My Pierce arrived today....... lovely!

[Flightpath]

Hi,

I picked up my 'new' Pierce chronograph today at the post office. I love it.

It arrived with a tapered black leather strap, it was not to my likeing so it will stay on a black NATO until I find a nice vintage strap that suits it.



cheers for now,

-John

[Dan Pierce]

Congrats! Very nice. I've had mine for a few years and just wore it last week for a change of pace.
dP

[croolis]

I have a Dorex 18k solid rose gold chrono, with a black dial and gold hands
that is similar to your chrono in many ways, including having the same movement..
I had bought it about a year ago for $300, which was the opening bid price,
nobody else bid on it! it was a steal as it's in very good condition..
I love the Venus up/down chronograph movements .. very nice dial layout similar
to a subseconds watch with an extra register.
Your Pierce really looks new!! congrats :)

[Flightpath]

Hi croolis,
yes, I like Venus movements too, I looked at a few watches with Venus movements but settled on the Pierce.

did you know that the Pierce watches have their own in-house movement....... they used to design and manufacture their own.

So far it is running well, the chrono function stopped after a minute or too the first couple of times I tried it but now it functions well.
I'm not too sure about the very hard to see gold chrono minute hand though, I might have to paint it black or red!

cheers,

-John

[Crusader]

Great watch, John.

I really like the details, like the enlarged minute totalizer, and the fact that it is 60 minutes permitting the intuitive reading of elapsed time. (Sinn have adopted these features for their newer watches.)

Great pointy hands, too.

[gtopaul]

Nice! You'll notice on the Pierce chrono's that versions destined for the English speaking markets usually have 'miles' in the upper minute register vs models destined for other places have 'KM' for kilometers. It helps in researching where the watch was originally sold.

Paul L

[whifferdill]

Love those classy Pierce chronos - they manage to remain clear and legible despite quite a complex dial. Yet another classic find Flightpath - you must have a whole room full of vintage aviation watches! Great stuff - keep em coming!

[Flightpath]

Thanks guys, I like it too, BUT.......

I will probably be selling it.......

just going by the S/N and the type of case/back I doubt if this was made in the 1935 to 1945 time period that my watches must be made in! (does that sound stupid).


This watch has a modern looking caseback and the six number S/N (371232) is the largest I have yet seen (but I'm no expert!).

Maybe others can share photos of faces and casebacks so we can make up a bit of a referance?
Dan, can you please give details od your caseback andserial number, is the box original to that watch?

cheers for now,

-John

[gtopaul]

Thanks guys, I like it too, BUT.......

I will probably be selling it.......

just going by the S/N and the type of case/back I doubt if this was made in the 1935 to 1945 time period that my watches must be made in! (does that sound stupid).

This watch has a modern looking caseback and the six number S/N (371232) is the largest I have yet seen (but I'm no expert!).

Maybe others can share photos of faces and casebacks so we can make up a bit of a referance?
Dan, can you please give details od your caseback andserial number, is the box original to that watch?

cheers for now,

-John

I have serial number 371210 with original box and paperwork. It's a gold cased chrono though with a screw on back. The chrono instructions I sent you before were from this watch. I have four of these large Pierce chrono's. Serial # 65xx has small screws holding on the back and is probably the oldest I have. Serial # 703xx has the same back as yours. I have two others out getting serviced at the moment. I should mention that the gold cased watch (original box) does have the original Pierce foil price inside of $100 which coincides with the 1946 catalog price so I think the serial number range is close to that time.

Now if you want to collect VERIFIABLE ww2 pilot watches check out a few of these that I have. I have the former owners names and history of all these watches.

#1 This Abercrombie & Fitch dates to 1938 and was owned by a B-17 ball turret gunner during the war.



#2 This Lyceum chrono date to around 1940 and was owned by a B-17 copilot who did 23 missions over europe during the war. I have his throat mic and sunglasses also.



#3 This Zodiac chrono dates to 1943 and was purchased in Casablanca by a US pilot who flew A-36 dive bombers. He's still alive and 90 years old.



#4 I just purchased this Bulova military watch and the collection of records and pictures of the former owner. He was a ww2 bombardier and later a Korean war fighter pilot. Although it's not a chrono I really like the history that came with the watch.



Just some examples of collecting watches with provenance. I might have an extra Pierce chrono back if you need an earlier serial number. There isn't a lot of difference in the dials and internals anyway. I have about 25 different Pierce parts watches.

Paul

[Flightpath]

O/K Paul,

you have convinced me to hang onto it, I'll still be looking for an older example in good condition, I'd like to get one with the older case and face.

Cheers & thanks for all your information and photos... nice collection.

I'll post more photos when I get my Omega 6B/159 next week,

cheers,

-John