Vulcain

I am a big fan of many watch brands, but the one that I consistently seek out on eBay is a not very well known company called Vulcain. Established in 1858, they made high quality Swiss watches all through the early 20th century. They disappeared into obscurity for a while but re-emerged in 2001 with a new backer I believe. While some of their new watches are very nice (see here), I love their vintage watches the most which are often a bargain.

My first encounter with Vulcain was when I saw this watch on eBay. I had to have it, it is still probably my favourite looking watch that I own and a joy to wear. The amazing jump hour dials spin instead of having an hour and minute hand. The hour hand snaps neatly into place on the hour every hour. It has a lovely satin finish dial and is a good size watch given its age.



I also managed to pick up this Vulcain chronograph for a bargain price. I've still got to find a strap to do it justice, but I love the complicated dial with its telemeter and tachmeter in red and blue. It is in absolute mint condition for its age, certainly a very smart watch.







I also love this Vulcain Meteor, which is a good solid watch to wear day to day. It has a very elegant dial and reminds me a bit of classic Omegas, very clean and simple

Radium Dials

When the first wristwatches were being made for WW1 and WW2, it was decided that glow in the dark dials would be very useful, for obvious reasons. The new wonder substance at the time was a radioactive element called radium, as discovered by the Curies in 1898. Given the huge lack of knowledge of the effects of radiation at the time, radium was used for everything from pepping up soft drinks to bathing in for therapeutic effects.


So, by combining glue with radium, a man called William Hammer created undark, a glow in the dark paint. Hundreds of young women were hired to paint aircraft dials and watches. They used to point their paintbrush by licking it, and some even painted their teeth and fingernails for fun. This meant they ingested a huge amount of radium. Radium is a bone seeker which once ingested attached to bone material and destroys it. Suddenly, many of the women became very ill, often with jaw problems and many died from it. You can read more about this tragedy here.


There are still hundreds of thousands of radium watches out there, all still highly radioactive. The risk from wearing a radium watch is miniscule but they should be treated very carefully when opened and only professionals should try and repair / remove the paint. The danger is really only from ingesting the paint rather than the small amount of radiation that will get through the glass.

One watch in particular that I own which is still very bright is a Frankenwatch Omega. The dial, case and movement don't all quite match as the original watch but they are all Omega. The real amazing thing about this watch though is its dial, which glows exceptionally brightly, as can be seen from the photos. Lots of fun in clubs or in tunnels on the tube!

D.I.Y. Watch

I've just seen the most incredible website about a guy who hand made his own watch including the movement, dial, hands and case. He even cut his own gears! That certainly must have taken a huge amount of commitment, and puts my occasional efforts at swapping a strap or replacing a battery to shame. Superb stuff!

Mechanical versus Quartz

I often have conversations with people about my watch collection, and I invariably end up telling them that I prefer mechanical movements to quartz powered movements. Before I jump ahead of myself, I'd better explain what I mean. A movement is the "gubbins" inside a watch that make the hands turn. Traditionally they were mechanical which means that an intricate series of springs and cogs are used to drive the hands round. These used to be hand wound, by turning the crown to wind up a mainspring. Later on, automatic watches were developed which wound themselves by using a semi-circular rotor which span when your wrist moves to wind the mainspring (these were still mechanical movements though).

Later on, as electronic devices became smaller and cheaper, the quartz watch was born. Quartz, the crystal favoured by hippies everywhere, is known to oscillate (vibrate) at a frequency relative to its shape when a voltage is applied (know as the piezoelectric effect). So, counting circuits are used to count the number of vibrations in a tiny piece of quartz which has been precisely shaped for a particular frequency (often, 32 KHz or 32,000 vibrations a second). Every 32,000 counts the second hand is moved on one more second.

When I tell people I prefer mechanical watches, they often ask if that is because they more accurate. Unfortunately, that is not the case at all since generally even the best and most expensive mechanical watches will be out by 2-3 seconds per day (which to me is still a remarkable achievement) whereas a reasonable quartz watch can easily keep within 0.5 seconds a day. So for accuracy, quartz wins hands down. However, to me a mechanical watch is precision engineering at its very best. I have put some pictures of various mechanical movements I have sold over the years on this page to show how beautiful and incredible they can be. Knowing that the watch on my wrist is keeping time by using a spring together with precisely engineered cogs gives me a real sense of pride in my watch. This is even more true for mechanical watches with complications, such as chronographs, but I'll save that for another post (such as the upcoming introduction of my new Vulcain chronograph). Quartz watches are impressive in their own right, and I own several interesting examples, but for shear traditional engineering mechanical movements win hands down.

For a far more in-depth comparison of quartz and mechanical watches, check out this Timezone article.

Rolex Tudor Oyster Prince Ranger

Ask people to name a desirable watch and I am willing to bet 99% of them will say Rolex. Founded all the way back in 1905 by Hans Wildorf (in London surpisingly), Rolex has a long and distinguished history of innovation and achievement. This includes:

• Creating the first wristwatch to be awarded a chronometer certificate.
• Creating the first waterproof case (the Oyster case).
• Developing the automatic watch as we know it today with the perpetual rotor.
• The first date display on a watch, and later the first day display as well.
• Pivotal in developing the diving watches we know and love today.
• Developed the GMT complication for following multiple timezones.

This innovation combined with very strong branding and advertising has made Rolex the most recognizable premium watch brand in the world (even the purists can't argue with that!). That also makes them expensive and second hand models are still very difficult to purchase at a reasonable price.

However, for those of us with more meagre budgets, the Rolex Tudor might be what you're looking for. This is essentially a second branding from Rolex, with watches generally combining genuine Rolex parts such as the Oyster case with different (often ETA) movements. They carry a lot of the same quality without such an absurd surcharge.

I love this watch becuase while it carries the Rolex logo, it looks very understated and the black dial / numbers give it a vintage military look. It also has the famous Oyster case as shown in the picture. The only problem is it is a tiny bit small (as many men's vintage watches are) which encourages my girlfriend to wear it as much as me.