More 1930s Art Deco Designs Vintage Watches

Hi watch collectors,


Here are some of the Designs of watches during the 1930s era, watch the case, the dial and numerals.

The most obvious is the second hand at six. Hope you learn something today.

The good, the bad and the ugly of Replica Rolex

Hi Watch Collectors,

As promised, something for you to learn about replicas. In this case Rolex Replicas.

The Good - I meant characteristics of the replica is so close to the real one. In term of weight and exterior features. The technology is so good now that it is hard to tell the difference for the naked eyes. Only when inspecting the movements inside that everything is revealed. Even the good replicas has various price ranges, lower price for china movements and higher price for swiss movements.


They even come with sticker behind, Rolex crown, boxes and papers all sold separately. It is really unbelievable, that is one reason why I do not collect beyond 1965 watches.

The Bad - This is a bad copy of the late 1960s, on exterior, it looks like a genuine vintage rolex but minus the "Swiss Made" on the dial.

The behind has looks normal but the crown is worn out, so cannot determine the authencity and only on inspecting the movement inside, you can find dual movements of swiss roamer watches.

The Ugly - you can tell it is a fake on first sight. The weight is light, the finishes is unprofessional.

The crown is another tell tale sign and once again, the finishes behind is unprofessional.

I do not encourage people for buying fake, it is against any business and ethically is wrong. Why do you buy a genuine watch, you are supporting the business who will continue to research, design and deliver quality products. You feel good in wearing a genuine branded watch because ethically you know you are doing the right thing. It will be embarassing if someone spotted you wearing a fake or even suspecting you wearing a fake. You can resell a real piece and prices will even increase or pawn it if you are short of money. The best reason, you can past it to your next generation as treasure piece of heirloom. Hope you learn something today.

Swinging 1970s Colourful Dial Watches

Hi Watch Collectors,

You might come across and now the fashion is back for the 1970s big, chunky, colourful and funky......groovyyyyyyyyyyy type of watch.


Digging through my boxes of watches, I have quickly picked a few to show you. Hope you learn something about watches from the 70s, ask your parents for their watches. Ask them about the swinging 70s while you are at it.


Here they are, presenting brands like Seiko, Citizen, Orient and FC Johns (Swiss). Go get em, tigers......ahemmmmm watch collectors.

1960s Swiss Gents Watch, Common but yet Rare

Hi Watch Collectors,

Here is a rare find some years ago, on appearance, it looks like a common 1960s Swiss Gents Watch but on looking behind, you realise a serial number D122. This a a military issued watch and SAR signature stands for "Search and Rescue", meaning for the SAR team. So the lesson here is do not write off a common watch.

Before and After Restoration of Oris

Hi Watch Collectors,

Here is a piece of 1950s Oris gents swiss watch, I got back from the service of the retired watchmaker. The watch was not moving initially and external condition was shown in the diagram below.


Before Restoration

The diagram shown below is after restoration. A picture tells a thousand words and the watch is now keeping its time well. The cost is a fifth of the so called service centres or watch dealers. Some service centres wanted from $200 to $400 dollars to service the watch. Some reasons given by them, no spare part in Singapore, have to order from Switzerland or the watch had to be sent to Switzerland for service. Well, the below is the proof for a job, can be done at a fraction of the cost.

After Restoration

History of Pocket Watches

Hi Watch Collectors,

Today, I will show you some of my pocket watches. I have collected hundreds them, over the years and I hope you will learn something from these lots.

The piece shown below is a key winder which is typical of a pocket in the 1900s. This is a solid silver case with British Hallmark of the case.

The piece below is a 9K Rolled Pink Gold Pocket Watch. This watch is typical of the 1910s to 1920s.

The piece below is an Omega Open face Pocket Watch. It is a 1920s era pocket watch in Solid Nickel Case.

The final piece but not the last piece in my collections, is a Waltham Open Pocket Watch in 10K Rolled Pink Gold.

The last picture of some Pocket Watches that I put on a display case.

Pocket Watch established the era of 1900s, of cause, there are earlier versions of pocket watch with butterfly balance (beautiful and rare). I only have a couple in the bank vault. Gentlemen used pocket watch during the 1900s up to 1920s and when wristwatch was invented, that spelled the end of pocket watch. The word pocket watch meant the watch was meant to be kept in the pocket. It is held with a chain, the chain can be either solid gold, rolled gold,silver or nickel. The pocket watch case comes in various metal both precious and non-precious. They are in Solid Gold, Silver, Rolled Gold, Nickel and last gun metal. The Solid Gold and Silver are used for formal situation while the nickel and gun metal are for your day to day activities. There are also smaller version of pocket watches for Ladies and their cases are usually more elaborated with designs.

Something for the Ladies..........to learn

Couple of pieces of 1930s Vintage Swiss Ladies.........

Circa 1930s, Solid Pink Gold with inlay Mother of Pearl with matching Rolled Pink Gold strap. (Rolled Gold meaning two sheets of gold press onto a brass base metal to make it last longer and tougher). Today, you have gold plated which has different thickness of plating.

Circa 1930s, Pink Solid Gold Art Deco, you can see the handcraft design on the case, typical of those Art Deco era. It has a matching pink rolled gold strap.

This is a 1960s reproduction by Bucherer of its 1910s era designs. Unfortunately, these watches are no longer with me but in some collectors' hand. Hope you learn something from this lot.

1910s WWI Solid Silver Wristwatch with Porcelaine Dial

Dear Watch Collectors,

Here is a rare piece of 1910s WWI Solid Silver Wristwatch with Porcelaine Dial.

Typical 1910s wristwatch with the rose crown of a pocket watch, the lugs are wire lugs during those era. The whole case is solid silver and the porcelaine is in good condition wth no hairline crack (rare). Usually, it is common to get hairline cracks on these porcelaine dial. The sweeping second hand is at six.

The behind of the case is in good condition and inside was a rare find. The owner of the watch with photographs of his relatives I guess. This watch is well kept after nearly 100 years old. The watch strap is original as well, from the first day that I bought it

Here is a side picture of the watch with a better view of the pocket watch rose crown.

Finally, it is hard to find a solid silver watch in the current market new model. Even if you can find a new branded silver watch, you still cannot get the hallmark of the case. The hallmark of the silver case are indicators of the silver case maker and the year of the case which was made.

I hope you learn something today.