I just got the most peculiar looking clock photos emailed to me in the mail today. A Breitling clock, with a wood box enclosure, and what appears to be an atomic radio-controlled clock. Based on the photos of the back, it is obviously a very old incarnation of the atomic clock, as new movements are quite a bit smaller. The clock does not function properly at the moment, and was asked as to value, which I haven’t a clue. I question it’s authenticity, as it does not look Breitling-like, but who knows what those folks were up to back then.

It is an interesting peice, and while it may not be work fixing, it is certainly intriguing and would be neat to have on the wall.

Just walked into the Maple Leaf executive lounge at Vancouver International Airport, and noticed for the first time that the clocks in the lounge are all Breitling! They have about 6-7 of them with different timezones, and they look very much like the Breitling Aircraft Clocks. I grabbed a random Aircraft clock photo off the net to give you guys an idea of what I’m talking about:

I would really love to get my grubby little hands on one of those clocks!!! Same as the ones I’ve seen in the Breitling dealers.

Any other airports with these types of clocks? I’ve seen non-instrument style Breitling clocks in European airports.

My search for the ultimate recession-friendly watch fixes once against brings me to a clock! This time, its one of those Russian MiG fighter aircraft clocks that those Russians and Ukranians are always selling. I figured an authentic working Waltham or Wakmann would be a bit pricey for a watch fix at several hundred or more, so I settled on a $68 + Shipping peice, the cheapest I could find that has a Chronograph/Timer. Choosing the model without the heater saves me an additional $5.

I picked the silver model, because I like the contrast, and think this one will look better in my office. It looks great alongside my Breitling display and Seiko world time clock. Movement is a 5 day manual wind, with a Chronograph that measures up to 60 minutes. The models with the additional hour counter costed about $40-50 more, so I decided against it for my first feeler purchase.

Accuracy is pretty good as far as I can tell, but there is no second hand except for the chronograph function. The Chronograph is monopusher type, with the same button start/stop/reset in that order, and the button for that is one on the right. The left hand button is responsible for setting and winding the clock. Turn it counter clockwise to wind (a bit odd), and pull it out and turn it to set. I had to figure that out since it did not come with instructions.

The clock measures about 5″ in diameter, which is a decent size but not really big enough to have as a mantel clock. It works well as a desk clock, or a shelf clock like I am using it for. The clock came in like new condition, with a few rubs here and there as it is supposedly NOS and has some shelf wear. It is for the most part pretty clean. There is a switch on the back that I am not sure what it does. Perhaps for adjusting the time? I dont know. It moves in a u-shape pattern and does not do anything explicitly that I can tell.

Overall I’m really happy with my clock, and it brings me much more joy than a $65 watch would. I’m really glad that I started buying a few sub-$100 clocks here and there.. it keeps the watch bug at bay, and keeps my cash in the bank, where it should be

I decided I wanted something fancy to decorate my den with, so I’ve been buying up clocks on ebay as well. Trying to keep the budget low to keep with my affordable theme as of late. Recession buys! Well, this Howard Miller clock is a wonderful little toy, and chimes very nice as well. These cost around $900CAD in stores around here brand new, and I picked this one up on ebay for $100US. Not too shabby.

Has a great little westminster chime and quarter hour strikes as well along with an 8 day movement made in Germany by Hermle. I took some pics of it under the light to get a better shot. It has a Key Wind movement, with an 8 day power reserve. It has 3 spots that need to be wound, one for the time, one for the strike and one for the chime. The Clock is made by Herman Miller, but the Movement is made by Hermle, so it is kind of like a Watch with an ETA movement in it.

And finally, a shot of the big chunky movement inside. The clock is really quite fascinating and you can regulate it yourself quite easily be just adjusting the floating escapement. It can be adjusted by many minutes if the watch is too fast or slow. The chimes can also be turned on or off depending on your preference. A very nice addition to the office, and for $100, can’t really go wrong with them! I picked up some other clocks too that I’ll talk briefly about in the coming days.

I’ve noticed that for the last year or two there have been a lot of Dealer clocks for sale on ebay, primarily Panerai, Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe are what I’ve seen, though the list is much longer than that. I’ve seen Breitling (And damn do I want one!), Blancpain, Tag Heuer, Jaeger LeCoultre and many, many others. My Question is this though: How do so many brand new dealer clocks end up on ebay and are always sold by some ebay company located in Canada?

And these clocks don’t go cheap.. anywhere from $400 to several thousand sometimes! And they are made of plastic usually. Some oddities always come up like Panerai Coffee table clocks as well. Really however, in the long run it is cheaper to buy lots of Panerai clocks than it is to buy lots of Panerai watches.. so maybe the asking price isn’t as high as one would think.

Still, they make neat additional items to supplement our watch collecting hobby and really allow us to personalize our homes and others spaces to reflect our interests! So next time you have $500 to spend if its not enough for a watch, it might be enough for a clock!