Nice to see a genuine enthusiast. Welcome rich.
Hello!
My names rich, i live in london. Ive been collecting watches since i was 10, and due to one of my first proper nice new watches being a Precista branded automatic for my 18th birthday ive always had a soft spot for the brand. Been lurking on the forum dince the mid 2000s, but seeing as ive finally bought a new smiths prs-29AM off eddie this morning i thought id better join up and say hi.
Heres a quick & dirty ipad shot of some of my precistas/timefactors watches.
Top left is a 1960s precista sold by the old owners of the brand. It came in 2 case styles, normal and waterproof. This is the waterproof one. Its a V7730 movement, and is made by Gallet. Its basically a rebadged Multichron 45.
Top right is a PRS-5. Excellent watch. Really excellent daily rate variation, its consistently about 1.5 seconds slow on the wrist.
Bottom right is my 18C. I bought this when i became a roadie about 6 years ago and wore it on a world tour for a year with My Bloody Valentine. Those are some hard won battle scars and fading on that bezel... ;c)
Bottom left is a Speedbird III. From 2012, but a recent purchase, courtesy of a years touring with Mel C from the spice girls. A bl***y amazing watch. Shame the bracelet makes it too heavy.
As you can see, i like bonklip straps. Lightweight, hypoallergenic, cheap, and sufficiently different from the norm to keep me amused. Also- Nylon and leather make my skin go rotten and fall off. Blech.
Thanks again to Eddie for resurrecting the Smiths and Precista brands. I feel i probably owe you a pint.
Cheers! ;c)
Rich
Nice to see a genuine enthusiast. Welcome rich.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
Welcome Rich, obviously a man of discerning taste ;-)
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Cheers chaps!
Ive taken another pic of the gallet/precista but with a less prehistoric camera, so you can see the blue tachytele scale better. Its about 36mm across, so reasonably big for the time. Has a screwdown caseback, they also came with a press on caseback. So this ones the “waterproof” version. Ive tracked about a dozen of these over the years on ebay, they come in a gold plated version as well, and some appear to have been issued by as yet unknown organisations... at least 1 has popped up that may well have a link to the AWRE at Aldermaston.
@ Eddie- ill lend it to you for measurements if you ever fancy reissuing one of these ;c)
All the best
Rich
Ps i think the hands are heat blued, but they look black in this pic. The dial is silvered. Cmon eddie! ;c)
Last edited by Synthpunk; 24th October 2018 at 14:49. Reason: Added encouragement to make some more
That’s really lovely Rich.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Theres also apparently a black dial version of this one but ive never seen one.
Am i allowed to post a link to some discussions on mwr? Theres some scans from some Southerns catalogues showing these and some discussions regarding the awre link.
Eddie- send me an email / pm anytime. I dont wear this one much these days as its long overdue an overhaul and i dont want to wear it out before its turn comes up at the service bench.
Blimey, taking decent photographs of watches is hard isnt it?
One thing id forgotten about this watch, seeing as it doesnt come out much is that it has really beautiful faceted lugs. Thats why ive never polished it, inspite of manymany scratches.
Lookee—>
Also....
1- got an email- my 29AM is in the post YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! :c)
2- Eddie- if you do reissue this i have 1 request; please ask your maker-of-excellent-bracelets to make a modern, well made, Bonklip... bit wierd i know... but please please please. Nice thick links, maybe even a modern butterfly clasp, but with that old school Bamboo Bonklip look. Id buy 10 in 18mm and 10 in 20mm straight off... ;c)
How about an 18mm width bonklip that comes with both 18mm and 20mm end pieces? ;c)
Im quite into model engineering and lathes and stuff as well as it goes, ive been messing about with ideas for this for a while. Just about to start prototyping an endpice in brass. Can send you some pictures if you want?
Welcome Rich,
fairly new hear myself and much less of a collection than yours. Up close that Gallet/Precista looks pretty special.
Will
Bonklip related update- theres a french company whove released a reasonably attractive if slightly large fieldwatch that comes with a bonklip plus clasp bracelet. Bit expensive at 300€, but im going to see if the bracelet is available separately...
https://www.merci-merci.com/en/lmm-0...aux-94028.html