Neat Laco from Germany

Known as the Laco “Squad” watch, this is the smaller dimensioned quartz version than the larger and more common version. At 40mm diameter as opposed to 46mm and just over 9mm depth compared to 13mm, makes for a much neater watch and one that I definitely prefer. The heavy “articulated” lugs are quite striking and the top one shrouds and protects the large crown very well, which as you see is positioned at the 12 o’clock datum position.

Laco01 — Laco “Squad” quartz in stainless – Model 86 2014

The Swiss movement is the quality Quartz ETA F06.111, the case is a well made and very solid brushed stainless steel with a slightly oversize anti-clockwise unidirectional bezel. A really excellent AR coated crystal makes the dial clarity something special as the matt black is in high contrast to the highly luminous hour markers and Super-Luminova C3 hands. There is also a minute track around perimeter coupled with a very clear centre second hand with luminous dot showing it’s position clearly. Simple date window @6 completes the layout.

Laco04 — Articulated lugs and crown protection

Water resistance is pretty good at 200 metres, assisted by the heavily knurled Screw Down crown and a luminous dot at the datum point on the bezel is another typical divers touch.


The supplied strap however is a typical diver’s rubber ribbed divers affairs that’s fine for that purpose if worn on top of a dive neoprene suit or suchlike, but I prefer more comfort these days and I changed it and teamed it up with a neater Silicon deployment strap that properly holds these articulated lugs in the correct position for the wrist. It really makes for a very neat watch in wearing. The lugs incidentally coupled with the new deployment allow the watch to sit on a bedside table upright, so easily read (if you are a watch off sleeper) – personally I rarely take it off.

LacoWrist — 40mm suits even a small wrist

All in all an excellent choice for a “daily beater” – it looks good, perfect size, Quartz no fuss Swiss movement, very easy to read and very comfortable to wear –

Says it all really. . . . . but I would highlight one quite superb feature. The luminous quality of this watch is without doubt the best I have even come across.

The Super-LumiNova C3 is quite exceptional!

So good in fact that it’s actually better than the and of the older LumiNova C1 coated or Tritium light source watches I have.

Update March 2025 –

This Post was dated 2012, so 13 years ago almost to the day and as I was checking the luminance of my old Tritium light source models (I have 3) and I checked the Laco here as well.

I have three Tritium models. Two are Traser – one at (16 years old) with no light at all, the other at (13 years old) was very faint.
The other watch, a Uzi Defender (also 13 years old) is the only one which is still pretty good (incidentally it was also the cheapest!)

However as I said in this Post – the Laco luminance was and is superior to these 3 Tritium models even when I bought them new. Tritium is reliable for 10 to 12 years in practice, but after that they fade away.
I have many other luminous models and it’s fair to say that generally they’re very decent for night use. Many could be C1 Super-LumiNova, but often don’t specify) but regardless – perhaps it’s the thickness of the C3 coating, I don’t know, but nothing yet matches this Laco.

ELKA vintage

Spotted this the other day and liked the wonderful Art Deco style and thought it might fit well in my “uncommon” watches collection. A distinctive dial and great condition equals this ELKA 1930’s vintage watch from Amsterdam.

This Art Deco gents watch c.1930s has a chrome plated bezel with stainless steel back and is in pristine condition. Lovely two tone khaki green/ copper dial with striking blue steel lumed hands. The overall condition is quite excellent with only slight and even mellowing of the face – the two tone color dial is quite striking in the right light.

Inside is a 16J manual wind movement which in superb order. I haven’t examined it too carefully, but it looks as if it could be an AS Schild movement. ELKA stands for Eduard Louis Kiek Amsterdam, a Dutch jeweler house from Amsterdam and they were often known to use generic Schild movements in many of their in-house watches. The case is chrome plated with a clean stainless steel back, fixed lugs and it measures 36 mm long and 30 mm width excluding crown. A bonus here is that this watch is a good size for it’s day, as many models from that era were much smaller, so a great watch to wear today. There is an off green soft leather 21/22mm strap attached to the fixed lug arrangement which suits it nicely.

Elka02 — Copper two tone dial ELKA vintage watch

Elka04 — Pristine movement - excellent time keeper

Very pleased with this new item as it’s that bit different – is nice quality in very good condition and it wears well on the wrist. Not in the same price league or quality perhaps as the previous purchase, but I like it because it IS that bit unusual and is in such good condition – great for my collection and one that will be worn on quite a few occasions, I have no doubt.

