Always nice to bump into another WIS

Its always nice to step out at night and unwind over a few drinks with friends after a busy day at work, and thats exactly what we did last week. Bio and I decided to meet up with a few friends and headed to this really nice rooftop lounge called 'Aer'. Its a beautiful place overlooking the southern part of the city.


I was telling Bio that so far, I had spotted 3 Rolex watches already - 2 Subs and a TT GMT Master II. Just then Bio told me that he thought that a friend of a friend was wearing an Omega. The bracelet definitely looked like an Omega, but I couldn't get a good look at the watch. Eventually Bio just asked him if it was a Speedmaster he had on and indeed it was!
Two mins into the conversation, we got to know that the guy was into watches and had a Rolex (didn't say the model), Chopard Mille Miglia, a Longines and a vintage Zenith (again, he didn't specify the models). Its always nice to see a nice watch in the wild and even better to talk to someone who is into them. He promised us he would wear his vintage Zenith the next time we meet. All in all, it was a nice night and we ended up staying there till it was time for the place to close for the night.

A lot of spotting lately

Not too long ago, whenever someone asked in a forum, the watches you've spotted in the wild, I replied with my usual spotting of fashion brands. I remember when I went to Singapore, I was blown away by the number of high end watches people were sporting and wondered if I could ever see that in India. Well, this past month has been pretty good! So far, Bio and I spotted an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, Rolex Sub 16610, Rolex TT GMT Master II, Rolex Airking, Omega Speedmaster and a few TAG Heuer F1s. Also, my Sub was spotted by another person while I was at liquor store. "That's a decent watch you have there", were his exact words just before he left, which unfortunately didn't give me enough time to have a look at his watch. Another WIS maybe?

Its been a while

Apologies to all the followers/visitors of this blog as its been a while since we last posted here, but its really been hectic for us with our work and all, but we'll try not to let that get in the way. The title however refers to my situation in the sense thats its been a long time since I bought a new watch for myself :(
When I bought my grail - the Sub, last year, I thought that with some determination, I could get my next grail ( the first watch that I truly fell in love with) - the TAG Heuer Carrera chrono.

I've always dreamed of owning this watch and promised myself that this will be the watch I buy next. Its been a while now and I don't see myself coming close to owning one in the near future. I'm really thinking of buying a couple of affordables to keep me going till then. I constantly find myself browsing the sales pages on different forums and almost pulling the trigger on few of them.

Currently I'm thinking of buying a couple of Vostok Komandirskie.

(image taken from vostok-watches.com)

Maybe I can also get a few NATO straps and swap them every now and then.

Its back!!

Many years ago, an Italian guy had rented a small cottage that belonged to my grandfather. When the time came for him to go back to Italy, he ran short of cash to pay the rent for the past few months and asked my granddad if he'd accept his gold Omega (Cal. 320) watch instead. My grandfather initially declined telling him not to worry about the rent and to keep his watch, but the Italian requested him to take the watch as he didn't feel right about not paying, and eventually my grandfather had to accept it.
My grandfather then gave the watch to my dad, who wore it for a few year in college. It had then been sent in for servicing to a local watch maker (there was no Omega service centers here back then) who turned out to be not at all competent and messed up the movement. It stopped running and was put into a safe in the bank, forgotten over the years.
Last year, after me and Bio got into watches, my Dad remembered the watch and told us about it. We finally managed to persuade him to go back to our hometown and bring the watch to us so we could have a look at it. It was beautiful and didn't deserve to be lying unused in a safe.
I'm really pleased to say that Bio and I finally managed to get it serviced and cleaned up from a local watchmaker we discovered recently (Singapore Watch Repair). They have done a pretty neat job and brought life back into the vintage beauty. Since the original gold strap was now small for my dad's wrist, we replaced it with a dark brown leather band with a golden buckle.
My dad couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the watch - working again and back on his wrist after so many years. He had totally given up hope on it after that watchmaker ruined it. This is why you have to love mechanical watches!

So excited!!

My dad has a vintage Omega Cal. 320 which really needed to be repaired as some idiot watchmaker had screwed the movement a long time ago. We had first sent it to the Omega servicing center in the city but they just returned it saying they don't have the parts required to fix it.
Last week, I had come across an ad for a place called "Singapore Watch Company" in my city and they mentioned that they specialize in repairing/servicing old vintage watches. So Bio and I thought we'd give them a shot at fixing it. I just got a call from them saying that the watch is ready to be picked up. We are really hoping they have done a good job at it. We can't wait to surprise our dad!!
Keeping my fingers crossed!

Time to get a lil serious

Just enrolled for the Time Zone Watch School Level 1 course. This course features an introduction to watch repairing and covers the basics of disassemble and re-assembly of the movement. You can read more about it here. I'll post a review of the course once I've completed it. In the meantime, I've also ordered the book Practical Watch Repairing, which should be on its way to me.

Can't wait to get started!

Got a little dust under the crystal?

In that case, you need the right tools!
A fellow WIS had a little dust under the crystal of one of his HMT watches, and asked me if I knew anything about how to fix it.
I have opened a HMT watch before to clean the inside of the crystal, so I sort of know the process. Below is a crude step by step process on how I went about doing it.

Note 1: I am in no way an expert regarding this topic and I do this only with my cheaper, beater watches. So anyone trying this, should do so at their own risk
Note 2: I have a press fit tool to snap the case back shut, but I've been successful with just my bare hands in the past. However, while using your hands, be very careful not to put pressure on the crystal, rather than the case.









I apologise, in advance, to any experienced watchmakers/repairers in advance, if I'm doing it incorrectly and would love to have any advice from them, on how to do it right.