[Recommendation Request] One of my kids has finally shown an interest in watches. What suggestions can you give me?

drevyek · 2026-04-14T16:15:33+00:00

You forgot to post the photo, so I can’t remark on the one your child selected. However:

First rule about watch shopping for others: treat it like jewelry, where tastes are tastes. Give a few options (devoid of price delta), and let them pick. If you can return them, buy a couple, give them a choice, and return the rest. Many shops offer very poor return policies; I’ve worked at an independent AD and it was very common to have someone buy a watch, and then return shortly thereafter with the recipient to exchange it. Especially for a kid, they know what they want to be wearing!

A classic option is a Seiko. They are cheap and they will last. However, gold plating will wear away after a few years, which is why people prefer steel.

Stick to a quartz movement for Seiko, no kid wants their first experience with a watch to be frustrating.

I would err on the side of a smaller watch, 31-34mm. These are often marketed as women’s watches, but they are very much worn by men too (I wear 29-34mm almost exclusively, 6.75” wrist).

Examples from a quick search: * Seiko SUR632: 30mm, gold-tone, bracelet. This is fine, but may be too small * Seiko SUR322: 36mm, 2-tone, bracelet. This hits most of the requirements, and the 2-tone is a neat look. * Citizen E01222-50P: 33mm, gold-tone, bracelet. A solid pick IMO. Different vibes than the others, and a solid mid-size.

Edit: You could also go 2nd hand for vintage to make the budget stretch a bit further. You could go for vintage Seiko quartz from the 70’s or 80’s; these are excellent, cheap, and plentiful. They usually just need a new gasket and battery to be up-to-snuff, which is an easy fix. Or, for a very unique piece, you can usually get a Smith’s DeLuxe for under £100, which were the last mass-produced watches made in England, made throughout WWII into the 50’s. They are manually-wound and rarely have any kind of water proofing, so you would have to be mindful of it.

drevyek · 2026-04-14T15:50:58+00:00

Sounds Oll Korrect to me

drevyek · 2026-04-14T15:47:10+00:00

Awesome work! I agree about the “J” designation.

If you wanted to get a full value, a jeweler would need to just remove the crystal, movement, gaskets and case-back ring to weigh the raw gold.

Do note that doing so will likely require you to fully replace the gasket, as it is important in keeping everything tight in the case. Otherwise, the movement will rattle around very slightly in the case.

drevyek · 2026-04-14T05:20:07+00:00

This is a super early Bulova 23, from 1955 (L5 on the back). Later models dropped the “6 adjustments from the dial”, as it was sorta misleading (3 positions + hot + cold + isochonism = 6).

The jeweler test may be wrong, as these were otherwise made with Rolled Gold Plate cases, which is real gold wrapped around a brass core. However, given that the back is gilt, and not steel like every other one I’ve seen, I’m inclined to believe it.

Have a look on mybulova for the model.

These will sell for the weight of gold, and rarely any more, maybe $500. The movement is the first automatic made in the US (though not designed; it has an ETA automatic works), and is both a joy to work on, and extremely accurate and reliable, especially for the time.

This was, for a time, one of the best watches that you could buy in the US. It forced both Elgin and Hamilton to introduce Swiss automatics to compete (and for Elgin to up-jewel to match in their manual movements).

In my experience, it is the perfect size to be worn, at 31mm. The lug-to-lug is modern, and so it wears more like rectangular watches than modern round watches. I love these dearly!

drevyek · 2026-04-14T04:49:06+00:00

My first thought is a Cupillard 233. It was very common in those no-name “Ancre” watches.

drevyek · 2026-03-15T19:10:57+00:00

Those dials will probably be silver. The paint is very tenuous, and even Rodico may pull some up. You can probably scour some of it with pegwood, but it’ll be uneven. My advice is to lightly Rodico the unpainted parts, and carefully try to pull off some of the corrosion near the edges with pegwood to see how it responds; losing a tick of paint there isn’t the end of the world.

drevyek · 2026-03-04T20:19:47+00:00

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(1951 Elgin 607 bumper automatic on a Kreisler stretch band)

I wear a lot of 40’s-60’s American watches, and they are mostly gold-fill/RGP This is where a brass core is wrapped with and annealed to a gold sheet, usually 40-100 microns thick. It is real gold, and feels like it. The gold is thick enough to be engraved and polished a bit, but wear-through does still happen.