Jaeger LeCoultre vintage

A great era for watches of distinction for me is the 1945 to 1955 period when some of the most wonderful dress watches appeared. Moving away from the rectangular ’30’s and ’40’s styles towards the round case watches that are probably still the most common today. Here is a beauty – a solid 18ct Rose Gold Jaeger leCoultre from around 1949-1952 era in perfect condition.

Jaeger18ct02 — Jaeger LeCoultre 18ct Rose Gold vintage dress watch

This watch has an oyster colored dial with applied gold markers, with an inner ring showing Arabic numbers at 3, 9 and 12, with gold dagger hands, sub second dial and an acrylic glass. The case is hallmarked on the lugs as 18ct gold and the watch is 34mm diameter (35mm with crown), so a most sensible size in amongst the oversize stuff that seems to be around these days and very wearable.

The back is unmarked and pristine and the watch is fitted to an alligator leather strap and is in about as perfect condition as any pre-owned vintage watch I’ve seen and a worthy addition to my vintage collection. I have two vintage collections actually – the first comprises items I may pick up at local auctions or fairs, hopefully at low prices and mostly are simple vintage pieces and where the maker does not influence me greatly, but for whatever reason they take my fancy, though obviously I look for reasonably good examples. The second collection however is for more collectable pieces and of higher quality basically, and here Jaeger LeCoultre certainly fits this category.

Additional images –

P1040509web — Clean back – no inscriptions

P1040510web — Classic Jaeger LeCoultre dress vintage

The problem with my second vintage collection is of course – the cost! Invariably it means that I have to sell some of the lesser ones to afford to stock my more upmarket display, but that’s life I suppose and part of the fun of collecting. You get what you can afford at the time and at other times you build up the modest collection as a bank – to be used later when the “must have” item comes along – and it keeps the watches moving on and gives others the chance to enjoy them for a while.
I’ll post as and when – I have the time!

Xemex XE 5000

A new addition to my Modern Collection is this neatly designed Swiss made Xemex XE 5000, which I have been looking at for some time as it meets the most important criteria I require for an everyday watch.

Beautifully simple design, large clear hands with lume infill, day and date with great dial contrast and excellent readability – and with the bonus of articulated lugs can fit my smallish 170mm wrist perfectly.

Designed by Ruedi Kulling, this watch simply shouts “design” and whilst initially looking minimalist, is in fact very practical and to my mind pretty good looking too. At 40mm diameter and 12mm depth it is not a large watch by any means, though the beautifully polished and satin fished case plus the heavy lugs with the large bracelet screws, makes it look much larger that it actually is.
With the solid stainless steel (316l) crystal screw down back with crystal exhibition window inset it is rated as 50m water resistance, assisted by the side screw down and recessed crown – a neat feature allowing the watch to have a very clean profile indeed.

On the wrist too is manages to fit even a small wrist with the movable lugs contributing to the over all “fit” of this watch very well and coupled with the high quality rubber butterfly bracelet, which is adjustable. I say adjustable as like many straps of this design it requires cutting to shorten if wrists are small. Not an issue in itself but if selling the watch on at any time, this is a pity for large wrists as a new strap will have to be acquired.

Xemex02wrist — Perfect fit – automatic Day Date Xemex 5100.03 model

Xemex05back — ETA 2836-2 with modified rotor

Note the well proven ETA 2836-2 Swiss movement which has a Xemex modified drilled rotor. Interestingly the watch is signed by the designer “inside” the exhibition glass back.

The movement appears to keep OK time (perhaps a little fast on first usage I have to say) and generally in keeping with this movement though whether the drilled rotor improves accuracy is rather debatable – and the spring reserve is as expected at about 42 hours.

As to the dial – it is an excellent contrasting arrangement with luminous hands and markers and the typical Xemex trademark red sweep second hand. The day and date are @3 and highlighted in white and is clear to read. Over the dial is a curved sapphire crystal glass.

This particular design XE5000 was a winner at the “Golden Balance Wheel” awards in 2006 and is still currently available at a reasonable price inclusive of a 2 year Guarantee.

