| Author | Message | ||
     Court |
I recently spent a chunk of time lining up various motorbikes built over the last 54 years and photographing welds and how things "meshed". Take a look at this shot of Buell #100,000.  Look closely at how uniform the space is between the two parts. Try doing that precisely 10,000 times a year. I took the opportunity to shot MANY pictures of it to capture a moment in time. I confess to being pretty amazed with the precision with which they are built. There is one company in the world that makes vehicles with more precision. I give Buell 3 years to overtake them. Court | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Wow! there's some fine stuff on this thread! Personally, I have to pull out my cell phone to see what time it is! I manage to trash good timepieces in record 'time!' My father-in -law, who just this AM passed away at a fiesty 93 years old, was a Swiss-born watchmaker. He'd often see somebody with a digital or cheaply made mech. watch and go "What's that piece of $hit you're wearing on your arm?" or something of that nature! He made many watches, complete with case, gold linked band, etc. ENTIRELY by hand! Maybe not as high tech and well engineered as some of those on this thread, but works of mechanical art, just the same. Hopefully some day I'll get one in hand so that I can post some photos for you watch freaks to admire. He had a shop in NorthPort NY for many years, where he repaired clocks & watches. Many for the Vanderbilt estate, and other 'high end' clients, as well as mere commoners, such as myself. RIP Werner. AL | ||
| Bads1 |
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| Rocketman |
Anyone know why the bezel only rotates counter clockwise? I'll give it a go. The bezel is to indicate the allocated number of minutes by placing the bezel zero mark at the allocated number of minutes on the watch face? If a diver has 20 minutes of air they turn the bezel until the zero position lines up with the 20 minute marker on the watch face. Then the diver activates the stop watch function. When 20 minutes is up the stop watch minute hand will be at 20 minutes on the watch face and at zero on the bezel. Now if the diver accidentally moves the bezel whilst the minutes are counting down the bezel can only turn in the direction that tells the diver they have less minutes (air) left, thus not placing the diver in danger, even if they forget how many minutes or believe more minutes are left providing they trusts in what the bezel tells. The same would work if you had a dream date. You might get there early, but you'd never be late. Rocket | ||
| Buellshyter |
Isn't the frame manufactured by some Italian firm thus giving them the credit for workmanship??? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I'll give it a go. The bezel is to indicate the allocated number of minutes by placing the bezel zero mark at the allocated number of minutes on the watch face? If a diver has 20 minutes of air they turn the bezel until the zero position lines up with the 20 minute marker on the watch face. Then the diver activates the stop watch function. When 20 minutes is up the stop watch minute hand will be at 20 minutes on the watch face and at zero on the bezel. Now if the diver accidentally moves the bezel whilst the minutes are counting down the bezel can only turn in the direction that tells the diver they have less minutes (air) left, thus not placing the diver in danger, even if they forget how many minutes or believe more minutes are left providing they trusts in what the bezel tells. DING DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!! All bezels on dive watches intended for professional use must ratchet and must only turn counter clockwise. But........ Do you know what the second stem is for?  (Message edited by ft_bstrd on December 03, 2006) | ||
| Rocketman |
Ft B, you are posting up some seriously nice timepieces in this thread. What's a 'second stem'? Rocket | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Court, I agree completely. I love the workmanship of the welds and feel that the attention to detail. The counter rotating idler pulley, the delicate look of the front wheel, the circle inside of circle inside circle are all features you find inside fine Swiss watches. Anyone can make plastic look good. It takes an artist to make the mechanical aspects function and look attractive as well. Ducati is good at doing this as well (as are all Italians, it seams.). | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
What's a 'second stem'? The stem (crown) at the 9 o'clock position (in addition to the stem at the 4 o'clock position. Nice watches? This is the tip of the iceberg! | ||
| Xbob |
court. are the pics you took of the welds and the 'how things meshed' available to be seen? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Interex, Fortis produces some of the coolest watches. They are very hearty as they should be. For years, Omega was the official watch of NASA and the space program. Fortis fills the same role for the rest of the world. They supply time pieces to the ESA, Japanese, and Russian space programs. If you like Fortis, you will LOVE Sinn. Sinn produces watches for German and other European Special Forces. What's cool is that they are great watches that aren't that expensive.   The bottom is the Special Forces model. RIDDLE ME THIS: WHY WOULD THEY PUT THE CROWN AT THE 9 O'CLOCK POSITION ON THE SPECIAL FORCES WATCH????????  (Message edited by ft_bstrd on December 03, 2006) | ||
| Xbob |
RIDDLE ME THIS: WHY WOULD THEY PUT THE CROWN AT THE 9 O'CLOCK POSITION??? right handed watch?? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Xbob, Nope, but good thought! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Buells come with a great system to reduce and isolate vibrations of the engine from the rest of the bike. Fine timepieces have a similar system. The most sensitive portion if the watch is the balance wheel. This is the large circular component with weights attached. It is the most sensitive portion of the watch as it must be the most fluidly mobile. Even the slightest pressure on the main staff would affect the timing of the watch and make it too fast or too slow. Most watches have a system called incabloc. It is in essence a synthetic ruby/spring configuration that allows the watch to survive being dropped without damaging the balancing wheel while still allowing it to rotate unencumbered. Here is an exploded view of one of the incabloc mounts:  You can see the balance wheel in the lower right hand portion of the watch. It has the incabloc mounting in the center with the balance "blocks" on the outer rim.  Here you can see the mounting function by clicking on the Products section, then on the shock absorbing link, then the "shock" links: http://www.incabloc.ch/incabloc_en.html It's pretty cool!!!! Kinda reminds me of XB engine mounts. (Message edited by ft_bstrd on December 03, 2006) | ||
