Election Chronometer..

[ianmedium]

Well it arrived in the mail today and to say I am happy would be a large understatement!

I had never heard of this Swiss brand until seeing this watch for sale on eBay from an English seller. The seller by the way was wonderful, the watch is actually much better in real life than his pictures suggested. His description was spot on.

Everything on the watch apart from the strap it seems is original including the plastic crystal which has yellowed with age and has a few deeper scratches that cannot be polywatched out.. But that matters not, it adds rather than detracts I feel to the honesty of the piece.

The dial is beautiful, very very little signs of its 70 odd years. The case is much better than described. What I thought was wear on the bezel was in fact just shadows. The only sign of wear is on the case back where a little of the gold fill has worn away on one of the edges.

Thats the other nice surprise! The seller said gold plated but looking at the wear on the case back this is most certainly gold filled.

My pictures do not convey the colour but it is that lovely old vintage gold with a hint of pink in it, the over all effect with the tint of the crystal gives it a timeless look.

Strap is a lovely quality French ZRC open ended crock print in a rich reddish brown, strap alone from looking was over $50 so this seller takes care of the details as well.

It was a little delayed in arriving due to the seller not being happy with its time keeping. though hard to judge I wound it up over four hours ago and set it to my atomic clock and so far the time is exactly the same. Will report back on timekeeping tomorrow!

This watch is exactly what I have had in mind for some time. I know this will sound crazy but I wanted a watch that looked similar to one worn by a character in one of my favourite TV shows, To The Manor Born, Richard DeVere wore a watch almost identical to this and I always thought it a lovely looking watch.

I thought from the sellers pictures it would be close but in real life its almost identical!

Here are some quick snaps, I will try to get better lighting to convey it more accurately over the weekend!

Thanks for looking.

[CHIP]

That looks very good indeed!

Huge congratulations bud, that's a really nice watch. I like it!

[ianmedium]

Thanks Chip, I have it on my wrist now, it feels like it has been there for years! I love the fixed wire lugs!

[CHIP]

I like the wire lugs.
Those were popular during that time period.

[aerome]

Good for you. Enjoy!

[Baco Noir]

Excellent that it exceeded your expectations! That fits your wrist well. What's the length of the case?


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[ianmedium]

Hi Roger, thanks so much. Its 38m lug to lug, 31mm top of case to bottom and 22mm wide, 7mm deep and a 16mm strap width. Though the dimensions are slightly smaller than the Bulova it wears much bigger as the Bulova's width is due to the stepped sides, length as well, the lugs on the Bulova extend further.

I just checked the timekeeping this morning. Its running about 40 seconds fast a day which for a watch over 70 years of age I think is more than acceptable.

[ianmedium]

Just adding some more photo's, close-up's this time. They do show the age and patina and make the watch look worse than it is at normal viewing levels but they do show the attention to detail which I love.

The first one really shows well the shiny gold hue of the rim below the train track minute markers, it catches the light beautifully I think. The second gives a better idea of the shade of gold, I love this shade!

And lastly a close-up of the sub-seconds dial. I love the concentric grooves and check out the font used for the Non Magnetic lettering above it. I can imagine myself wearing a white suite, panama hat and sitting at a cafe in Cairo after a long day at an archaeological dig! Thats what I love about the vintage watches, its like wearing both a time machine and with the patina a history lesson. I wonder what this watch has witnessed in its long life?

[ajdh]

That's a great watch Ian, kind of reminds me of the original Rolex Prince and that's one of my favourites.

[ianmedium]

Thats so funny you sat that Adrian, the Prince is the style I have been trying to replicate, thank you!

[Baco Noir]

Is the dial printed on paper attached to a metal substrate. It kind of has that look to it.


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[ianmedium]

Looking up close with my loupe Roger I think it is a brass substrate painted and the shiny picture frame around the dial is the brass being used for decorative purpose. I am guessing the letters, numbers and train track minute section is screen printed or whatever they used for that back in those days

[ianmedium]

The Election has been running a bit too fast for my liking so today, spurred on by my success in regulating my pocket watch I decided to venture forth and see if I could do the same with the Election.

When I took the movement out of the case I could see the watch had been set to run a little fast so I made a tiny movement of the lever to run slower so will now see if I have been successful in my endeavours. It allowed me to give the dial a gentle clean to remove a few spots of dust and such as well.

So I will report back tomorrow as to how well or not I have done!

Here are some shots of the watch "naked"!

Here is the movement pre-adjustment. I moved the arm less than one notch so hopefully I am close enough. I don't need supreme accuracy just enough.





I used a tiny amount of blu-tak on the end of a toothpick to remove dust particles and then a tiny amount of lens cleaner on a cloth moving gently around the dial so as not to touch the printing. I also did a bit more on the seconds sub dial with both to clean out the black marks, I think it came up quite nicely. I did not want to overdo things and remove history but I did want to clean any gunge as thats not patina I feel.


And lastly a partial dial shot all put back together. I had to be careful putting the dial and movement back in as it press fits into the case back and there is a sleeve around the stem with a small collar and that collar has to go behind the case side. Luckily I looked through my loupe before I removed the movement to make sure where everything was meant to be!