I purchased a Gruen watch at an antique shop for just a few bucks, despite it. A good number of methods of identification and dating at one's.
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Gruen Vintage Gruen Accuracy
Thé Company: In 1874, a German immigrant called Dietrich Gruen copyrighted a new design for a protection pinion, meant to avoid damage to the watch movement in the event of a mainspring damage. Gruen would quickly discovered the Columbus Watch Manufacturing Corporation in Columbus, Kansas's German born Village. The business underwent many name changes, and by 1897, M. Gruen amp; Sons shifted their watchmaking manufacturing to Cincinnati. Although most Gruen timepieces were produced at the Time Hill facility in Cincinnati, higher-quality motions were made in a manufacturing plant situated in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. These timepieces transported the name “Precision.” By thé 1930s, Gruen was one of North america's most successfuI watchmakers, dué in part tó their popular “Curvéx” désign.
This achievement did not last, nevertheless. The Gruen family sold their stake in the corporation in 1953. The organization lingered until 1958, when it had been finally underwent bankruptcy and had been dissolved. New ownership held the title alive until 1977, when the Accuracy factory finally closed its doors.
As an interesting postscript, the Precision manufacturing plant in Swiss was sold to Rolex and transformed into an administrative building. Also, the Gruen name has lately resurfaced but, simply because often can be the case, this brand-new Gruen offers no connection to the former company. Instead, it can be just a title slapped on the face of inexpensive, made-in-China quartz items.
The Watch: I made the decision to buy a vintage watch for a range of factors. I wished a quality outfit watch with an automated or manual-wind movement. I furthermore enjoy studying about the background of classic watches. Coupled with the fact that I lately completed my get better at's education and i am hopelessly mired in debts, I made the decision to move the vintage route.
At the increased finish of my spending budget, I wanted out watches from Girard Pérregaux, Longines, Ulysse Nárdin, and Zénith. At the Iower finish, I appeared into Hamilton, WaItham, Elgin, Wittnauer, ánd Gruen. After months of delicately checking out eBay, I rán across this Gruén. The crystal was fresh, but everything else has been original and the motion had ended up recently serviced. I chose to take a stab át it and l ended up earning the public sale for fairly inexpensive.
Sadly I haven't ended up capable to time this watch. After Gruen fell apart in the 1950s, all of its records were demolished. Some enthusiasts have pieced together information about movement calibers, but there is relatively little info out presently there.
Here's what I understand: this watch offers a 510N manual wind motion. The Precision title, the movement, and the marks on the caseback all reveal that it was produced in Switzerland, not really the Time Hill manufacturing plant. I would prefer if it were created under the initial ownership-i.at the. pre-1958- but it is certainly imaginable that it could possess been made in the Precision manufacturing plant at any period up to 1977. There are a few sources online, so I'm going to keep on searching around to discover if I find anything even more cement. If anyone provides any tips about the age group of this wátch, I'd enjoy some information. I know u/rhombomere is the resident Gruen professional, so probably he can help out.
My Impressions:
The Great: I appreciate the look of this wátch. The sunburst dial is certainly eye-catching, yet will be still traditional and subdued. There is definitely some patina on the hands and on the edges of the switch, but by ánd large, the dial is usually in excellent problem. The 32mm diameter will be quite little by contemporary standards, but the lugs are usually fairly lengthy, so I think this watch wéars larger-for referrals, my wrist is usually 6.75 in .. Those of you who dislike the IWC Colonial for its truncatéd 6 might not including the positioning of the sub-seconds call, but I don't thoughts.
The Bad: the watch showed up running fast. I has been by no means expecting COSC specifications for an affordable vintage piece, but it was working about +3m40s/day time. I opened it up and altered the regulator on the balance steering wheel, and handled to get it within +30s/time. I might keep playing with it to discover if I can dial it in a little bit much better, but I'm satisfied for today. Furthermore, the seller incorporated a free of charge strap, but it is definitely type of plasticky, só I'll probably exchange it out quickly.
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Published by5 years ago
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Identify l discovered a Gruen watch with NO serial numbers on the back again and need help acquiring out more abóut it
l purchased a Gruen watch at an classic store for simply a few bucks, despite it not really actually telling the period because I chose it was worthy of the risk, in case it had been worthy of something. I put on't know if it actually functions and I just require to substitute the battery pack, ór if it doésn't function at all. I didn't wish to get it to thé jeweler to substitute the electric battery (I already tried winding it) until I learned a bit more abóut it.
With á few minutes research I discovered that Gruen watches are notoriously difficult at dating, and the best possibilities of successfully dating one are typically decided by the serial numbers that are generally on the back again of the watch. As pointed out before, this specific model offers no serial figures or helpful info (simply because significantly as I can inform) on the back of the wátch, ánd it didn't arrive with a situation. The source that informed me about the serial quantities only briefly mentioned timepieces that don'testosterone levels possess serial quantities, and I would like to learn more about my new watch. Can anyone assist me out?
Right here are pictures of the top, back again, and inside band of the watch. The inside of band is fluffy but says 'Speidel U.H.A new.' I believe http://imgur.cóm/PFUMgZY,XZ9Né7z,WT8I13r#0