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Thread: Five Things

  1. #701
    Moderator gnuyork's Avatar
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    for the Reverso factoid, as I am seriously recently considering one as my next watch (maybe after an inexpensive seagull 1963 Chrono, thinking about that lately too).

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  3. #702
    Another Member crownpuller's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tribe125 View Post
    .... Bremont would never do anything corny.
    What ?... You mean like enlisting a Rolling Stones member to paint some dials and bump up the price ten-fold; that kind of corny ?
    Some people have opinions - The rest of us have taste.

  4. #703
    Moderator - Central tribe125's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mlcor View Post
    I was so sure you were spoofing us with this one that I googled Vegard Sverre Tveitan so I could call you on it. The joke's on me.



    Every word true, including the internecine murder and church burning. This watch hobby can take you to the strangest places.

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  6. #704
    Quote Originally Posted by gnuyork View Post
    for the Reverso factoid, as I am seriously recently considering one as my next watch

    Suit you sir!
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  8. #705
    Moderator - Central tribe125's Avatar
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    • Back in the 1980s, a Rolex MilSub didn’t cost much more than an ex-military chronograph made by Hamilton or CWC. “They’re all £50 - take any one you like from the tray.” Some dealers turned them down because the cost of turning a MilSub into a standard model was too high, especially if you added a bracelet, and there weren’t many customers for a watch with fixed lugs. Some of the MilSubs made their way to London’s Portobello market, where they were quite likely to be purchased by an Italian. There were a few dusty eccentrics elsewhere, but at that time wristwatch collecting was largely confined to Italy. Flea markets were the most plentiful source of old watches, and the Italian collectors went from one to the other around Europe. Global interest grew with the mechanical renaissance, which fostered a sentimental view of the past. Auction houses took note, and prices rose as watch companies bought their own watches - not necessarily to manipulate the market and buff up their image, but because they didn’t have examples themselves. Moto-Sails Ltd. was a military surplus store in Weymouth, almost next door to the Portland naval base, which was home to the Royal Navy’s specialist divers. There would have been plenty of MilSubs in the Portland naval base - in fact, most surviving MilSubs may have passed through Portland and the modest little shop in Weymouth. “Bring it back if it doesn’t work and you can have another one.” From the trays in Moto-Sails to London, and then to the world, and an auction estimate of £150,000.

    • Does any other country do this? When importing a watch into America, the respective values of the case, movement and strap have to be stated separately. In addition, there are questions about materials, jewels, movement type, display type, and whether the watch can be used as a stopwatch. According to an international customs broker, this apparent madness dates back to the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897. Switzerland was making low-quality watches at the time, and was sneaking them into America disguised as American watches. Amongst the brand names given to these watches were: New York Central Watch, Ohio Watch Company and Pennsylvania Watch Company. Not very Swiss. The legislation was concerned with country of origin, but the tariffs were about protecting the domestic watch industry, and there was lobbying by Elgin. Senator William Mason (known as ‘The Champion of Liberty’) said the compound tariff “was a necessity to enable American watchmakers to obtain living wages.” A year later, the Elgin workers went on strike, noting a substantial increase in Elgin prices, and no increase in Elgin wages. So there we are - the customs forms have a purpose. They guard against the inadvertent purchase of a shoddy foreign watch, and they support the continued success of Elgin.

    • A frustration for David Brailsford, founder of Garrick watches, is that Britishness doesn’t play that well with British watch-buyers. He doesn’t blame the themed restaurant approach of another British watch producer, but he might.

    • The first wristwatch to appear in a film was the Cartier Tank, in 1926. It wasn’t meant to be there, but Rudolph Valentino insisted on wearing his Tank in every scene of The Son of the Sheik. Never has a watch looked more out of place, but square watches were to become a Hollywood cliché. If a leading man was meant to have a rare sophistication - give him a square watch.

