Malaysia Watch Forum
Main Forums => General Discussion - Modern Watches => Topic started by: lanatir on February 08, 2011, 11:08:16 AM
-
I've posted pics of this watch some time ago on other watch fora.
The following is an heirloom watch belonging to my great grandparents and passed down to my grandmother, my dad and now, me.
The brand is Galco and it used to be a brand under the Gallet Swiss Watch brand. It probably arrived in Malaysia around the time of World War 1 (the watch should be around a century old) and probably brought in by Chinese or Japanese traders (apparent the brand was popular among the Japanese back then).
Several years back, servicing by a local watchmaker had ruined the movement and I had to replace the movement with another similar movement from the same time period (I still keep the original broken movement). I also cleaned up the watch a bit and it works fine now (power reserve is horrid). The watch is small - around 31mm.
Apparently, the Gallet brand is no longer owned by the original owners. I had emailed them some time back and they actually could not tell me much about the watch. Instead, they had asked me to mail them the watch for inspection. For obvious reasons, I did not.
(http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto/image/75201491.jpg)
(http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto/image/75201494.jpg)
(http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto/image/75201495.jpg)
(http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto/image/75201497.jpg)
(http://www.pbase.com/kelvinphoto/image/75201498.jpg)
-
Wow Kelvin, this piece is full of history.
Thanks for sharing :thumbsup:
-
Hi Kelvin,
For a 100 year old timepiece it is still in remarkably good condition. You're very fortunate indeed to have received such a priceless heirloom.
By the way how did the local watchmaker manage to ruin the original watch movement?
Thanks for sharing.
:Cheers:
-
The guy bent some parts out of shape by crudely forcing his way around with his tweezers I believe. They were beyond salvaging. It was still working but would stop after a few minutes of running.
Furthermore, I was also advised to change the movement for fear that the old spring would be really brittle. Fyi, the new inserted movement was newer by a couple of decades.
-
+1 Nice one but it should be deserving the title of antique rather than retro! Still looking good despite it's age. It must be priceless to you. :thumbsup:
-
Yep priceless. Of course the issue of price never crosses one's mind. It's more like trying to sell a limb :D
-
The guy bent some parts out of shape by crudely forcing his way around with his tweezers I believe. They were beyond salvaging. It was still working but would stop after a few minutes of running.
Furthermore, I was also advised to change the movement for fear that the old spring would be really brittle. Fyi, the new inserted movement was newer by a couple of decades.
Use of brute force is totally unforgivable. Hope you got some kind of compensation from that fellow.
-
well it wasnt discovered until several years after! :(
-
Waaa so lucky, even tho it have a new movement but still really nice old school watch. :Cheers: