Here are the links to the new Timex models I personally like: Timex Marlin, Hand Wound amzn.to/2Nhw410 Timex Marlin, Automatic amzn.to/2JwWtH3 Timex Weekender Chronograph amzn.to/2Pyg7GF Timex Expedition Scout 43 (Military Field Watch) amzn.to/2Pu7Fb5 Timex Weekender, 38mm black dial amzn.to/32VR7Ni As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchase _______ Credits: Jumpin Boogie Woogie by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: audionautix.com/ 1959 Commercial for Timex watches ad 1 and ad 4, Public Domain, retrieved from archive.org/
But I grew up in the 60's and 70's with John Cameron Swayze promising me they could survive a Russian attack ! OMG He Lied even when they rolled it into asphalt ! 😁🕙
I am an old guy. IMO- the main reason for Timex watch popularity was that it really could stand up to an incredible amount of abuse. Men who did physical labor in construction, auto repair, farming, ranch work, industry etc. needed a watch that could be worn to work, keep time well enough to be useful and stand up to rigorous abuse all at an affordable price. Often they would be exposed to chemicals, extremes in temperature, humidity, sweat, shock and anything else you could imagine. For example, a workman would remove his watch to wash his greasy hands and accidentally drop it on a tile or concrete floor. A worker might use a jackhammer or other industrial tools that shook the hell out of the watch. Sometimes they would forget they were wearing it and dunk their hands in liquids. Back then it was unusual to see a workman wearing any watch other than a Timex and it would always have a crack in the crystal (which wasn't easy to do) yet it was on the job every day. These men wore Timex watches to war! They just kept on ticking. There is a reason many people found no longer functioning Timex watches in their fathers' and grandfathers' personal effects after they died. The watch was like an old friend. They couldn't just throw it in the trash after all they went through together. These men didn't need a delicate timepiece accurate to a minute per year. They needed a watch to tell them when it was lunchtime or when quitting time was approaching. You would see these watches spattered with paint, with heavy scars or electrical tape wrapped around the worn out watchband. They didn't take them to watchmakers for service. How many expensive, complicated highly accurate watches could stand up to such daily abuse without servicing? Workers were better served by Timex watches, that is why the used them. They were available for purchase everywhere, not in some high-class jewelry store. Men had Timex watches for daily wear. Often they had a fancy looking watch to wear to weddings and funerals but those were Timex watches, too.
Thank you Lord Edward for more eloquently saying what I was going to write. I wore a Timex from the time I had my first newspaper route (1957), through my years as a mechanic, through the years in the Army, through college and to the present day. I also remember the original live demonstration on the outboard motor when the watch came off the propeller - they were able to get a shot of it running on the bottom of the tank. I believe that was the impetus for me getting my first Timex for Christmas.
When I was six years old my grandparents bought me a mini mouse Timex watch at Disneyland. I will be 60 years old next year and that watch has been on my wrist every day of my life since my grandfather bought it for me. I have been offered other watches but have never wanted anything other than the one that I had. I always said the same thing when this one stops you can buy me a new one. I have only ever had this one watch my whole life.
He's gone now, but when I asked my dad why he always bought the lowest cost watch he could find ("How could I NOT buy it, it was $8.00."), he would tell me that he didn't want a watch that lasts forever because he liked changing his watch after some time. I thought he was rationalizing, but he was a child in the Depression and never lost his want of a bargain. I love ya , dad.
@@locustvalleystring I understand what your dad must have felt like. I had seen my Father slog multiple jobs daily and sleep for merely 4 hrs per day, hence that emotion has stuck to me till date and from inside I didn't feel like asking anything more from him after that.
I would argue the biggest reason vintage Timex watches are not collectible is because they sold so many of them they are still abundant today. Go to any estate sale and you'll find several of them. Regardless of the inferior engineering, if Timex watches were scarce, prices /collectability would likely increase.
In the mechanical watch world, both the Soviet Pobedas/ZiMs as well as India's HMTs are heads and tails better than Timexes while still able to fullfill the "watches of and for the people" ethos they were created for. The fact that we in the U.S. apparently decided that pin-lever Timexes were good enough in light of this is a tragedy, especially since Timex didn't even bother to make those pin lever movements servicable OR adjustable for better time-keeping (regularly off by more than 2 minuites and literally impossible to get better than 40 sec/day), unlike the Ruhla Caliber 24.
@@jakekaywell5972 Depends on how much abuse the watch goes through. A working man needs a watch that will keep working, not an extremely accurate watch that needs servicing.
I am a watchmaker from Nova Scotia and I thought this video was awesome. I had to laugh because you described exactly how I service a vintage Timex. Most of my customers who have inherited grandpa's watch try to get it fixed, but are turned away because of everything you mentioned in your video. They are told that the watch cannot be serviced and that they were meant to be thrown away. Nothing makes me happier than returning a restored Timex to my customer. Although the movement is ugly the fit and finish of those old Timex's still hold up today. I swear the plating is 20microns thick. Anyways awesome video, I really enjoyed that.
Honestly, I don’t see how your work is possible. Timex’s pin-lever movements were never designed to be serviced. Period. End of story. The only way I could imagine is if you somehow managed to get one of Timex’s proprietary jigs, which would obviously be difficult.
Just an FYI...I serviced Timex watches for 25 years starting in 1974. Timex sold stem and crowns, crystals, and replacement movements at wholesale.The average movement cost me $3-4 and I charged $ 7.95 retail. It wasn’t a big money maker but customers flocked to my store for repairs and it grew my jewelry business. What you may not realize is many many Timex watches were sentimental gifts that people didn’t want to part with. They didn’t want a new watch, they wanted their watch fixed!
stem and crowns and crystals and swapping out movements (Many times with GREAT difficulty and a crystal removal tool) do NOT mean SERVICING a watch, my friend
Timex were everywhere! I bought one at counter of a country dinner in 1988. It was a gold coloured automatic with date. It was $35 dollars, about 5 time the price of my cheeseburger deluxe, with chocolate shake. I was 18 and just got paid making $7 per hour. I wore it for years and never had to wind it or get a battery, reset it once in a while when I heard the time signal on the radio. It was never off. I must have 15 or so now, one for every conceivable occasion. They all have been put through hell and work perfectly. They just work!
My father gifted me my first watch when I was 9 yrs old. It was a Timex, so the company is somewhat nostalgic for me. I have also been fascinated with their history. Having begun in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company, then collaborating with Ingersoll, later becoming the U.S. Time Corporation (1943), and eventually Timex (1950). They have continued to remain, even through World Wars, The Great Depression, and several change of hands. Their legacy is part of the fabric of our American culture. I still see vintage Timex's out there going on 50+ years being worn today-which says a lot. For any collector to not have at least one Timex in their collection seems pretentious. Watch collecting isn’t all about money. Some of us who love watches find pleasure in their unique history and wearability.
I think I was also 9. An uncle got all the men at a family gathering matching Timex watches for Christmas or something. I wore mine for a few years and still have it now. It's pretty unpleasant to wind (always was) and you can tell it's low quality, but it's over forty years old and still works.
If I recall correctly, my father gifted me my first watch, a Timex, at age 11 when I started senior school. During the two or three years I had it, I can honestly say I don't remember having to correct the time on it once. I'd like to think it is still ticking away somewhere, but during games at school we had to take our watches off, they weren't put in secure storage and one day, surprise surprise, it was stolen. I'm from the UK and while the adverts shown in this clip don't bring back any memories, at Christmas time during the 1960's two companies could be relied upon to produce elaborate advertisements - Timex (Tick a Tick a Timex) and Woolworths (that's the wonder of Woolies).
I was 10 and that began my journey into adulthood. It impressed me with years of service and good looks. I love the higher end stuff but still have a couple of mint mid 60s Timex in my collection.
In the early 1970s, I worked for a watch parts distributor. He and his partner (a watchmaker) were excited to be selected by Timex to be one of the company’s watch parts and battery distributors. The arrangement that Timex had with all its retailers was that the retailer would be furnished with a selection of Timex watches, including replacement watch movements and the rights to buy additional replacement movements at a discounted cost. My employers would be the designated Timex repair parts distributor. They agreed to keep in stock enough replacement parts to furnish all retailers with same day shipment of replacement parts and movements. That opened up the business to a huge number of instant customers. We stocked hundreds of replacement movements and parts, and did a huge daily business shipping (usually by mail or UPS) to all the retailers. Keep in mind, the average retailer would be, not necessarily a jewelry store, but in many small towns, just the local drug store or hardware store, each of which had promotional signage declaring that they were Authorized Times sellers. We sold hundreds of movements a month to the Timex network of stores. Timexes were simply designed and manufactured to lower costs and capture the low cost market. You would find them in K-marts and Ace Hardware stores, for example. Timex was not interested in selling displays to jewelry stores, where they would be “Loss Leaders,” a pejorative term making the brand the goat. A retailer would take the watch in for replacement or repair (some Timexes did indeed have repairable movements), ship it to us, and we would ship out the replacement same day if we got it in time to make the UPS or Post Office hours. It was of course understood by the original customers that a Times was not a top name brand, but their easy repair kept them top sellers for decades. A customer could take his broken TImex to the local dealer, who was probably the store he bought it from, the dealer would find the replacement movement in stock, and the customer could return later for a running movement for even less that he paid for the watch. Our Timex Exchange Program gave us the additional marketing position needed to acquire or retain major watch movement distributors, such as Bulova, Longines-Wittnauer, Le Coultre, Benrus, and so on. Bulova was a major coup, in fact, as we were the “Authorized Bulova Parts distributor” for all their lines (but not the fancy clocks). All that was, of course, forty years ago, and I am sure things have changed. But Timex, through its Ironman line, its acquisition of distribution of other movements worldwide, have kept it strong. A friend who worked in the jewelry department of a major K-mart store in California said that Timex was, day in and day out, the best seller in their store, and they also sold popular competitive brands. Hope this helps. Timex made many a payday possible for all of us at The Cobron Company, New Orleans, LA. (I think they are long out of business, by the way, after both partners died.)
My Father bought me a timex watch when I was 7 years old. It was the sole possession I had from childhood until adulthood. In the course of conversation with a 'mate', whom I was putting up in my flat a few days, I showed him this watch, remarking on it's sentimental value, etc. This friend relieved me of this childhood souvenir one day, the horrible bastard. Had to share this! Peace and good health to all here in the land of time! 🦉
Me again. There are a lot of people in this world (I call them 'The me first brigade') who trample over everybody else to get what they want. Among these types are those who leave supermarket trolleys all over the place instead of taking them back to the trolley park. Those who don't put unwanted items back where they got them from, especially frozen items and leave them to defrost on any shelf in the supermarket. Those that park on the road in the supermarket car park or on the taxi drop off points instead of a parking bay so that they don't have to walk very far. There are people who will steal anything if it's not nailed down and even then they'll try. I bought some chrome tyre valve caps once (50p each) for my 4x4 and some scum bag stole 2 from one side of my car, obviously unwilling to expose themselves stealing in the car park so didn't take all four. I could go on and on. Dave Ashton
I am 71 years old. Growing up in the 50's and 60's like I did, the Timex watch was a highly visible product. My first watches were Timex. As a college student, I wasn't able to afford an expensive watch and Timex fit the bill. I definitely have a soft spot for those old mechanical models. I wish there was something like them today. My real preference is mechanical watches. Although I own more than 50 watches, many of them either solar powered or battery driven. My closest substitute is the Seiko Sport 5 series which I own five of. Timex gave the combination of an affordable price, great styling and modest reliability. It was an unbeatable deal. In this world, the cheapest Patek Philippe is more than the appraised value of my house and the new version of the Timex Marlin is more expensive than the first three cars I bought. I will always remember them. The fact that they have little or no collectibility doesn't matter to me at all.
You forgot to account for inflation and the fact that people make more money these days... Your cars back then we're cheaper than today, yes, but not less than a new timex that converted into 1980's dollars (not even that long ago) was 30 bucks...
@@edmund8954 there's a UA-cam clip with an elderly man did an appraisal for a Rolex GMT Master. Bought it while serving in the army in the 1960s, certified chronometer for USD $120.35. A OVER MONTH salary for an US Army soldier. ua-cam.com/video/li0mRLcGbU8/v-deo.html Those got to be the best times, just need to save a months worth of money and easily obtainable.
