And once the Omega Speedmaster landed on the moon back in July, 1969, it was forever known as the Moonwatch.
Most modern watches have a beat rate of 28,800 bph (beats per hour). Among other reasons, this means that you get a nice smooth sweep motion of the second hand around the dial. The Speedmaster Professional has a beat rate of 21,000 bph which makes for a slightly jerky, staccato motion of the second hand, but it's barely noticeable, except to the trained eye.
The Speedmaster shown above with a hand-wound pocket watch from around 1914. Here's a view of the pocket watch movement;
This one is a 15 Jewel arrangement with minimal decoration, but you can still get an idea of the intricate nature of these things.
Here's a pic of the Speedmaster's Calibre 861 movement.
Picture courtesy of http://www.watchuseek.com/ Special thanks to wytnucls!
But then, I have known some folks who regularly wear this watch when fishing or swimming. Me? I prefer to err on the side of caution.
Thanks for reading!
What an amazing post! As a typecaster with a watchmaker husband, I've been after him to make a typecasting blog about watches... but he's not exactly the blogging type.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is fantastic - I don't know much about watches myself, but I very much enjoyed the photography, particularly the one with the typecast and watch under water. Just brilliant.
Typewriters and Speedmasters: both hand wound and run on clockwork. The connection is obvious. Nicely present post and the typecas really does work well with this subject.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this post, thanks teeritz. I also liked the underwater photo very much.
ReplyDeleteDo you have more watches than typewriters or vice-versa?
@ Adwoa, thanks for the kind words. It's an honour to have you here. Your posts on the Groma Kolibri look-alike (Junior) helped inspire me to chase up a Kolibri of my own...that I probably paid too much for.
ReplyDeleteP.S.- don't let your husband read my watch posts too carefully because I'm sure he'll find discrepancies in them. I've been selling watches for over ten years, but a watchmaker will really know his way around a watch movement.
BTW, nice post on the Pelikan 120. I've been meaning to snap one up on eBay, but I've got my sights set on a M600 at the moment. Fountain pens are another weakness of mine.
@ Rob, yes, it's a lot of fun setting up the photos. I had some bits of broken glass to put next to the typecast about watch crystals, but I must have deleted it without realising. Ahh well...
@ I dream lo-tech, yep, I have a helluva lot more watches than typewriters, but I'm posting the typecasts about them slowly so that I don't run out of ideas too fast.
Hi Teeritz,
ReplyDeleteThanks for responding. It's hard to get a good deal on a Kolibri especially on eBay, as everyone else is looking for one too! After my initial disappointment with the Junior, I now have a few working Kolibris that I shall be writing up soon on the blog. I liked the posts you wrote on yours; I still haven't seen that movie yet but will look for it!
As for fountain pens - I was just thinking to myself that it's been a while since I featured any. So many still to write about - like with your watches, I'm pacing myself so I don't run out of typecast ideas (it's been known to happen!).