Watch #9 Rolex Air-King 5500

As a young teenager in the late '70s and early 80's I enjoyed wearing a simple quartz Timex and a nylon "preppy" multi color band.  Well before NATO straps ever existed.  It is what I wore.  One of them has already been reviewed.  Like any hip kid into watches in the early '80s one got a SWATCH.  In short, I wore watches for style, trend but in truth had ZERO knowledge about watches.  As I think back I don't understand how I was just a 100% consumer and 0% gatherer of knowledge.  Could it be due to BG? 

 

Along came graduation from College and my Mom presented me with my graduation gift.  It was a watch with a "metal" band.  Yuck.  It was not my style and I was less than overjoyed at the gift.  At the time I did not know a Timex from a Rolex.  I obligingly put it on and wore it for the rest of graduation.  She told me to wear it everyday and NEVER to take it off.  

The watch will be 40 years old next year and it is still running.  I did wear it non stop until COVID when I left it at home by mistake and had a darn hard time to get home.  And, I started wearing a Garmin for fitness.  I wear it 50% of the time now.  In truth, I am enjoying getting to know, learn about other watches.  If I had to have one watch, this would obviously be the Air-King hands down.  I has been with me for most of my life.  40 of my 62 years.  The only other watch that can make that claim in the M-Cell Timex.  Now broken and I need to fix.

The technical details, this is known as a 5500 reference and likely has the 1520 movement due to the use of Precision while the 1530 had the Super-Precision.  This rule is not always the case.  For a fully history go here or here.  Mine was purchased in Switzerland at Bucherer on 9-25-84 and not the USA so who knows.  SN 72809X, 6 digits.  While the Service says 72809XX, 7 digits.  Intrigue and mystery perhaps.

Service.  After 25 years she would stop occasionally.  I proudly walked into the NYC Rolex building and was directed upstairs to service.  They treat you likely royalty while your watch is taken in back and opened.  They bring it back to you and write up your service slip.  I made the unfortunate mistake of approving the installation of a new crystal.  They said nothing about it not being the SAME crystal.  It came back with a taller, bulkier crystal which I do not like.  At the time, 2010, I just accepted it.  In hindsight I should have not done the crystal service and at a minimum, requested all my old parts back.  Poly Watch would have easily given the watch a fresh crystal look.  Oh well.  And too boot, it runs fast.  14 years later it still runs fast.  Time-grapher says 18 sec/day but with zero beat error!

Watch #8. First salvage of discarded watch Casio Forester FT-500

This Casio Forester FT-500 is a valueless watch.  But, with an analog dial it looks cool and has been traveling around in my broken watch bags for years.  Someone had started to do a battery change and lost the small screws holding on the back cover on.  It was being thrown out so I snagged it from the waste can.  These are tiny screws not found at the local hardware store.  I looked at ordering a random box of watch screws from Amazon but the cost exceeded the value of the watch.  Not hard to do.  

Recently I purchased a watch lot off eBay.  There was one movement I needed to restore a Seiko, the rest of the watches I could not care less about. 

After harvesting the desired movement, I noted one of the watches had a similar backing to the Forester.  They were a little longer but did not bottom when I put one in.  Of course yet another battery size to be acquired.  A 1.55v 364/363 Energizer is now driving the movement and it runs perfectly.

I use it as my weekend watch.  Frankly I don't need another weekend beater.  But hey, there is some satisfaction in breathing life back into an unwanted watch.  Patience and care gets you there.   And like all quartz watches, you can lay them down for a week or two.  Pick them up and they are still running with the correct time.  Although I marvel and love mechanical watches, I think we, including myself, all too quickly kick to the curb the reliable quartz watch. 

Watch #7. Grandfather's 1988 Seiko Quartz 5Y31-8009

 

This watch came to me from Liz's side of the family.  I think she knew that watches are always something I have been interested in and it just came my way.  At first it did not strike me as anything of interest and it sat in a drawer for a while.  But at some point I decided to give it a battery and try it out.  

This watch made me take a whole new look at quartz watches!  It opened my eyes!  The movement is (0) Jewel which is rather common for quartz given there is no torque of a mechanical, spring powered movement.  It just keeps time!  Scary so!!  And that is not all, the watch wears better than my Air King.  Yes, I said it.  I cannot say enough about the wearability of this Z1475.L Seiko band.  Very comfy.  

The 5Y31 is a pretty simple movement.  Nothing special at all but it sure runs well.   

Update:  The watch would stop running.  Even a new battery did not seem to help for long.  I bought a parts watch off of eBay with the same movement and luckily the movement was a runner.  I ordered some tools and had my first go at swapping out a quartz movement.  Simply you say?  No.  This is a very slim watch and replacement and clearance of the hands was a struggle.  Even with a correct tool.  Problem was I needed a smaller size than I purchased.  I mangled one second hand which is easy to do.  Ultimately I completed the job and got her running again.  

