With the current craziness on-going, and there being precious little new in the audio world right now (at least that I don’t already have and that I’m interested in) at the moment, I’ve been spending some time working on acquiring some less exotic (if not necessarily less interesting) pieces.
One of those was this just-released Hamilton PSR - a recreation of their “Pulsar” P2 (or “Time Computer”), which was the follow up to their P1 … the first commercially available digital watch.
Where the original only displayed the time, using a red dot-matrix LED format, when you pressed the button, this new version has a dual mode display. In daylight there is a subtly but always-on, conventional reflective LCD display (in negative red). When you press the button, the familiar red dot-matrix LED display illuminates brightly … with all the charm and interest of the original:
Hopefully I was early enough on the list not just to get one of the first of the stainless versions to reach the US, but also to snag one of the limited edition gold versions (1970 units, worldwide).
Working from home the past few weeks has me forgetting to don a watch most days…hell I barely wear pants at this point. Fortunately this thread popped up and I was reminded about watches, I think I shall pull a nice bronze sample out today. The patina has come along nicely over the years but needs to be worn once in a while to really get going.
This particular model was from an initial limited run Lum Tec put out a few years ago, It’s sporting 1 of several NATO style straps that it came w/ but if I can manage to stop upgrading audio equipment for a few months in a row there is a nice leather strap along w/ bronze buckle I would love to commission Greg at GSD, (Greg Stevens Design) to make for me. I’ve had him make me several straps in the past and I enjoy his style along with the quality of the work and pieces.
My dad was huge into watches and had quite a large collection. Nothing super expensive, but they were all unique and interesting.
My favorite watch of his and my former daily driver is a Seiko 5 Frankenmonster.
I’ve been tempted to go double-wristed with that one one and my Garmin Instinct on the other.
It’s not only a fantastic watch, with amazing lume. It was one of my dad’s watches.
A close second is the Seiko 5 Field Watch.
Note: I swapped the included bracelet on the Frankenmonster with a Hirsch Robby, though the bracelet is also great.
I have ~150 older American watches, most from '30s through 60s…many many tanks. Probably have 5-10 Lord Elgins, though I don’t recall any being pure gold (most are gold-filled). I regard LE as a surefire brand from that time period. Few missteps, many wonderful designs.
Drop “Exclusive” Glycine bronze watch. Bought it just cuz I thought a bronze watch would be neat to have. I actually really like, works well as casual watch with some jeans.
You just sent me down a long rabbit hole on the transitionary watch tech. I love this thing, hopefully you’ve got the gold one on wrist by now. This article made me want one of these even more, but I need to track down a fat-bezel accutron spaceview first.
All, i think i may need to finally break down and purchase a watch winder. No, i do NOT want to spend thousands, but would be willing to drop a few hundred for the correct item/s. something that works for Anonimo, Breitling, and Ωmega watches please, i know different watches need different mechanism winders.
Any suggestions, recomendations or quality reference sources, not just advertisements looking to suck up my hard earned dollars ? Any info is much appreciated folks.
PS, function over form is prefered, Looks are NOT as important as functionality to me at this point in my life.
Here is my old reliable, seen some shit time device. My longest relationship since 2003, been all over the world with me from conflict zones in MENA/SWA to the streets of Prague.
New watch day! 1970 Bulova Accutron 214H Spaceview with the “big chapter ring”. This movement was classified when it was first made, and was found on satellites and spaceships, astronauts and SR71 pilots.
Prices have increased dramatically in the last 5 years, and the vast majority of Spaceviews are fakes, so I’m happy to have this little piece of history on my wrist.
When I was working at a watch/clock repair shop, a lot of people would bring theirs in and most of the time they were broken. IIRC, the key part that was really hard to get was the index wheel that would drive the movement from the vibrations of the tuning fork, so finding one that actually worked was almost as rare as finding the people with the supplies and parts to work on them.
Enjoy it! They really are a marvel of modern engineering.