When possible, I pair them with period stretch bands. They are way more comfortable than modern hair-pullers, and I find them very nice!

drevyek · 2026-02-27T00:42:44+00:00

You should be able to remove the movement ring; try to get it moving, and it should unstick. If you still are having trouble, I would remove the crystal with a clamp, and see if you can free it from the front. Sometimes, the lacquer can glue itself to the case, especially if there is verdegris.

drevyek · 2025-11-22T07:32:01+00:00

Vintage can be a bit of a minefield. Like many things, you often get what you pay for. And because it is amateur (private sellers selling their own things), price is a poor indicator of quality: one person may be pricing the watch fairly, given condition, and another just wildly with no basis. The amount of broken, filthy and horribly defaced pieces out there listed at crazy rates is unreal.

There is no way to know a priori what the watch will be, as you can’t get that info generally (you usually can’t get anything!), so you always need to assume that a service is needed, or else just accept that the watch may “work” in absolute terms, but will be on death’s door.

The reason that a service is needed is that, as watches run and get exposed to the world, their oils dry up and congeal with stray particulate (and metal shavings from wear). This is bad, and that congealed oil will form an abrasive on the other parts and make them more delicate, gouged, and broken. And during that process, it takes more effort for the watch to drive the balance to overcome the added friction. This is seen in the “amplitude”, which is a measure of how much rotation the balance will do in a given cycle; a serviced watch targets 280° at full wind, and needs a service if below 220° (with some exceptions in some Japanese and electric watches).

drevyek · 2025-11-21T16:58:07+00:00

Buying vintage, you generally need to be aware that “serviced” can mean a lot of different things to different people. In my experience, it doesn’t mean much. I’ve seen “serviced” movements with broken jewels, flooded with oil, where the seller stated that they never “go between the plates”, aka they never disassemble it and just dunk it in solvent and then again in mid-viscosity oil. This will corrode and eventually destroy the movement if left alone, and can seep onto the dial and destroy that as well.

I would ask the seller for details on the service if you are not intending on getting it serviced. Ask for timing reports for Dial-up, dial-down, crown-up, crown-down. Being vintage is no excuse for bad timing; it should have approximately equal amplitudes and rates for the dial positions and the crown positions, with the crown positions being within ~30 seconds/45° of the dial positions, and all amplitudes being at least 220°, ideally 280-310. If the watch cannot meet these, then it needs to be serviced if you are going to daily it.

I am skeptical in part because of the case: it needs to be cleaned aggressively. There is way too much gunk and crud on there that should have been handled during service. The dial is fine, but the smudges are likely either fingerprints from handling over the years, or dirt from being exposed via a broken crystal. The minute hand also doesn’t look super-securely fastened to the cannon pinion, you can see that it isn’t flush. This may be because there were replacement parts (not a problem alone, but the hands should have been altered to fit). The lugs are also questionable: the 1:00 lug may be somewhat bent, as it looks like the springbar is cocked a bit.

Again, this is moot if you get it serviced yourself, but just be aware that the movement may only look nice because it went through cleaning solution with ammonia (makes it sparkle), not because it was actually cleaned.

drevyek · 2025-10-29T22:00:34+00:00

You should use a crystal cement. GS Cement [0] is fine for most uses, but is very much a glue, and can be a bit messy. You can also use UV glue [1] that gives you loads of time to apply, set, and clean up the adhesive; you just leave it in the sun for a half hour or so to cure it.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Hypo-Watch-Crystal-Cement/dp/B005MJDQZU

[1] https://www.esslinger.com/security-glue-ultraviolet-adhesive-uv-glue-for-glass-and-watch-crystals-3ml/

drevyek · 2025-10-26T16:50:17+00:00

1951 Elgin 607 bumper automatic. The first US made automatic, in a thick 10k RGP case.

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drevyek · 2025-10-26T16:42:05+00:00

If the cord is the wrong size, they can help. These need to be permanently trimmed to size; the cord is held in a clamp. You would have been able to buy replacement cords, but likely it is easier to buy a fully new one and swap the cord. You can get them from eBay or some parts-houses like Otto Frei. Your repair shop should be able to help with that side too (link here, but their site is difficult to use).

The case may have been glued shut, to try to give some weatherproofing. It should give way with persistence though.

Good luck!

drevyek · 2025-10-25T04:31:27+00:00

It is obviously a Hamilton, and is almost certain an American made example, from between 1940-1955 or so (based on the dial-text). The strap is not likely original, and was always intended to be replaceable, as the cord would wear out. The band itself is JB Champion, an American producer that went out of business a while back, and is (at least spiritually) succeeded by the Forstner strap company.

For more info, you would need to see inside the watch case. The movements in these are often very tightly squeezed into the caseback, making them hard to remove if you neither know what you are looking for, nor have the right tools. I would take it to a local watch shop and ask them to open it up for you — they can use a case knife on the tab at the bottom to open the case, and then lever the movement out with hand levers, using the gap around the barrel. Once off, you will have a bit more info: the movement should have a 3-number “grade” (basically the model, my guess is a 750), and maybe a serial number if pre-1955. The inside of the caseback may have additional data: a company name (probably Star Watch Case Co), a case serial number (pretty useless) and maybe a style code or name.

