Vintage Certina 16 and 17 jewel Military Style Wristwatches
History of this watch and my dad who was a watchmaker from 1947 till in passed away in 2006. He was a well renowned watchmaker in downtown Seattle from after the war until mechanical watches started to fade away from the public eye in the mid 60's.
He then changed professions in the mid 60’s however still enjoyed working on watches for friends and family up until his late 80's. He had a watch room in the basement where he had all his tools, parts and equipment. He developed dementia in his late 80's but still wanted to work on watches but found he forgot a lot of his talent when he took them apart. So, they ended up in a small drawer. I inherited all his watch equipment thinking I would dabble with fixing watches in my retirement but that didn't work out, so 17 years later I am starting to sell all his watch findings and most of his equipment. Also, when I was a kid and watched my dad, he did share with me a few things NOT to do with a watch or pocket watch that has been sitting for a long time;
Never wind a watch that has sat for a long time.
Don’t try to make the balance wheel move with tweezers.
Don’t oil a dirty watch without cleaning it first.
Never open a watch in an environment that is dusty, in other words, do it in your watch room.
Having said all of the above, these watches I am listing for sale have sat for over 50 years, they need servicing regardless if they run or not.
I have met a lot of Horologists in my lifetime and respect their talent, I am hoping that this and upcoming watches find a good repair person to bring these back to life.
The reason for this bit of history is I do want you to ask questions about what I have listed, however, I don't want to answer a lot of questions of items I might have or what I am going to list next. If questions are not about the watch listed I probably won't answer. My prices will start off what I think is reasonable based on what I see in the market place.
About my shipping price, as you probably know, USPS raised their prices the beginning of January, so now my prices have gone up to $10.40. I ship USPS Priority Mail in a 8 ½ x 5 3/8 x 1 ¾ box. This gives the watch or parts ample protection against damage from the box being thrown at the Post Office, automatic insurance to $100 and most important, tracking. . I will combine shipping when applicable, however you will pay full amount for each item at end of auction, and I will refund you the difference after I post the packages. My process is that as I put the ad on eBay, I pack up the watch, parts or products and put it in a standard Small Flat Rate Box, $10.40, if there are multiple purchases by same buyer, I will put the Small Flat Rate Boxes in a Medium Flat rate box which is $16.40. After I send the product, I will give you a tracking number and refund the difference in price back to you the same day. I usually send the packages the day I get paid unless it’s the weekend.