@@markcynic808 it just means that an average person fresh out of high school starting his first job can purchase a Rolex without much effort. (unless he gets drafted)
@@objective7042 Being drafted or otherwise employed by the military would have made it easier - no rent or bills to pay. I remember watching the clip you linked a few years ago. If I recall it correctly, the vet didn't really know what a Rolex was and bought it after being advised to do so. Perhaps that's why so few were purchased by Americans. My original comment was made with regard to you stating that the 60s were "the best of times," based solely on the price of a Rolex. Hmm.
Timex was the Volkswagen of watches--cheap and practical for the Everyman, and durable as hell. I am somewhat disappointed that I can not find mechanical watches at all besides the high-end luxury type--I like the moving parts and the ticking, even if it is less accurate than quartz.
I used to fix Timex watches back in the 1960's. I developed a way to clean them in minutes. It involved pullling the movement DOWN, hanging by the winding stem creating a wedge shaped opening between the movement and the crystal part of the case. then I would mount them in a jig I made that held them about 1.5 inches from the tip of a vacuum cleaner snorkel type tip. As the air flowed through the movement. I used an atomizer on the up wind side and squirted lighter fluid through ...giving the movement a "shower" through it and taking dirt and worn metal with it. I was about 11 years old when I invented that technique and it worked. The lighter fluid also left behind a very thin coating of lubricant that also helped them run nicely. I fixed many timex watches that way. (by the way Caravel watches were no where near as good as Timex)
The TImex watches were NEVER very expensive, and they were made by the gazillions. So there's no collector value because so many were made, and they were relatively inexpensive.
Nah. Collectors justifiably hate Timex (including myself) because they were and are entirely disposable junk. In the mechanical watch world, both the Soviet Pobedas/ZiMs as well as India's HMTs are heads and tails better than Timexes while still able to fullfill the "watches of and for the people" ethos they were created for. The fact that we in the U.S. apparently decided that pin-lever Timexes were good enough in light of this is a tragedy, especially since Timex didn't even bother to make those pin lever movements servicable OR adjustable for better time-keeping (regularly off by more than 2 minuites and literally impossible to get better than 40 sec/day), unlike the GDR's Ruhla Caliber 24.
@@Azathoth43 A completely ridiculous claim, given I listed two other watches that were A: actually decent. B: also genuine people's watches that served as the bottom rung in their respective societies. Try again with a better argument.
@@jakekaywell5972 Nail, meet head. There's something to be said for a watch that you can treat with contempt and not care. Quite why such a thing would be collectable is a mystery.
Not true.. because there are obviously rare watches within Timex. I have 2 rare watches that you won’t be able to find! They are collectible because almost all vintage watches are collectible period, Timex are collectible.
I had an Timex Indiglo model that followed me through several years in the army. Cheap (so I didnt have to worry about it getting broken or worse stolen), sturdy, and it had the really good indiglo feature of lighting up the entire watchface, not neccetating using a light to see what time it was. Working in an enviroment where you cannot always use a flashlight in the dark was perfect.
In my working-class neighborhood culture, Timex was the first "adult" you would get. At about 8 or 9 years old, you'd get a cheap watch in your Christmas stocking, or for your birthday, expecting that it would get lost or broken. If you took care of those cheap watches, and proved yourself responsible in other ways, at about 15 or 16, you'd get a Timex - an adult watch. As a result, amongst my family and friends, Timex watches have a certain status, they mean you've matured and earned a certain amount of respect. To this day, despite the fact that we've all grown up and bought "better" watches, the gift of a Timex is always well received.
Hah, my son got a Timex Indiglo at 12! He gave it to his best friend (who really liked it) when he got to choose his first Serious Watch at 16, a new Laco automatic (chosen to fit the WW2 re-enacting hobby he became active in) For his 18-year-old watch he asked if I could find him a Zodiac Seawolf, and after dying a little at the prices I was able to wrangle a well-patina'd one with USMC engraving which he LOVED; his 21-year-old watch awaits him in the safe, a pristine '46 waffle dial bumper automatic Omega :) I remain a bit sad no Hamilton has of yet floated his adolescent boat (Hamiltons are my obsession, a collection founded on the Hamiltons of my grandmother and my mother's grandmother) but he is still young.... the taste may develop.... He's managed not to lose, break, or otherwise violate any of them, which makes a mom proud :)
Thank you for this fascinating and informative film. My paternal grandfather, who drove dragline excavators for a living, used to service and repair clocks and watches as a hobby. He died over 20 years ago but one thing I remember is that he absolutely would not touch Timex watches and now I know why.
I got beaten senseless wearing a Timex & I used my watch arm to deflect blows. The glass broke but it still kept ticking. I loved that watch! She lit up when I squeezed her.
Nice story, but of course I hope that you are ok. Sounds like an Indiglo model. I hope you kept it and put a new glass. I would imagine that this watch, or at least the memory of a Timex, is dear to you :)
The .001 seconds is how off each second can be. ie a Timex second can be 1.001 seconds or 0.999 seconds. That translates to about +/- 84-85 seconds a day
I remember my very first watch. I'd be about 7, & my dad bought me a Timex for my birthday. It was wonderful. I'd show it off to all the other kids. I'd even wear it in bed. The only thing I couldn't understand was why all the clocks in school were wrong.
Commoner I had the same experience in the 50’s, loved my Timex and wore it everywhere. Having a wristwatch would make a young fellow feel like he was in the Big Time.
My dad bought a timex in around 70s, its stainless simple watch but he adored it. Its his first "expensive" watch he could afford, and the last because he loved it so much he never needs to buy another. Its a great piece even until today, I even wore it today as a daily. Its surprisingly rugged for a disposable watch.
Timex was THE watch to have. In typical American fashion, they got lazy and dropped the ball. FYI, I bought a Timex a few years back, I returned it because IT MADE A TICKING NOISE THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLY LOUD! And this is an acknowledged problem, noted by many watch afficionados.
@@commonaffection1703 You've come up against American jingoism here - yes, foreign manufacturers can do as well or better than the best American manufacturers could - but the formerly American companies that moved their operations abroad to increase their profits also cut back on quality to increase their profits even more. Foreign workers get the blame for the cost-cutting and planned obsolescence that American companies designed into their foreign factories.
My mom worked in a Timex factory. I think it was in Watertown, Ct. I spent about a month at Timex in another location as a temp worker. Maybe Torrington. Long time ago. If you look up the Timex history, it started as the Waterbury Clock Co. In James Joyce's 'Ulysses' the author mentions the protagonist's Waterbury watch. Waterbury was at one time called 'Brass City' because it was one of the world's leading producers of brass. There were all kinds of factories there. Many of them supplying the auto industry and military. The same company that made Timex at one time supplied parts for missiles. Now Waterbury has very little to offer but a high crime rate.
To be fair, all those businesses bailed on Waterbury. No new businesses replaced them, and the city fell apart. Still going downhill, unfortunately, glad I moved out recently
@@joshz9976 It's a little more sinister than that. Businesses bailed on America and moved manufacturing abroad. There was a push for that from the globalists.
I have a collection of watches that includes Omegas, Longines, JLCs, Perragaux, Seikos. Hamiltons, Bulovas, Enicars, Edox, Eternas etc. And one old automatic Timex dress watch, that looks great and I wear it quite often.
My Dad was a machinist and worked very hard to support his family. He owned the same Timex watch for over 25 years. the watch was beaten up and the crystal was cracked but it ran for years and years
When I was a child I went through my entire teenage years wearing a Timex heritage moondial, sadly I lost it. My Dad brought it for me. Sadly it didn’t make it. 35 years on, I’m on eBay and I found the watch! But they’re in bad shape and don’t work. So recently I purchased another Timex to rekindle and reunite my love for it, and it’s very much like my old watch. I adore it, it’s personal to me, and I do not intend to have it as a collectors piece but it’s my beautiful personal watch. P.s that watch I saw on eBay was £20 more expensive than what my Dad paid for it in ‘92.
As a young kid in the 70's, I remember hanging out with my Grandpa and studying his large-faced Timex watch he always wore. It sure looked like it went through a couple of wars, it was all scratched and beat up but underneath all that I could see that the watch was working just fine. I am pretty sure Timex was one of the first words I learned how to read and spell by myself because of his watch. Timex reminds me of that bonding and I now wear my Ladies Essex Timex watch in honor of him, keeping the family tradition alive, sort of speak.
Sounds like Timex made a watch for the masses by streamlining the process and using alternative, less-expensive materials and then marketing them aggressively. The Wal-Mart of watches, ahead of their time.
In the 1980s I worked on a rough framing crew. I "borrowed" a Timex watch from my dad. I was the only person on the crew with a watch and became the official time keeper. it was my call as to when breaks, lunch and quitting time occurred all thanks to my marginally accurate Timex. For 4 years I tortured that watch hand-nailing and running equipment in the worst of conditions. As long as I remembered to wind it, it always worked. I've always wondered how long a "good" watch would have lasted...never made enough money to find out.
I've worked on & collected watches since 2002. I've noticed there is a growing sector of collectors that are now picking up the Timex watches. Not all Timex were as pedestrian as the ones pictured here. There are even 21 jewel, divers, and automatics.
This video has a lot of significance to me. I found it back in January when I was first starting to get into watches. At the time, I had just bought a Timex Southview - my first ever timepiece. I knew almost nothing about horology and wanted to learn about the Timex brand, but I got interrupted halfway through the video and never went back to it. But in the time since, my collection has expanded to 9 watches from a variety of brands including Timex, Casio, Citizen, Orient and Seiko. Matter of fact, I finally managed to get my hands on a Seiko SARB035. And now the algorithm has shown me this video once again, and this time I actually got to watch it all the way through! So thank you for this video. Without the intrigue posed by the title and your description on movements, I likely wouldn't have gotten as interested in the inner working of wristwatches as I currently am.
Solid stuff you got there! However, I strongly recommend you look into vintage pieces for the $50-$100 USD price point. You might not think it, but there's choices here for solid mechanical movements with lovely cases, dials, and history attached. There's Poljot, Raketa, Luch, and others from the USSR. There's the forgotten Swiss marques such as Omikron and Cyma. Then there's the German Bifora and Junghans. You get the point. However, if you want to buy American, there's 1940s-50s Elgin and Bulova pieces out there for criminally low sums.
I had a Timex watch many years ago which was my first manual wind watch which was given to me by my grandfather here in the UK, I no longer have it but I do have a couple of Timex quartz watches one of which is an Expedition watch. I think the reason that Seiko started to dominate the market was the introduction of the Seiko 5 automatic watches which were affordable to everyone and had a lot more features on them, they are still probably one of the best selling watches today on the low end of mechanical watches. Casio are now one of the biggest selling brands with such a wide variety of digital and analogue watches which like the early Timex you can replace easily with a new one. The Casio G-Shock being one of the best watches on the market for being a very robust watch with having solar powered watches and radio control for accuracy and good water resistance all at a very affordable price.
The indiglo was Timex best. Most practical watch ever, until Casio G-shock. Btw, you can split the plates on an old mechanical timex but you have to grind down riveted post. To re-assemble use tiny drop of super glue with oil dipper. You can remove pin palette/anchor wind up to spin movement with the Zippo lighter fluid trick. The fast spinning does better job than swish. That and set spinning in fluid with ultrasonic. Another trick is to tighten balance caps causing balance to freeze/stop then force turn the balance back and forth with finger. This burnishes pivot tips and conical caps into each other, smoothing surfaces. Then loosen cap to restore movement.
i bought my first watch, a '64 marlin, a couple weeks back. having a watch manufactured the year jfk was shot (and the year the beatles rose to fame in its country of manufacture) is real neat. i can't imagine all the places it's been and people who've owned it, winding and setting it makes me feel like the latest in a long chain of owners. i understand the internals are nothing fancy, but for the ~$75 i paid i'm more than happy (i've seen models in similar condition go for around $250, which i would now be more than happy to pay after being acquainted with this watch). regardless, vintage timex's represent accessible pieces of horological history for those who want to get into the hobby, they definitely have their place.
I've repaired hundreds of Timex.. it's only the balance staff that is "V-Conic". The rest of the pivots are normal but still can break. Great watches for folks just starting out in watch repair to work on.. help you gain confidence in removing dials, hands, movements from cases, etc...
