Cartier Vermeil Rivoli Quarz Vintage 24mm

Hamilton Jazzmaster Power Reserve
Hi folks,I recently purchased a Hamilton Power Reserve and have a few questions for everyone.Before wearing it, I assumed that a few days of normal wear (8AM-7PM) would increase the power reserve from 0 to 100% in a simple and straight-forward manner. This has not really been the case.After wearing it for a few days, I have noticed that the only way to substantially increase the power reserve gauge is to manually spin the watch, because my daily motion keeps the reserve more or less constant (possibly slightly increasing it, but not by much). The first day I wore the watch (Monday) I did spin it to get it to about 80-85% full, but if the power reserve is an accurate gauge it would run out of juice sooner or later with normal wear. As of today (Thursday of the same week), it's hovering around 50%. This is because during the hours when I'm not wearing it at all (at night), the gauge slowly but steadily decreases, and like I said, when I put it back on and wear it the next day, it wil

Watch Cleaning and Repair Costs
As I mentioned on another thread, I used to collect pocket watches, about 20 years ago. I lived in a neighborhood that still had a couple old-fashioned family jewellers, with a watchmaker on the premises. The one I went to had been trained in the Army during WWII, so he knew the Hamilton watches I brought him like the back of his hand. He charged $50 for a 'cleaning' - disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and timing. Balance staff replacement added $25 to the total. What a deal!Of course, he was pretty old back then, and even if he were still alive, he'd be about 90!Since I started getting into vintage wristwatches, I've searched in vain for somebody like that, but I think they're extinct - neighborhood watchmakers. I've looked on the Internet, with Yelp and the other local business search engines, and it seems like there's this yawning chasm between 'battery changers' on the one hand, and high-end, Swiss-trained folks fixing watches that retail for several thousand dollars.One of th

What's the value of this Essence watch?
I have a tungsten Essence watch; the code on the back of it says EA5040CM, so I assume that's its model.Here is a preview of the watch itself:i31.tinypic/1z9htf.jpgPlease help me identify its model and value.Thank you!

An Omega Story
Wonderful Early Christmas Present...I was just given an Omega X-33 by my closest friend (since first grade). It was his personal watch that he purchased through his Squadron at NAS Oceana (VFA-81). He's worn it in combat, as a Top Gun instructor, an F-18 Instructor, and an F-5 aggressor pilot. He recently left the Navy at the rank of Lt. Cmdr and has known for quite some time my affliction for all things watches and decided that I would be a great person to give the watch too. It needs a movement service (hopefully with an upgrade to the newest version) and new crystal but I told Omega to leave all the dings, scratches, etc alone as they are representative as the life this watch has lead. Needless to say I feel honored and blessed that he would give me this piece of Aviation, Naval, and friendship history to me.My X-33 has returned from Omega service. Couple things i'd like to cover: 1. Customer Service was amazing! The Oakbrook boutique was very helpful and kept me in the loop at all

Frequency of tropical dials, ghost bezels, and spider dials
hello,i'm interested if anyone knows of any numbers around how often rolex dials go tropical or spider, as well as how often a bezel on a sub goes ghost? i know there are a lot of factors here, however i'm curious to know if there's some established facts or information around how often these aging phenomenons occur? or if there are other known aging styles you know about, particularly those that do not affect the function of the piece.