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THE WATCHISMO TIMES WATCH BLOG A reliquary of obscure timepieces from bygone eras as well as the cutting-edge watch designs of today.

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Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)No, not that Woody.

A visual tour of wristwatches made of wood watches from 1590 to 2009.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)
One of the first wood watches I ever featured at The Watchismo Times, a 1960s Swank, reminiscent of the George Nelson clocks of the time.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)Also previously featured, the incredibly rare Bronnikov all-wood (and bone) watches of the mid-nineteenth century. Even the movements were made of wood! --> LINK

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)
Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)The wood movement

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)

And reaching as far back as I can, here is a portable sundial made of wood from 1590 which also doubled as a gun powder flask and compass --> LINK


Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)Back in the USSR! This wood cased Raketa watch from an amazing collection of Russian watches --> LINK

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)
LIP
, mostly known for the super-cool watches of the seventies has a very wide array of other unusual watches like this 60's sterling silver bracelet watch with wood dial and curved inlaid wood strips in the bracelet.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)And some of Richard Arbib's very rare wood dialed Hamilton Electric watches from the 1950s and 60s. Above is the Flight II prototype.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)The classic design of the Hamilton Ventura also had a prototype with a wood face. Courtesy of Rene Rondeau.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)And an collection of wood dial Hamilton Sherwood with automatic movements. These did make it to production in the 60s but are quite scarce.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)More styles of Sherwoods

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)Original Sherwood strap with inlaid wood

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)A vintage Bulova Accutron with wood bezel
(All Accutron Posts-->LINK)

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)An unusual vintage Jowissa wood cased watch

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)The brand new limited edition Quiksilver Ray watch, an eco-friendly concept watch with a case and bracelet made of solid ebony and using a "Green" non-battery automatic mechanical movement.

More about The Ray --> LINK


Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)The Nixon Rotolog, a modern interpretation of the LIP Baschmakoff Jump Hour of the early seventies but now with a interior light and an entire series made with all types of wood including bamboo and teak (shown above)

Nixon Rotolog collection --> LINK

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)One of my favorite modern watches using wood, the Nixon Murf featuring wood veneers cover the top half of the face and two discs for hours and minutes below. Eacy style has a different color light for the dial by pressing the big horizontal crowns. And one of it's truly unique features is the way the time is changed, you unscrew the top crown, and then press down to electrically forward the discs. It looks like a Bang & Olufsen stere turntable!

Nixon Murf collection --> LINK


Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)A pair of swanky ladies watches from the modern brand Vestal utilizing Rosewood, Ebony, and Maple for cases and bracelets.

Vestal Wood Watch collection --> LINK

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)Shooting back up to the higher end of wood watches including the Jaquet Droz above. They have produced watches with all sorts of materials including meteorite.

Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)Last but not least, Svend Anderson's Eros "Navigation Pleasure" model (below). The one-of-a-kind Eros has marquetry work with four types of wood and a secret 10 moving part erotic automaton on the back of the watch.

Related posts on The Watchismo Times;
Watches made of Bone
Meteorite Watches


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When you buy a man's watch, buy a MAN's Watch. 1960s Macho Watch Ads

When you buy a man's watch, buy a MAN's Watch.  1960s Macho Watch AdsAbove, a 1969 Rado Diastar advertisement appealing to men with abnormally large & hairy arms. Below, a 1960s Hamilton Thin-o-matic ad for the punctually homicidal end of the market.

When you buy a man's watch, buy a MAN's Watch.  1960s Macho Watch Ads
Have an old magazine with some cool watch ads? Email them to me!

See also;
The Zodiac Killer's Zodiac Watch
1960 Live Television Timex Torture Test Failure
1970s Timex Commercial Collection
1960s Timex "Underwater Dating"
1978 Texas Instruments
1961 Bulova Accutron
Laser Beam Wristwatch
A New Age in Quartz
1940s Jam Handy for Hamilton
1970s Seiko Memory Bank
1940's Conquer by the Clock


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Vintage Watching - Hamilton Odyssee 2001 & Altair Electric

Just noticed a couple of my favorite vintage Hamilton watches are up for auction this week. The 1969 Odyssee 2001, introduced in conjunction with Stanley Kubrick's "2001 - A Space Odyssey". Hamilton was hired by the film to create a watch worn by astronauts of the future. Unfortunately, they didn't release the prop version to the public but they did try to cash in on the success of the movie by producing this one. To avoid lawsuits, they altered the spelling from Odyssey to Odyssee. And just last year, Hamilton released an interpretation of the film version in a signed limited edition of...2001.

Vintage Watching - Hamilton Odyssee 2001 & Altair ElectricClick for the 1969 Hamilton Odyssee 2001

And below, the ultra rare Altair Electric. Released in 1961 in very low numbers leading it to be one of the more collectible of the Electric series. Dramatically asymmetric design by the master of Lancaster, Richard Arbib. Their other auction features the original mesh bracelet!


Related Posts;
All Hamilton Stories


Enter The Watchismo Times 1st anniversary vintage chronograph giveway!-->LINK


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1950s Hamilton Pacer for Rockford Screw Company

1950s Hamilton Pacer for Rockford Screw CompanyRene Rondeau has this very unique 1957 Hamilton Electric "Pacer" available. Many presentation models with corporate logos were custom made by Hamilton but rarely with themed hour markers like the variety of screws and bolts of the Rockford Screw Company. They actually still exist today. They might have a screw loose if they don't buy it for posterity...