My final verdict on this watch is that it’s a fairly well priced “mid range” model, a little different from the mainstream, well made within this price bracket and actually quite similar in quality to the Traser model I own. It is excellent to read, clarity being a strong point of the dial design, the rotor movement is relatively quiet and it’s comfortable to wear.

It’s also not been off my wrist for about the last fortnight, so I must like it. . . .as a daily beater at any rate.

Benrus vintage

Been to the auctions again after a long spell out of action and picked up a vintage Benrus sculptured case model in 14c Rolled Gold plate.
Always difficult to date these though by the styling alone could be mid 1940 to 1950 period.

BenrusFront01 — Benrus 17j curved back - circa 1945-50

Benrus started off in 1921 in New York and the name was conjured up by one of the founders Benjamin Lazrus using the BEN and the RUS from his name. The other family members were Oscar and Ralph and were Romanian immigrants who set up in New York to offer the new “wristwatch” for everyone and not just the well off. I understand the trade mark was registered in Switzerland in 1923 and they imported movements and cased them in the USA.

This particular example is a manual wound model with applied gold colored Arabic numerals and a recessed seconds sub-dial @6. The logo on the dial says “endurable” – other models were “citation” named after a racehorse I believe and the ladies watch called the “embraceable” (It was a one piece bracelet watch which slipped on the wrist). The “Endurable” title may also refer to the shock protection feature that some of the Benrus models had but I would really be guessing here. These days Benrus collectors tend to go for their more elaborate styles such as the “Dial-o-Rama”, but this is a nice example showing some early case shaping and fancy lugs which offered an added attraction.

BenRusFront02 — Benrus 17j curved back mans watch fitted to a Radley 10ct bracelet

BenrusBack03 — Showing the stainless steel curved back

The case is a signed USA Benrus manufacture and the movement is a Benrus signed model BA 4 as shown, which looks to me very like a Swiss ETA variety – it also keeps nigh on perfect time for a watch of this period, which is always a bonus.

BenrusAB4web — Swiss made BA 4 Benrus (possible ETA) movement 17j original.

So maybe not the most exciting of watches, but a nice example of the period and the style of the Benrus name. And their watch range must have been pretty popular as they were for a period the 3rd largest producer of watches in the USA and a very real threat to Hamilton at the time. I will be fitting a strap to it when I get hold of a 16mm brown leather one from my supplier in the near future. I’ll post an image of at the end of the post when I get it.

Still not an awful lot known about the Company which is quite typical for watch suppliers and manufacturers at this time, but to see these watches appearing every so often in auctions and so on makes me smile. I mean what sort of items will you see made today that will still be around some 60+ years from now?

Not many I’ll bet!

NOTE – For the known history of the Benrus Watch Co. I can do no better than to point you to “The Watch Guy” web site, where he has an
excellent history of Benrus – CLICK – HERE

BenrusStrap — Fitted Di-Modell leather strap 16mm

Longines 1982 homage

This is a rather elegant dress Longines Quartz Watch and stamped “Longines 150” on the back of the case. This model produced in 1982 the year of the 150^th centenary of the Company which originated in 1832 and in homage to their earlier range of mechanical watches of the 1940’s and 1950’s. It features the L976-2 13 jewel quartz movement, one of the 970 caliber series, which were of true in-house manufacture.

Long82Front — Longines Quartz 150 years Centenary Watch

It is one of the thinnest at only 1.95mm depth and I understand the philosophy follows on from their earlier 1979 “gold feather” 1.98mm quartz movement which Longines initially manufactured in partnership with Ebauche ETA/ETA.
It is as I have already noticed an exceptionally accurate and high quality Quartz and quite rare I understand to find one that’s frankly as good as this today early 30 years later.

Long82 Move2 — L976.2 Longines movement (1.95mm depth)

It appears to have a Lavet-type motor and is powered by a 1.55v battery. Not tested it but looks as if it may be 9ct gold plated on stainless steel case body and is fitted with a high quality Hirsch genuine Lizard strap with the gold plated Longines Logo engraved buckle.

The dial is gold colored with subtle vertical strips in the centre section with black painted Roman numerals and a square inset second sub-dial @6. Hour, minute and second hands are black steel. Main dial has an outer minute track and the seconds sub-dial has seconds track with numerals at 10 second numerals.

