Author Topic: Watch guys or gals?  (Read 3654 times)

Balog

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #25 on: July 07, 2014, 06:35:54 PM »
This seems as good a thread as any to ask this.

My wife got me a Seiko Monster a few years back. I like it a lot, but I can't sleep with a watch on and the cheap winder thingie I used didn't put out enough winderyness overnight to keep the mechanism on time. I hated having to adjust the time every couple weeks, and eventually the darn winder broke anyway.

Looking at amazon, it seems that all the winders are <$50 rebranded copies of the exact same thing, or >$200 multi watch deals.

Are there any cheap but useful single watch winders?
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dogmush

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #26 on: July 07, 2014, 06:44:47 PM »
did you have the watch looked at?  My Orange Monster can make it overnight just fine.  I just set it on the nightstand next to my alarm clock.  If I skip a day it needs to go on the winder, but It's my Mon-Thurs watch and doesn't loose any time.

230RN

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #27 on: July 07, 2014, 06:45:33 PM »
WHATEVER YOUR DEFINITION OF "INFRINGE " IS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DOING IT.

Balog

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #28 on: July 07, 2014, 06:46:53 PM »
did you have the watch looked at?  My Orange Monster can make it overnight just fine.  I just set it on the nightstand next to my alarm clock.  If I skip a day it needs to go on the winder, but It's my Mon-Thurs watch and doesn't loose any time.

No, I've never had a mechanical watch before so I figured that was just normal and it was like that from out of the box. I wonder how much a general service on a watch runs?
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dogmush

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #29 on: July 07, 2014, 06:48:58 PM »
I got a general tune up and lube (for the watch) a couple years ago for $80.  I go every 5 or so years, or when it starts loosing time.

Balog

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #30 on: July 07, 2014, 06:53:38 PM »
I got a general tune up and lube (for the watch) a couple years ago for $80.  I go every 5 or so years, or when it starts loosing time.

Forgive the ignorant question, but is that the sort of thing those mall kiosk watch repair places are good enough for, or should I send it off to someone? No idea about any of this stuff.
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dogmush

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #31 on: July 07, 2014, 07:24:11 PM »
No to the mall kiosk.  Find a Seiko dealer. Or a good watch/jewelry shop.

http://www.seikousa.com/store-locator/

MillCreek

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #32 on: July 07, 2014, 08:40:58 PM »
Next question:

My Timex has a big scratch on the crystal. Can that be fixed cost-effectively, or should I just junk the scratched watch with the worn-out band, and start over?

Polywatch: http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Crystal-Scratch-Remover-Polish/dp/B000RB1FZQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404780006&sr=8-1&keywords=watch+crystal+polish

I can recommend.
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zxcvbob

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #33 on: July 07, 2014, 09:07:31 PM »
I've used a cotton buffing wheel and "white rouge" to buff scratches out of a watch crystal before.  That was a mineral crystal.  I'd try toothpaste and a fingertip first, in case the crystal is plastic.
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lee n. field

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #34 on: July 07, 2014, 09:08:20 PM »
My Timex has a big scratch on the crystal. Can that be fixed cost-effectively, or should I just junk the scratched watch with the worn-out band, and start over?

Live with the scratch.  Stuff happens.
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230RN

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #35 on: July 09, 2014, 04:55:34 PM »
They've got a new plastic out now that's sort of self-healing, at least for cracks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-healing_plastic

I did have a watch once (forget the brand, but I think it was that Casio atomic watch) that advertised that the crystal healed minor scratches by itself, and indeed it did.  Gouges, no, scratches yes.  Took a couple of months to notice them going away though.  Doubt it was just "polishing" from my shirtsleeves, because I could even see that the bottoms of the gouges were smoothing out.

I found out long ago that Pledge dusting wax "fixed" minor scratches on my glasses, but that was just by filling them in with a substance that matched the refractive index of the lens pretty closely.  I wish I had patented that idea.
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Lee

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #36 on: July 09, 2014, 08:43:58 PM »
Fistful- easy fix for chrystal.
Pick up  4 sided fingernsil polishing block at drugstore. Ask any woman what and where they are.  Polish the chrystal out with side 2. Then finish with side 4 and some toothpaste.  Final polish with toothpaste and a paper towel. Flitz works great as well.

T.O.M.

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #37 on: July 09, 2014, 10:03:19 PM »
Fistful- easy fix for chrystal.
Pick up  4 sided fingernsil polishing block at drugstore. Ask any woman what and where they are.  Polish the chrystal out with side 2. Then finish with side 4 and some toothpaste.  Final polish with toothpaste and a paper towel. Flitz works great as well.

+1 on the Flitz.  I actually tried it on my plastic headlight lenses on my car and got good results.  Should work on a plastic watch lense,
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KD5NRH

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #38 on: July 10, 2014, 09:36:00 AM »
+1 on the Flitz.  I actually tried it on my plastic headlight lenses on my car and got good results.  Should work on a plastic watch lense,

Meguiar's Plastx polish in the automotive section is great, and you get quite a bit more for $6.  Used it to get the glass-like final polish when I was using acrylic finishes on woodworking projects and the occasional lathe-turned acrylic project.  Sanding up to that point was done with MicroMesh pads.

T.O.M.

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #39 on: July 10, 2014, 10:18:05 AM »
Meguiar's Plastx polish in the automotive section is great, and you get quite a bit more for $6.  Used it to get the glass-like final polish when I was using acrylic finishes on woodworking projects and the occasional lathe-turned acrylic project.  Sanding up to that point was done with MicroMesh pads.

thanks.  tried Flitz because it was what I had.
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mangle

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #40 on: July 10, 2014, 01:41:25 PM »
Here's my collection.  All are mechanical autos.



Left is a Fortis Flieger that's my daily.  On the winder, it's accurate to about a second per day.  On the wrist, 2-5, depending on what I'm doing.  The ETA 2428-2 inside is bulletproof.  It's among the last of the watches with painted tritium hands and dials.

Center is a Fortis Marinemaster Supercompressor from the early 70s.  It's a rather intriguing piece of machinery - it's supposedly water resistant to pretty decent depth despite the non-screw crowns because of a neat gasket design.  Movement is an ETA 2783 and dial and hands have the originial tritium-based lume that still dimly glows. The dial is supposedly the decompression diving tables, and the crystal is a huge dome.  It's currently on a shark-mesh band.  I wear this sometimes when I dress up.

Right is a Seiko 6309-7040 from the mid-80s.  Original ones are worth some money.  This one has an aftermarket dial and hands, and come to me from the Philippines via eBay.  I dive, sail, ski, and everything else with this thing.  The only issue I've had so far involved jumping in to a hot tub on a -20degF day.  The seals didn't like that one too much.  Otherwise, it's been completely reliable and drama-free.

As for winders, I have one of the cheap Versa winders off of Amazon.  It seems to work rather well, but I don't think it would have the balls necessary to wind the Seiko.  The Fortis(es?) are fine on it.

*edit* One of the most entertaining things about a well-regulated mechanical auto is that it's going to be more accurate than your computer or phone if it's not updated regularly.  To keep track of the watch's performance, I have to use time.gov to get an accurate fix.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2014, 02:20:15 PM by mangle »

KD5NRH

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Re: Watch guys or gals?
« Reply #41 on: July 10, 2014, 02:29:07 PM »
thanks.  tried Flitz because it was what I had.

Both work great on hazed plastic headlights, too.  Flitz has the definite advantage on metal, but Plastx will do the job more slowly there.  (Presumably Flitz gets a little chemical help, where Plastx is just physically polishing.)