One man's trash is another one' treasure;-)

[soviet]

The flea market mentioned earlier also opens on Thursday because many companies in this area rest on Thurdays to ease tracffic burden. It is even more crowded on Thurdays.

Taking derek's advice, I looked more closely at those clocks and found this one. I think the seller might have given it to me for free because he thought it was such a junk and took a big space of his valuable counter. Still I paid a princely sum of RMB10 for it. ;-) I must be the first one in many months who took an interest in this, and I must looked like an idiot holding such a big and crap piece of wood on my way out of the market. :-)

I was surprised that this antique looking clock was made in November,1981 in Dalian! I never handled such a thing before, but it took only a few minutes before I found out how it should work.

This is one of the 15 days clocks popular in the 1950-70's. The bell strikes at half hour and at sharp hours. Its sound is much nicer than that of alarm clocks that could have made you jump. It reminds of those nice church bell sounds. |> The wooden case is made of some hard wood. I think the correct way to adjust it is moving the hands by hand?!

The brand name HUO JU(torch) is also very "Great Cultural Revolutionary".

This is the last and only one wooden clock I will buy. I don't have a big palace as those emperors. O|

Cheers,

Zhang

[Chascomm]

Looks heavy. Who would have thought that this hobby could make you fit, too :-D

I understand that this sort of clock is set by turning the hands on the dial. My parents have 2 such clocks (of a more conservative style than yours), but neither of them work :-(

[ChinaFan]

Thats a nice clock :-! did the watch man still have the moonwatch?

[soviet]

Thats a nice clock :-! did the watch man still have the moonwatch?

Yes, he still has that watch. It was not a real moophase, but a day/night indicator. My real catch of the day was two nice watches for a total of RMB400.

The HONG QI(red flag) with gold tone marks and hands is very uncommon, and the early 17 jewels Beijing BS-2 is also in very good condition. :-! They look much better in person.

[soviet]

The interesting feature of the clock is that it strikes the steel strings only once at half hour,but would stirke the exact number at sharp hours. I bet there are watches like this. I did not find a way to stop the sound at night. I can take the white color weight off the movement, and the clock stops, but I don't think that is the correct way? The clock has been very accurate. It weighs about 3 kilograms and measures about 300x250x200mm.

There are some real ancient Chinese and foreign clocks for sale at the market. Some look like a couple of hundred years old with very nicely crafted and enemal decorated brass cases or with nicely carved wooden cases. I may take some photos next time FYI. But these usually sell at many thousand RMBs.

[Chascomm]

Yes, he still has that watch. It was not a real moophase, but a day/night indicator. My real catch of the day was two nice watches for a total of RMB400.

The HONG QI(red flag) with gold tone marks and hands is very uncommon, and the early 17 jewels Beijing BS-2 is also in very good condition. :-! They look much better in person.If the Liaoning factory manage to establish an international reputation as a high quality manufacturer (their new tourbillon should help that), then your Hong Qi could become a valuable collectable example of their early work.

Maybe they should rel-introduce the Hong Qi brand name. It could become popular with the Party ;-)

[soviet]

If the Liaoning factory manage to establish an international reputation as a high quality manufacturer (their new tourbillon should help that), then your Hong Qi could become a valuable collectable example of their early work.

Maybe they should rel-introduce the Hong Qi brand name. It could become popular with the Party ;-)

I heard that a second hand watch dealer bought up all NOS of Red Flag watches from Liao Ning factory, some 10,000 watches, and hording them for profit. But I am not sure if these are all the early versions with that Marvin 620A look alike movement.

I think the party already changed color, they abandoned the Red Flag name for the official magazine a few years ago. That magazin has the same Mao's style name.

I thought Shanghai watches also has a Mao style logo, but someone said it was written by Zhou Enlai.

[soviet]

This is for those who did not have a chance to visit China to have a glimpse of Chinese life.

This flea market near my home is an ancient temple with many big and small yards between big and small rooms. It could be a tourist site by itself. There are fewer people and sellers on weekends than Thursdays. The sellers have to pay a administration fee, but it is less than that of Panjiayuan and items sold here are also genenrally cheaper.

There are even smaller flea markets at street corners on weekends.

Chinese antiques, and in recent years things of the "Great Cutural Revolution" are common collectables.

I feel watches are difficult to fake and much easier to identify. Here you can see a porcelain specialist at work. I think there must be some real treasures.

Life is much easier than before so people now can enjoy various hobbies. Collecting is one of them.

Cheers,

Zhang

[soviet]

There are some real ancient Chinese and foreign clocks for sale at the market. Some look like a couple of hundred years old with very nicely crafted and enemal decorated brass cases or with nicely carved wooden cases. I may take some photos next time FYI. But these usually sell at many thousand RMBs.

Here is a France made ancient clock with a nicely crafted bronze frame and porcelain dials. It is big and heavy, but could be a good decoration for a home. this kind clocks could cost many thousand RMBs. <|

[ChinaFan]

I think I'm coming to the conclusion I am living in the wrong country :-S

[soviet]

I think I'm coming to the conclusion I am living in the wrong country :-S

I visited UK many years ago. My impression is that things were geneally quite expensive. One UK pound's purchasing power was roughly equal to that of one US dollar for many commodities and services. While one US dollar's value was about RMB 2-3 for local products. The best way is to make money in UK and spend it in China. :-)

Some foreign clocks are very beautiful and interesting like this one, but I fear these are fakes. The picture is from an ebay seller, but I saw one like this on the market.

[Chascomm]

Thanks for the pictures! I would love to shop there.

[soviet]

Thanks for the pictures! I would love to shop there.

This is one of the main buildings of this temple. You can see this type of buildings everywhere at those tourist spots, but here it is free. Sometimes small auctions were held in this building on weekends.