Watch Movement Cufflinks - Part 2

These cufflinks give me a sense of pride. A pride knowing that I probably have the most extensive collection of watch movement cufflinks.

Call me obsessed but when I embark on a collection, I embark on a collection… I take time and pains to search and suss out the different kinds of watch movement cufflinks. Here is part 2 of the coverage. You can find part 1 here.

This Seiko movement cufflink is mounted onto a cufflink blank but unfortunately, one was badly scratched. I guess I have to find a way to polish that off.

A pair of Gruen minus the barrels.

A non matching pair of Wyler and Bulova movements mounted on a special plate.

A P43 Belmar Calibre plus a Camy movement.

A pair of matching Macy movements mounted on a rectangular plate.

A matching pair of Benrus movements with the attached crown.

Did you know Sears made mechanical watches? Look at the cufflink on the left. It says Sears Roebuck & Co.

Couldn't figure out this one… but unusual nonetheless.

And a Miyota quartz movement.

And finally a pair of non-matching Olympic Watch Co., and Allemann & Gisiger. Never heard of either watch companies but they use similar movements.

The next thing I need to be doing is to find ways to polish and restore some of these back to its old glory. Have to figure a way to do that.

Pasarbella GTG - Monster Time!

The gang got together for another meal and to share our hobby for watches. This time around, we ended up in Turf City Pasarbella Mara Shabu Restaurant.

The Shabu Shabu Restaurant is at the far end of Pasarbella.

They had arranged their table to accommodate us 20 pax ensuring we have a nice cosy and private corner.

First up was the Spanish Suckling Pig seen here still in the oven...

The Spanish Suckling Pig is from another stall in Pasarbella and the Argentinian chef told us he had oven baked it just in time for our GTG at 6.30pm.

The shabu shabu came in three soup base - mara (numbing spicy), shabu and sukiyaki. Featured here is the sukiyaki.

And the mara and shabu comes in a ying-yang pot. Meat consists of beef, chicken, pork shoulder, pork belly, tofu etc. My favorite was the udon noodles cooked in the mara soup base - thanks to Larry who discovered this combo.

Dinner started promptly at 6.45pm… too hungry to wait for everyone so since this was a buffet, go help yourselves!

Guys chatting over food and drinks.

Plenty of food to go around and plenty of conversation - guys catching up.

Theme was simple - any Seiko and any watch that tells time differently. So we had a few Seiko Monsters including a Snow Monster, two very interesting Hautlence Jumping hours and many more interesting pieces. Table shot of watches on display.

How often does one see two Hautlence coming together?

In fact you would have seen two Seiko with enamel dial but alas, someone fell sick but I have this wonderful shot of the watch.

Then of course the Monsters… and the Tunas

And probably the Monster of the Night - The Snow Monster...

And another Seiko - the Laurel

Then comes the unusual pieces… Jumping hours, Regulateur Dials, Dead Beat Seconds, Carousel/Tourbillon, Double Split Chrono, Single Handed... Can you spot the Goldpfeil Vincent Calabrese?

First, a rather rare Swatch Diaphane One carousel watch.

And a two week old Habring Pilot DBS.

A single handed Luch from Belarus

A not so often seen IWC pocket watch

A Lange Double Split Chrono

And a PuristPro watch

The gang stayed on chatting while others were busy exploring the watches.

And all too soon it was already ten at night. Three and a half hours of great conversation around food and watches - what more can you ask for?

Lange Pocket Watch - A 1908 Gem

The things one find in a hidden store somewhere in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong. I like walking into these small shops not expecting anything but coming out impressed by what you find. Such is the story of my Lange pocket watch.

I was waiting for a friend to pick me up at the Hotel Nikko along Mody Road and I thought since I had another half an hour that I would walk into one of the shopping centers to explore. Perched on the 2nd floor and one corner of the shopping centre (can't remember the name) was this shop displaying several vintage watches. The owner saw me standing at the window display and buzzed me in. What first caught my eyes was a fully dis-assembled Lange & Sohne pocket watch movement.

Pristine condition and definitely well kept. Wilson, the shop owner told me the case was sent for polishing. I expressed my interest and left my contact. A few weeks later as promised, Wilson sent me an email and told me the pocket watch was ready and that he wanted to sell it. I sought the advice of Manfred in AL&S HK and he told me it looked authentic - good enough for me. So I bought it!

I had a friend Stefan pick it up and he brought it back for me. And wow! What a beauty! The enamel dial is in pristine condition. Slightly aged but in great condition. The Louis-XV hands are also in good condition considering the age.

The case as Wilson had explained was well restored and polished to the point of brand new. The rose gold case was restored to its former glory. Unblemished and without engraving. Its a double hunter case.

And the movement, well it is in great condition. The movement measures 41mm and is what they consider a "flat design".

I had sent the pictures to the Lange Manufactory and applied for its archive papers. Based on the serial number, Lange says the watch was sold to a company (presumably retailer) in Frankfurt in 1908. Certificate says it is a Calibre 41 movement & the manufacturer is A. Lange & Sohne, Glashutte.

Thanks to my good friend Prof Harry Tan for for this image.

So the next time you have time on your hands, take a walk into one of those old shopping centers in Hong Kong. You may not know what you will find.