Sunday, September 18, 2022

 



4 comments:

  1. It was the worst of times: Timex.

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  2. Back when I was single and in the service I bought an 11 year old stainless Sub-mariner from my uncle who sold Rolex in his jewelry store. He took that one as a trade in as it needed to be serviced and the guy that had it wanted a fancier model. It cost me 3 months pay as a E-3. He would service it for free every 6 to 10 years and polish the case and band. Basically when it slowed down loosing 4 to 10 minutes a day it was time to get it serviced and that would happen almost overnight. The dial lost the night glow back in the early 90's and is faded where my uncle told me the watch would lose value if I replaced it. He passed in 2002 and serviced it a year before he passed. It hasn't worked since 2011. To get it serviced would be about $1500 without the case polish. If I were to get it serviced it would be worth $15k-16k. It is the cheapest Sub-mariner model because of the stainless steel case and band but it does have the blue face and dial.

    The biggest issue with a Rolex is that it has to be worn to keep it wound. If it is sitting in a jewelry box it will need to be serviced sooner than if you wore it every day. It will also need service sooner if you wear it while riding a motorcycle. It doesn't like the vibrations. After active duty I got an IT Business BS. I quickly became an IT Project Manager where I would tell people it was a knock-off but it kept good time. When the Y2K IT bust happened I didn't get caught up in it until 2002. I fell back on my military training where I installed satellite earth stations. As a field tech the watch was in my pocket most of the day or left in the wife's jewelry box. I would still tell people that it was a knock-off.

    I have 3 wristwatches. The Sub-mariner, a 70's Bulova Skeleton Accutron, and a Citizen Eco-drive. The Sub-mariner is dead. The Accutron hums away in the Jewelry box where it is rarely worn and the Eco-drive sits in the window maintaining a full charge. It has been months since I put a watch on.

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  3. Knew a lawyer overseas that had a custom box full of them - thought he was Gods Gift or something. Anyway, the box had a special motorized pedestal within, where you could strap on the watch and it would gently rotate, back and forth, keeping it wound. That's the kind of man he was.

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  4. My father left me his gold Rolex. It sits in a pouch in my dresser drawer. My everyday watch is a Citizen ecodrive I received as a service award 16 years ago. Still ticking and never off more than a minute when Daylight Savings Time rolls around. I bought a new band a few years ago, other than that zero maintenance.

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