Antique RR watch

[Art]

I have a few 7j Now, the “Dollar Watches” are a different story. No jewels, all bushings, all stamped parts, no spare parts, not fixable, not adjustable, they stop working after the oil dries up in a few years and get tossed and buy a new one.

Speaking of which; my favorite aunt's father was trained as a printer but made "the long ride" from Paris, Texas to Lincoln, New Mexico with John Chism, he also spent some time with the Texas Rangers, was a bodyguard for Governor Hobby, later ran for office and served two terms in The Texas House of Representatives before going into ranching and editing a newspaper. His time as a muscle for hire/professional gunman for Chisum, the Rangers and as a bodyguard gave him a different perspective on time pieces. Since any watch he wore was going to be exposed to very rough treatment and the elements he bought the cheapest pocket watches he could find, which usually meant Westclox. When they quit running he tossed them and bought another Westclox for a couple of bucks. My cousin has a westclox which was almost surely his. He continued with "dollar watches" long after he became more respectable.

[Merc]

Dry Heat,

Go on eBay and search for a Longines RR280. There’s one currently up for sale. Appearantly, they’re not very common. The dial and hands on your dad’s watch are different than the one that’s for sale. Yours looks like it could be a much older version and the numbers and hands appear to be luminous which you can confirm by exposing them to high intensity light or a black light. The back cover will need to be removed to confirm that it’s a RR280 model. If the cover is threaded with notches around the edge, you should be able to buy the tool to remove the back cover at Esslinger. The serial number will be needed to determine the manufacturing date and gather all available information. Once you confirm that it’s an early RR280, then consider getting it appraised.

[Johnny P]

This one was $202 in 1962 at Zales. I wore it for many years and then my dad wore it for several more before I retired it for a GMT II.

[dryheat]

My dad's watch does have the radium hands. I'm curious that it doesn't have the wings. The back is just a thick curved cover. I'm going to look into it a little more. I expect it's just a plain old watch, but that's OK. Thanks for all the links, I've done some reading today about watches.

[Merc]

This one was $202 in 1962 at Zales. I wore it for many years and then my dad wore it for several more before I retired it for a GMT II.

Looks like it’s in good shape for a daily worn watch.

[Johnny P]

The links are solid stainless steel instead of stampings, and if worn snug on the wrist there is very little wear. Some like to wear them loose to let them hang out from under their shirt sleeve which does cause more wear.

[Art]

Just thinking, a lot of mechanical watch fanciers are also gun people. I have a friend who posts regularly on a watch site who says that it (the site) has prohibited gun pics because of the high number of people who posted pictures of their favorite watches with their favorite firearms.

I guess like me there are a lot of "steampunk" people out there who just like old mechanical stuff. I have old watches, old manual typewriters and my favorite guns are my old guns. Even my favorite fishing reels are older models.

[Merc]

Just thinking, a lot of mechanical watch fanciers are also gun people. I have a friend who posts regularly on a watch site who says that it (the site) has prohibited gun pics because of the high number of people who posted pictures of their favorite watches with their favorite firearms.

I guess like me there are a lot of "steampunk" people out there who just like old mechanical stuff. I have old watches, old manual typewriters and my favorite guns are my old guns. Even my favorite fishing reels are older models.

I’m glad to have finally found someone who can appreciate my situation. I’ve been around antiques for most of my life. I grew up living in an 1849 house that was built by a wealthy abolitionist. He offered sanctuary to runaway slaves in the 1850s and 1860s so the house was famously known in Pittsburgh as a station on the “Underground Railroad.” I enjoy old guns and especially old watches because they were both built without the modern manufacturing methods that are used today. Saturday morning estate sales? I’m like a kid in a candy store. My game room is full of military antiques and “stuff” that I picked up over the past 60 years (sounds cluttered, but it really isn’t).

One of the most interesting things I have is an old photo album from 1919 that I bought for $40 in an antique store in Braddock, PA which is just outside Pittsburgh and within a quarter of a mile of The Edgar Thompson Works, US Steel Corp. which was Andrew Carnegie’s first steel mill. The album is loaded with military and civilian photos taken at Kelly Air Field in San Antonio, TX. The command was known as the 94th Aero Squadron. Congratulate yourself if you knew that the 94th was Eddie Rickenbacker’s old outfit. No pics of Eddie, but several of General Pershing and several of old airplanes, motorcycles and cars. I posted photos here shortly after I bought it. I’ll see if I can find it and update it so it will once again be on page one.

[Merc]

The album photo pages have expired. So, here are a few of the more interesting pics.

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[Merc]

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