I have been collecting affordable vintage watches years ago. I actually remember having a watch like your grandfather, and several other Timex's from the 70's. I think you have said a lot of correct things about the movements. Most of the ones I were manuals, and most didnt run. I had more luck with the automatics, they were a bit better looking and running better in general. Maybe the more expensive watch was taken better care of? I noted about the vintage Timex's in general: No solid steel cases, and the gold plating is very thin. Sometimes dial is stuck to the movement, and servicing is a drag, as you noted. Dials were generally beautiful and in better condition than their Swiss counterparts. The Timex dials were very glossy, maybe the extra coat of varnis protected the dials, and made them easy to clean. I have a Timex 100 (Swiss) and this watch seems similar parts-wise to Swiss watches from the time. I had several "Marlins" in different colors, wish I kept them - they were practically worthless then. Now they are re issued, albeit with better movements. Timex went all in on the Electromechanical watch market too. I respect the company and its place in history, eventhough Timex werent my favorite brand at all then.
I am new to collecting watches and know more about diagramming sentences than the differences between "in-house" and outhouse movements. However, this was absolutely mesmerizing. I watched this video all the way through, feeling every second that ticked by being an investment. I literally had no idea about what made a Timex a Timex, nor the purpose of jeweled movements - but now I do. I'm being totally serious when I say "thank you" for this very-well produced and informative lesson in watch history and mechanics. I honestly feel smarter this morning :-)
It was what it was.. the Model T of watches.. Cheap and tough. I had one when I was a kid and it lasted for years. Still, a quality jeweled movement can be completely broken down, cleaned, reassembled and adjusted and last another 100 years.
When I went through explosives school while on active duty, we were instructed to have a simple wind up timex with a leather band. No digital or anything fancy. Awesome video
I had an Omega seamaster 007 version, between ripping the hairs out of my wrist to the crown digging into the back of my hand it was a torturous watch to wear even for a few hours, sold it on ebay and been wearing the most comfortable watch at a fraction of the cost, The Timex Allied collection.
I used to be snooty when it came to Timex. I guess because I associated them with like Wal-Mart Jewelry departments. But when I got my 1965 Timex Marlin back in 2016. Man, I have nothing but love for Timex. And they do actually have a pretty interesting history.
They are ugly and have no art. The newly made Timex watches are based upon the original works, and they have elegant jeweled movements that are far more precise. Rugged is for the depression era, when people had little or no money.
@@ethorii Another brand to look at is Omikron. The post war ones were only ever sold in Yugoslavia, and consequently no one knows about them. You can get a beautiful 17 or 21 jewel mechanical movement from an actual Swiss marque for as low as $50. Ditto the USSR pieces, of which I have a couple, from the likes of Raketa and Poljot.
This is a really good mini-documentary style video. Well done sir! I actually prefer my Timex watches to be honest. (Especially my Expedition). In my personal collection, I have five different Timex watches. As a side point, my 83 year old father who passed away a year ago, was an avid watch collector. I inherited his collection. Among the myriad of watches, including two Omega and three Rolex, (with original boxes and papers) were a handful of Timex from the 60’s. I think they are pretty cool actually. Ironically, I wear my Timex or Canadian Momentum watches daily as opposed to wearing one of dads Rolex or Omega, which I will wear on special occasions.
As I was tuned in to this interesting history about the Timex watch brand, I remembered my graduation quartz watch with LCD. With a brushed gold case It was a bulky watch case as it would get caught frequently on both my left shirt & jacket sleave. The watch bands often lasted longer than the bezel. I took an interest in Casio's because they kept introducing recording devices and calculator functions but were prone to wear faster. And the crystal was plastic. Every other year I replaced it. Suprised myself after viewing this show that I am wearing an Expedition watch with indeglo created by Timex which has outlasted 3 watch bands.
I remember as a young lad (over 60 years ago), watching a watch repair/service fella servicing watches. It was just a small shop in Moss Side, Manchester (u.k.). He let me have a go at some of the work which involved taking the movement out of a watch then putting it into a fine metal basket. This was lowered into a liquid (solvent?) and switched on to spin. I forget what happened after that but I presume it was dried then lubricated.
The first time they did the boat motor test, they did it in a lake. And when they pulled the motor up the watch was gone. Timex showed they could laugh at them self. Great going John Camron Swazy.
I concur. I remember how the Timex watches were widely despised among click connoisseurs of the time. A friend of mine, who - fifty years ago - had a watch repair shop, says that he accepted to repair Timex watches with no warranty of success, and mostly for free. He used the "whole wash" trick, but he didn't use lighter fluid (naphta) for cleaning, but an industrial solvent, thrichloroethane IIRC. If the wash didn't fix the watch, the problem was usually in the escapement section: either the balance spring had became magnetised (he had a bench demagnetiser), or the escape pins were bent or the balance wheel was off-axis: the two last problems required the replacement of both parts, which when genuine were priced half the cost of a new Timex timepiece. Usually there were replicas available at 50¢, so the repair cost was kept under check. The reason I never donned a Timex was because of that one minute per day time error. The jewel free, metal on metal movement caused the timekeeping error to vary drastically with temperature, humidity, physical orientation and cleanliness of the air. Watches have been a passion for me and many friends; we used precise and affordable watches like Omega and Bulova. It was fun until the Quartz Disaster, when almost all small Swiss, Italian, German, British and French clock manufacturers went under in less than two years. But it was fun until it lasted: a clock keeping half-second or less per day, 17J, paid no more that today's £250, was the aim for everyone. I never had digital watches on my wrist. Today I wear a Japanese automatic W/date&day, less than 1 sec/day, as they are temperature compensated and use an Incabloc design for £200 - same aim of 50 years ago. Thank you for the video. I never thought possible that the Timex saga was still raging...
I don't wear a watch, but I found this video to be interesting - thanks. I had a Timex when I was maybe 10 years old, and used it on my paper route (early 1970s). It had the elastic metal band that would tear the hairs from your arm. I've now inherited my great-grandfather's Elgin pocket watch from 1904 and will have it cleaned/serviced as a display.
I wear a Timex Expedition every day. As a carpenter and a lefty, it gets the heck beat out of it. Been working like a charm since day one, Only a fool would spend hundreds or thousands for a watch.
I beg to differ, my old man makes good money reselling used Timex watches on EBay he has collected over the years when nobody wanted them. There are more and more people out there collecting them. Especially since they are an affordable entry into the hobby.
Excellent video. Brought back many happy memories. I can remember how excited I was to get my first timex watch as a young boy. I'd take it off at night and lay it on my nightstand. The damn thing would keep me awake ticking like a timebomb. :)
I must say, I don't think I owned a watch other than a Timex until I was out of college. Even know I have a Timex Quartz that's probably 15 years old and I've replaced the battery maybe twice (once I'm definitely sure of). It was an inexpensive watch but keeps great time, and if I'm doing any physical activity, I'll wear it before I'd ever wear my Tissot, Bulova, or Orient watches (I damaged one expensive Seiko chronograph at work when I accidentally bumped it into a brick wall; after that I started wearing the Timex again). I do have a Massey-Tissot that I bought early this year that was not drastically more than a mid-range Timex but it has a sapphire crystal, seems to be of excellent quality, and keeps great time.
Almost 20 minutes of pointing out how inferior Timex watches are and then show us your grandfather's ancient Timex which is still running....I IKE THAT KIND OF INFERIOR!!!!!
Yeah, but it's off by up to 2 minutes per day. That can add up to a full hour in a month, so you need to adjust it every other day if you don't want it to be off by more than 5 minutes. So, 10/10 on robustness, but the actual time keeping is shambolic, literally bottom of the barrel.
@@ocudagledam due to the fact, that they are manual wind watches, witch needs to wound up every day, its not a big buisness, to set the time every day ;)
The reason they were so great was you could count on getting a bran new watch every year. How cool was that? You got one for Christmas, Birthday, piano recital, Easter, Football game, home coming, graduation, marriage, new baby. the list goes on and on. That is why every grandpa had an old beat up one he wore out and never threw away and kept in a jewelry box and one day the grand-kids got it and played with it and looked at the wear and damage and thought lovingly about the grandpa, or father that wore it. Nobody could care less if it still worked or how much it originally cost, it was a part of your family. No other item could fill that spot except maybe grandma's dishes
Thanks for the video, really liked it. Been a watch collector since 10 years old. Timex has never been my focus, but I always have a two to four modern timex watches in my collection. They are great value for the money, and if something happens to them, it's no big deal (unless the watch has sentimental value). I'll keep my eye out for your next videos :)
Timex got me into watch collecting and to this day, Timex Southview was my very first watch, still is one of my favourite go to watch and got it for only CAD$75. passed it to my brother and he loves it as well. I got more expensive watches now and I still bought another Timex Southview in a different colour and this time around it was only CAD$60
I own only Timex watches, and I personally love their design. I have one for each occasion, my daily wear has gone through so much abuse, yet it runs so well and looks great after 9 years.
I stumbled on this video randomly on my recommend feed. I don't wear ever watches, or any jewelry for that matter. But for some reason I suddenly want a Timex Marlin.
I mean if you had the option of buying an $11 watch every 5 years or buying a $500 watch and servicing it for $30 every 5 years I'd go with the former thank you very much.
Growing up with mostly with my grandparents, the old man always had on him a Timex watch, Farm work was hard and difficult. Timex took the beating and keep up on working! I have multiple Timex myself.
I got my timex, an expedition, 10 years ago. I took it in and out of jungle in papua, still tickin and precise till today. It does have the ability to take a beating and still be ok... it amaze me.
Very informative and interesting. I actually remember both of those commercials when I was a youngster. I have learned to appreciate a good watch and have an Omega, a Tissot, and a Hamilton. Love them all.
Being new to collecting watches and having come across a few Timex watches, I am glad I saw your take on this brand. I am enjoying your channel content. You have a great voice for video narration. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
I've had one since 2007. The strap eventually fell apart (It's got an old 60s leather strap at the moment), the light broke many years ago, and it ticks so loudly I have to bury it in my sock drawer every night. It just keeps running though and has taken some serious abuse.
great video, and thanks to you for showing us a bit of history and understanding the historical context of Timex. I prefer the old Timex, in fact I have a Marlin from the 60s
That Timex movement looks almost exactly like the suspiciously cheap desk clock I have. The fact that they shrunk it down that much and kept it that reliable is impressive.
The Timex Expedition I am wearing at the moment I purchased for $12 in Houston Texas in 1993 and apart from changing the battery I have not had to adjust anything, It certainly keeps time sufficiently for me and has done for almost 30years. Brilliant piece of kit.
I love timex. I have 9 or 10 of them. I wear them to work, fishing and kayaking in the Atlantic, hiking, and working on my cars and boat. I wore one every day I was in the military. In the last 15 years I've had 1 that quit working. They are great watches.
@@WondersofWatchdomI wore the Expedition. I bought one at the PX with my first check. I have always liked their field style watches. Sorry for the 3 year late reply. Lol
I remember many years ago that Timex had a repair / factory sales facility in North Little Rock Arkansas. My uncle lived nearby and took his and my relatives’ broken Timex watches into the repair office. The repair person would take the watch apart, take the movement out and toss it into a bin and replace it with a new one. I think there was a flat $10 charge.
When the band of the Timex broke, you simply visited the local pharmacy where you could buy a Speidel Twist-O-Flex replacement band for roughly the same price as the watch.
@Cr6479 Fair question. There are two reasons: 1) Because a Twist-O-Flex was considered a far better band than you'd get with a Timex. Actually, it was perceived as an inexpensive luxury until you actually wore one and your arm hairs would get caught between the links and.... Ouch! 2) Even cheap watches had sentimental value depending upon how/when they were obtained. Your question is asked within the context of modern economy and ultra cheap products where nobody thinks to repair the product when it breaks. You just buy another copy. When your TV remote control breaks, you hop onto Amazon or wherever and order a new one. But "replacing broken stuff" was not the mentality either before WWII or in the post-war years. In fact, it was not the mentality at all until America's currency went off the gold standard in the 1970s. Before that, you had your shoes repaired, you sewed lost buttons onto a blouse, you tuned your own car and scraped/regapped your spark plugs instead of buying new ones. You had your old tube hifi unit repaired or you took your vacuum tubes into the local Lafayette or Radio Shack and tested each one on a machine in the store and self-repaired your own radio or television set. Life on the gold standard was very much different than it is today. Folks who couldn't afford stuff would use layaway plans. Banks would encourage savings with Christmas accounts. In fact, there weren't even credit cards back then. Yes, there were charge cards, which are different. They looked the same, but the entire balance had to be paid off each month. There was no expectation by the banks that you'd use a card to borrow money. There was no such thing as "revolving credit". If you didn't pay off your entire balance, your card stopped working until it was paid off... or, the card was cancelled and you still had to pay off the debt. Not to get lost in the minutia... The point is that purchasing culture was very different when Timex was the best-selling watch in America. It was because more expensive watches were difficult for working stiffs to obtain. If the watch itself wasn't broken... but the strap was... you got a new strap, not a new watch. Now, to clarify... If you wanted to simply replace the band/strap that broke, that would cost less than a new Timex watch, fersure. But treating yourself to a Speidel Twist-O-Flex... welllll, that was Speidel's marketing pitch. When your strap broke... your watch was still probably good. So improve it by getting a Twist-O-Flex band!