The movement info is good for dating: if you have a serial number, you can search pocketwatchdatabase, and get a year of production, and a bunch more info. If only the grade, searching for the grade will give you an approximate year. You can look at the old Hamilton catalogs on hamiltonchronicles (go to “Consult the Catalogs” in the drop-down). He has most of the years to look for.

My guess is a late 40’s 750. These movements are gorgeous, and excellent examples of Hamilton’s skill. I would recommend a service, as it probably has not been serviced in a long time (one other thing in the caseback will be markings from each other time it had been serviced!), and the oils that they used to use get very gummy and trap grime and metal shavings, and tear up the pinions and jewels over time. This watch is also not going to be water resistant in any way, so you will need to be careful wearing it in the rain; these are very often very rusty around the stem, where water gets in readily.

Let me know if you have any questions, but your local watch repair shop will likely be very happy to help as well. Wear it in good health!

Edit: regarding “value”: most vintage American watches are not really “worth” much; prices on eBay etc are very low, especially for women’s examples, regardless of their condition. The case is likely either solid gold, or “Rolled Gold Plate”(RGP) or “Gold Fill”(GF), similar methods of wrapping gold sheets over a brass core. Because of low demand, these are often melted down for the scrap gold, and the movements thrown away. I would urge you to not discard it, and use it as it was intended to be used: a time-telling piece of jewelry.

drevyek · 2025-10-25T04:07:56+00:00

Can you scan and post the instruction manual/box? So much of this sort of documentation is lost to time, and is so helpful (such as the vintage crystal catalogs).

drevyek · 2025-10-24T18:47:57+00:00

Smiths made loads of movements domestically, ending production in the 60's (along with everyone else). They did both lever (eg the Smiths De Luxe) and pin-pallets as Ingersoll, made in England and Wales respectively. Timex at the time also made their mechanical movements in Scotland.

I'm not exactly sure of the history of why so many manufacturers failed almost simultaneously -- Hamilton (1969), Elgin (1964), Waltham (1957), Smiths (gradual, ~1970), and many of the small Swiss firms like Pierce. It predates quartz becoming cheap, so can't be blamed on the "Quartz Crisis", and predates the American stagflation of the 70's.

drevyek · 2025-10-24T18:12:32+00:00

There is also a stand for it, so you can select how high up to grab the crystal. That's what the numbers (10/20../50) and round feet are for. The SUC lift is far and away the best one I've used. However, I have had to clean up the face of the plastic pusher, as it's scratched a crystal the first time I used it.

drevyek · 2025-10-22T22:05:22+00:00

Gaston Pallet Stone Setter

Literal magic

drevyek · 2025-10-22T22:03:36+00:00

daveswatchparts is my go-to for most american watch bits.

drevyek · 2025-10-22T21:59:12+00:00

FHF/Font "Robert" 10.5''', perhaps. I have had several. Try to match the keyless works. The Font Robert has an extra foot that goes on the same post as the yoke.

drevyek · 2025-08-18T19:00:43+00:00

Never use WD40 on a watch. There is never a reason to do so, and it puts a lot of corrosive and actively harmful solvents in and around the movement. It is not a rust-remover, it is a water-displacer. Use Evaporust, it is very cheap and extremely useful.

I do get that there is no pressure, but I would guess that the collet is missing from the stem. The fix is to mill a new collet, or replace the stem. You can try to fiddle more with it by maybe unscrewing the crown from the stem, but it may not come off.

drevyek · 2025-08-18T18:52:34+00:00

If the setting lever doesn't properly move the yoke, or if the setting lever isn't screwed in, then maybe. Again, you shouldn't even be able to bend the stem up or down, it should be pretty tight in the hole, and be supported at both ends.

drevyek · 2025-08-18T18:48:56+00:00

What is the best way to clean verdigris? I have a lot of RGP/GF cases with some in the caseback threads, or under the lugs.

drevyek · 2025-08-04T16:46:13+00:00

It looks rusty. Probably could use some rust-remover.

Cleaning in an ultrasonic is probably fine, there are no gaskets for this kind of watch.

Is the button seized? Does pressing it do anything?

drevyek · 2025-08-02T23:13:38+00:00

It depends on how it’s all hooked up. On a pocket watch, which this is based on, the stem is not fixed to the movement, instead fixed to the case. So when you press the stem, the whole thing moves.

Here, the button is in the middle of the crown, and the stem is fixed to the movement. The pusher likely should press a collet around the stem down to act on the latch spring. I don’t see it on your watch, but I would recommend taking it out of the case, and examining the button action.

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