# 'Some' Timex content here :0)



## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Well I've had some interest for a few years now with electric/electronic watches, having had a couple of Citizen Cosmotrons and a Seiko 3303 for a while now..... For my sins I 'discovered' the Timex electrics back in December :blush: .

I soon found that they were not very popular and 'non working' ones could be picked up very cheaply on ebay, I stepped on a VERY slippery slope! :scared: and while my decent appears to have slowed down somewhat I have not yet reached the bottom!

Anyway, less than 3 months later I seem to have amassed these:-










ranging from a 1962 to about 1978 with a few late seventies/early eighties analogue quartz models, with one having the 'rare' step minute hand movement, and of course the one obligatory early quartz digital....

There are a few still awaiting my attentions so the box will still fill a bit more even if I don't buy any others, something I think I will not be able to resist doing :shothead:

Is there any cure for this addiction? :teethsmile:


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## scottswatches (Sep 22, 2009)

Nice work!

Do you repair them yourself?

@proby01 has one that needs a service, and I know he really likes his


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

scottswatches said:


> Nice work!
> 
> Do you repair them yourself?
> 
> @proby01 has one that needs a service, and I know he really likes his


 Hi, but of course, couldn't afford to do it any other way :wink: . Success rate depends on what movement they have. The M40 series are fairly straight forward, though have had a couple of unfixables that have ended up as spares stock and I got lucky a month or two ago and picked up some assorted NOS movements from a guy in Poland.........










(I built the 'Mickey Mouse' one up from one of them and a NOS dial/hands assembly)......










The 'hidden'/rear crown ones are somewhat more pot luck as I can't find any Timex service data for them :blush: and they are a nightmare to regulate as you have to pull the crystal, remove the movement from the front of the case, just to get access :nono: .........

Very early ones like this.....










And later ones like this......










Not difficult to see where Timex 'refined' the Laco German movement design....... :teethsmile:


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## Robin S (Nov 1, 2008)

A nice collection John, particularly the Mickey Mouse.

I too have a fondness for these (and pre-millennial Timex in general), a quick group shot of my Timex 'electrics'...


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Robin S said:


> A nice collection John, particularly the Mickey Mouse.
> 
> I too have a fondness for these (and pre-millennial Timex in general), a quick group shot of my Timex 'electrics'...


 I see that I'm going to have to get a few more to catch you up :jawdrop1: ...........(Bugger, I'll have to get another box...... :nono: )

Surprising how many variations there are and how few we have in common.... 

As for the Mickey Mouse one I still have another spare dial/hands 'in stock'..........(they came as a pair :biggrin: )


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

John_D said:


> Well I've had some interest for a few years now with electric/electronic watches, having had a couple of Citizen Cosmotrons and a Seiko 3303 for a while now..... For my sins I 'discovered' the Timex electrics back in December :blush: .
> 
> I soon found that they were not very popular and 'non working' ones could be picked up very cheaply on ebay, I stepped on a VERY slippery slope! :scared: and while my decent appears to have slowed down somewhat I have not yet reached the bottom!
> 
> ...





Robin S said:


> A nice collection John, particularly the Mickey Mouse.
> 
> I too have a fondness for these (and pre-millennial Timex in general), a quick group shot of my Timex 'electrics'...


 I would like to thank both you chaps for making me feel normal and restrained.


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Jet Jetski said:


> I would like to thank both you chaps for making me feel normal and restrained.


 Just to make you feel even better, before I 'discovered' the Timex Electrics I also 'discovered' early Seiko analogue quartz watches... :wink: (1972 to 1978 was the range of choice).....

These are just some of the mid range (1975-1978) '4004' export watches I now have......










A few of the more upmarket ones........JDM, King Quartz, Lord Quartz etc......










And a couple of 'special' ones......



















