Grand Seiko 5646-7010

Grand Seiko 5646-7010 Day-Date

I wrote about 56GS in September 2010 HERE.

"The 56GS marked the era of mass production with the aid of robotic automated process. There are also concept of standardization of design and movement. Therefore the 56GS shared identical movement with King Seiko, and Lordmatics. However the GS movement had a better finish and was tweaked to GS standard accuracy."

This is a 1972's production of Grand Seiko 5646. This watch has a white dial with slim silver hour markers and hands. It is 36mm in diameter excluding its crown. This watch is with quick set day-date and the day date functions are at 3 o'clock position. One can choose between English and Kanji for the display of day. The crown is beautifully signed with GS. 

This watch still has the Grand Seiko original bracelet on it. The bracelet is very fine and well built. It grips on the wrist very gently and serves its purpose well. 

The only disappointment is the original embossing GS lettering had fallen off. 

The gold medallion at the case back is still intact with some minor defect. This watch used Caliber 5646A, which is a 28,800 bph automatic movement with 25 jewels. It can be manual winding and has hacking function.

Does not matter, whether it is contemporary or vintage; automated production or human finishing; Grand Seiko has stood for the same simple yet exacting ideal, perfect precision, legibility and beauty. A Grand Seiko watch is a watch for a lifetime and longer......

Extended-cut with better quality photos:

Rado Captain Cook MKII

Rado Captain Cook

(Taken from Wikipedia)

Captain James Cook (1728 – 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy. Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. 

In three voyages Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved. As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.  

Cook was killed in Hawaii in a fight with Hawaiians during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific in 1779. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

Below is a picture of HM Bark Endeavour, the ship that he navigated across the Pacific Ocean.

The RADO Captain Cook is named after this great British explorer. 

This is the revised Rado Captain Cook from the late 1960's era. This model comes in both men's and ladies'. This tonneau-shaped watch has a diameter measuring 36mm without the crowns. Its case thickness is 12.8mm.  It is equipped with acrylic crystal. 

This watch has a matte black dial with a rotating anchor Rado logo. There is a red and white themed inner rotating ring which may function as tachymeter. This internal rotating bezel can be adjustable by a smaller second crown at 4:00 o'clock position.

The larger crown can be used to handwind the watch and also set the time and date too.  Both crowns are signed with Rado anchor logo. 

The stainless steel caseback is screw down type and is embossed with the Rado two seahorses logo. At the heart of this watch is ETA 2784-1. This is highly reliable 25 jewels automatic movement with hacking feature and has a frequency of 28,800bph. 

Titoni President; My infatuation with Titoni Cosmo King 14K

Titoni 14K with president bracelet

This is another Titoni stainless steel with 14K white gold rim. This watch has a stunning grey silver dial. Every parts of this watch is original except the aftermarket president bracelet. However the clasp has been changed to Titoni clasp.

P.S. Finally changed all the horrible photo of this posting with somewhat a better shot in a whitebox wannabe.....

Girard Perregaux Gyromatic HF

Girard-Perregaux is a prestigious Swiss watch manufacture with its origins dating back to 1791. Most of the time, Girard-Perregaux designs, develops and manufacture its own movements, and cases. In 1965, Girard-Perregaux designed the first mechanic movement beating at high frequency of 36,000 vibrations/hour. This is the Gyromatic HF.

Here is a GP from that golden era of late 1960's and early 70's. This is a day-date GP Gyromatic HF in black dial.  It has three very ordinary looking silver hands and silver match-stick like hour markers. There is a GP logo embossing just underneath the 12 o'clock mark. 

The case is a smaller and tiny turtle shell design with 36mm in diameter. Like most of the watches from the era, this watch has the acrylic top.

The crown is signed with GP.

This watch has the day and date function on 3 o'clock position. 

The screw-in case back is flat and without any marking. This makes the watch very smooth and comfortable to wear. 

On the inner part of the case back, there is a Girard Perregaux's seal or crest to certified the case is indeed an authentic GP artifact. 

The center of attraction for this watch is this unremarkable looking mechanism. This is the 17 jewels unadjusted Gyromatic HF calibre 444-428 movement that beats at the highest frequency of 36,000 bph. 

Finally parts arrived..... Here we go, Titoni Race King

Titoni Race King: Part 3

Before noon, the postman made his daily delivery. Among the piles of mails and bills, a yellow package from Victoria, Canada.... Thank you, Mr beloved Postman...

Nah... nah.... not the Kevin Costner's style postman.... but more down to earth type... Yes our friendly Malaysia Postman with a different kind of horse too.....

This package has traveled approximately 12841.82 KM. It costed Canadian 9.90 for a package of 0.053kg. The Canadian Post is very professional in their labeling and handling of the package. 

The ebay seller Premvic 121 packed the spares very neatly and properly. I would definitely leave him a good review in the ebay feedback and would not hesitate to buy from him. 

So now with all the spares ready..... Mr Watchmaker, are you ready to perform the surgery? and also the plastic surgery????

This is a follow up post from previous part 1 and part 2.....

Part 1: Death on Arrival

Part 2: Mission Rescue Race King