@@TheCondoInRedondo I agree that American spending habits have definitely changed over time, but I don't think it has much to do with the gold standard at all. I would argue that the mass outsourcing of manufacturing to countries like China played a more significant role than anything else, as now goods are cheaper for everyone to buy, but are also more cheaply produced (so they break more often). Additionally, with increases in technology, it's now almost impossible for us to make any significant repairs to our stuff. I have friends that are computer and electrical engineers, and even they bring their phones to Apple/Samsung when something goes wrong. Why? Because electronics are essentially designed to be as hard to repair as possible. Additionally, because phones are now $1000, no one can try to tinker and experiment to improve because the risk associated with messing up is too great. You see this happen with cars as well. Half the time that I bring my car into the shop, an employee just plugs it into a computer and does everything from there. The age of car owners being able to understand everything about their engines, and make repairs themselves is over, sad as it is to admit. Also, to address you point that "It was because more expensive watches were difficult for working stiffs to obtain." It's worth noting that adjusted for inflation, average wages have actually gone down since the 60's. To make matters, worse, "entry level" luxury watches (Rolex, Omega, JLC, Tudor, etc.) have become even more expensive than they were. So it's actually harder than ever for the average American to buy a nice watch for themselves.
@@TheCondoInRedondo who told you all that missleading crap? It's obvious you never took an economics course in your life. Going off gold was overdue and didn't change life or habits. Lay away plans are stupid and people wised up. Revolving credit was well established by the seventies, just ask Wilma and Betty in the "Flintstones."
Those adverts remind me of the old Master Lock "tough under fire" ad where they shot one with a rifle and the lock still wouldn't open. Unfortunately they are terrible locks and while a rifle bullet may not be able to open it, just about anyone with a thin piece of metal and minimal instruction CAN open it, lol
@@thetrapboy Master locks are still hilariously easy to rake or rock open though, they're generally recommended to people starting out in locksport to learn how to pick locks because they're so easy to open
Don't get me wrong though, there are a handful of models which will take more than a novice to open, but most of their locks are terrible and people generally shouldn't trust them with anything valuable, they work best as a visual deterrent against opportunistic thieves. They do have pretty tough exteriors though so are quite strong against destructive attacks, which is far more likely than someone messing with the actual pins or locking mechanism
The bullet went through the body of the Master lock where none of the locking mechanism was located. If the lock had been shot from the side, the result would have been very different.
i love the irony of highlighting the short lifespan/disposable nature of timex watches using your grandpa's still-functioning timex watch. thanks for the informative history lesson :)
First time it was wound in about 40 years, and it’s too inaccurate to be wearable even after oiling, so not particularly ironic. Anyway glad you liked the history lesson: though low-quality, old Timex are interesting and unique watches.
I'll be 68 years old in June. I've had tons of Timex's. I could never get one to run more than two weeks. I ended up buying a Zodiac Sea Wolf. Wish I still had that Zodiac.
two weeks? really? two weeks? and just what did you do to them? Forget to wind them? Why would you have tons of anything that you couldn't get to run for more than two weeks? Lots of contradictory statements in your short reply that when you really read it make zero sense.
The “collectors” can say what they want. I had a basic timex when I was in my twenties- it went though the washer AND dryer, back came off in the process, popped the back on again. Bingo. Worked like a charm for years. Just like the commercials used to say!!
@@jakekaywell5972 sure. buy a serviceable watch, and every few years pay $300 or more to have it serviced. If it survived that long with a 7 y.o. wearing it.
@@gizzyguzzi The average cost to have a regular, plane-jane jeweled mechanical movement with no complications serviced is $200. Given how many vintage watches easily surpass their 5 year recommended service intervals with no problems, it's likely to strech it out to a solid decade, like literally all of my Soviet pieces. This means that less than $1,000 is enough for a lifetime of operation, which is quite a reasonable sum. This isn't even taking into account the possibility of servicing it yourself, which would save quite a bit on cost and isn't exactly rocket science (since I am doing it). Anyway, the moral of this story is that quality should always come before cost when its regarding something as integral to a mechanical watch as the movement, of which jeweled movements win out every time on account of increased accuracy and durability relative to their pin-lever counterparts a la Timex. Period. End of story.
@@jakekaywell5972 Wrong. Not end of story. There is much more to story. Timex was a cheap watch that performed well. And your soviet watches have a 10 year service interval because they are made sloppy, that's why they are the AK47 of watches. A 50 dollar Vostok is basically the same purpose as a Timex. Precision watches will need more maintenance. And stupid to buy expensive watches that will be beat up working or for children, which is why the Timex found a market. End of story. Period
I planted trees with a simple timex watch for two full seasons, wearing it on the planting hand being driven into the ground over 3000 times per day. Other watches were destroyed in a day. I think it cost me under $20 in the late 80's. I'd imagine collectors don't want them because there are probably just too many of them around. They were available in any non-specialty retail store that sold watches.
I’m a collector and have several early 1950s & 1960s Timex watches in my collection. They just don’t bring the money a lot of other watches bring because they were mass produced and don’t have jeweled movements. They kept pretty good time and you could beat the crap out of them. When they broke you threw them away and got a new one as they were very reasonably priced. I have a whole box of non working Timex watches that I will dig into one of these days and try to repair.
Today Timex is a good product. The watches people really love and is bought exclusively are the Expedition, Waterbury, Easy Reader, New England and the Marlin that we’ve known since the 60s and 70s. These watches is up to date in this era and made very good in the Philippines as well. But the USA made ones are incredible.
I bought a Timex in 1976 when I worked as a forester It took a beating, rained on, fall into ponds, cutting with machete through jungles, for 5 years then as a rice miller. For 3 years dust, water, falls, even a dangerous accident that almost I loose my arm and the Timex was recovered at a magnetic trap 3 days after the incident. Well I retired the "jeep" without much glories and throw it into the "miscellaneous" drawer of my home workshop and bought a new electrinc all gimmicks piece of crap. When it gave up 6 months later I have to turn the Timex winded, it came alive bought a new belt. Until my wife bought me an expensive one a beautiful piece of crap. When it died I fished again the "jeepy" a there he was happy again to tick. And on and on I kept changing the watch for the Timex and the Timex survived all of them. Well it's my official watch now I'm 65 yo and proud of my Timex.
I got a Timex Marlin since they’ve started making them again. The manual movement in it is so nice. It’s gotten a lot of questions too. It’s also a manual movement for less than 300 bucks.
Great video. I don't care what anyone says I absolutely love vintage Timex watches. Anytime I come across one at a thrift store I get excited. Industrial is a great destination of their movement and space age is another great way to describe the look of some of the older Timex watches and it's what I love about them. While I'm not American I do love the Americana look of a Timex. They just remind me of different era.
I used to buy Timexes because they had that useful Indiglo feature. They had one model with large numerals on a plain face so I didn't have to put my glasses on to tell the time. Now you can get that lighting feature on an array of Chinese cheapos at Walmart for less than $ 20.00.
Most vintage mechanical Timex are nearly impossible to repair and don't have jewels. When they wear out, they are pretty much done. That reduces their value considerably I think. When something is designed to be disposable it is generally not valuable. SWATCH watches buck this rule if course but they are still nearly impossible to do much with since the crystal is heat fused with the case.
I used to love Timex watches as I had one as a kid. The couple I purchased a decade ago had such poor quality that it turned me off the brand for life.
Here are the links to the new Timex models I personally like:
Timex Marlin, Hand Wound
amzn.to/2Nhw410
Timex Marlin, Automatic
amzn.to/2JwWtH3
Timex Weekender Chronograph
amzn.to/2Pyg7GF
Timex Expedition Scout 43 (Military Field Watch)
amzn.to/2Pu7Fb5
Timex Weekender, 38mm black dial
amzn.to/32VR7Ni
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchase
_______
Credits:
Jumpin Boogie Woogie by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: audionautix.com/
1959 Commercial for Timex watches ad 1 and ad 4, Public Domain, retrieved from archive.org/
But I grew up in the 60's and 70's with John Cameron Swayze promising me they could survive a Russian attack ! OMG He Lied even when they rolled it into asphalt ! 😁🕙
I have half a dozen timex watches
Wonders of Watchdom 85
Wonders of Watchdom, really enjoyed this, thank you so much, hope you have a great day.
I was about to ask you what you think of modern timex watches. I own a couple, in addition to others, and I like them as everyday beaters or gifts.
I am an old guy. IMO- the main reason for Timex watch popularity was that it really could stand up to an incredible amount of abuse. Men who did physical labor in construction, auto repair, farming, ranch work, industry etc. needed a watch that could be worn to work, keep time well enough to be useful and stand up to rigorous abuse all at an affordable price. Often they would be exposed to chemicals, extremes in temperature, humidity, sweat, shock and anything else you could imagine. For example, a workman would remove his watch to wash his greasy hands and accidentally drop it on a tile or concrete floor. A worker might use a jackhammer or other industrial tools that shook the hell out of the watch. Sometimes they would forget they were wearing it and dunk their hands in liquids. Back then it was unusual to see a workman wearing any watch other than a Timex and it would always have a crack in the crystal (which wasn't easy to do) yet it was on the job every day. These men wore Timex watches to war! They just kept on ticking. There is a reason many people found no longer functioning Timex watches in their fathers' and grandfathers' personal effects after they died. The watch was like an old friend. They couldn't just throw it in the trash after all they went through together. These men didn't need a delicate timepiece accurate to a minute per year. They needed a watch to tell them when it was lunchtime or when quitting time was approaching. You would see these watches spattered with paint, with heavy scars or electrical tape wrapped around the worn out watchband. They didn't take them to watchmakers for service. How many expensive, complicated highly accurate watches could stand up to such daily abuse without servicing? Workers were better served by Timex watches, that is why the used them. They were available for purchase everywhere, not in some high-class jewelry store. Men had Timex watches for daily wear. Often they had a fancy looking watch to wear to weddings and funerals but those were Timex watches, too.
Thank you Lord Edward for more eloquently saying what I was going to write. I wore a Timex from the time I had my first newspaper route (1957), through my years as a mechanic, through the years in the Army, through college and to the present day. I also remember the original live demonstration on the outboard motor when the watch came off the propeller - they were able to get a shot of it running on the bottom of the tank. I believe that was the impetus for me getting my first Timex for Christmas.
@@flick22601 Or the prying one out of the asphalt that a paver dude lost.
Takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
@Gus Goose Yes, for some a watch is a piece of jewelry for others it is an important part of the tool kit.
classiccarz "
When I was six years old my grandparents bought me a mini mouse Timex watch at Disneyland. I will be 60 years old next year and that watch has been on my wrist every day of my life since my grandfather bought it for me. I have been offered other watches but have never wanted anything other than the one that I had. I always said the same thing when this one stops you can buy me a new one. I have only ever had this one watch my whole life.
Margaret McCullough that’s so cool. Thanks for sharing that with us Margaret.
That is legendary!
A watch lasted a six year old 54 years? Wow! The watches I give six year olds are destroyed in 48 hours.
So you're an old geezer still gets into cartoons. AMAZING!
well you are right. doesn't matter of world brand, it's yours. shame on advertising stuff. glad to hear you kept it with you.
He's gone now, but when I asked my dad why he always bought the lowest cost watch he could find ("How could I NOT buy it, it was $8.00."), he would tell me that he didn't want a watch that lasts forever because he liked changing his watch after some time. I thought he was rationalizing, but he was a child in the Depression and never lost his want of a bargain. I love ya , dad.
Cool story, my grandfather had a similar philosophy about electronics.
I am glad that I too share the same outlook...👍
@@dhirajkumargupta4151 he always looked for bargains having grown up during the depression.
@@locustvalleystring I understand what your dad must have felt like. I had seen my Father slog multiple jobs daily and sleep for merely 4 hrs per day, hence that emotion has stuck to me till date and from inside I didn't feel like asking anything more from him after that.
