Now that is a classic! The accutron "214" was made between 1961-1977 and was the first wrist watch authorized for use on the railroad in 1962. Due to it's extraordinary tuning fork technology and subsequent accuracy, it was the watch of choice for lunar astronauts and their timing instruments. In fact, an Accutron was left at the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon after Apollo 11 returned to Earth. A horological icon for sure.
Posts: 495 | Location: Kailua, Hawaii in the USA | Registered: March 14, 2005
i just had to jump in. my daily ww is a wire lug nickel silver case. it houses a grade 205 19j 0s elgin. im a big fan of elgins. they are the chevrolet of watches. they are fairly inexpensive. they are fairly easy to fix. they made a bunch of them. and their parts are "easier" to find. oh by the way the leather watch band came from a Fossil store ($12).
Posts: 112 | Location: Missouri in the USA | Registered: May 16, 2008
Unfortunatly the watch doesn't run, but I was seeing if wearing it for a while would get it moving again, which it did, for 4 minutes worth... Oh well. Nice though?
Posts: 106 | Location: Widnes, United Kingdom | Registered: April 02, 2008
Looks great! Is it a 0s. I particularly like that size not to small not to big. I thought that i was the only one that would try wearing the watch to get it running. It started when i got a watch from an ebayer. it didnt run. I was in the car when i open the box so i put the watch in my pocket. later during my "adventures in grocery fetching" i took the watch out and it was running. My body heat "thinned" the old oil. the drawback is that when the watch got a little cold it stopped.
Posts: 112 | Location: Missouri in the USA | Registered: May 16, 2008
That's a turn up for the books, a Rolex I actually like the look of!
Not sure that's ever happened before!
Actually that's not fair, you do see a number of early Rolexes that are at least as good as Elgin/Waltham etc, but because they have the word 'Rolex' they cost 3 times as much, which is a shame in a way.
Posts: 106 | Location: Widnes, United Kingdom | Registered: April 02, 2008
Here's what I wore err.. on Friday, bit of the norm for me, it's a modern, chinese made, jump hour watch,
Sorta retro, but modern (too, for my girly wrists) chunky size. Strap is a replacement, but rather matches the industrial look. It's slightly easier to tell the time in real life than it looks from the photo.
Posts: 106 | Location: Widnes, United Kingdom | Registered: April 02, 2008
great looking watch. is it a quarts or mechanical? I ve always loved jump hours, but often they are a little pricey. i really like the jump sec. pocket watches. The use of dials instead of hands is a part from the norm and gives me ideas for making a date/calendar watch from an early elgin.
Posts: 112 | Location: Missouri in the USA | Registered: May 16, 2008
Actually (lately) I have 2 watches (both 27J for entirely different reasons) that I prefer to wear every day. They are an Elgin 760, and a Seiko Bellmatis. The elgin picture is cropped to look the same size as the Seiko, but it is about 20% smller. I go back and forth between wearing these two. The Seiko "Bell-Matic" has the obvious advantage of being an automatic alarm day-date watch, OK accurate (loses exactly 30 sec per day) while the Elgin 760 (I am very proud to own and wear) with about 1/2 the "bulk" runs with RR accuracy, and is the ONLY US production mechanical self-winding AND ALSO "Free Sprung" movement. Elgin designed the unique free sprung "Durabalance" movement which also became the LAST US-RR rated grade watch of mechanical means. I especially like the use of "micro-sprague" clutching in the Elgin automatic winding mechanism, as this predates our "nano machinery" by about 60 years. Elgin accomplished all this in a package that is thin, light, and absolutely astounding for accuracy!
Posts: 6492 | Location: Southern California in the USA | Registered: July 19, 2007