Long82Side — 1.95mm movement & slim case

One of the nicest early Longines Quartz watches I’ve had to date, which I picked up recently at an auction for a very reasonable price indeed. It will sit nicely in my Longines collection which is growing with the odd model every month or so. With a few celebrations coming up soon and dinners out a few times this one will definitely be a front runner as my dress watch on these occasions. I love it

Long82Wrist — Perfect dress watch – Longines

Any downsides to this watch? Well none as it happens apart from quite a bit of dust and rubbish inside the dial, which I have yet to clean, the watch is in pretty much perfect condition, plating excellent, no bad marks or scratches, just general wear over the last 30 years. The watch obviously has been worn quite a bit as the back is wonderfully smooth stainless steel and fortunately the previous owner obviously had great respect for his little Longines and looked after it very well indeed.

As indeed will I. . . .

Raymond Weil retro Quartz

Picked this up at an auction recently simply as I rather liked the retro styling. I hadn’t seen this one in the current range and for me it evokes an earlier age with the sculpted lugs and the neat checkered dial pattern.

RaymondWeil02 — Gold plated retro Raymond Weil in quartz

Gold plated quartz with white dial with checked off white design to the inner, hourly applied Roman numerals, small round date aperture @6, bordered by a minute track. Round case fitted to an authentic black leather Raymond Weil strap with signed pin buckle. The retro lug design looks really neat and sets of the watch quite nicely. The hour and minute hands are black steel and the seconds hand in gold with painted black pointer end for clarity.

RaymondWeil04side — Slim at 6mm and Raymond Weil leather strap

The dial is marked with the Raymond Weil name and Geneve – there is a Swiss mark at the foot of the dial and the back plate is marked Raymond Weil, RW, a case number and water resistant.

The case diameter is 31mm (37mm lug to lug) and at only just over 6mm this is a very neat dress watch indeed. Suits my small wrist just about perfectly and this watch would be very wearable for a lady these days.

With older, old stock and pre-owned watch models it is often very difficult to find out the exact model. Details can be very hard to find, such as date of manufacture, retail price when current and even the question of provenance – is the watch genuine? Auction houses or dealers in general usually try quite hard to ensure that items they sell are genuine and to that end they often remove the back to check the movement, usually a dead giveaway – but for quartz watches this is often not quite so easy. The quartz movement may or may not be signed and could be of Chinese or Japanese origin. However it’s fact that a Swiss watch could well have these as perfectly legitimate quartz movement suppliers, so it’s always a “buyer beware”.

This model is a true Raymond Weil and the watch size in keeping with the retro period it suggests. The strap is certainly made for Gents wear with holes set for about 170mm minimum wrist size without extras added. Generally the older the watch, the smaller it will be and this one at 31mm is similar in size to many other Gents watches I have of the same and earlier period.

One thing I do know as a collector who wears all my watches at some time or another is that this one looks pretty good on the wrist – and that’s what it was meant to do.

Collectable 1990 Seiko Alarm

A friend of mine passed away last week and I’ve discovered he left me some watches (he knows I collect them) and one of them was this nice Seiko Dual Time Alarm quartz watch from August 1990 – so 21 years old this year.

Seiko5T3202 — 5T32 Alarm Dual Time Seiko

38.5mm diameter and only 8.5mm deep it is a neat watch in gold tone and features both an alarm and a dual time, center seconds hand and sports a very elegant dial indeed. Quick set date with a window @3, plus an alarm crown @8 – it’s quite comprehensive.

The alarm features two set ups – a single time alarm and a regular alarm and these can be set using the crown @4 and adjusting the sub dial @6 to the time required. This crown also sets the alarm on/off. The alarm runs for 1 minute and 20 seconds. A Dual time can also be set and indicated with the sub dial which is handy.

The 5T32 has a slightly unusual movement in that it has a circuit reset switch which should be operated after any battery change and a battery life indicator using the second hand moving in two-second intervals. On the inner surface of the case back there is a Piezoelectric element and the case is water resistant to 100m. Accuracy is around 15 secs per month.

This quite rare and even collectable model though has signs of wear as evidenced with some plate loss and rubbing of the gold bezel and the loss of some gold color on both crowns. The push button is perfect, the case sides too, though some wear through is evident on the lug shoulders. The Hardlex crystal has minor scratches as expected with normal wear on a 21 year old. The stainless steel back has a few scratches where less than careful use of back removing tools have been used in the past.

