"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

I loved my Vostok/Boctor watch, it kept time as good as a rolex and was a hand wind. It is the AK47 of watches: dirt cheap ($45 including shipping from Russia), bomb proof, and while not the most accurate it works. I busted mine when the strap had broken off, unbeknownst to me, and I accidentally flung it into the concrete, bending the ear that holds the strap holding bar.
For now I wear G Shocks, as they have some nice features, I dont have to take them off when I skateboard for fear of landing on and breaking them, and they hold up well. One has been going for 6 years on the same battery. I do like my Swiss Army watch, it keeps near perfect time and looks good. I just need a new band.

Also thought you folks would be interested in my latest project, a customized tool box for taking with me when I work with my dad or on houses in general. No machinists tools or a lot of specialty tools, just storage for everything I use regularly in carpentry plus spares, odds and ends that are sometimes needed, and a few other things.

Heres one divider sitting in place.

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Here is the pencil, sharpie, and diamond sharpener holder. I gotta drill the last row of holes and sew and glue the canvas on.

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Here's a layout of the acrylic dividers, that still need to be skeletonized and cut down for easy acces to tools. The long thin slot on the left holds my flat bar and finish hammer, the slot on the right is for general stuff like screwdrivers, boxes of fasteners, a dust brush maybe, and other stuff that can be safe while loose. The space at the end is for measuring and marking tools. On the lid I will store a custom saw I'm making, with a nice old Disston tote on a modern blade made to handle modern materials like plywood. I'll also store my float file in an old filet knife sheath, combination square in a holster I'm making out of a WW2 era Russian helmet's leather liner, and some other things.

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Connor
 
I do enjoy watches myself, although, I have to be honest, I see watches as a tool to tell time, but also as one of the very few accessories for men (in the fashion sense of the world). Which means, it needs to keep time, but it has to please my eye and my wrist, otherwise I won't wear it.
I have a weird habit with watches: I take it off when I'm home, when I'm at the beach, and when I'm working (I have one of those cheap pocket/lanyard chronographs in my scrubs), so basically it's something I only wear when I go out. I might get a new one soon (I'd like something with a white or silver display and metal bracelet...we'll see :p).
For some reasons, I guess watches are a natural off-topic conversation theme on the porch :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
I miss winding my watch. :( I used to wear the drugstore Timex kind that would work well for a few years, and cost far more to repair than replace. They just don't make the mechanical watches that cheap anymore.

Now that so many folks have the time on their smartphones, it's like we've gone back to the days of pulling out a pocket watch to check the time. It seems less rude to surreptitiously glance at a wristwatch. ;)
 
My ex boss has an Omega megabuck. It requires periodic servicing which involves sending it away and more cost than most of the casio watches I have ever owned put together. That to me is a ripoff.You pay big money for something that is meant to be quality and reliable yet reqiures constant regular outlay to maintain. Long story short- this ancient rhyme attributed Meakodotus c 435BC
pretty much sums it up-
"When the sun shines high,Lunch is nigh.
If its starry and black,Hit the sack."
 
r8shell said:
I miss winding my watch. :( I used to wear the drugstore Timex kind that would work well for a few years, and cost far more to repair than replace. They just don't make the mechanical watches that cheap anymore.

Now that so many folks have the time on their smartphones, it's like we've gone back to the days of pulling out a pocket watch to check the time. It seems less rude to surreptitiously glance at a wristwatch. ;)
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sure they do, china automatics are windable and quite cheap. but theres a lot of discussion on that. i love winding my watches. my collection of watches extends from pocketwatches to wrist watches and if i could, id carry my pocketwatches more often. i wish some of my automatic wrist watches were windable, but then thats what the hamilton and steinhart are for. it would be easier cause my seikos dont wind, but i refuse to spend the big money for Grand Seikos
 
Speaking of timex, I found one in the leaves a few years ago with a cracked crystal, water drops inside the face, and dirt everywhere. I wound it up and ended up using it for about 5 months with no problems.

Connor
 
For the last few years I just buy one of the ten dollar wall mart digital watches and tear the band off and carry the face in my pocket along with my keys and knife. If I lose it, no big deal.

I do love nice pocket watches though!
 
I have been collecting Smiths watches for years now, had a lot of bad surprises, and some good too, best instance is this basic (5 jewels) and modest Empire ticks like a tractor and is accurate, loosing less than 2" a week!

I sold a lot since I am into blades, but there's a few I will keep for sheer pleasure and as gifts for my grandchildren when comes the time.

