Taking stuff apart=fun

[Lotus_Darkrose]

I have this watch (it might be this EXACT one). It still works great, was my Grandpas. That picture has a crack in the glass, mine is in much better condition. Sometimes I attach a chain to it and wear it.

 

[JBTexas]

Watches like that are what I find on the web (used). Mostly classic watches, and they charge a lot for them... as collectibles and antiques, I guess.

You would think that with the environmental movements, the economy, etc... someone would make a cheap, new, simple, no-frills windup wristwatch.

I guess the industry is simply no longer geared for it. Making watches might be a lost art?

My gosh... I can imagine all these old watchmakers and watch-repair guys meeting in support groups, destitute, and they have nothing to do anymore. "Pining" for the "old days".

I just found it somewhat odd, suprising, and frustrating when I looked to buy a watch on the internet - and couldn't find a SINGLE ONE (that was new).

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

People nowadays are too high tech to wind something everyday I guess, lol. It's all either battery powered, or tachometer self-winding (which also aren't as popular as battery operated).

 

[vk2fro]

yet wind up watches are more convenient in one way - how many times have you had to have the mainspring (power source) replaced in a wind up watch? I bet never - or perhaps once if you really liked the watch and got the spring replaced if it broke. I have a self winder in my drawer (it needs repair - busted mainspring surprise surprise) but I like it and will eventually take it to a watchmaker and have him replace the spring. I very rarely had to wind that watch

oh yeah and dont go pulling one apart - they DO literally explode if the mainspring lets go - I learnt this as a kid and was still picking up micro gears and crap for weeks afterward. The mainspring was found on top of a cupboard!

 

[LaZeRz]

Lol, I can just picture a watch exploding everywhere and leaving little gears everywhere

 

[JBTexas]

Maybe the "Tiny Watch Elves" can make use of the little gears; they should be able to find them just fine, being so close to the floor and all. Perhaps they can build a factory or something.

Anyway... my main point... thanks to our modern digital watches, we are throwing away who knows how many little button batteries ever day. Mostly silver-oxide, probably, but also lithium. AND lately, the manufacturers seem to be designing these things so that they are VERY difficult to open and change the battery yourself (at least some of the later models).

GIVEN that old wind-up watches only require < a minute of human-powered effort to maintain, when you wind them, and GIVEN that these days we are "supposed to be concerned about the environment", my rant = why can't manufacturers revert (at least in part) to making a few good models of old-fashioned type wind-up watches that do not need batteries?

I guess THAT industry has become extinct, and factories are no longer geared-up (no pun intended) to make wind-up watch parts, and they would consider it to be too expensive & risky to create new (old) lines of manufacturing. Maybe watchmaking is a lost art.

 

[grenadier]

I hope you saved the viewfinder, I'd take it off of your hands for you.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

No I completely tore it apart. The CRT on the viewfinder was almost shot anyways. If it was in good working condition I would have saved it and kept it together. I wouldn't have just given it away lmfao...