borobiffa

Seiko Alpinist today Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

This is a really interesting thread. My interest in watches was sparked by a £12 smiths 'braille' watch I spotted at a market as a student many years ago. As my finances have improved I've raised my 'upper limit' for a single watch, but I still get as much pleasure from a cheap watch that calls to me as an expensive purchase. Good to see that no one seems to be putting the rest of their lives 'at risk' to buy that next watch - or at least i hope not! Friends tend to laugh at my choice of car (a series of skodas), but don't understand why I would spend a 4 figure sum on a watch (that wasn't a rolex). Frankly, I love watches and spend what I'm comfortable with. I worry a little about damaging expensive watches, but they are for wearing, not investment.

My first 'grail' watch was a smiths w10, which I bought in excellent condition for less than £200 a few years ago - asking prices seem to have gone up an awful lot since then (whether those asking prices are achieved is another matter!). Similarly i bought a secondhand rolex a few years ago which only seems to go in one direction. I doubt whether these 2 outliers make even a slight dent in what I've lost on all my other purchases, though...

Morning all. 1940's Jaeger Lecoultre 'bumper' automatic Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Morning all. 1915 English Coventry made H Williamson watch in a silver Dennison case. Along with Rotherham's one of very few English manufacturers large enough to survive the Swiss and American competition (for a while anyway) and make the transition to wristwatches. Gone by the early 20's I think, but some of their brands resurrected by Smiths. Note the 'guaranteed English' - they 'd earlier been caught passing off Swiss/English watches as all English.... Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

The more I find out the more I'm impressed by them. Shame we don't have many companies like that anymore. Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Sticking with WWI. Extremely rare 1916 trench watch with shrapnel guard. Rare because it's an all English Coventry made Rotherhams watch. They went over to making timing fuses for the duration of the war, so very few of these were ever made as far as I know. Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

1946 Jaeger Lecoultre 'bumper' automatic Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Morning all. The Lancashire Watch Co was set up in 1889 by a brave soul in an attempt to rescue the English watch industry from destruction by the Americans and the Swiss. Prescot had been a centre of handcrafted production of rough movements for many years, with the movements being shipped to Coventry and Clerkenwell for finishing. LWC adopted the American system of production and brought everything under 1 roof. It couldn't compete and went onto administration in early 1911 as far as I can tell. The administrators spent a number of years selling off remaining stock. Their smallest movements were suitable for wristwatches and a very small number ended up as such. This is a 7 jewel 'vigil' movement, in a silver Dennison case from around 1918. Only Williamson (although they were accused of passing partial Swiss movements as completely English) and Rotherhams managed any form of transition to wristwatches and gave up the fight against imports by the mid 30's. Interestingly the Williamson Empire and Astral brands were resurrected by Smiths when they restarted government supported watch production post WWII. All of the above is to the best of my knowledge - additional info or corrections welcome! Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Love this!

1948 Jaeger Lecoultre - 'bumper' automatic. Hope I'm in this good condition when I'm 72... Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

And a happy new year to you all. 1940's gold Tudor. Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

That's a lovely watch. I've been looking them myself.

Thanks. Definitely one of my favourites! Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Wow. Brilliant. Will add it to my list of places to visit...! Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk