Ok, update. I seem to have an interest in odd things lately. Last year it was Texas Instrument calculators. I was able to pick up a dozen or so vintage cals off ebay for less than $100.

Now it's watches--I have an olf Fossil watch that has not run in 18 years. I took it by a watchmaker today to see if he can recusitate it. He said the battery leaked and he would need to replace the movement. Goodness, what does that mean?

Here's a neat pic of the watch
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pict...pictureid=3559


Interesting how the Roman numeral 4 is represented by IIII instead of IV .... :)

somebody wasn't paying attention to their lessons in roman numerals...

this watch is on my wishlist. even though I don't wear watches very often

http://www.stauer.com/prod_images/17469_L.jpg

Gee I wished I had spotted this thread earlier, I am a member of the WUS forum and usually hang here:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f71/
or
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f72/
These are some off my collection:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...k/PRC200-2.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...270-2-Arm3.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...k/AgoraArm.jpg

I must say that I have seen some damned nice watches here, keep em coming!:yep:

Junkers watch? Nice! :yeah:

It means that battery gunk stickied the little movee bits all together and he has to put in all new movee bits so they'll move again.

Oh, so they make drop in innerds for these watches? I hope the surgery is a success, and it looks the same on the outside. Excuse me a second, I need to say a prayer :timeout:

Drop-in? I doubt it, unless it's still in production. I'll bet he's going to replace everything by hand, and it will cost ten times what the watch is worth. :haha:

Just kidding, of course. I know nothing about these procedures.

Yes there are a few problems to overcome, finding a good watch maker who will do the job and the price is likely to be more than it's worth and if you do it yourself you have to find the correct movement and be able to remove the stem without damage then remove all the hands and replace them.:oops::yep:
Quartz watches are relatively cheap to buy thankfully!:up:
That is a nice watch Neal, I haven't seen one like it before, did the watch maker indicate a price?:hmmm:

I've seen that a lot in old clocks. I have a grandfather clock at home that has the same thing.

Said it would be around $60 or so. I'll be happy as long as it comes back in one piece and ticking.

just ran into this.. wish i had it:down:
The make seems strangely familiar... its kinda like i use one everyday for sinking things:hmmm:
http://www.men-access.com/wp-content...cope-watch.jpg

You're not the only one who would like it, I wouldn't spend over $500 for a watch, generally, like Neal I spend around $100.:yep: But it don't hurt to drool every now and then!!:03:

It's a little steep imo, I'm sure the quality of the job would be there, but if it was me I'd be checking what's available new and take it from there.:yep:

Yeah, it's a sentimental thing. I really like that old watch.

We have the sentimental grandfather clock. It was my wifes grandmothers. Been to the shop once for a $400.00 repair. Has to go again. Another spring sprung. The clock is 60 years old. Metal fatigue at work! It is German movement. Amazingly we still have the manual and bill of sale! But yes, the clock is sentimental to the wife so repair costs do not factor in on the decision to repair it.

Old mechanical watches fascinate me. You know the type they used on railroads or submarines. I've even read a couple books on the history of watches. Yet like Steve I don't wear a wrist watch for the same reasons. I own a few pocket watches but never carry them. I even have an antique pocket watch that doesn't run. I was quoted over $200 to have it fixed. Oh well.

The reason antique watches and clocks are so expensive to fix is that they must be completely torn apart and cleaned. Any watch maker that knows what he's doing would not want to fix a problem without doing the cleaning. The old movements ran all the gears on jewels for the bearings. The more jewels the less likely the mechanical movement would hear down. It is neccessay then for the movement to be cleaned every couple years.

In modern day some may place the whole movement in an ultrasonic cleaner and skip tearing down. Putting together watches from scratch is a lost art. Some still do this as a hobby. There is even a school to teach this skill.