Empire-1.jpg
 
Cool pic JP. I have a couple of Smiths pocket watches, in addition to my grandfather's wrist watch, but they are only cheap ones.
 
meako said:
My ex boss has an Omega megabuck. It requires periodic servicing which involves sending it away and more cost than most of the casio watches I have ever owned put together. That to me is a ripoff.You pay big money for something that is meant to be quality and reliable yet reqiures constant regular outlay to maintain. Long story short- this ancient rhyme attributed Meakodotus c 435BC
pretty much sums it up-
"When the sun shines high,Lunch is nigh.
If its starry and black,Hit the sack."
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I get time-only handwinds serviced locally for $55 and automatic time-only watches serviced for $65. Find a local or near local competent watchmaker and don't take it to a retail shop. The retail shop is likely just farming it out to the local watchmaker and charging you double what he charges the shop.
 
leghog said:
That's just like saying the less you change the oil in an automobile, the better it is for it. The lube in a mechanical watch movement gets junked up too thus mechanical watches need to be serviced (cleaned and lubed) too. Every 5 to 7 years is best.
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Sort of yes and no. I can at a pinch change my own oil in the car but I don't fancy tampering with watches. The main problem is finding somebody at all competent to service old watches these days, hard it is where I live anyway. Jewellers (they're not, just retailers usually) just send items on to others and you can pay through the nose. Moreover, some of my friends have had disappointing experience with 'servicing' of watches, hence my scepticism.

Rachel's point about people lugging phones (often rather big i-phones these days) out of their pockets to look at the time being like going back to pocket watches is ironically funny, and true. Pocket-watches look nice, have a fascination and aura but I've never viewed them as anything else than quaint museum pieces, practical they're not, and they can get damaged or contaminated rather easily.

But then, a lot of people might view my liking for Traditional knives as being nothing more than a museum study in escapist nostalgia...:eek::eek: I wouldn't mind :D:thumbup:
 
Jack Black said:
Cool pic JP. I have a couple of Smiths pocket watches, in addition to my grandfather's wrist watch, but they are only cheap ones.
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Thank you. I got several pocket watch, , this was the reward for the "Man of the year" when I was secretary of the Rover (+Daimler/Armstrong-siddeley/Jensen) club here. They had such a loud tick!

edit : that mean not that I was often the man of the year, just that I collected and gave the watch! :)
 
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I know this is the wrong section to ask in, but we are in the lounge and you fellows seem to be knowledgeable about watches. I bought my Seiko Black Monster from a reputable online watch dealer. I had seen the same watch in the jewelry store for about $450, this store had it for about $180. This watch was non returnable, but they would honor any warranty work (just send it in to Seiko). I was talking with a knife dealer/watch repair guy at a knife show a couple years ago, and he said it was a possibility that the watch in question had a Chinese movement instead of a Japanese one. Looking at the watch, it says Malaysian movement. I still need to send the watch in to be recalibrated, it keeps time within a couple minutes, but either ends up running too fast or a little slow. Much nicer than the Casio or Freestyle watches I used to wear though.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I know this is the wrong section to ask in, but we are in the lounge and you fellows seem to be knowledgeable about watches. I bought my Seiko Black Monster from a reputable online watch dealer. I had seen the same watch in the jewelry store for about $450, this store had it for about $180. This watch was non returnable, but they would honor any warranty work (just send it in to Seiko). I was talking with a knife dealer/watch repair guy at a knife show a couple years ago, and he said it was a possibility that the watch in question had a Chinese movement instead of a Japanese one. Looking at the watch, it says Malaysian movement. I still need to send the watch in to be recalibrated, it keeps time within a couple minutes, but either ends up running too fast or a little slow. Much nicer than the Casio or Freestyle watches I used to wear though.
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The thing about seiko watches is, there is a Malaysian branch signified by the K on the model, and that k refers to that part of Asia, they have a few factories. The models with the J represent Japan made. For example the SKX007K2, is a watch i bought on the bay from skywatches, and it was around $140. The same model from japan, skx007J2, would be around $200. In the watch world, some argue they are mostly the same. Seiko standards for the factories are very high. But because of where they are made, the costs are different. Then you will have the seikos made for the USA/north american market, and they are marketed under a different designation code. Ive been eying a seiko baby monster thats around $135 ish, but as i buy more watches, i realize the sweet spot for me is around 40mm case diameter. have been trying to offload most of my 42mm on the watch forums. hope this explains a little

this may explain it better http://forums.watchuseek.com/f281/c...iver-variants-skx007-its-siblings-191450.html
 
Id love to own one of the Grand Seikos myself but your right there way to expensive. Even the pre owned ones cost a pretty penny. I have a Bulova Marine Star that I bought 6 years ago and it still works great but I have noticed I need to fix the time a little more often then when I bought it. That's to be expected were I didnt get it clabrated yet lol I guess its over do lol.
 
t.willy said:
Id love to own one of the Grand Seikos myself but your right there way to expensive. Even the pre owned ones cost a pretty penny. I have a Bulova Marine Star that I bought 6 years ago and it still works great but I have noticed I need to fix the time a little more often then when I bought it. That's to be expected were I didnt get it clabrated yet lol I guess its over do lol.
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grand seiko, too rich for my blood as well
 
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