vintage vs. new pocket watches - general rant

[JoshuaTechnomage]

I've been developing an interest in pocket watches lately as I've had an interest in mechanical watches and movements for a few years now. I was looking at alot of pocket watches, both vintage and modern, online recently and am amazed how craptastic modern pocket watches are with the exception of some really expensive models. I find I prefer the aesthetic style of many watches from the 1870s to early 1900s with a nice clean dial and roman numerals. I was particularly impressed with some of the Patek Philippe, Jules Jurgensen, IWC, and Elgin watches I've seen online. I also love the look of the three-finger bridge movements and Louis XV style hands. Vintage pocket watches seem to have a delicate beauty and elegance that you don't often see anymore. Modern "affordable" pocket watches seem particularly horrid in comparison. It's hard to find one that even has a decent looking dial. Most seem to go for that extra fancy look by adding various awful looking complications or skeleton movement. It can't be that hard to at least make the outside look nice? Of course I don't expect the same fancy mechanical movements in the lower price range, but they just look cheap and craptastic all around.

[Ray MacDonald]

Decent affordable pocket watch movements are still made although they appear to have morphed into wrist watches. Unitas 6497 and 6498 come to mind.
Russian made Molnija pocket watch movements were/are also OK. However I think Molnija is out of business so that supply will soon be gone.
Patek Philippe I would expect to still make a decent pocket watch. ;-) Jules Jurgensen has been at it since the 1830s so they should also know a thing or two about pocket watches.
Sadly we have to face the fact that interest in buying/wearing pocket watches in the wider WIS community is vanishingly small. No market, no product.
It's also impossible to economically manufacture a watch with the kind of hand workmanship that went into - say a 1912 Howard. The enamel dial disappeared just after World War I so those lovely white roman numeral creations are not made any more. You don't see the monster 18S and 16S sizes either, which in my view define a pocket watch.
For our part we should be grateful that countless millions of these wonderful old watches were made, and that so many have survived to the present day.
But like the 78 RPM phonograph record, the 1936 Packard, or the Baldwin steam locomotive, they won't be coming back. :-(

[JohnF]

Hi -

Ah, 1936 Packard...

I went to an "alternative" high school in Pittsburgh, and we had a science teacher we all dubbed "Mr. Wizard". He taught us how to make basic explosves (contact explosives, black powder (and boy is that stuff dangerous), and the basics of plastique). He himself was a grad student in chemistry and loved the stuff, and it showed.

One of his "projects" was rebuilding a 1936 Packard with a straight 8 cylinder motor that he had received in partial payment for mixing up nitro fuel for a drag strip racer. The car was basically mechanically sound, but the engine and transmission needed a complete and total rebuild, and that was one summer's project for extra credit. Silver with grey leather, it took 5 of us around 2 months to take that motor and transmission apart in the basement of the school (there was a driveway into the basement), where it was nice and cool that summer.

Learned a lot of respect for mechanics back then. We went wild when we got the engine to turn over and actually run, and while we never got it back to specs, it remained a really neat experience.

And Mr. Wizard didn't return in the Fall, having not only finished his degree, but also his 1936 Packard... :-)

JohnF

[Ray MacDonald]

There was a wealthy machine shop owner where I grew up who had restored a Super Eight and a V-12 Convertible. They were quite the thing back in the 1960s. Hard to imagine how cool they are today. Probably don't run all that well on unleaded though.

[Eeeb]

There was a wealthy machine shop owner where I grew up who had restored a Super Eight and a V-12 Convertible. They were quite the thing back in the 1960s. Hard to imagine how cool they are today. Probably don't run all that well on unleaded though.

I would be suprised if they were high compression engines -- they were the ones that unleaded killed. Most of the cars of this vintage go through about one tank of gas per year so they can afford the additives if the owner thinks they need it...

My uncle had an in line 12 Packard... my cousin still has the hood ornament. It's a lot cheaper to maintain the hood ornament. :-d

[Ray MacDonald]

Compression ratio 6.00 to 1 for the V12. I guess you wouldn't worry too much about unleaded here.