    • A Girard-Perregaux chronograph influenced the design of a Ferrari. Girard-Perregaux was working on a watch for Ferrari, and company boss Luigi Macaluso saw that the prototype looked very much like a Cartier Tank. The presentation to Ferrari was imminent, and in something of a panic, Macaluso rang Cartier and told them that his company had somehow made a Ferrari Tank. Presumably, he also told them that it was a complete accident and nothing to do with him. Macaluso rushed to the workshop and had them chisel away at the case and lugs until it looked a little less like a Tank. Pleased with the outcome, he rang Cartier for a second time, assuring them that everything was fixed. And then he asked his son if there was any way they could relate the watch to Ferrari. His son said that the newly elongated lugs were a similar shape to the scooped panels of a custom Ferrari, known as the 375 MM ‘Ingrid Bergman’. Prompted to recall their old model, Ferrari rang Pininfarina, saying that the forthcoming 612 Scaglietti was to be based on the 375 ‘Ingrid Bergman’, scoops and all.

  9. #706
    wind-up merchant OhDark30's Avatar
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    Another fab selection, Alan!

    I remember Moto-Sails, they always had weird and wonderful stuff for sale, like Soviet titanium crowbars in the 90s
    I’m guessing non-ferrous crowbars would be quite handy in a submarine situation
    It's the final countdown! PM me before they're all gone!

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  11. #707
    El bot. geoffbot's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tribe125 View Post
    [*]Does any other country do this? When importing a watch into America, the respective values of the case, movement and strap have to be stated separately. In addition, there are questions about materials, jewels, movement type, display type, and whether the watch can be used as a stopwatch. According to an international customs broker, this apparent madness dates back to the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897. Switzerland was making low-quality watches at the time, and was sneaking them into America disguised as American watches. Amongst the brand names given to these watches were: New York Central Watch, Ohio Watch Company and Pennsylvania Watch Company. Not very Swiss. The legislation was concerned with country of origin, but the tariffs were about protecting the domestic watch industry, and there was lobbying by Elgin. Senator William Mason (known as ‘The Champion of Liberty’) said the compound tariff “was a necessity to enable American watchmakers to obtain living wages.” A year later, the Elgin workers went on strike, noting a substantial increase in Elgin prices, and no increase in Elgin wages. So there we are - the customs forms have a purpose. They guard against the inadvertent purchase of a shoddy foreign watch, and they support the continued success of Elgin.

    Yep - been there! I sold a watch to the US and had to do this - they asked how many jewels too. Nuts.

    Quote Originally Posted by tribe125 View Post



    [*]A Girard-Perregaux chronograph influenced the design of a Ferrari. Girard-Perregaux was working on a watch for Ferrari, and company boss Luigi Macaluso saw that the prototype looked very much like a Cartier Tank. The presentation to Ferrari was imminent, and in something of a panic, Macaluso rang Cartier and told them that his company had somehow made a Ferrari Tank. Presumably, he also told them that it was a complete accident and nothing to do with him. Macaluso rushed to the workshop and had them chisel away at the case and lugs until it looked a little less like a Tank. Pleased with the outcome, he rang Cartier for a second time, assuring them that everything was fixed. And then he asked his son if there was any way they could relate the watch to Ferrari. His son said that the newly elongated lugs were a similar shape to the scooped panels of a custom Ferrari, known as the 375 MM ‘Ingrid Bergman’. Prompted to recall their old model, Ferrari rang Pininfarina, saying that the forthcoming 612 Scaglietti was to be based on the 375 ‘Ingrid Bergman’, scoops and all.[/LIST]
    This one?
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  13. #708
    Moderator - Central tribe125's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by geoffbot View Post
    This one?

    Yes, I think so. Still looks a bit Tankish, doesn’t it?

    Less so at an angle, perhaps -


    Name:  AB0BF4B4-6553-4A57-B1E2-717BC8653FEA.jpg
Views: 149
Size:  54.2 KB

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  15. #709
    Quote Originally Posted by tribe125 View Post
    Yes, I think so. Still looks a bit Tankish, doesn’t it?

    Less so at an angle, perhaps -


    Name:  AB0BF4B4-6553-4A57-B1E2-717BC8653FEA.jpg
Views: 149
Size:  54.2 KB
    375mm
    Is that the depth rating

    ‘’That won’t get you to the bottom of the basin
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  16. #710
    Another Member crownpuller's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seriously View Post
    Is that the depth rating
    Silly boy, they're capital Ms - This is a 375 MM:
    Name:  1953_Ferrari_375MMSpyder1.jpg
Views: 121
Size:  81.1 KB

    Some people have opinions - The rest of us have taste.

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