Vintage Hamilton site-->Link

Related posts;
All Hamilton
All Electric


Find modern Hamilton watches


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Ticking Time Bombers - 1943 Hamilton Bombtimer

The 1943 Hamilton Bombtimer, not actually a wrist or pocket watch, but mounted on a turret within a World War II bombadier's compartment so he could time the duration between bomb drop and detonation.

Two Bombtimers modified for the wrist

Additional Bomb Timer info from Rene Rondeau, Vintage Hamilton Watch Expert;

"A curious and largely unexplored topic..... There's nothing about them in Whitney's comprehensive "Military Timepieces", and they're not even listed in Hamilton's own WWII production summaries. There's one wartime ad that shows it (seen below).

These were made with the dial in either horizontal orientation as seen in the picture on top, or more "watch-like" vertical arrangement just below it (provided by the 2007 "Complete Price Guide to Watches". Usually the second hand is double-ended, one end with an arrow tip and the other with a simple point. I don't really know why. I suspect the second hand in the attached picture is a replacement since it's not even long enough to reach the seconds track.

They always have a pusher on the back edge as a hacking mechanism. It stops the balance and allows it to be set to the second. The movement is a standard 980.
The attached ad shows it being used as a training aid, in conjunction with a movie camera to film "hits". According to Hamilton employees and a couple of veterans I've talked to, these were primarily used to record bombing runs. Just as shown in the ad when used with a machine gun, the watch would be mounted into a bomb sight with a camera filming the release and detonation of a bomb, and the timer filmed as part of the image to record the exact moment of each step.

Needless to say these were never originally intended to be worn as watches, but lots of collectors mount straps by punching a hole in a conventional strap and bolting it to the case end."


WWII Advertisement featuring Bombtimer
(bottom right under crosshaired airplane)


Found a vertical version on Amazon



Find other military watches



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Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton Dateline

Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton DatelineA solid 18k white gold vintage mechanical Hamilton Dateline TM100B of the early seventies. Featuring bold horizontal hour markers, a solid integral bracelet and most interesting, the date window through the bottom band. -->Link

Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton Dateline14k solid yellow gold Dateline TM2903 with date window through case.

Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton DatelineSteel version-->Link

Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton DatelineA variation of sorts, this is the automatic A-201 in 14k gold-->Link


Click for more Hamilton watches
Vintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton Dateline


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Beware of Armed Thin-o-matic Owners

Guys who are on time with thin little watches can be tough too! That is, according to Hamilton's 1960s advertisement for the not so tough sounding 'Thin-o-matic' collection.

It's actually an understated but cool series of vintage watches from the fifties & sixties featuring the worlds first automatic micro-rotor movement by Buren. A breakthrough innovation during the evolution of thinner self-winding mechanical movements.

The highly sought after asymmetric T-403 Thin-o-matic
with finned case and two-tone dial

With bulleted markers

1961 Hamilton Flight II Electric with Mahogany Wood Dial & Other Prototype Automatic Watches

1961 Hamilton Flight II Electric with Mahogany Wood Dial & Other Prototype Automatic Watches

1961 Mahogany & Mother-of-Pearl Pacer Prototypes

Featured in the recent expanded & revised edition of Rene Rondeau's essential Hamilton Electric book, "The Watch of the Future", are these very rare prototype mahogany and mother-of-pearl dial Hamilton Electrics. Although shown here in the Pacer and Flight cases, they were part of an experiment in the Sherwood wood-dialed series (shown on bottom).

1961 Hamilton Flight II Electric with Mahogany Wood Dial & Other Prototype Automatic Watches


1961 Mahogany Flight II Prototype

1961 Hamilton Flight II Electric with Mahogany Wood Dial & Other Prototype Automatic Watches

1961 Sherwood Automatic

My other Hamilton posts;
2001 Space Odyssey Flight II Prototype
Richard Arbib & The Hamilton Electric
Hamilton Odyssey X-01 Reissue



I've got a Woody - 1960's Swank Wood Watch

I've got a Woody - 1960's Swank Wood WatchSwanky, huh? Should be, it's by a long defunct German company named Swank. Solid wood watch case & dial, basically a miniature George Nelson clock for your wrist. Mechanical winding 17 jewel movement. Swank had some kooky designs like this all plastic mechanical Hamilton Ventura imitator - Link

Link to additional photos

Repro and original George Nelson clocks

I've got a Woody - 1960's Swank Wood WatchI've got a Woody - 1960's Swank Wood Watch

I've got a Woody - 1960's Swank Wood Watch

Hamilton Odyssey Oddity - Flight II Prototype

Hamilton Odyssey Oddity - Flight II PrototypeFlight II Hamilton Electric Prototypes

Wanted to continue on the subject from an earlier post about Hamilton and their current limited edition X-01 (prop watch of "2001 - A Space Odyssey").

Back in 1966, Hamilton (John Bergey, Ed Speakes and Ken Durr) created this alternate futuristic concept watch that Stanley Kubrick didn't choose. A variation of one of the rarest Hamilton Electric Flight II models. Recently up for auction on Ebay, I missed my opportunity to own one of the three shown (without movement).

See more about it on the NAWCC message board.

Hamilton Odyssey Oddity - Flight II PrototypeOriginal prop watch chosen for film


Time for a Woody - Wood Watches Over Time (1590-2009)When you buy a man's watch, buy a MAN's Watch.  1960s Macho Watch AdsVintage Watching - Hamilton Odyssee 2001 & Altair Electric1950s Hamilton Pacer for Rockford Screw CompanyTicking Time Bombers - 1943 Hamilton BombtimerVintage Watching - 1971 Hamilton DatelineBeware of Armed Thin-o-matic Owners

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