Fans of Defunct Watches

[statsman]

Defunct (discontinued watches, maybe from discontinued brands) watches I would love to have:

1. Hamilton Pacermatic- the cool style of the Hamilton electric watches, with the easy functioning Hamilton automatic movement. They only made these for a couple of years, and they run over $2k.

2. Universal Geneve Polerouter- Universal had a rep as a great watch and the Polerouter is such class.

Do y’all have any favorites? Ever dream of finding a defunct watch in a thrift store bin or estate sale? (I think I’d love a King Seiko, but I don’t know it it counts)

[El-Duderino]

Several on my radar and I’m sure I’ll get around to them eventually. Only vintage piece I currently have is a 1969 Grand Seiko Hi-Beat and not sure I want to open up the vintage floodgates.

Wittnauer Geneve Professional Chronograph:


Vintage Vulcain Cricket:


Seiko Pogue:

[statsman]

Vulcain really did well with that alarm complication. I have never heard one, but reports are that it will definitely wake/alarm you.

There is a vibrant community of vintage American watch enthusiasts, and they have some real gems- Elgin “jump” watches, Hamilton and Elgin “railroad grade” pocket watches, and so on. Perhaps the most stylish ladies watches ever were (worth googling) the Elgin Parisiennes of the 1920s, where haute couture Parisian designers created designs for watches.

[jimcon11]

+1 on the Polerouter.. although I am very picky about the dial variations on them. They can look spectacular in the right configuration and condition.

I'd love to get a Gruen Ocean Chief. Gruen is the epitome of a huge company in its day that hardly anyone is aware of now.

[statsman]

Here are a couple of pics I grabbed from Etsy, of a (nice call on Gruen!) Gruen Curvex and an Elgin Parisienne. These are available at mid three figures and look fantastic.

[Phrank]

My Seiko 7T59 - original owner, still works, have the leather pouch, box, papers and the two receipts the two times it went to Japan for full service.

$110 Cdn total cost both times, last time about 7 years ago, Seiko Canada was great, and this watch, lifetime warranty still valid as I'm the original owner, purchased in 1991, was what I considered my first real watch as it was "expensive" at the time - around $900.00 Cdn, my girlfriend bought it for me spur of the moment shopping one day.

I "think" this watch took inspiration from the Rolex Daytona, which I'd never seen before, but when I went into a store once to look at some watches and saw a poster of the Daytona, I fell immediately in love with it, and promised myself one day I would own one.

My Seiko 7T59

A quick history borrowed from here:
http://www.chezrossi.net/seiko7t59/presentation.html

The 7T59 calibre lived a short, but glorious, life from 1991 to 1993 and is still, in the analog watch world, one of the most complicated movement manufactured for the consumer grade segment. There is a school of thoughts that Seiko's own 7A28/38 is a superior movement, but let's not forget that the 7T59 is, to this day, the only analog 1/100th second chronograph offering day + date + GMT functions. Nothing in the current Seiko range of Coutura, Sportura, Premier, and even Velatura, offers as much. Nor can we find any watch like that in the catalogues of other brands.

1. World's very first 1/100th second quartz chronographs.
2. Only produced from very late 1991 thru to early 1993, a short run for Seiko models.
3. Only 12 hour 1/100th second quartz chronographs ever made with Day+Date+GMT
(other than digital watches) by any manufacturer.
4. Never marketed or sold in the USA.
5. There has never been anything like them before or since in the analog watch world.
6. Have you seen the dance of the 10th and 100th second hands? Truly mesmerizing!

[GradyPhilpott]

None of these models are currently sold by their manufacturers.