Love your dad
I would argue the biggest reason vintage Timex watches are not collectible is because they sold so many of them they are still abundant today. Go to any estate sale and you'll find several of them. Regardless of the inferior engineering, if Timex watches were scarce, prices /collectability would likely increase.
In the mechanical watch world, both the Soviet Pobedas/ZiMs as well as India's HMTs are heads and tails better than Timexes while still able to fullfill the "watches of and for the people" ethos they were created for. The fact that we in the U.S. apparently decided that pin-lever Timexes were good enough in light of this is a tragedy, especially since Timex didn't even bother to make those pin lever movements servicable OR adjustable for better time-keeping (regularly off by more than 2 minuites and literally impossible to get better than 40 sec/day), unlike the Ruhla Caliber 24.
@@jakekaywell5972 we need to know what time lunch is bro, not when to launch the nuke defence.
@@Di3mondDud3 Regardless of the task at hand, a more accurate watch that can actually be serviced is better.
well said... Classic supply and demand.
@@jakekaywell5972 Depends on how much abuse the watch goes through. A working man needs a watch that will keep working, not an extremely accurate watch that needs servicing.
I am a watchmaker from Nova Scotia and I thought this video was awesome. I had to laugh because you described exactly how I service a vintage Timex. Most of my customers who have inherited grandpa's watch try to get it fixed, but are turned away because of everything you mentioned in your video. They are told that the watch cannot be serviced and that they were meant to be thrown away. Nothing makes me happier than returning a restored Timex to my customer. Although the movement is ugly the fit and finish of those old Timex's still hold up today. I swear the plating is 20microns thick. Anyways awesome video, I really enjoyed that.
So you fix the Timex that the other repair shops don't? If so, I must give you a great salute.
@@lamtatyan thank you 🙏
Well said! I'm a watchmaker from the Washington DC area and I'm addicted to restoring vintage Timexes :)
Honestly, I don’t see how your work is possible. Timex’s pin-lever movements were never designed to be serviced. Period. End of story. The only way I could imagine is if you somehow managed to get one of Timex’s proprietary jigs, which would obviously be difficult.
@@jakekaywell5972 that’s not correct. Timex watches are completely serviceable and I restore them every day for vintage Timex enthusiasts
Just an FYI...I serviced Timex watches for 25 years starting in 1974. Timex sold stem and crowns, crystals, and replacement movements at wholesale.The average movement cost me $3-4 and I charged $ 7.95 retail. It wasn’t a big money maker but customers flocked to my store for repairs and it grew my jewelry business. What you may not realize is many many Timex watches were sentimental gifts that people didn’t want to part with. They didn’t want a new watch, they wanted their watch fixed!
stem and crowns and crystals and swapping out movements (Many times with GREAT difficulty and a crystal removal tool) do NOT mean SERVICING a watch, my friend
@@markfrost2707okay gatekeeper go off 🙄
You hit that one outta' the park !!!
Timex were everywhere!
I bought one at counter of a country dinner in 1988. It was a gold coloured automatic with date. It was $35 dollars, about 5 time the price of my cheeseburger deluxe, with chocolate shake. I was 18 and just got paid making $7 per hour.
I wore it for years and never had to wind it or get a battery, reset it once in a while when I heard the time signal on the radio. It was never off.
I must have 15 or so now, one for every conceivable occasion.
They all have been put through hell and work perfectly.
They just work!
@Victor Murat I'm guessing because it is not THAT accurate so needs resetting to correct time occasionally.
Time signal? And mechanical thought they had stop making mechanical watches
My father gifted me my first watch when I was 9 yrs old. It was a Timex, so the company is somewhat nostalgic for me. I have also been fascinated with their history. Having begun in 1854 as the Waterbury Clock Company, then collaborating with Ingersoll, later becoming the U.S. Time Corporation (1943), and eventually Timex (1950). They have continued to remain, even through World Wars, The Great Depression, and several change of hands. Their legacy is part of the fabric of our American culture. I still see vintage Timex's out there going on 50+ years being worn today-which says a lot. For any collector to not have at least one Timex in their collection seems pretentious. Watch collecting isn’t all about money. Some of us who love watches find pleasure in their unique history and wearability.
Bravo!
I think I was also 9. An uncle got all the men at a family gathering matching Timex watches for Christmas or something. I wore mine for a few years and still have it now. It's pretty unpleasant to wind (always was) and you can tell it's low quality, but it's over forty years old and still works.
@@MichaelPoage666 ..sounds like you might want to bin that thing, or maybe love it more!
If I recall correctly, my father gifted me my first watch, a Timex, at age 11 when I started senior school. During the two or three years I had it, I can honestly say I don't remember having to correct the time on it once. I'd like to think it is still ticking away somewhere, but during games at school we had to take our watches off, they weren't put in secure storage and one day, surprise surprise, it was stolen.
I'm from the UK and while the adverts shown in this clip don't bring back any memories, at Christmas time during the 1960's two companies could be relied upon to produce elaborate advertisements - Timex (Tick a Tick a Timex) and Woolworths (that's the wonder of Woolies).
I was 10 and that began my journey into adulthood. It impressed me with years of service and good looks. I love the higher end stuff but still have a couple of mint mid 60s Timex in my collection.
In the early 1970s, I worked for a watch parts distributor. He and his partner (a watchmaker) were excited to be selected by Timex to be one of the company’s watch parts and battery distributors. The arrangement that Timex had with all its retailers was that the retailer would be furnished with a selection of Timex watches, including replacement watch movements and the rights to buy additional replacement movements at a discounted cost. My employers would be the designated Timex repair parts distributor. They agreed to keep in stock enough replacement parts to furnish all retailers with same day shipment of replacement parts and movements. That opened up the business to a huge number of instant customers. We stocked hundreds of replacement movements and parts, and did a huge daily business shipping (usually by mail or UPS) to all the retailers. Keep in mind, the average retailer would be, not necessarily a jewelry store, but in many small towns, just the local drug store or hardware store, each of which had promotional signage declaring that they were Authorized Times sellers. We sold hundreds of movements a month to the Timex network of stores. Timexes were simply designed and manufactured to lower costs and capture the low cost market. You would find them in K-marts and Ace Hardware stores, for example. Timex was not interested in selling displays to jewelry stores, where they would be “Loss Leaders,” a pejorative term making the brand the goat. A retailer would take the watch in for replacement or repair (some Timexes did indeed have repairable movements), ship it to us, and we would ship out the replacement same day if we got it in time to make the UPS or Post Office hours. It was of course understood by the original customers that a Times was not a top name brand, but their easy repair kept them top sellers for decades. A customer could take his broken TImex to the local dealer, who was probably the store he bought it from, the dealer would find the replacement movement in stock, and the customer could return later for a running movement for even less that he paid for the watch.
Our Timex Exchange Program gave us the additional marketing position needed to acquire or retain major watch movement distributors, such as Bulova, Longines-Wittnauer, Le Coultre, Benrus, and so on. Bulova was a major coup, in fact, as we were the “Authorized Bulova Parts distributor” for all their lines (but not the fancy clocks).
All that was, of course, forty years ago, and I am sure things have changed. But Timex, through its Ironman line, its acquisition of distribution of other movements worldwide, have kept it strong. A friend who worked in the jewelry department of a major K-mart store in California said that Timex was, day in and day out, the best seller in their store, and they also sold popular competitive brands.
Hope this helps. Timex made many a payday possible for all of us at The Cobron Company, New Orleans, LA. (I think they are long out of business, by the way, after both partners died.)
Batteries? I want a watch that ticks, one that you have to wind- proper watches.
@@vhawk1951kl a spring drives doesn’t tick but it sure as heck a @proper watch”
@@Xanduur A *proper* watch has to be wound, and ticks
My Father bought me a timex watch when I was 7 years old. It was the sole possession I had from childhood until adulthood. In the course of conversation with a 'mate', whom I was putting up in my flat a few days, I showed him this watch, remarking on it's sentimental value, etc. This friend relieved me of this childhood souvenir one day, the horrible bastard. Had to share this! Peace and good health to all here in the land of time! 🦉
Not a friend
@@2degucitas Yeah man, found that out the hard way! What is wrong with people?
@@robertthomas4234 Seriously!
You know the well known saying - no good deed goes unpunished.
Dave Ashton
Me again.
There are a lot of people in this world (I call them 'The me first brigade') who trample over everybody else to get what they want.
Among these types are those who leave supermarket trolleys all over the place instead of taking them back to the trolley park.
Those who don't put unwanted items back where they got them from, especially frozen items and leave them to defrost on any shelf in the supermarket.
Those that park on the road in the supermarket car park or on the taxi drop off points instead of a parking bay so that they don't have to walk very far.
There are people who will steal anything if it's not nailed down and even then they'll try.
I bought some chrome tyre valve caps once (50p each) for my 4x4 and some scum bag stole 2 from one side of my car, obviously unwilling to expose themselves stealing in the car park so didn't take all four.
I could go on and on.
Dave Ashton
I am 71 years old. Growing up in the 50's and 60's like I did, the Timex watch was a highly visible product. My first watches were Timex. As a college student, I wasn't able to afford an expensive watch and Timex fit the bill. I definitely have a soft spot for those old mechanical models. I wish there was something like them today. My real preference is mechanical watches. Although I own more than 50 watches, many of them either solar powered or battery driven. My closest substitute is the Seiko Sport 5 series which I own five of. Timex gave the combination of an affordable price, great styling and modest reliability. It was an unbeatable deal. In this world, the cheapest Patek Philippe is more than the appraised value of my house and the new version of the Timex Marlin is more expensive than the first three cars I bought. I will always remember them. The fact that they have little or no collectibility doesn't matter to me at all.
Russians and Japanese mechanicals probably killed American watchmaking
You forgot to account for inflation and the fact that people make more money these days... Your cars back then we're cheaper than today, yes, but not less than a new timex that converted into 1980's dollars (not even that long ago) was 30 bucks...
I agree with you, collectibility doesn't matter to me at all either!.
@@marcusborderlands6177 No, a 1960s Timex was cheap by 1960s standards. Modern Timex watches are relatively more expensive.
@@nycbearff I'm saying his first 3 cars probably cost more than the Timex he mentioned
Reference note, $10.95 USD in the 1960 is equal to $95.15 USD in 2019.
Wow,how much would a rolex cost???
@@edmund8954 there's a UA-cam clip with an elderly man did an appraisal for a Rolex GMT Master. Bought it while serving in the army in the 1960s, certified chronometer for USD $120.35. A OVER MONTH salary for an US Army soldier.
ua-cam.com/video/li0mRLcGbU8/v-deo.html
Those got to be the best times, just need to save a months worth of money and easily obtainable.
@@objective7042
Yeah, great times. As long as you were on duty in Europe and not Vietnam.
@@markcynic808 it just means that an average person fresh out of high school starting his first job can purchase a Rolex without much effort. (unless he gets drafted)
@@objective7042
Being drafted or otherwise employed by the military would have made it easier - no rent or bills to pay.
I remember watching the clip you linked a few years ago. If I recall it correctly, the vet didn't really know what a Rolex was and bought it after being advised to do so. Perhaps that's why so few were purchased by Americans.
My original comment was made with regard to you stating that the 60s were "the best of times," based solely on the price of a Rolex. Hmm.
WHY??? because it tells the time NOT YOUR SOCIAL ECONOMIC STATUS , that,s why
Peter Mcintosh well said
@@tedyeo4778 yep. 100% right
so damn true
Timex was the Volkswagen of watches--cheap and practical for the Everyman, and durable as hell. I am somewhat disappointed that I can not find mechanical watches at all besides the high-end luxury type--I like the moving parts and the ticking, even if it is less accurate than quartz.
And if u wear earprotection a timex is wearable.
I used to fix Timex watches back in the 1960's. I developed a way to clean them in minutes. It involved pullling the movement DOWN, hanging by the winding stem creating a wedge shaped opening between the movement and the crystal part of the case. then I would mount them in a jig I made that held them about 1.5 inches from the tip of a vacuum cleaner snorkel type tip. As the air flowed through the movement. I used an atomizer on the up wind side and squirted lighter fluid through ...giving the movement a "shower" through it and taking dirt and worn metal with it. I was about 11 years old when I invented that technique and it worked. The lighter fluid also left behind a very thin coating of lubricant that also helped them run nicely. I fixed many timex watches that way. (by the way Caravel watches were no where near as good as Timex)
Caravelle was ten times the watch timex was
The TImex watches were NEVER very expensive, and they were made by the gazillions. So there's no collector value because so many were made, and they were relatively inexpensive.