Watch #6 Impulse Honk Kong airport purchase c. 2003

 

One always arrives early for long International flights.  I was walking around the Hong Kong airport, the new one, and there was a huge SWATCH store.  A short stroll and a watch caught my eye.  Perhaps that Rolex Explorer grail watch look alike...  Well almost.  But I liked it and I especially liked the leather band.  

So why not?  I purchased it and another wild watch for my daughter and yet another watch was added to the collection.  Maybe I was trying to replace my long lost college day SWATCH.  Don't know.  Just fun that I still have it.  The kids tend to wear it occasionally with its universal appeal.  

It would seem this is a GB750 with a RED SUNDAY which is true.  Just never realized the color of the day made it unique.

Watch #5 A gift from my wife after our first 5 years of marriage

She is a smart woman and has good taste.  June 24, 1992 was our 5th Anniversary.  We just had our first child, we had our first home and things were just a wee bit tight.  But she found a way to touch my heart.  Now, 32 years later, I still have the Raymond Weil 5531, original band and even the case it came in.  What is also amazing is how well it keeps time!  True, it is a quartz watch from the early 90s.  They do not command much attention but for me it has obvious sentimental value.  When I recently had a new battery put in, the jeweler was surprised to see it still sported its original watch band.  I have not used it as a daily so the band is in very good condition.  I wear it on special occasions.  

A recent test against time.is showed just 4 seconds lost over 14 days.  Not bad for a watch that may be quartz but still has a drive train and date mechanism to drive.  

I gave her a nice woman's Seiko.  But leather bands are hard to care for.  It has spent most of its life in the drawer.  2Y00-5400 from 1989 based on the serial number. Maybe on another post.

Watch #4 Family Hamilton Cedric

Hamilton Watches!  I have been bitten by the Lancaster PA watch bug.  Hopefully the affliction will subside and I will continue to focus on and enjoy the watches in my drawer and resist the temptation to add to the utilitarian collection.  After researching the history of Hamilton watch company and its rise an fall in comparison to Elgin and Waltham, it was time to have another look at the family Hamilton.  The first time I handled it, it did not aesthetically appeal to me. Maybe in 2023 I would have a new appreciation for this manual wind, Lancaster PA produced vintage watch.   

First step was to figure out what model it actually was and which movement hid behind the dial.  As all Hamilton experts know, their marketing team gave most of their watches names commonly reserved for people.  After some time spent with Google images, my grandfather's watch is a Cedric. My conclusion was driven by a great overview of the watch as found HERE.  Dan's website is a great resource for Hamilton info.    

In truth, the watch is small.  Small by today's standards.  But here is the amazing thing.  My Grandfather (WBU) passed away in 1978.  I am very certain this watch has been a drawer queen until 2023.  45 years laying in wait.  It all began when I started to research my Uncle in Law's family Hamilton K-403.  One things led to another and now I have a new appreciations for all things Hamilton.  

Back to my WBU Hamilton.  I took it out of the bag, wound it and wore it for a day.  To my surprise it kept decent time.  This piqued my interest in this 19 jewel 982 movement.  It was one of Hamilton's primary movements and produced in large number.  I read they were first made in 1935 and were made thru 1951.  Imagine that product cycle compared to today!

I treated the watch to a new band and perhaps someday I will open the case and use the serial number to date the exact year of manufacture.  The Cedric model is said to have been introduced in 1950 and were sold for three years thereafter.  Toward the end of the 982 time frame.  

Intrigued by its performance after its first wind in years, I decided to wear it for a week and see how well it performed.  I set it to TIME.IS on Monday March 6th. After 3 days it has only lost 2 minutes. See image below.  My control, the ever accurate $24 Walmart Casio G-Shock showed the Cedric had lost 2 minutes and my 5500 Air King had gained 1 min 13 seconds. And the Air King was serviced in 2010.  I think that after 45 years in a drawer, that is pretty amazing. 

  

New image for my #1 watch, the ephemeral Timex

I had a fun trip to two watch shops this past Thanksgiving weekend.  I visited my favorite hole in the wall, Bristol Watchmaker in Concord NH.  I had two watches but I am only going to discuss the Timex here.  The Timex was the secondary objective of the visit as it only needed a battery to get her running again.  I wore this for a few years in College and then my professional watch arrived as a graduation gift and this drug store watch went into the top drawer.  But not lost!!  For some reason this watch's basic simplicity and proportions still speak to me.  While replacing the battery, Mark said it was dry and could use some lubrication which was applied before closing it up.  

While in Portland ME I wondered if there was a similar watchmaker shop.  I found Swiss Time on 86 Exchange Street.  Wonderful shop which I learned will be closing at the end of the year.  So sad but based on the retail outlets on this street, hard for a watchmaker to compete with what I would assume would be high rates.  Hopefully they can remake themselves in another location.   I purchased a 20mm band for my 19mm lugs.  Now my college era Timex looks as it did so many years ago.  Prior post on this watch.