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Welcome to my Watch Collection!

Actually, 'collection' probably is not the best term.  'Horde' is more appropriate.  What can I say?  I love watches;  wristwatches mostly, but pocketwatches too.  If you're reading this, then I'm guessing you love watches as well.
What you'll find here is not a finely organized horological paradise.  Instead, you'll find all kinds of watches in all kinds of condition on all kinds of pages. In my opinion, which is the right one, digging through metaphorical crap to find a metaphorical jewel is a whole bunch of fun.  In fact, said digging is what started all this.  I bought a bag of watches at a flea market.  Inside the bag was one particular watch I wanted, but the bag was priced so low I couldn't resist scooping it up.  When I got home and dumped the contents onto the floor, I discovered two main things:
1.  Most watches in a grab bag are crap.
2.  Watch collecting is highly addictive.  Like the Oxycontin of hobbies. 

So, many flea markets and many grab bags later, here I am, possessor of some 500+ watches.  Of all of them, only a few are ones I want to keep.  I love old, pre-1972 Timex, as well as Seiko and Caravelle (a sub-brand of Bulova).  Of course, I'm always on the lookout for interesting pieces, regardless of brand or age.  My tastes tend towards styles from the late 1930s to the early 1970s with my absolute faves somewhere around 1941 to 1950.  Something about the designs of that era really gets me going.

Initially, I started this site simply to showcase watches that I liked or intended to keep.  However. . .
With watches literally covering every available surface of my guest bedroom and more coming in at regular intervals, something must be done to thin the herd.  So, almost every watch I put on this site is for sale. For some I will post a price that I think is fair.  If a price isn't posted and you want the watch, then make me an offer.  I'm not doing this to try to get rich or make a big score.  Haggling is fine, just don't waste my time working me down to a ridiculously low price and then fail to follow through.  Conversely, I won't waste yours trying to squeeze every nickel and dime out of you.  If your offer is reasonable, then the watch is yours. 
You will, however, be responsible for any shipping charges.  I'm not a member of Congress, so my postage isn't covered by the government.  I'll send the item by whatever method you prefer;  slow and cheap by the USPS, or fast and possibly expensive by UPS.  I won't put a mark up on the postage. You pay me what I pay the deliverer.

There is, of course, one caveat, and it's a doozy. 
Only One (1, uno, une, etc.,) of my watches was new in box (N.I.B. - Hey, did you know that the Black Sabbath song N I B was so named because Ozzy and Iommi thought that Geezer Butler's goatee looked like a fountain pen nib?  True story) when I bought it.  That means it, and only it, will have any sort of documentation attesting to provenance, authenticity, servicing, and so on and so forth. If you are interested in buying a watch from me, I'll provide as many pictures and as much info about it as is humanly possible.  I'll do my dangdest to note each and every ding, nick, scratch, scrape, chip, crack, flake, missing part, non-original part, non-working part, etc, that I can find.  I emphasize this because I am not a horologist or a watch expert of any kind.  I know little about the component workings that make watches do what they do.  I'm learning, but as of now, I'm still a wide-eyed novice.
Therefore, when I write that a watch works, this simply means that when I put in a battery or wind it up, the little second hand begins to move and continues to move for a reasonable amount of time. However, if the timalogizzle has become warped, and the proprietary Clumply-pharfon wiggle drive is wound only 100,999 times instead of the usual 200,000, resulting in an unequal dispersal of tertiary boogle-backed gear spin, then you're on your own. Kapeesh?  

Caveat Emptor.

Because I enjoy learning as much about my hobbies as possible, I'll try to pass that knowledge on to the wider world.  There will be no earth-shattering revelations or revolutionary techniques unveiled here.  I'll post the information that I would want to know if I were visiting a watch-centric web site.  That means most of it will be the very basics.  I think a lot of sites assume the visitor is acquainted with the basics of horology and watch-collecting.  That assumption is incorrect.  It's maddeningly frustrating to want an answer to a very simple question, and not be able to find it.  Maybe I can help relieve some of that frustration.
There'll be fun miscellanea around here as well. For example, I have some vintage watch advertisements that are really interesting.  I'll get some scans and put 'em up on my vintage ad page under the Downloads tab if anyone wants to make a copy.  I'll make 'em as high res as possible.  I have a few older manuals and such truck that I'll upload also, though these are available at myriad sites.  Basically, I'll do whatever strikes my fancy whenever I can.
Also, I enjoy my hobbies because they are interesting and they make me happy.  Therefore, I don't take them, or myself, too seriously.  I have a wide sense of humor.  So, while I don't set out to offend anyone with my comments, I don't censor my thoughts in order to be inoffensive.  Just like the rest of humanity, I have opinions about everything.  If they don't jibe with yours, who cares?  Everything here is good-natured. So, if you get offended by something, don't complain to me.  I could not possibly care less. In fact, if you do complain, I'll only dig in and work to offend you further.
If you don't like something here, you know where the metaphorical door is.  You're free to leave at any time. It's as simple as that.   

You can email me at [email protected] with questions, comments, love letters, vulgar abuse, or six digit minimum bank transfer donations.  
Well now, I feel better.  Don't you?
Now, git and go look at my watches.     
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Benrus
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Elgin
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Bulova / Caravelle
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Fakes / Replicas
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Citizen
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Fossil
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Jules Jurgensen
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Divers
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Gruen

Isn't it a beaut'?

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This is a Junghans-World War II German U-boat Emsmann watch.
I love it.
I want one.
Bad.

If you have one, I'll trade you a grocery bag full of really neat watches, rocks, and cat hair -all chosen at my discretion - plus, I'll throw in a penny I found on the floor of a port-o-let at a Grateful Dead show that has some really crazy fungi growing on it, and a picture of some dude with a hilariously big forehead that I found on the internet.  Hard to resist, I know. Just send me the watch first, along with your address and whatnot, and I'll get your watches, rocks, hair, fungi, and poorly printed, low-res picture in the mail at some point during the next any number of years. 
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Bella

Never was so much owed by so many to so few. . .

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Click the pic to go download a copy of the Watch Grading Scale.  Magnifico.

ps.  For all the public school kids that may be reading this, the picture is of Sir Winston Churchill and the quote is from a speech he made after the British evacuation of Dunkirk during the Second World War.  I use the quote lightly, but with much respect.  His speeches during the war are examples of the perfection of the English tongue.  Put down the x-box controller and pick up a book about him.  Unlike Snoopy-Dog-doo or whatever wrassler is popular these days, he is someone worthy of admiration and emulation.