Normality is overrated


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## Jet Jetski (Feb 10, 2019)

John_D said:


> Just to make you feel even better, before I 'discovered' the Timex Electrics I also 'discovered' early Seiko analogue quartz watches... :wink: (1972 to 1978 was the range of choice).....
> 
> These are just some of the mid range (1975-1978) '4004' export watches
> 
> Normality is overrated


 I only have a couple of Seiko quartz - one of these bought for my 18th - Seiko bracelet came from Russia.










(And I got an identical NOS one for my daughter last year on the original strap from a retired watchmaker in Italy)

And this JDM mecha-quartz










But my collection is abnormally Russian!


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## Robin S (Nov 1, 2008)

Wow John, we seem to be very similarly obsessive collectors. Some of my Seiko automatics....



Apologies to mods for going off topic.


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Robin S said:


> Wow John, we seem to be very similarly obsessive collectors. Some of my Seiko automatics....
> 
> 
> 
> Apologies to mods for going off topic.


 Shouldn't worry about going 'off topic' as when I started the the thread it only said 'Some Timex content' not exclusively Timex and really was more aimed at how the collecting of a specific type of watch can 'occasionally' run away with you, so really totally on topic. :thumbsup: . Some nice Seiko Auto's there. I have a few of them as well, collected before I really decided what I wanted to 'specialise' in.....fuelled, I suppose, by this one, which was the first Seiko I ever bought, new, in 1973........(I see that you have one (7019-5000) as well, though not with the original bracelet....










A lot of yours have almost identical quartz brothers from the same period, Seiko were keen to exploit both markets in the 1970's....

This is probably my favourite auto in the collection (6119-8430)...










Didn't look quite so nice when obtained....










These 1970's Seiko watches, both auto and quartz have seen a big upsurge in popularity in the last couple years and consequently prices have shot up from the very few £'s I could get them for five or six years ago.....which I supposed fuelled my interest in the Timex electrics, though I see working examples of these attracting higher asking prices already....

The internet being what it is, immediately you start bringing to the attention of the masses out there, of a specific genre of vintage watch, by talking about them on watch forums, more and more interested people 'discover' them and being a finite resource, prices start to go up (which is not a bad thing if you already have amassed a collection :thumbs_up: ).


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## Robin S (Nov 1, 2008)

I kept kidding myself that the stupidly large collection I amassed over a few years in the late nineties/early noughties was an investment for my retirement.

In practice now I have retired I cant bring myself to let any go. 

At least I haven't bought any more for a few years now......


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Robin S said:


> I kept kidding myself that the stupidly large collection I amassed over a few years in the late nineties/early noughties was an investment for my retirement.
> 
> In practice now I have retired I cant bring myself to let any go.
> 
> At least I haven't bought any more for a few years now......


 Like you retired (I managed it fairly early at 58, some 14 odd years ago). My 'collecting' was really fuelled by a need to restore some very cheaply obtained mechanical devices and watches soon became the target. I suspect that if and when I need to realise the value of them I will be making a considerable profit over the meagre prices I paid for them......some of course are very special and will not go.


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## Always"watching" (Sep 21, 2013)

And I thought I was mad! :laugh:

Great collections everyone. Lovely thread.


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## John_D (Jul 21, 2018)

Got carried away again today and bought another two watches to 'fix'. This Montine Electric, which almost certainly will contain an ESA 9154 or 9157 movement.........



















And this Seiko 0922-8060 fro August 1975, which no one seemed interested in as I was the only bidder :thumbs_up: .....



















I just found it in the 1975 Seiko JDM catalogue..........










A quite expensive watch at the time, and at 38,000Yen it cost more than these two, from the same catalogue, put together, you would have had 3,000Yen change... :jawdrop1:


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## Robin S (Nov 1, 2008)

I was actually watching that Montine countdown this afternoon and restrained myself from bidding (coming back to this forum is testing my restraint in buying more watches).

I have the same watch with a silver dial. It has an ESA 9157. Good luck with the repair, still a good chance it will be a runner on receipt.


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