Nah. Collectors justifiably hate Timex (including myself) because they were and are entirely disposable junk.
In the mechanical watch world, both the Soviet Pobedas/ZiMs as well as India's HMTs are heads and tails better than Timexes while still able to fullfill the "watches of and for the people" ethos they were created for. The fact that we in the U.S. apparently decided that pin-lever Timexes were good enough in light of this is a tragedy, especially since Timex didn't even bother to make those pin lever movements servicable OR adjustable for better time-keeping (regularly off by more than 2 minuites and literally impossible to get better than 40 sec/day), unlike the GDR's Ruhla Caliber 24.
@@jakekaywell5972 Collectors (including yourself) hate these things because you hold the working class in contempt.
@@Azathoth43 A completely ridiculous claim, given I listed two other watches that were A: actually decent. B: also genuine people's watches that served as the bottom rung in their respective societies. Try again with a better argument.
@@jakekaywell5972 Nail, meet head.
There's something to be said for a watch that you can treat with contempt and not care.
Quite why such a thing would be collectable is a mystery.
Not true.. because there are obviously rare watches within Timex. I have 2 rare watches that you won’t be able to find! They are collectible because almost all vintage watches are collectible period, Timex are collectible.
I still have my Timex in the draw, engraved with my name on the back . A present from my parents at around 10 years old.
My parents are going to buy me one! Very special present! Any good ideas? Only around $450 Cad
I got one in 1971. Worked like a bomb. Pity I lost it. Lost a minute within three days... It was always slow. But I loved it.
I still using my expedition timex watch for over 10 years now still kicking...
Same, my father gave me my 1st TimeX on 1995, TimeX Ironman
@@stablestables1866 get the mk1 macgyver watch or mk1 chronograph
I had an Timex Indiglo model that followed me through several years in the army. Cheap (so I didnt have to worry about it getting broken or worse stolen), sturdy, and it had the really good indiglo feature of lighting up the entire watchface, not neccetating using a light to see what time it was. Working in an enviroment where you cannot always use a flashlight in the dark was perfect.
I have the same watch, its pretty reliable and the glow feature is great
Same, I use my in the Aus army and it's great, not to mention how much better it looks than some shit house G-Shock
I've had a Timex since 1970 ....my parents bought it for me. I wouldn't part with it for all the money in the world.
@@taunteratwill1787 My parents brought me up the right way too.
@@taunteratwill1787 get out of here with that bs
*me putting all the money in the world back in my bank account. I’ll try somewhere else
How about 10 bucks?
@@xonce4296 lol
In my working-class neighborhood culture, Timex was the first "adult" you would get.
At about 8 or 9 years old, you'd get a cheap watch in your Christmas stocking, or for your birthday, expecting that it would get lost or broken. If you took care of those cheap watches, and proved yourself responsible in other ways, at about 15 or 16, you'd get a Timex - an adult watch.
As a result, amongst my family and friends, Timex watches have a certain status, they mean you've matured and earned a certain amount of respect.
To this day, despite the fact that we've all grown up and bought "better" watches, the gift of a Timex is always well received.
Wonderfully said
Hah, my son got a Timex Indiglo at 12! He gave it to his best friend (who really liked it) when he got to choose his first Serious Watch at 16, a new Laco automatic (chosen to fit the WW2 re-enacting hobby he became active in) For his 18-year-old watch he asked if I could find him a Zodiac Seawolf, and after dying a little at the prices I was able to wrangle a well-patina'd one with USMC engraving which he LOVED; his 21-year-old watch awaits him in the safe, a pristine '46 waffle dial bumper automatic Omega :) I remain a bit sad no Hamilton has of yet floated his adolescent boat (Hamiltons are my obsession, a collection founded on the Hamiltons of my grandmother and my mother's grandmother) but he is still young.... the taste may develop.... He's managed not to lose, break, or otherwise violate any of them, which makes a mom proud :)
That's a very good tradition actually!
@@judithbradford9130LOL!!
Thank you for this fascinating and informative film. My paternal grandfather, who drove dragline excavators for a living, used to service and repair clocks and watches as a hobby. He died over 20 years ago but one thing I remember is that he absolutely would not touch Timex watches and now I know why.
I got beaten senseless wearing a Timex & I used my watch arm to deflect blows. The glass broke but it still kept ticking. I loved that watch! She lit up when I squeezed her.
Nice story, but of course I hope that you are ok. Sounds like an Indiglo model. I hope you kept it and put a new glass. I would imagine that this watch, or at least the memory of a Timex, is dear to you :)
The .001 seconds is how off each second can be. ie a Timex second can be 1.001 seconds or 0.999 seconds. That translates to about +/- 84-85 seconds a day
People who owned Timex reset the time every day when winding.
@@Robert_Browne Exactly! Also, be 5 mins early for important appointments. Splits the difference and being too early sometimes impresses people.
@@costrio I agree
I remember my very first watch. I'd be about 7, & my dad bought me a Timex for my birthday. It was wonderful. I'd show it off to all the other kids. I'd even wear it in bed. The only thing I couldn't understand was why all the clocks in school were wrong.
Commoner I had the same experience in the 50’s, loved my Timex and wore it everywhere. Having a wristwatch would make a young fellow feel like he was in the Big Time.
Commoner I love how the joke at the last line was missed. Anyways, good one 👍🏼
A.A
@@abhyjith.k.a Oh I didn't miss the joke! Gave me a smile...
I laughed out loud! (really!)
Good story, I still have the watch that my dad gave me, a Timex, in 1968, it no longer had the band but the movement is usually right...
My dad bought a timex in around 70s, its stainless simple watch but he adored it. Its his first "expensive" watch he could afford, and the last because he loved it so much he never needs to buy another. Its a great piece even until today, I even wore it today as a daily. Its surprisingly rugged for a disposable watch.
Timex was THE watch to have. In typical American fashion, they got lazy and dropped the ball. FYI, I bought a Timex a few years back, I returned it because IT MADE A TICKING NOISE THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLY LOUD! And this is an acknowledged problem, noted by many watch afficionados.
A few years back they began to make them in the Philippines, that's the problem.
@@kevinschaefer3945 don’t think where it was made is a problem. iPhones are made in China. Amd CPU’s are made in Malaysia.
@@commonaffection1703 You've proven Kevin's point.
@@commonaffection1703 You've come up against American jingoism here - yes, foreign manufacturers can do as well or better than the best American manufacturers could - but the formerly American companies that moved their operations abroad to increase their profits also cut back on quality to increase their profits even more. Foreign workers get the blame for the cost-cutting and planned obsolescence that American companies designed into their foreign factories.
I have a Timex Expedition I use for camping etc and confirm it is an unnecessarily loud watch.
My mom worked in a Timex factory. I think it was in Watertown, Ct. I spent about a month at Timex in another location as a temp worker. Maybe Torrington. Long time ago. If you look up the Timex history, it started as the Waterbury Clock Co. In James Joyce's 'Ulysses' the author mentions the protagonist's Waterbury watch. Waterbury was at one time called 'Brass City' because it was one of the world's leading producers of brass. There were all kinds of factories there. Many of them supplying the auto industry and military. The same company that made Timex at one time supplied parts for missiles. Now Waterbury has very little to offer but a high crime rate.
To be fair, all those businesses bailed on Waterbury. No new businesses replaced them, and the city fell apart. Still going downhill, unfortunately, glad I moved out recently
@@joshz9976 It's a little more sinister than that. Businesses bailed on America and moved manufacturing abroad. There was a push for that from the globalists.
I dug up a 1960's timex watch that I found metal detecting. I wound it up and it still worked!
Alan Morgan takes a diggin kept on tickin
I have a collection of watches that includes Omegas, Longines, JLCs, Perragaux, Seikos. Hamiltons, Bulovas, Enicars, Edox, Eternas etc.
And one old automatic Timex dress watch, that looks great and I wear it quite often.
Sounds like a nice variety. The Eternas are a nice touch.
Which is your favourite of them.all ?
My Dad was a machinist and worked very hard to support his family. He owned the same Timex watch for over 25 years. the watch was beaten up and the crystal was cracked but it ran for years and years
When I was a child I went through my entire teenage years wearing a Timex heritage moondial, sadly I lost it. My Dad brought it for me. Sadly it didn’t make it. 35 years on, I’m on eBay and I found the watch! But they’re in bad shape and don’t work. So recently I purchased another Timex to rekindle and reunite my love for it, and it’s very much like my old watch. I adore it, it’s personal to me, and I do not intend to have it as a collectors piece but it’s my beautiful personal watch. P.s that watch I saw on eBay was £20 more expensive than what my Dad paid for it in ‘92.
As a young kid in the 70's, I remember hanging out with my Grandpa and studying his large-faced Timex watch he always wore. It sure looked like it went through a couple of wars, it was all scratched and beat up but underneath all that I could see that the watch was working just fine. I am pretty sure Timex was one of the first words I learned how to read and spell by myself because of his watch. Timex reminds me of that bonding and I now wear my Ladies Essex Timex watch in honor of him, keeping the family tradition alive, sort of speak.
Sounds like Timex made a watch for the masses by streamlining the process and using alternative, less-expensive materials and then marketing them aggressively. The Wal-Mart of watches, ahead of their time.
americans have always been suckers for good marketing over quality.
every time.
including presidents.
I agree
A Bic lighter.
What part of "Eisenhower put tariffs on imported watches to give Timex an advantage" didn't you understand?
Thomas Neal yep. People fell for obama because of that
In the 1980s I worked on a rough framing crew. I "borrowed" a Timex watch from my dad. I was the only person on the crew with a watch and became the official time keeper. it was my call as to when breaks, lunch and quitting time occurred all thanks to my marginally accurate Timex. For 4 years I tortured that watch hand-nailing and running equipment in the worst of conditions. As long as I remembered to wind it, it always worked. I've always wondered how long a "good" watch would have lasted...never made enough money to find out.
I've worked on & collected watches since 2002. I've noticed there is a growing sector of collectors that are now picking up the Timex watches. Not all Timex were as pedestrian as the ones pictured here. There are even 21 jewel, divers, and automatics.
There are even some people out there servicing old Timex no jewel movements now.
This video has a lot of significance to me. I found it back in January when I was first starting to get into watches. At the time, I had just bought a Timex Southview - my first ever timepiece. I knew almost nothing about horology and wanted to learn about the Timex brand, but I got interrupted halfway through the video and never went back to it.
But in the time since, my collection has expanded to 9 watches from a variety of brands including Timex, Casio, Citizen, Orient and Seiko. Matter of fact, I finally managed to get my hands on a Seiko SARB035. And now the algorithm has shown me this video once again, and this time I actually got to watch it all the way through!
So thank you for this video. Without the intrigue posed by the title and your description on movements, I likely wouldn't have gotten as interested in the inner working of wristwatches as I currently am.
Solid stuff you got there! However, I strongly recommend you look into vintage pieces for the $50-$100 USD price point. You might not think it, but there's choices here for solid mechanical movements with lovely cases, dials, and history attached. There's Poljot, Raketa, Luch, and others from the USSR. There's the forgotten Swiss marques such as Omikron and Cyma. Then there's the German Bifora and Junghans. You get the point. However, if you want to buy American, there's 1940s-50s Elgin and Bulova pieces out there for criminally low sums.
I had a Timex watch many years ago which was my first manual wind watch which was given to me by my grandfather here in the UK, I no longer have it but I do have a couple of Timex quartz watches one of which is an Expedition watch. I think the reason that Seiko started to dominate the market was the introduction of the Seiko 5 automatic watches which were affordable to everyone and had a lot more features on them, they are still probably one of the best selling watches today on the low end of mechanical watches. Casio are now one of the biggest selling brands with such a wide variety of digital and analogue watches which like the early Timex you can replace easily with a new one. The Casio G-Shock being one of the best watches on the market for being a very robust watch with having solar powered watches and radio control for accuracy and good water resistance all at a very affordable price.
Wearing my Timex Expedition Scout watch right now!
