Retrofit a vintage Timex with a quartz movement. Restomod or horological heresy?
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- There a lot of vintage Timex watches out there. Some look stunning, but not running. The movements are finicky and servicing is not always enough. I prefer a mechanical movement, but I've been experimenting with some quartz movements sourced from flea markets and thrift stores that I picked up for about a dollar each. Hear me out and tell me what you think!
You are spot on!!!
I found a place on the internet that does this at approximately 125 per watch...Hopefully I can learn from you how to try it myself
It’s a fun ongoing project mainly looking reasonable hobbyist solutions.
I appreciate that we're were able to do this but as a vintage Timex collector I hate the idea of it. I would rather do 2 other things before this. 1) use a more thorough cleaning method. I don't have the skills to totally disassemble one but I take the dial off, remove the clutch mechanism and do a 3 part cleaning. First straight ammonia, then alcohol then lighter fluid in small containers in an ultrasound. I do about 20 minutes in each. Then oil. I do carefully remove the brass VConic screw to clean and oil the bearing surface for the balance. I think you will see better results with this. 2) take a working movement from a badly corroded watch and pair it with that beautiful dial. Of course it is your watch and you can do with it as you please but I would rather preserve what can be preserved.
Great thoughtful comment. I’m with you for the most part. My preference is to keep these period authentic. The positive with this mod is there is no damage to the parts and a running movement still can be fitted. I have not tried ammonia. I’ve used Ronsonol, denatured alcohol, and 99 percent isopropyl alcohol. What I often see in the worst ones are severe pivot wear. One insanely fun, but difficult mod would be adding your own jewels!
@WMIYC they did make the 21 jewel movement which was basically this one with jewels lol. To be honest it's amazing that so many of these can still run after so long. BTW I was just discussing in a Timex Facebook page how beautiful that first one in your intro is. The 63 silver dial with 12, 3, 6, 9.
The Timex 21 jewel movements are much more reliable!
I’ve drifted from Facebook over the years. Do you recommend that group or others?
@WMIYC there are some great Facebook pages. I am a moderator on Timex Fanclub so I may be biased lol. Vintage Timex Watch Collectors and Vintage Timex Mechanical Watches are also great. All are very helpful for people with questions and good places to see what is out there if someone is getting into the hobby.
I think you've don't a great thing breathing new life to a classic. I agree, I wouldn't do this to a working specimen, but would consider doing this to old watches that weren't working. Did you use the original timex hands? I believe the M24 is 1.75 x 1.20 x 0.21mm vs what I believe you are using is a GL68/SL68 (please correct me) movement with 1.20 x .70 x .17mm hands. Fantastic video, glad you are doing it! Almost like putting a Honda K24A4 inline-4 engine in a 1965 Mustang =)
I wore it just this week. It’s one of the most accurate watches I have. The method for securing the moving inside works, but it’s crude. I love to come up with a more polished way.
I have six, from the sixties, I’m planning on converting all to quartz, miyota 2035 movements. I love the look of the watch more than I care about the movement. I just got so frustrated with purchasing “working” movements that didn’t run well, the attempts at cleaning, ugh. I just want to wear the watch. I’ll label and same the movement and maybe some day someone will want to put it back to original condition. Also $125.00 service for a $15.00 eBay watch, a little to much.
Good points. I have a couple of movement experiments in mind.
I have a collection of brand new/old Disney timex watches. Pretty well all of the characters. I’m scared to wind them up. They just hide in a display case and look cool. I’d really would like to get them cleaned and working. But, they might because they’ve never been used. What do you think?
That sounds like a pretty cool collection. I think occasionally winding and running might not be a bad thing. If you’re content as they are then I would not sweat it, but if you are like me …well…LOL,