| Interex2050 |
Thanks a bunch... I have never before heard of Sinn, they look great. I also fancy the Bell Ross designs... Here are just some mechanisms that were passed on to me...   at the time I had access to a nice marco lens. (they are both 80MP images ~200MB each, the detail is incredible) | ||
| Interex2050 |
so pretty  | ||
| Interex2050 |
now that is what I call a sexy watch!  | ||
| Interex2050 |
I will take two guesses as to why its at the 9 o'clock position: To prevent catching on things (e.g. article of clothing) Or Since the special forces must be mobile, this is to prevent the crown from digging into the back of their hands? like so...  (Message edited by interex2050 on December 04, 2006) | ||
| Court |
I'd go with that thinking . . the crown digging in. I was once riding a mountain bike down a the maintenance trail from the top of Vail Mountain. My watch, I haven't taken it off in 25 years, was pounding on the back of my hands as the were bent at the wrists, on the bars. When I got to the bottom, my heavy watch had punctured a hole in the back of my hand the size of the winding crown. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Years ago, I got a Russian chronometer with a wind-up movement...  I got it for cheap from a military surplus catalog. There's a reason why Russia doesn't use Russian watches anymore for their space program... this watch is probably it. Never buy a Russian watch. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Interex and Court, You are correct on the 9 o'clock crown placement, but here's the rest of the story. Most Special Forces folks are right handed. The left hand is used to cup the shooting hand on a pistol and to hold the front grip of an MP-5 or Mini 14. When shooting, the recoil causes the stem to dig into the back of the hand. The 9 o'clock stem prevents this from happening. ANY GUESSES ON THE OTHER 9 O'CLOCK "STEM" POSITION ON THE AQUA LUNG? | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Russian watches suck! Some, like the example you have are either Swiss commissioned or direct Swiss copies. When they go off the reservation and design their own, they have problems. They are unique pieces of costume jewelry, but I wouldn't buy one if you need to know what time it is. (Message edited by ft_bstrd on December 04, 2006) | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
IS YOUR WATCH RADIOACTIVE? At the bottom of most Swiss watches, you will see the words SWISS MADE. On older vintage watches these words will be followed by either a "T" or an "L". These letters indicate which type of illuminator is used. L stands for luminova. Luminova is what is used in modern watches (except for Luminox which uses tiny gas light capsules). This type of illuminator requires being charged by a light source to "store" light energy and discharge it over time. T stands for Tritium. In older types of watches, radioactive tritium was used. Tritium generates beta particles and has a half life of 12.3 years. A paint composed of tritium and phosphorus is applied to the watch hands and markers. As the tritium decays and releases beta particles, the particles hit the phosphorus causing it to excite, giving off light. Tritium can still be utilized if requested. As part of a restoration, many watch makers will "repaint" the face with tritium. One of the problems of tritium was that in order to make it last longer the tritium content was elevated. It posed no real hazard to the wearer, but the beta particles did tend to score the watch face causing a "patina" and yellowing the face. In collectors watches, this patina is preferred by collectors. Take a look at this old Rolex "Bubble Back".  You can see from the hands and "yellowed" face that it has been pitted by exposure to the tritium. The hands and the markers would all have been luminous. They would no longer glow, but the collector would keep it as is due to it being original. It would be like having a 1938 Ford with original paint. It wouldn't be glossy like new, but it would be worth more as it is original. The "T" is to the right side of MADE, but is faded and hard to see. | ||
| Rubberdown |
"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day"...... Cool info. Lovely watches. | ||
| Freezerburn |
My favorite thread in a while. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Ok, now it's time for unique watches: First example is a tennis umpires watch:  This particular model allows the umpire to click off the score for singles and doubles. It is NOS (New Old Stock). Sometimes a jeweler will retire or die and the contents of the store are auctioned off. This is a new watch in the box with papers. It's like finding a 1960 Ferrari with zero miles on the odometer still with the sticker on the window. It's a good 17 Jewel incabloc movement. Price: $950 | ||
| Phantom5oh |
Ft_bstrd do you have any info about Girard-Perregaux watches? When my Uncle passed away in the early 90's, my Aunt gave me his Girard-Perregaux from the 60's. It looks something like this one:  I borrowed this picture... If I have the time tonight, I'll take a picture of it. I haven't been able to learn to much about it, but I was looking at it last night. I wish I had found this thread before I put it away. Thanks! | ||
| Midknyte |
My second favorite watch, elevated to favorite by loss of most favorite... No fancy internals on this one but I dig it just the same.  Just noticed the missing 20 and 25 second markings upon uploading. Dunno whassup with that?.?. | ||
| Interex2050 |
Here is one thing that is somewhat curious... My watch has the T notation ,"T SWISS MADE T", which would imply that it has the tritium paint. Yet when testing whether it is actually radioactive, the Geiger Counter did not indicate anything. Why would that be? Here is something to ponder about, unfortunately I no longer have the watch so no pictures... Why would a watch maker put the crown at the 12 o'clock position on an aviators watch? | ||
| Liquorbox |
Patek's are beautiful, but start at about twice the price of a good Rolex.  |