Overall though it’s a very nice and as I said elegant watch, to which I’ve fitted a new Rosario Italian oiled calf leather strap which looks pretty good (the old strap which was not original was split, so it was discarded, as was the buckle which was a rather clumsy affair in poor condition).

All functions appear to work as they should, the alarm sound is nice and loud and I’m delighted with the watch and happy to have it in my collection – a nice example of a fairly rare Seiko – always a good thing to have.

Junkers GMT

Looking through my collection the other day I realized that I had never posted this nice Junkers GMT. OK it’s a quartz version but nothing wrong in that – it keeps great time and is a good looking watch to wear.

It came with a Titanium bracelet to match the satin finished Titanium case (holds the weight down to only 43gm), but at the moment I seem to have a fetish going – I’m retro-fitting quite a few of my larger watches with Silicon deployment straps, replacing both Nato and OEM straps or bracelets – and don’t they look good!

The proper model name for this version is the 6278-5M and it features a Swiss Ronda 509 Quartz movement which keeps very good time I have to say. It has a GMT pointer which can be freely adjusted alternatively to give you a dual time zone function, which is quite handy. Date window @3, black mat finish dial and bright orange markers and hands. These feature Super Luminova so are readable in low or night light.

Dimensions wise it 42mm x 12mm and has 22mm strap/lug with with standard spring bars, so all strap options are possible. Water Resistance is 5ATM so don’t try scuba diving with it, just normal wearing.

As said the movement is the Swiss 509 Ronda which uses a 371 battery with a life of over 3 years. Accuracy around -10/ +20 sec/month.

Great watch to wear and I particularly like my new Silicon deployment strap – it suits it rather well and an awful lot easier to take on and off than the old Nato. I have to admit to being quite partial to the Junkers range of watches as they are well priced, very well engineered and in my experience extremely reliable too.

So it’s quite possible I might be on the lookout for another one – maybe from their mechanical range this though it depends on what takes my eye!

Bucherer Quartz

Not the most modern Bucherer but one of the older classics, albeit a quartz version which still manages to ooze the elegance and style of the true Bucherer name.

P1030565 — Bucherer classic gents quartz

This model features a rather interesting two tone effect, though absolutely classic Bucherer styled case with brushed stainless front facings and contrasting Gold fluted sides curving gracefully towards integral lugs. An original bright almost black colored cabochon tops the well defined crown @3 which completes the overall look. A white dial with Roman numerals and steel contrasting hands covered by a perfectly flat crystal make for a classic looking gents watch. Full lined original soft leather strap with it’s wide 18mm lug fitting compliments the watch perfectly.

Watch dimensions are 24.25mm wide and 32mm lug to lug and only 5.7mm depth mean it’s a very sleek watch to wear under a shirt etc. In fact this is without doubt a beautifully understated and elegant timepiece suitable for virtually any occasion. The snap on back is a plain stainless steel affair with Swiss made and a movement/model number.

The movement is a 6 jewel ESA ETA 978-001 with a Bucherer label – a movement used quite often in the higher end quartz watches of the day. No longer available I think though there are possibly a couple of interchangeable versions from Ronda (751) and ETA (976-002) which might suit if this original movement had a problem.

However this one is in pretty good and completely original condition apart from some battery corrosive deposits in the battery compartment. It seems that it was in the event an excellent purchase from a local auction house and well worth the very reasonable amount paid.

As with quite a few of the watches I acquire these days, not a lot seems to be known about this model. It is perhaps not true “high end”, though the quartz movement is a very good one and the overall look of the watch says an awful lot for it’s pedigree. Slim, elegant, perfect proportions and a lovely little watch to wear – can’t be bad!

As this model has a movement signed Bucherer, I have to assume it’s one of their own manufacture, or assembled specifically for them as one of the most famous retailers in Switzerland. Normally their own manufacture models are signed “Carl Bucherer” and this one simply Bucherer. Started in 1888 by Carl-Friedrich Bucherer in Lucerne, Switzerland and are associated with their distinctive high end stores throughout the world and today they still lead the Swiss watch and jewelry retail sector.