is exactly the same as 1966, so I can pretend that I'm back being 19 again!

More on this Orient after I take delivery of it.

UPDATE - Feb 3rd. 2011

I've had this watch now for over a week and am delighted with its condition. The Orient is exactly as the vendor described it - nothing was exaggerated, nothing was overlooked - the watch is really beautiful.
The package in which it arrived provided the best protection for any watch that I have bought online - it could have protected an egg. Not only that, the watch was encased in its own display box.

Oh.....and it also runs perfectly . :)

A lovely old Orient - circa early 1960's

This charming period-piece hails from the 1960's but I cannot determine the exact year of manufacture as the watch is bare of any such information. The case-back simply displays "ORIENT" and the serial number; and Orient serial numbers have no connections (apparently) to year or month, as do Seiko watches.
The dial says "ORIENT" and then the name of the model, being "Fineness", under which is "17 Jewels".

Dial is unmarked, being finished in what appears to be a very fine creamy-gold textile pattern when viewed under magnification and when matched to the slim gold hour indices and slim black hour and minute hands, it presents a beautiful face, very delicate and extremely stylish.

Like most watches of the 1960's this old girl is small by comparison with the humongous devices marketed today and the dial is a mere 31.0 mm across, with the slim gold rim adding only 3.0 mm to the width. The projecting crown is 1.5 mm in section.
Thickness of the watch, from top of crystal to back of case, is a thin 7.5 mm.

When I received the Fineness (early May this year) I gave it 25 winds and it ran for 40 hours, keeping perfect time for that duration, the ticking of the movement clearly audible when held to the ear, unlike many automatic watches made today.
The movement is in beautiful condition, with no signs of corrosion or other deterioration and it beats away at about 180 bpm, perfectly happy with its lot in life.


The case is gold-filled, with a stainless-steel snap-on back and it sports a slim, supple black leather watch-band with gold buckle, matching the style and period just nicely.

A really lovely watch which gets its share of wear on those occasions when a coat and tie is called for.

Orient - Not widely known.

This is a brand-name that you will not find in many (if any) "watch shops" in Australia.
In amongst the vast numbers of Seiko, Citizen and Casio watches from Japan you will be hard-pressed to detect an Orient.
Yet the brand is as old as (if not older than) Seiko and although Seiko now own Orient the watches continue to be produced independently, with Orient making their own movements - and they have a high reputation for the excellence of their automatic mechanisms.

My father owned an Orient back in the late 1950's - I can still see the distinctive logo, with the two lions holding the shield with the 'O' in the centre - to my eyes a very "British" logo and not at all oriental.

It was only recently, and quite by chance, that I discovered that these watches still existed and after spending some time deliberating I finally decided on the model shown here - a satin-black (ion plated, or "IP") stainless-steel Orient Star with the distinctive power-meter on the dial at one o'clock and the display of the date at nine o'clock. The crown is at four o'clock.



This is an impressive piece of time-keeping equipment; whilst not as large as the current crop of "diver" models out there (the diameter of the crystal is approx. 33mm) it is a solid and "chunky" unit and, with the black finish, looks bigger than it really is. It is also reasonably heavy, as the stainless-steel bracelet is comprised of solid links.



I'm in two minds about the usefulness of power meters on automatic watches, seeing no real advantage in having any indication of the time remaining before the watch needs to be shaken again.
After all, those who wear one watch - and that would be the vast majority - only take it off at night and as a modern automatic movement can run for more than 30 hours before needing another shake, the owner isn't likely to need an indication of what power remains.
Even 1950's-vintage manual-wound watches are capable of running for 30 hours between wind-ups, so what's the point?
On this style of watch-face the power indication doesn't clutter the dial but on a chronograph with multiple complications, the dial can look a bit overcrowded.

I like this watch and I particularly like the black IP finish. It has a definite presence but in an understated, almost stealthy, manner. Certainly the opposite to Seiko's Advans, Vanacs and their cousins from the 1970's!