Two beauties a coffee shop friend showed me today!

[ianmedium]

There is a fellow in the coffee shop I go to who I talk to on occasion. The other day he asked me about the watch I was wearing and asked if I was interested in watches.
Of course yes was the answer and so he went on to tell me that he has a few old watches left to him by his dad and one by a friend.
So I asked him about them and one, his grandfathers he said was a 25 year service award watch from Eatons, my eyes widened!
The other, left to him by a friend was a Tudor with its box from the mid sixties (the watch was a gift from his friends father and was engraved 1964 on the back.

He asked if he could show them to me and of course I said yes!

He used to wear the Eatons but broke the crown and had a replacement put on by a watchmaker at Eatons many years ago. He was not aware until today what that watch actually was. He thought it was just like a Sears brand watch!

So I sat him down and explained as calmly as I could that what he actually had was a solid 14K Rolex and what an historically significant watch it was and that he must never ever take it into a department store watch repairer again!

He was really taken aback and the value of the watch, he had no idea it was a Rolex or solid gold.
It was his Grandfathers watch and had brought along the photo of his grandfather being awarded the watch!
I have told him to take it to a watchmaker I know here that works on old Rolexes and get it serviced and try to source a proper crown as the one on it does not fit properly.

There is some patina on the dial but not too bad and the case looks untouched!

I love stuff like this!
The Tudor is a beauty, gorgeous seal grey sunburst dial, Rolex Oyster Case and is working beautifully and winds smoothly via its Rolex crown. Non quick set date and on an aftermarket jubilee. I suggest a nice simple black calf strap for it and polish the plastic crystal and simply wear it as its a beauty as you will see!

He had a bunch of other watches as well. A couple of ladies solid gold Omegas and another surprise an beautiful boys size Oris which was given to him by his dad when he was a young boy. I explained his dad must have thought a lot of him to give him such a nice watch as a boy as it would have been a lot more expensive than a Timex!

Here are some pictures I took with his permission, he was happy that I share them here with everyone.

I love days like this!

[Baco Noir]

Whoa! The 1/4 Century Club dial on the Eaton Rolex is amaz-balls! I bet that guy is happy to have noticed your watch and struck up a conversation with you now.

[iceman]

Sounds like you had a great time Ian, he sure has some great pieces

[tsirmans]

Woah!!!!!

[ianmedium]

Thanks everyone. It was great. It was so nice to see him realize he has some very special watches. I he is going to get the Rolex serviced first. I really hope he can get the right crown for it and I encouraged him to wear it when it does get serviced.
Funny thing is he said the watch when he used to wear it was put through some very strenuous usage as obviously he did not realize how special it was.

He said he used to play tennis with it on, swim, go skiing and so on!

What is nice about them is they are, apart from the bracelets and the crown on the Eatons completely original and un-polished and I encouraged him to not have them polished.

Considering the use the Eatons had the case does not have one single ding and just tiny hairline scratches one normally gets with wearing a watch under a shirt cuff.

He also had a Waltham pocket watch with the exact same dial as my Waltham wrist watch only a bit bigger! Another oddity was an Amaryllis 990ft Swiss made Dive watch which he purchased new in the seventies. Nice looking peice though I have never heard of it and wonder if it was a North American Department store brand made for them by a Swiss company?

[carl]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time, Ian. Rare indeed to run into someone who really wants to talk about watches, let alone share the pieces he has.

That Eatons Rolex is a gem indeed. Ah, the good old days! I actually worked for Eatons myself on two separate occasions, my first time when I just turned 16. However, by that time the "gold watch" days were over, but it was still a good company to work for.

I just bet that fellow was more than happy to find someone who he could really talk to about the history of those watches. I really hope that he does go through with getting them properly serviced.

Cheers,
Carl

[ajdh]

Is that Eaton Rolex a Bombe? I bet you had a great time looking at those treasures.

[rw16610]

Wow! That sounds like quite the outing, Ian! Totally agree that he was very fortunate to have crossed paths with you and be given such information.

[Archer]

Jan 8, 2015 17:01:53 GMT -6 ianmedium said:

Another oddity was an Amaryllis 990ft Swiss made Dive watch which he purchased new in the seventies. Nice looking peice though I have never heard of it and wonder if it was a North American Department store brand made for them by a Swiss company?

Hi Ian,

I have a buddy who just bought an Amaryllis dive watch not long ago, that looks similar to that one.  He asked me to look for information about the watch, and the only thing I could find is that Amaryllis was made by Yema, but marketed as Amaryllis in Italy.  Might have an FE movement inside, but could also be an ETA.

Now Yema is an interesting company - originally French, then bought by Seiko in 1988 I think, but sold back to a French owner in 2005.

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Al

[dsimon9]

Wow what a find!!! Many years ago on a different forum I remember a new member posting a thread along the lines of: "my grandad just passed away and he left me this watch. It says Rolex on the top and COMEX on the bottom. Is this a real Rolex or a fake. If it is real, how much is it worth." I almost had a cow.