Post by ausimax on Dec 1, 2015 22:34:45 GMT -8
Have just serviced my Wife's Mothers old Titan watch with an AS665 movement, and as one of the much vaunted Swiss made watches I was unimpressed with the finish of the main plate, whilst I was scraping off the old congealed oil and dust with pegwood there were shards of metal coming off the edges of the milling, in the photo you can see the "wire" edge around all the milling.
That said it was still able to run after 75 years so it wasn't all bad, I don't know if it had ever been serviced, there were no watchmakers marks in the case back.
Has rather an interesting history this watch, Wife's Father served in New Guinea from 1942 to 45 and he sent the watch home to his wife and at different times other items, he sent them in pieces of timber he had drilled a hole in then plugged up the hole. His wife wondered what the bits of timber was for but figured they must have some significance, so she spent the rest of the war polishing these blocks of wood.
If he hadn't made it back they would probably ended up in the tip undiscovered at some time.
Other interesting point, how did he acquire a watch that wasn't manufactured until 1940 in the South Pacific during the War? Second question how could he afford it? Australian soldiers were poorly paid during the war and most of their 5 shillings a day was allocated to their wives & family.
My guess as to origin would be the American PX system, how did he afford it? Well the Aussie Soldiers were also very short of food and the American forces would not share any of their abundant supplies, so during Jap air raids when the Yanks took to their trenches the Aussies took to liberated their supplies. wonder if they locked the PX?
Max
That said it was still able to run after 75 years so it wasn't all bad, I don't know if it had ever been serviced, there were no watchmakers marks in the case back.
Has rather an interesting history this watch, Wife's Father served in New Guinea from 1942 to 45 and he sent the watch home to his wife and at different times other items, he sent them in pieces of timber he had drilled a hole in then plugged up the hole. His wife wondered what the bits of timber was for but figured they must have some significance, so she spent the rest of the war polishing these blocks of wood.
If he hadn't made it back they would probably ended up in the tip undiscovered at some time.
Other interesting point, how did he acquire a watch that wasn't manufactured until 1940 in the South Pacific during the War? Second question how could he afford it? Australian soldiers were poorly paid during the war and most of their 5 shillings a day was allocated to their wives & family.
My guess as to origin would be the American PX system, how did he afford it? Well the Aussie Soldiers were also very short of food and the American forces would not share any of their abundant supplies, so during Jap air raids when the Yanks took to their trenches the Aussies took to liberated their supplies. wonder if they locked the PX?
Max