# Mysterious Chronograph



## Noob101 (Mar 24, 2017)

Hi!

I have only very recently started looking into even wearing a watch and have been assembling a set to have something for various occasions. I was going to buy myself a chronograph but recently by sheer accident I was going though some old things (I am a total hoarder and spent a few years now buying and stockpiling anything I find interesting) and came across a pretty cool watch which I must have bought years ago but never wore up until now. I haven't been able to find out much about it though; maybe someone here can help?

The face is labelled "Top Timer" and one of the indicators is labelled "Splendor" (might be the model?). It is also marked as Swiss made both on the face and the back. The middle indicator is a second hand, but the indicator on the left runs from 1 to 14 and I have no idea what it does - the hand goes around but I don't know what it measures. Any thoughts?

Thanks!


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## gimli (Mar 24, 2016)

The brand is most likely obscure and unknown but you have a pretty interesting watch over there. It's a vintage swiss chronograph but I'm not sure what movement is inside.

Period should be 1960s I would say and if it has a good movement could be worth a few hundred $$.

Is it missing the little hand on the right ?


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## owain1 (Oct 13, 2016)

1960's the band is Splendor one sold on eBay for $99, not a lot of info on google

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## owain1 (Oct 13, 2016)

And it looks like it may have a 1 jewel pin pallet movement

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## gimli (Mar 24, 2016)

I agree that it probably does have that type of movement which shouldn't make it very valuable but nonetheless a nice watch.


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## Noob101 (Mar 24, 2017)

Thanks for the help. It must be quite obscure because there is no information anywhere. It is not missing anything, looks complete. The only detail of major wear is that I think once upon a time it may have been gold plated because there is what I thought was yellowing on the metal but I looked closer and I think it's residual plating that the previous owner tried to polish off. The mechanism seems to works just fine because it keeps good time, but I haven't opened the back yet. The movement is very loud, it really ticks away like a clock! I happen to really like it but I can see how it might be difficult to live with for some people.

Does anyone have a clue about what the strange hand on the left could be measuring? The dial runs from 1 to 14 and it does go around as the day goes by; maybe it's just for show? It is quite a simple chronograph but definitely worth keeping for general everyday use.


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## WRENCH (Jun 20, 2016)

This is probably what's inside it.


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## owain1 (Oct 13, 2016)

Noob101 said:


> Thanks for the help. It must be quite obscure because there is no information anywhere. It is not missing anything, looks complete. The only detail of major wear is that I think once upon a time it may have been gold plated because there is what I thought was yellowing on the metal but I looked closer and I think it's residual plating that the previous owner tried to polish off. The mechanism seems to works just fine because it keeps good time, but I haven't opened the back yet. The movement is very loud, it really ticks away like a clock! I happen to really like it but I can see how it might be difficult to live with for some people.
> Does anyone have a clue about what the strange hand on the left could be measuring? The dial runs from 1 to 14 and it does go around as the day goes by; maybe it's just for show? It is quite a simple chronograph but definitely worth keeping for general everyday use.


The loud tick is a signature of the pin pallet movement (I think early English watches used them a lot) the dial up to 14 looks like chronograph hours .. it perhaps goes to 14 instead of 12 or 24 just as a quirk?!

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## RoddyJB (May 11, 2008)

gimli said:


> The brand is most likely obscure and unknown but you have a pretty interesting watch over there. It's a vintage swiss chronograph but I'm not sure what movement is inside.
> 
> Period should be 1960s I would say and if it has a good movement could be worth a few hundred $$.
> 
> Is it missing the little hand on the right ?


 I agree. it is missing a hand on the right register.

It is an interesting watch though. You might want to get it serviced before you start wearing it everyday.


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