The indiglo was Timex best. Most practical watch ever, until Casio G-shock. Btw, you can split the plates on an old mechanical timex but you have to grind down riveted post. To re-assemble use tiny drop of super glue with oil dipper. You can remove pin palette/anchor wind up to spin movement with the Zippo lighter fluid trick. The fast spinning does better job than swish. That and set spinning in fluid with ultrasonic. Another trick is to tighten balance caps causing balance to freeze/stop then force turn the balance back and forth with finger. This burnishes pivot tips and conical caps into each other, smoothing surfaces. Then loosen cap to restore movement.
madman
i bought my first watch, a '64 marlin, a couple weeks back. having a watch manufactured the year jfk was shot (and the year the beatles rose to fame in its country of manufacture) is real neat. i can't imagine all the places it's been and people who've owned it, winding and setting it makes me feel like the latest in a long chain of owners. i understand the internals are nothing fancy, but for the ~$75 i paid i'm more than happy (i've seen models in similar condition go for around $250, which i would now be more than happy to pay after being acquainted with this watch). regardless, vintage timex's represent accessible pieces of horological history for those who want to get into the hobby, they definitely have their place.
JFK was assassinated in Nov. '63, so you are off by a few weeks, Vladimir.
I've repaired hundreds of Timex.. it's only the balance staff that is "V-Conic". The rest of the pivots are normal but still can break. Great watches for folks just starting out in watch repair to work on.. help you gain confidence in removing dials, hands, movements from cases, etc...
I have been collecting affordable vintage watches years ago. I actually remember having a watch like your grandfather, and several other Timex's from the 70's. I think you have said a lot of correct things about the movements. Most of the ones I were manuals, and most didnt run. I had more luck with the automatics, they were a bit better looking and running better in general. Maybe the more expensive watch was taken better care of? I noted about the vintage Timex's in general: No solid steel cases, and the gold plating is very thin. Sometimes dial is stuck to the movement, and servicing is a drag, as you noted. Dials were generally beautiful and in better condition than their Swiss counterparts. The Timex dials were very glossy, maybe the extra coat of varnis protected the dials, and made them easy to clean. I have a Timex 100 (Swiss) and this watch seems similar parts-wise to Swiss watches from the time. I had several "Marlins" in different colors, wish I kept them - they were practically worthless then. Now they are re issued, albeit with better movements. Timex went all in on the Electromechanical watch market too. I respect the company and its place in history, eventhough Timex werent my favorite brand at all then.
I am new to collecting watches and know more about diagramming sentences than the differences between "in-house" and outhouse movements. However, this was absolutely mesmerizing. I watched this video all the way through, feeling every second that ticked by being an investment. I literally had no idea about what made a Timex a Timex, nor the purpose of jeweled movements - but now I do. I'm being totally serious when I say "thank you" for this very-well produced and informative lesson in watch history and mechanics. I honestly feel smarter this morning :-)
It was what it was.. the Model T of watches.. Cheap and tough. I had one when I was a kid and it lasted for years. Still, a quality jeweled movement can be completely broken down, cleaned, reassembled and adjusted and last another 100 years.
When I went through explosives school while on active duty, we were instructed to have a simple wind up timex with a leather band. No digital or anything fancy. Awesome video
Corruption ran that deep huh
@@Slouworker 😂😂indeed
@@Slouworker Lack of things that can spark is important around explosives. As is having a cheap watch that is very robust.
I had an Omega seamaster 007 version, between ripping the hairs out of my wrist to the crown digging into the back of my hand it was a torturous watch to wear even for a few hours, sold it on ebay and been wearing the most comfortable watch at a fraction of the cost, The Timex Allied collection.
I used to be snooty when it came to Timex. I guess because I associated them with like Wal-Mart Jewelry departments. But when I got my 1965 Timex Marlin back in 2016. Man, I have nothing but love for Timex. And they do actually have a pretty interesting history.
Seems like if you're truly into technology, and old time pieces... Timex would be a fun and inexpensive entry into the hobby. Screw the naysayers.
Yup, I have a few antique watches and 2 of them are my grandfather's Timex's and they look great and still run fine
Exactly. Visit anyplace that sells used or old watches and the Timex examples will always be affordable and still work.
They are ugly and have no art. The newly made Timex watches are based upon the original works, and they have elegant jeweled movements that are far more precise. Rugged is for the depression era, when people had little or no money.
Buy a Helbros or Benrus for $40 bucks on Ebay. You'll get a 17 jewel watch that might actually still work in a year, and can be serviced
@@ethorii Another brand to look at is Omikron. The post war ones were only ever sold in Yugoslavia, and consequently no one knows about them. You can get a beautiful 17 or 21 jewel mechanical movement from an actual Swiss marque for as low as $50. Ditto the USSR pieces, of which I have a couple, from the likes of Raketa and Poljot.
I freaking love Timex and have 7 of them.
same here i do like the auto watch i also have 5 electric real sparks fly when you wear them on yer wrist ..jeff
You must be American then :)
Tony Phillips you my friend are a collector
I have two!
This is a really good mini-documentary style video. Well done sir!
I actually prefer my Timex watches to be honest. (Especially my Expedition). In my personal collection, I have five different Timex watches.
As a side point, my 83 year old father who passed away a year ago, was an avid watch collector. I inherited his collection. Among the myriad of watches, including two Omega and three Rolex, (with original boxes and papers) were a handful of Timex from the 60’s. I think they are pretty cool actually. Ironically, I wear my Timex or Canadian Momentum watches daily as opposed to wearing one of dads Rolex or Omega, which I will wear on special occasions.
As I was tuned in to this interesting history about the Timex watch brand, I remembered my graduation quartz watch with LCD. With a brushed gold case It was a bulky watch case as it would get caught frequently on both my left shirt & jacket sleave. The watch bands often lasted longer than the bezel. I took an interest in Casio's because they kept introducing recording devices and calculator functions but were prone to wear faster. And the crystal was plastic. Every other year I replaced it. Suprised myself after viewing this show that I am wearing an Expedition watch with indeglo created by Timex which has outlasted 3 watch bands.
I remember as a young lad (over 60 years ago), watching a watch repair/service fella servicing watches. It was just a small shop in Moss Side, Manchester (u.k.). He let me have a go at some of the work which involved taking the movement out of a watch then putting it into a fine metal basket. This was lowered into a liquid (solvent?) and switched on to spin. I forget what happened after that but I presume it was dried then lubricated.
The first time they did the boat motor test, they did it in a lake. And when they pulled the motor up the watch was gone. Timex showed they could laugh at them self. Great going John Camron Swazy.
You're correct. I had a Timex in the 1960's and the watch repair guy flat out told me he doesn't work on Timex.
Haha and that’s still the response someone will receive from a traditional watchmaker.
I concur. I remember how the Timex watches were widely despised among click connoisseurs of the time.
A friend of mine, who - fifty years ago - had a watch repair shop, says that he accepted to repair Timex watches with no warranty of success, and mostly for free. He used the "whole wash" trick, but he didn't use lighter fluid (naphta) for cleaning, but an industrial solvent, thrichloroethane IIRC. If the wash didn't fix the watch, the problem was usually in the escapement section: either the balance spring had became magnetised (he had a bench demagnetiser), or the escape pins were bent or the balance wheel was off-axis: the two last problems required the replacement of both parts, which when genuine were priced half the cost of a new Timex timepiece. Usually there were replicas available at 50¢, so the repair cost was kept under check.
The reason I never donned a Timex was because of that one minute per day time error. The jewel free, metal on metal movement caused the timekeeping error to vary drastically with temperature, humidity, physical orientation and cleanliness of the air.
Watches have been a passion for me and many friends; we used precise and affordable watches like Omega and Bulova. It was fun until the Quartz Disaster, when almost all small Swiss, Italian, German, British and French clock manufacturers went under in less than two years. But it was fun until it lasted: a clock keeping half-second or less per day, 17J, paid no more that today's £250, was the aim for everyone.
I never had digital watches on my wrist. Today I wear a Japanese automatic W/date&day, less than 1 sec/day, as they are temperature compensated and use an Incabloc design for £200 - same aim of 50 years ago.
Thank you for the video. I never thought possible that the Timex saga was still raging...
I don't wear a watch, but I found this video to be interesting - thanks. I had a Timex when I was maybe 10 years old, and used it on my paper route (early 1970s). It had the elastic metal band that would tear the hairs from your arm. I've now inherited my great-grandfather's Elgin pocket watch from 1904 and will have it cleaned/serviced as a display.
I've had a Timex for years & years. I'm old... With a memory problem.. I need the day & date... Please add the Year !!! for my memory.
I wear a Timex Expedition every day. As a carpenter and a lefty, it gets the heck beat out of it. Been working like a charm since day one, Only a fool would spend hundreds or thousands for a watch.
For how many years?
I beg to differ, my old man makes good money reselling used Timex watches on EBay he has collected over the years when nobody wanted them. There are more and more people out there collecting them. Especially since they are an affordable entry into the hobby.
Excellent video. Brought back many happy memories. I can remember how excited I was to get my first timex watch as a young boy. I'd take it off at night and lay it on my nightstand. The damn thing would keep me awake ticking like a timebomb. :)
I must say, I don't think I owned a watch other than a Timex until I was out of college. Even know I have a Timex Quartz that's probably 15 years old and I've replaced the battery maybe twice (once I'm definitely sure of). It was an inexpensive watch but keeps great time, and if I'm doing any physical activity, I'll wear it before I'd ever wear my Tissot, Bulova, or Orient watches (I damaged one expensive Seiko chronograph at work when I accidentally bumped it into a brick wall; after that I started wearing the Timex again). I do have a Massey-Tissot that I bought early this year that was not drastically more than a mid-range Timex but it has a sapphire crystal, seems to be of excellent quality, and keeps great time.
Almost 20 minutes of pointing out how inferior Timex watches are and then show us your grandfather's ancient Timex which is still running....I IKE THAT KIND OF INFERIOR!!!!!
You beat me to it!
Yeah, but it's off by up to 2 minutes per day. That can add up to a full hour in a month, so you need to adjust it every other day if you don't want it to be off by more than 5 minutes. So, 10/10 on robustness, but the actual time keeping is shambolic, literally bottom of the barrel.
I think you misunderstand running and working. It was running but not working correctly enough to be considered a timepiece.
@@ocudagledam due to the fact, that they are manual wind watches, witch needs to wound up every day, its not a big buisness, to set the time every day ;)
@@ocudagledam lol.. you watch people are loons.
The reason they were so great was you could count on getting a bran new watch every year.
How cool was that? You got one for Christmas, Birthday, piano recital, Easter, Football game,
home coming, graduation, marriage, new baby. the list goes on and on.
That is why every grandpa had an old beat up one he wore out and never threw away and kept in a jewelry box and one day the grand-kids got it and played with it and looked at the wear and damage and thought lovingly about the grandpa, or father that wore it.
Nobody could care less if it still worked or how much it originally cost, it was a part of your family.
No other item could fill that spot except maybe grandma's dishes
Thanks for the video, really liked it. Been a watch collector since 10 years old. Timex has never been my focus, but I always have a two to four modern timex watches in my collection. They are great value for the money, and if something happens to them, it's no big deal (unless the watch has sentimental value). I'll keep my eye out for your next videos :)
Timex got me into watch collecting and to this day, Timex Southview was my very first watch, still is one of my favourite go to watch and got it for only CAD$75. passed it to my brother and he loves it as well. I got more expensive watches now and I still bought another Timex Southview in a different colour and this time around it was only CAD$60
I own only Timex watches, and I personally love their design. I have one for each occasion, my daily wear has gone through so much abuse, yet it runs so well and looks great after 9 years.
I stumbled on this video randomly on my recommend feed.
I don't wear ever watches, or any jewelry for that matter.
But for some reason I suddenly want a Timex Marlin.
Love it!
I mean if you had the option of buying an $11 watch every 5 years or buying a $500 watch and servicing it for $30 every 5 years
I'd go with the former thank you very much.
It's actually about $200-300 to service a watch. That's why it only makes sense to service an expensive watch, unless you can do it yourself.
My granddad always said "even a stopped watch, is right twice a day"
Not a broke Digital watch...hehe.
Ooooh! Deep wisdom.
A stopped watch is right twice a day, a watch that is 2 minutes fast ( or slow) is never right.
Once a day actually, as one would be pm and the other am.
@@SuperSuperswan A day is 24 hours , Twice a day a is right.
I have that exact gold Marlin you used in the video! I bought it in a garage sale decades ago & yes it still works!
Growing up with mostly with my grandparents, the old man always had on him a Timex watch, Farm work was hard and difficult. Timex took the beating and keep up on working! I have multiple Timex myself.
I got my timex, an expedition, 10 years ago. I took it in and out of jungle in papua, still tickin and precise till today. It does have the ability to take a beating and still be ok... it amaze me.
