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I am becoming a pocket watch guy!  Rate Topic 
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 Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2007 01:11 pm
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Foster
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I'm turning into a pocket watch guy....specifically, a railroad grade pocket watch guy.

I have resisted them for years, thinking they were inconvenient to use, too old and fragile to handle, and too damn expensive.

I have since changed my mind and I'll give you 5 reasons why.

1. New wristwatch prices are skyrocketing and they are bringing the vintage market along with them. The pocket watch market has remained a bit more sane and stable, and great watches under $500 are all over the place.

2. They are examples of an American made product that was truly the finest of its kind (USA! USA!! USA!!)

3. Most of them are truly vintage watches.....even antiques....and running examples are not hard to find. I find it very cool to own a 100 year old watch that runs more accurately than my new Seikos and hangs right in there with most of my Swiss colleciton.

4. Pocket watch companies kept good records, there were only a few of them and it is easy to date and identify almost any high grade pocket watch.

5. The movements!!!  It's true that railroad watches offer hardly any variation in general design, but the movements are spectacular.  You like decorated movements?
    Good luck finding a modern wristwatch with a decorated movement for under $1000.  In the pocket watch world, the movements are ALL decorated...and most of them very elaborately.
   Truly, pocket watches are best appreciated with the back open or off.  


So far I only own two of them, but I plan on going crazy in the near future.

Anybody else own any?

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 Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2007 01:43 pm
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Upside
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I don't own any yet but I've been thinking about them a whole lot lately

 

(slippery slope darn it!)

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 Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2007 10:01 pm
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zippofan
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A slippery slope indeed...I have been looking at railroad grade pocket watches (Hamilton, Ball, Elgin/BW Raymond) for awhile now and have resisted because there was always another wrist watch that I wanted.

My great grandfather was an engineer on the DL&W RR, though no one in my family knows what happened to his pocket watch darn it.

I have curbed the appetite somewhat by getting a Bulova Accutron Railroad Approved and a Mondaine Swiss RR quartz, but those big beautiful dials and decorated movements call to me all the time.  Probably the main thing that stops me is that I haven't had much luck with vintage watches with the exception of the Bulova, that was completely refurbished when I bought it.

Cheers,
Griff

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 Posted: Wed Sep 19th, 2007 10:04 pm
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KenC
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Foster wrote: I'm turning into a pocket watch guy....specifically, a railroad grade pocket watch guy.

I have resisted them for years, thinking they were inconvenient to use, too old and fragile to handle, and too damn expensive.

I have since changed my mind and I'll give you 5 reasons why.

1. New wristwatch prices are skyrocketing and they are bringing the vintage market along with them. The pocket watch market has remained a bit more sane and stable, and great watches under $500 are all over the place.

2. They are examples of an American made product that was truly the finest of its kind (USA! USA!! USA!!)

3. Most of them are truly vintage watches.....even antiques....and running examples are not hard to find. I find it very cool to own a 100 year old watch that runs more accurately than my new Seikos and hangs right in there with most of my Swiss colleciton.

4. Pocket watch companies kept good records, there were only a few of them and it is easy to date and identify almost any high grade pocket watch.

5. The movements!!!  It's true that railroad watches offer hardly any variation in general design, but the movements are spectacular.  You like decorated movements?
    Good luck finding a modern wristwatch with a decorated movement for under $1000.  In the pocket watch world, the movements are ALL decorated...and most of them very elaborately.
   Truly, pocket watches are best appreciated with the back open or off.  


So far I only own two of them, but I plan on going crazy in the near future.

Anybody else own any?

Personally, I think it's great...but our strap vendors are miffed!goofy

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 Posted: Mon Sep 24th, 2007 01:25 pm
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Nabco
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Foster wrote: I'm turning into a pocket watch guy....specifically, a railroad grade pocket watch guy.

I have resisted them for years, thinking they were inconvenient to use, too old and fragile to handle, and too damn expensive.

I have since changed my mind and I'll give you 5 reasons why.

1. New wristwatch prices are skyrocketing and they are bringing the vintage market along with them. The pocket watch market has remained a bit more sane and stable, and great watches under $500 are all over the place.

2. They are examples of an American made product that was truly the finest of its kind (USA! USA!! USA!!)

3. Most of them are truly vintage watches.....even antiques....and running examples are not hard to find. I find it very cool to own a 100 year old watch that runs more accurately than my new Seikos and hangs right in there with most of my Swiss colleciton.

4. Pocket watch companies kept good records, there were only a few of them and it is easy to date and identify almost any high grade pocket watch.

5. The movements!!!  It's true that railroad watches offer hardly any variation in general design, but the movements are spectacular.  You like decorated movements?
    Good luck finding a modern wristwatch with a decorated movement for under $1000.  In the pocket watch world, the movements are ALL decorated...and most of them very elaborately.
   Truly, pocket watches are best appreciated with the back open or off.  


So far I only own two of them, but I plan on going crazy in the near future.

Anybody else own any?
Actaully I've owned several, started selling them off about 6 months ago, hard to where them on your wrist!!! and they had gone way up in value.  Sold off the real high end stuff already, a couple Hami 950's and a mint Ball 60 Hr in a 173 case that sold for SICK money on ebay, I guess everyone really knew how rare the case was.

I do still have some Hami 992B's and a couple BWR's and maybe a few others, I was actually going to start posting them on ebay this week, if you have any interest let me know.

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 Posted: Mon Sep 24th, 2007 03:10 pm
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Skipdawg
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I have owned a few quartz and one manual wind. The hand cranker went missing after my last move and the others are sitting in a drawer. :D

But I look at them all the time and think of grabbing a good one. My grandfather on moms side of the family had a real nice one that was his dads I was fascinated with as a child. Don't know which of my uncles lucked up and got it though. :cool:

Unless Granny still has it. Still alive. At the ripe young age of 90. :) ;)

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