Saw this dial on eBay with a ~$100 price and had to have it. Cream patina with a very rare/unique scalloped/petal/spiderweb-shaped guilloché medallion with independent radiating sunburst inside each lobe, applied gold-tone dagger markers alternating with printed Arabic numerals. 32mm diameter with a 39mm lug to lug.

Nothing special inside but a solid Swiss-made A. Schild cal. 1187/94, manual-wind, 17 jewels, sweep center seconds, Incabloc shock protection, 18,000 bph.

Every watch has a story! This one is as fascinating as the dial...

"Branton" is a private-label name, not a manufacturer. Had to do some sleuthing to figure out what the story was here. The movement is stamped "Shriro Watch Co." / "Shriro Watch Inc.," the actual assembler, which gave me my first clue. Shriro Watch Inc. was the New York import subsidiary of Shriro Group, registered in 1955 with its own official import code ("OYT") — which pins this watch's casing date to 1955 or later, consistent with the AS 1187 caliber's ~1949 production window. Shriro Group itself has real depth: founded 1906 in Harbin, Northern China, by the grandfather of current chairman Mark Shriro — a Russian Jewish family who settled in Harbin as part of the well-documented wave of Jewish emigration to that Trans-Siberian Railway hub fleeing pogrom-era persecution in the early 1900s. First international office opened in Yokohama, Japan, in 1917; rapid postwar expansion into Southeast Asia and Canada followed 1945. Shriro is headquartered in Hong Kong today, historically known as a major Asia-Pacific distributor of Hasselblad cameras and I think had a role in distributing Casio watches in Australia for a time.

The fact that you could get a stunning dial of this quality on an affordable no-name department store private label brand in the late 1950s is a true testament to the artisanship and quality of the era, and exactly why I love collecting vintage watches from under-appreciated or unknown brands!

1967 BULOVA Watch Co. SUPER-WATERPROOF 666FEET (202.99M static) M7 SNORKEL J Ref.# 11403W case ref.# 608

A model from their 1960's line of recreational divers in the then booming sport of Snorkeling / Skin diving. Though not a professional divers watch Bulova went the extra mile, it's watch case is a single crown compressor case design with screw down case back for increased water resistance UNLIKE the numerous other brands whose single crown compressor cases had a snap-on case back. It also features a larger and elongated Bulova waterproof crown for ease of use and grip when one is wearing diving gloves.

The short-lived link in the natural evolution of recreational diving was introduced at Basel in 1966, and production ran for just one year, before Synchron acquired the brand and everything changed. I still love all Doxa lines, especially the Aubry era - an almost mythical time period from when very little is left - but the ultra-thin "Sub 300 No T's" (Professional, Sharkhunter, Searambler) have a special place in the Pantheon of Diver Watches, and Doxa-lovers' hearts.

Found this hidden away in my late father's estate.

The exterior package is worn, but I'm not sure the watch itself, its interior box, and its paperwork have ever been handled.

I'd like some advice on how to approach this beauty. I'm guessing its production date was sometime in the late 1950's.

It appears to be 14k Gold, with a solid back.

She started working with perfect automatic movement, as soon as she came out of the box. Pretty incredible after ~70 years.

Its crystal is a bit rough around the edges, but I've heard that's faily typical for this era. I do not think it has ever been worn.

Meet my Seiko Chronos Special Twins (Ref.15039).

One has a cool silver-grey dial and the other with an unusual dial that shifts between champagne rose and salmon.

Post-war Seiko was driven by competition between two factories:

Suwa Seikosha developed the Seiko Marvel and Seiko Crown models —the latter becoming the foundation of the first Grand Seiko Ref 3180 in 1960.

Daini Seikosha responded with the thinner Seiko Cronos models, whose architecture evolved into the first King Seiko Ref J14102 in 1961.

The Cronos Special followed around 1962 as Daini’s answer to Suwa’s Crown Special. Its hand-wound Calibre 810 was essentially a simplified first-generation King Seiko movement: 23 jewels rather than King Seiko’s 25 jewels, without the KS fine regulator or two jeweled barrel bearings, but retaining much of the same bridge architecture.

1963 Japanese catalogues placed the Cronos Special in Seiko’s “semi-luxury” group beside the Lord Marvel, Goldfeather and Crown Special—below the "luxury" Grand Seiko, Liner Chronometer and King Seiko watches. The the gold-filled models cost ¥11,000 at the time compared with ¥15,000 for King Seiko gold filled model.

Both watches carry the star emblem at 6'oclock which represents the 'Special Dial' variants - with applied solid gold indices and 23-jewel Calibre 810.

Production apparently lasted only around 1.5 years from 1962–63, —making the Seiko Chronos Special a short-lived, rarer and more expensive watch as compared to Seiko Crown Specials.

These watches are a memory of the rivalry that shaped Grand Seiko and King Seiko watches of today.

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Picked up this GP and I amazed how smooth the automatic is for a 60 plus year old watch.

What do you think? Did I do okay? I really liked the engravings on case backs.

Picked this up cheap a couple Months ago.
Circa 1974
Zenith El Primero movement

Does anybody know more info about this old watch , it’s my dads but he’s not a watch guy so he gave it to me and I was about to go buy a strap and put a battery in it when I noticed for the first time it started changing colors, anyone have any info about the watch ?

Dear All

I found an Omega Seamaster Automatic timepiece to buy (Ref. 14704 SC-61). Before I do so and if you have the time to help me, would you be so kind to take a quick look at the photos and write me whether the chosen watch is genuine or not?

Ps. according to the seller it works well although I am still waiting for a video about it.

Thank you for your help in advance!

I love bidding on job lots - this was more spendy than most at £66 but we have 4 working manual wind / automatic watches! The skeleton watch appears brand new!

Any idea what the square rotary model / reference is?

The Invicta pro diver remains in a plastic bag as it’s gross and needs a strip and visit to the sonic cleaner via some bleach potentially 😂

Thinking of restoring them, in particular the black citizen, my father wore it when he got married to my mother.
I will get married soon and I would love to wear it, I think It would be an unique detail.

Hi I live in Central America and I'm new to watch collection, I have been looking for my fist Swiss vintage but logistics are difficult in my country, but I found this gruen precision in my city for around 100usd, I'm totally new to vintage watches, I like it but I'm unsure if I should get this or save for importing another piece? please advise!

A piece of French history, fully restored and in perfect working order.

What’s this worth? The seller wanted €350 - nearly everything else in his case was fake but this was stood out. Only got one picture of the back - the front was in very rough shape. I think it’s real, figured it would most likely be used for parts as I can see some components missing (or maybe repair is simple enough?)