I still own my very 1st watch I purchased in the 60’s, a Timex and it still runs and was sent to Timex once under warranty.
"Timex: It takes a lick'n and keeps on tick'n!" Sort of "Where's the beef?" for watches.
I like you as a person.
I hear you. But the Timex slogan is way more iconic.
Very informative and interesting. I actually remember both of those commercials when I was a youngster. I have learned to appreciate a good watch and have an Omega, a Tissot, and a Hamilton. Love them all.
Being new to collecting watches and having come across a few Timex watches, I am glad I saw your take on this brand. I am enjoying your channel content. You have a great voice for video narration. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.
I bought a Timex Expedition and it's such a good watch !!! Great value for a fair price.
Timex Expedition review coming soon.
I've had one since 2007. The strap eventually fell apart (It's got an old 60s leather strap at the moment), the light broke many years ago, and it ticks so loudly I have to bury it in my sock drawer every night. It just keeps running though and has taken some serious abuse.
I had one when I was a kid and it was sturdy and took a beating. I'd buy one again if I was looking for a watch.
great video, and thanks to you for showing us a bit of history and understanding the historical context of Timex. I prefer the old Timex, in fact I have a Marlin from the 60s
That Timex movement looks almost exactly like the suspiciously cheap desk clock I have.
The fact that they shrunk it down that much and kept it that reliable is impressive.
The Timex Expedition I am wearing at the moment I purchased for $12 in Houston Texas in 1993 and apart from changing the battery I have not had to adjust anything, It certainly keeps time sufficiently for me and has done for almost 30years. Brilliant piece of kit.
I love timex. I have 9 or 10 of them. I wear them to work, fishing and kayaking in the Atlantic, hiking, and working on my cars and boat. I wore one every day I was in the military. In the last 15 years I've had 1 that quit working. They are great watches.
Which model did you wear for the military?
@@WondersofWatchdomI wore the Expedition. I bought one at the PX with my first check. I have always liked their field style watches. Sorry for the 3 year late reply. Lol
I remember many years ago that Timex had a repair / factory sales facility in North Little Rock Arkansas. My uncle lived nearby and took his and my relatives’ broken Timex watches into the repair office. The repair person would take the watch apart, take the movement out and toss it into a bin and replace it with a new one. I think there was a flat $10 charge.
Very interesting. i guess the parts cost less than the labor would.
When the band of the Timex broke, you simply visited the local pharmacy where you could buy a Speidel Twist-O-Flex replacement band for roughly the same price as the watch.
@Cr6479 Fair question. There are two reasons:
1) Because a Twist-O-Flex was considered a far better band than you'd get with a Timex. Actually, it was perceived as an inexpensive luxury until you actually wore one and your arm hairs would get caught between the links and.... Ouch!
2) Even cheap watches had sentimental value depending upon how/when they were obtained.
Your question is asked within the context of modern economy and ultra cheap products where nobody thinks to repair the product when it breaks. You just buy another copy. When your TV remote control breaks, you hop onto Amazon or wherever and order a new one.
But "replacing broken stuff" was not the mentality either before WWII or in the post-war years. In fact, it was not the mentality at all until America's currency went off the gold standard in the 1970s. Before that, you had your shoes repaired, you sewed lost buttons onto a blouse, you tuned your own car and scraped/regapped your spark plugs instead of buying new ones. You had your old tube hifi unit repaired or you took your vacuum tubes into the local Lafayette or Radio Shack and tested each one on a machine in the store and self-repaired your own radio or television set.
Life on the gold standard was very much different than it is today.
Folks who couldn't afford stuff would use layaway plans. Banks would encourage savings with Christmas accounts. In fact, there weren't even credit cards back then. Yes, there were charge cards, which are different. They looked the same, but the entire balance had to be paid off each month. There was no expectation by the banks that you'd use a card to borrow money. There was no such thing as "revolving credit". If you didn't pay off your entire balance, your card stopped working until it was paid off... or, the card was cancelled and you still had to pay off the debt.
Not to get lost in the minutia... The point is that purchasing culture was very different when Timex was the best-selling watch in America. It was because more expensive watches were difficult for working stiffs to obtain.
If the watch itself wasn't broken... but the strap was... you got a new strap, not a new watch.
Now, to clarify... If you wanted to simply replace the band/strap that broke, that would cost less than a new Timex watch, fersure. But treating yourself to a Speidel Twist-O-Flex... welllll, that was Speidel's marketing pitch. When your strap broke... your watch was still probably good. So improve it by getting a Twist-O-Flex band!
@@TheCondoInRedondo I agree that American spending habits have definitely changed over time, but I don't think it has much to do with the gold standard at all. I would argue that the mass outsourcing of manufacturing to countries like China played a more significant role than anything else, as now goods are cheaper for everyone to buy, but are also more cheaply produced (so they break more often).
Additionally, with increases in technology, it's now almost impossible for us to make any significant repairs to our stuff. I have friends that are computer and electrical engineers, and even they bring their phones to Apple/Samsung when something goes wrong. Why? Because electronics are essentially designed to be as hard to repair as possible. Additionally, because phones are now $1000, no one can try to tinker and experiment to improve because the risk associated with messing up is too great.
You see this happen with cars as well. Half the time that I bring my car into the shop, an employee just plugs it into a computer and does everything from there. The age of car owners being able to understand everything about their engines, and make repairs themselves is over, sad as it is to admit.
Also, to address you point that "It was because more expensive watches were difficult for working stiffs to obtain." It's worth noting that adjusted for inflation, average wages have actually gone down since the 60's. To make matters, worse, "entry level" luxury watches (Rolex, Omega, JLC, Tudor, etc.) have become even more expensive than they were. So it's actually harder than ever for the average American to buy a nice watch for themselves.
@@TheCondoInRedondo who told you all that missleading crap? It's obvious you never took an economics course in your life. Going off gold was overdue and didn't change life or habits. Lay away plans are stupid and people wised up. Revolving credit was well established by the seventies, just ask Wilma and Betty in the "Flintstones."
Those adverts remind me of the old Master Lock "tough under fire" ad where they shot one with a rifle and the lock still wouldn't open. Unfortunately they are terrible locks and while a rifle bullet may not be able to open it, just about anyone with a thin piece of metal and minimal instruction CAN open it, lol
They fixed that problem on newer models.
@@thetrapboy Master locks are still hilariously easy to rake or rock open though, they're generally recommended to people starting out in locksport to learn how to pick locks because they're so easy to open
Don't get me wrong though, there are a handful of models which will take more than a novice to open, but most of their locks are terrible and people generally shouldn't trust them with anything valuable, they work best as a visual deterrent against opportunistic thieves. They do have pretty tough exteriors though so are quite strong against destructive attacks, which is far more likely than someone messing with the actual pins or locking mechanism
The bullet went through the body of the Master lock where none of the locking mechanism was located. If the lock had been shot from the side, the result would have been very different.
@@notaname8140 didnt know that. Whats a better padlock? Thats what i use at the gym.
i love the irony of highlighting the short lifespan/disposable nature of timex watches using your grandpa's still-functioning timex watch. thanks for the informative history lesson :)
First time it was wound in about 40 years, and it’s too inaccurate to be wearable even after oiling, so not particularly ironic.
Anyway glad you liked the history lesson: though low-quality, old Timex are interesting and unique watches.
My Grandfather gave me a Timex automatic for my 16th Birthday 43 years ago. I still wear it from time to time to this day.
I'll be 68 years old in June. I've had tons of Timex's. I could never get one to run more than two weeks. I ended up buying a Zodiac Sea Wolf. Wish I still had that Zodiac.
two weeks? really? two weeks? and just what did you do to them? Forget to wind them? Why would you have tons of anything that you couldn't get to run for more than two weeks? Lots of contradictory statements in your short reply that when you really read it make zero sense.
The “collectors” can say what they want. I had a basic timex when I was in my twenties- it went though the washer AND dryer, back came off in the process, popped the back on again. Bingo. Worked like a charm for years. Just like the commercials used to say!!
I can't see how the ruggedness and price of the old Timex were anything but good value.
@@gizzyguzzi Except you could have bought a Bulova Caravelle when new for the same price that has an actually servicable movement in it.
@@jakekaywell5972 sure. buy a serviceable watch, and every few years pay $300 or more to have it serviced. If it survived that long with a 7 y.o. wearing it.
@@gizzyguzzi The average cost to have a regular, plane-jane jeweled mechanical movement with no complications serviced is $200. Given how many vintage watches easily surpass their 5 year recommended service intervals with no problems, it's likely to strech it out to a solid decade, like literally all of my Soviet pieces. This means that less than $1,000 is enough for a lifetime of operation, which is quite a reasonable sum. This isn't even taking into account the possibility of servicing it yourself, which would save quite a bit on cost and isn't exactly rocket science (since I am doing it). Anyway, the moral of this story is that quality should always come before cost when its regarding something as integral to a mechanical watch as the movement, of which jeweled movements win out every time on account of increased accuracy and durability relative to their pin-lever counterparts a la Timex. Period. End of story.
@@jakekaywell5972 Wrong. Not end of story. There is much more to story. Timex was a cheap watch that performed well. And your soviet watches have a 10 year service interval because they are made sloppy, that's why they are the AK47 of watches. A 50 dollar Vostok is basically the same purpose as a Timex. Precision watches will need more maintenance. And stupid to buy expensive watches that will be beat up working or for children, which is why the Timex found a market. End of story. Period
I planted trees with a simple timex watch for two full seasons, wearing it on the planting hand being driven into the ground over 3000 times per day.
Other watches were destroyed in a day. I think it cost me under $20 in the late 80's.
I'd imagine collectors don't want them because there are probably just too many of them around. They were available in any non-specialty retail store that sold watches.
I’m a collector and have several early 1950s & 1960s Timex watches in my collection. They just don’t bring the money a lot of other watches bring because they were mass produced and don’t have jeweled movements. They kept pretty good time and you could beat the crap out of them. When they broke you threw them away and got a new one as they were very reasonably priced. I have a whole box of non working Timex watches that I will dig into one of these days and try to repair.
Today Timex is a good product.
The watches people really love and is bought exclusively are the
Expedition, Waterbury, Easy Reader,
New England and
the Marlin that we’ve known since the 60s and 70s.
These watches is up to date in this era and made very good in the Philippines as well. But the USA made ones are incredible.
I bought a Timex in 1976 when I worked as a forester It took a beating, rained on, fall into ponds, cutting with machete through jungles, for 5 years then as a rice miller. For 3 years dust, water, falls, even a dangerous accident that almost I loose my arm and the Timex was recovered at a magnetic trap 3 days after the incident. Well I retired the "jeep" without much glories and throw it into the "miscellaneous" drawer of my home workshop and bought a new electrinc all gimmicks piece of crap. When it gave up 6 months later I have to turn the Timex winded, it came alive bought a new belt. Until my wife bought me an expensive one a beautiful piece of crap. When it died I fished again the "jeepy" a there he was happy again to tick. And on and on I kept changing the watch for the Timex and the Timex survived all of them. Well it's my official watch now I'm 65 yo and proud of my Timex.
nice story :-)
I got a Timex Marlin since they’ve started making them again. The manual movement in it is so nice. It’s gotten a lot of questions too. It’s also a manual movement for less than 300 bucks.
The old Timex watches remind of the VW Beetle! ...and runs, and runs , and runs !!
Great video. I don't care what anyone says I absolutely love vintage Timex watches. Anytime I come across one at a thrift store I get excited.
Industrial is a great destination of their movement and space age is another great way to describe the look of some of the older Timex watches and it's what I love about them. While I'm not American I do love the Americana look of a Timex. They just remind me of different era.
I used to buy Timexes because they had that useful Indiglo feature. They had one model with large numerals on a plain face so I didn't have to put my glasses on to tell the time. Now you can get that lighting feature on an array of Chinese cheapos at Walmart for less than $ 20.00.
Most vintage mechanical Timex are nearly impossible to repair and don't have jewels. When they wear out, they are pretty much done. That reduces their value considerably I think. When something is designed to be disposable it is generally not valuable. SWATCH watches buck this rule if course but they are still nearly impossible to do much with since the crystal is heat fused with the case.
I can't live without wearing a watch; and that watch will always be a Timex!
I used to love Timex watches as I had one as a kid. The couple I purchased a decade ago had such poor quality that it turned me off the brand for life.
I baught my daughter a Timex chronograph today. For her birthday. I feel good.
:)