Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Waywof 03-07-2020
Collapse
X
-
Cracker - just got another Vostok on its way!
Today it's a bit of what will I be wearing (in a week or so), while wearing this...
Like Xmas here, watch parts and single shoulder spring bars arrived in the mail today. Yeah! No prizes for guessing what I'll be doing this morning. Even got some bike parts from March, so commerce is moving again.
Points if you can figure out what watch this goes into... and mega points if you can guess the actual model! Looking forward to wrapping up its restoration - been close to 6 years I think collecting the correct OEM parts for it. Hopefully there will soon be more than one on the forum. Will only be 3 watches left at the watchmakers then - a record I believe.
- 4 likes
-
-
I’m wearing another unsung hero of Japanese chronometry. Most collectors know the Seiko Cal. 7A28, the the World's First Analogue-Display Quartz Chronograph, introduced in 1983. To properly grasp the impact that the 7A28’s debut had on the watch world at the time, one only has to keep in mind that by the early-80s, Quartz has already taken the world by storm, and was by then mainstream. A 15-jewel analogue quartz chrono would have reigned supreme, and reigned alone.
The autocracy of the Seiko 7A28 was challenged in 1985, by no other than Seiko’s arch rival, Citizen. Entered Citizen’s first analogue quartz chronograph, the Cal. 3510 and its 35x0 variants, including my no-Date Cal. 3530. Though two years behind Seiko, Citizen’s challenger had the specifications to match, and even exceeded those of the 7Ax8. The 12-jewel all-metal gear (no plastic parts, just like the 7Ax8) caliber became the world’s first analogue quartz chronograph with alarm feature, and had a higher resolution 1/50th sec. chronograph than Seiko’s (1/20th sec.).
CITIZEN “SPORTE MS” Chronograph 3530-351011 from the 35x0’s first production year, 1985
The Citizen 3510 also had countdown timer and manual counter functions not present in the 7A28. It can switch between timekeeping and chrono modes, with the constant sweep seconds changing to being the central seconds accumulator. Until 1987, Seiko and Citizen were the world’s only manufacturers of analogue quartz chronograph, and it took the effort of two very distinguished Swiss houses—IWC and Jaeger-LeCoultre with their jointly-developed Cal. 631—for the Swiss to join this exclusive club. The first ETA quartz chrono, the ETA 251.262, did not exist prior to 1988.
It was during this period, when no mainstream Swiss luxury brand offered a quartz chronograph, much demanded by the market, that Breitling decided to be the first. Breitling entered into an agreement with Citizen for the latter to produce and supply the Citizen 3510 (signed Miyota 3S10) for the Swiss company to re-designate the “Breitling Calibre 59”. The Breitling 59 equipped their first analogue quartz chronograph, the Navitimer “Jupiter Pilot” Ref. 80975 in 1988. The Citizen 3510, as the B59, powered Breitling Jupiter Pilots for 10 years, ending production in 1998, which was around the time that the 35x0 Series was discontinued.On the instruments we entrust to pace our lives, to bear witness to our days, and to be the keepers of the most precious thing we have... time.
- 5 likes
Comment
-
Thank you, retlaw4. I'm embarrassed to say, as my photos are no where near as good as those you regularly produce...I actually don't own a softbox, so can only rely on natural light, both indoor and semi-indoor.
Equipment-wise, I'm equally sparse, and use an inexpensive point-n-shoot, an old Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX50, no tripod. I won't say I like this camera all that much, but it's very convenient when traveling, slides into any pocket. I should really up my game, but haven't really done so. Very few shots have been taken with my phone, again an unsophisticated Nokia Lumia 635.
Comment