MoT's WDF

The only marking on the inside of the caseback is the same number on the outside caseback.

watchpalooza wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:02 am My guess for age would be late 40’s, but I will try to get something from the serial. Movement pics will also help hone in on the date.

Edit: correction, I would say EARLY 40’s.

The more searching I do points me in the direction of WWII German military. Really wish I new the story. My grandpa had a lot of WWII paraphernalia that he brought back from Europe and he gave me before he passed. Let's just say that if someone found the box I have, they may get the wrong picture of me.

Stretch44 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 1:21 pm

watchpalooza wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:02 am My guess for age would be late 40’s, but I will try to get something from the serial. Movement pics will also help hone in on the date.

Edit: correction, I would say EARLY 40’s.

The more searching I do points me in the direction of WWII German military. Really wish I new the story. My grandpa had a lot of WWII paraphernalia that he brought back from Europe and he gave me before he passed. Let's just say that if someone found the box I have, they may get the wrong picture of me.

As the $35 Field Watch Challenge acquirement phase is over, going to share another reject that I had hoped might have worked out.
A Tip Top trench style watch. Tip Top was a brand name of The New Haven Clock Company.

The listing said it was "for repair," but gambled that it could be something I could work on myself.
Unfortunately the main spring was broken, so it is DOA.
Then again, it only cost me $20, so not terribly concerned either way.

I'll be posting my official entry this evening so here are my rejects.

#1 - Geraldy 17 Jewel Hand Wind Swiss Made. 31/32mm diameter. - £17 on eBay - runs beautifully and keeps time with about 35-40 hour reserve! Remnants of lume. Rejected because I found better.
Before

Beautiful movement - 17 Jewel Swiss Movement from FHF (caliber 28)

After refurb - lovely red second hand

With hand made (not by my hand) leather bund strap

Nice clean stainless Caseback


#2 - Sekonda 18 Jewel Hand wind (USSR made I assume) 31/32mm diameter- £24.99 on eBay - runs nicely but runs fast, too fast to be considered a running example for the competition. Remnants of lume. Even after demagnetisation it's the same.
Before

Standard Sekonda movement in lovely condition

After my refurb - I love the copper second hand and the dainty NATO strap I found

Another nice stainless case back, unsigned/no markings on this piece


#3 - Roamer 17 Jewel Swiss made hand wind 38mm - £26.96 eBay - late 70s early 80s and in NOS condition. Faux vintage/faux field watch. Never had lume, not a real field watch in my opinion and therefore rejected. Runs impeccably. Looks nice (those green hands and that sunburst dial!) and a decent size. It's a keeper.


Pop-off back - definitely not a field watch to me.

Here's my last reject for the $35 Field Watch challenge.
A watch by Services, which was a brand based in England.

Here's one of the pics from the Etsy listing:


Nice watch. Ran well. Certainly met all the requirements.

But just a touch too small with a 27mm diameter and a 12mm lug width.
Makes me wonder if this may have been made for a women or on the off-chance, a boy.

Held on to it just in case the Eska didn't work out, but it did, so the Services was left to the reject pile.

Here is a Ladies Waltham field watch coming in at a big 23mm. I really like this one, but it runs very fast and demagnatizing and regulating didn’t help.

Cost on this one was $8.40 including shipping. I wanted to show that you need not spend anything near the limit to make a good showing. I also wanted to highlight something really cool from the ladies side of the hobby as it is mainly ignored by enthusiasts.

[mention]Animal Mother[/mention] it looks like the hairspring has slipped to the left in this image. That should be held tight, but it has gone past where it should. This would shorten the hairspring and make it run fast. I have a movement that I did this too, but I haven’t tried to fix it yet.

Hopefully this helps as it is a beautiful looking watch. If it says USSR then it was intended for export rather than domestic use. If it was domestic then it would say CCCP.

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:33 am A0BDF255-DC05-4336-9316-95A7DA61D2B4.jpeg@Animal Mother it looks like the hairspring has slipped to the left in this image. That should be held tight, but it has gone past where it should. This would shorten the hairspring and make it run fast. I have a movement that I did this too, but I haven’t tried to fix it yet.

Hopefully this helps as it is a beautiful looking watch. If it says USSR then it was intended for export rather than domestic use. If it was domestic then it would say CCCP.

Thanks buddy. That spring certainly looks odd. Here's a closer image.
Plus, good info on USSR/CCCP.

Animal Mother wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 3:08 pm

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 11:33 am A0BDF255-DC05-4336-9316-95A7DA61D2B4.jpeg@Animal Mother it looks like the hairspring has slipped to the left in this image. That should be held tight, but it has gone past where it should. This would shorten the hairspring and make it run fast. I have a movement that I did this too, but I haven’t tried to fix it yet.

Hopefully this helps as it is a beautiful looking watch. If it says USSR then it was intended for export rather than domestic use. If it was domestic then it would say CCCP.

Thanks buddy. That spring certainly looks odd. Here's a closer image.
Plus, good info on USSR/CCCP.

Looking at it again, maybe it just has a few kinks in it that could be carefully bent back into shape?

My back-up arrived a couple days late. I probably still would not have used it in the challenge. It came in Styrofoam wrapped in paper with a string tied around it, sealed with wax, from Uzbekistan.

Guyinwatch wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:40 pm My back-up arrived a couple days late. I probably still would not have used it in the challenge. It came in Styrofoam wrapped in paper with a string tied around it, sealed with wax, from Uzbekistan.20200717_142609.jpg20200717_142659.jpg20200717_143816.jpg

This is awesome. The wax was stamped...bonus coolness!

Amazing.

Anyone interested in either of my challenge rejects, I posted them in the Pay It Forward thread.