# Is Timex Trad?



## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

Are Timex watches generally considered trad? I'd love to start a discussion (and hopefully a picture exchange), to see which ones you guys own and enjoy, and what might define a tradly wristwatch. If you know your watch's model name and year purchased, that info would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a photo of a very special Timex. This is the watch Roger B. Chaffee was wearing, when he was killed in a launch pad fire inside the Apollo 1 space capsule on January 27, 1967. A few years ago his family auctioned the watch for charity:



Here's Roger:


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

I'd say Timex is definitely trad. They are an American icon, and are tools for the thrifty--cheap to buy and last forever. Worn with a Central strap, they surely qualify.

Furthermore, good ones are not fashion victims or affectations. I have an old Tag Heuer somewhere that is worth a fortune, but I literally never wear it (can't even think where it is right now). Just give me my favorite Timex, an old indiglo bought for $1.79 plus postage on Ebay.


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## chatsworth osborne jr. (Feb 2, 2008)

*wait, that watch was in a fire? takes a licking for real*

The Speidel type watchband is less than trad (for some reason I recall the phrase "so you can slide it up on your arm to operate a drill press") but I'd say Timex is like AE: generally trad but not every item they made really qualifies.

The utterly disposable sport watch on my wrist is the Timex Camper Watch #T41711. Arguably trad but it offers supreme reverse snob appeal as an analog $30 field watch. The trad-popular Easy Reader is a bit large for my wrist.


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## young guy (Jan 6, 2005)

*simple answer*

as the day is long


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

This is the Timex I've been wearing for the last several years. I don't think the style qualifies as trad, but I get more compliments on it than any other watch I've owned, including Omegas, Citizens, Seikos and even a Rolex. Not bad for an $18 watch.


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

Wow Chatsworth, NICE! Nothing arguable about that one being trad. I'd love to see it with a striped grosgrain band.

EDIT: I just noticed your question. Yes, it was an oxygen/flash fire and tragically lasted long enough only to kill the three astronauts.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

Yes! Especially old mechanicals. I have two 50s Marlins, a 70s Sprite, and two other 50s models. Right now I can't post pics (we moved and left the recharger plugged in at the old place), but I'll try to remedy the situation soon.


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## C. Sharp (Dec 18, 2008)

Does Timex still offer a camper model in a wind up?



chatsworth osborne jr. said:


> The Speidel type watchband is less than trad (for some reason I recall the phrase "so you can slide it up on your arm to operate a drill press") but I'd say Timex is like AE: generally trad but not every item they made really qualifies.
> 
> The utterly disposable sport watch on my wrist is the Timex Camper Watch #T41711. Arguably trad but it offers supreme reverse snob appeal as an analog $30 field watch. The trad-popular Easy Reader is a bit large for my wrist.


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## boatshoe (Oct 30, 2008)

I know vintage Timex is very popular here. But if you want a higher quality movement that will likely last longer, the Seiko 5's aren't a bad deal. I got mine on ebay for something like 60 dollars. Don't have a picture of mine handy. But it has a black face with white markings, looks very military. You can change bands, if that is your thing.

I'm a bit surprised that vintage American watches don't get more attention on this forum. Timex was popular. But so was Hamilton (on the upper end of the scale) and Elgin (on the lower end). Both were made in America for a long while before being bought out. I often wear the early 40s Hamilton pictured below. I guess one factor may be that vintage watches are comparatively tiny. But they work well on my waifish wrist.










I guess this one is pre-trad, more deco, but it's a late 20s Elgin:


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

Coleman said:


> Yes! Especially old mechanicals. I have two 50s Marlins, a 70s Sprite, and two other 50s models. Right now I can't post pics (we moved and left the recharger plugged in at the old place), but I'll try to remedy the situation soon.


I would think that only the old Timex mechanicals are trad. I'm not sure what would make a modern Chinese made quartz Timex trad or anything close to it - merely its cheapness? That makes no sense to me.

The old Timex mechanicals were analogous to old VWs - simple, inexpensive (not cheap), but mechanically sound and with utilitarian engineering. The modern Chinese made Timex quartz is a cheap watch with cheap base metals, cheap glass, etc. - in many instances, even at their low price some are still overpriced. They strike me almost as a novelty watch. To me Timex is a brand whose underlying product has changed fairly radically in terms of price/quality ratio - like Johnston & Murphy or Florsheim shoes.

I'm curious, can anyone tell me whether the Timexes of the 50s and 60s were sold in the 50s and 60s equivalent of a K Mart or Wal-Mart (I suppose it would have been some kind of five and dime store back then like woolworth's?). Perhaps I'm overestimating Timex's market position in its early decades?

I would say a modern mechanical Seiko 5 is far more trad (and more analogous to the old mechanical Timexes) than a throwaway Timex quartz - at least the Seiko 5 bows to the traditional art of mechanical watchmaking.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

+1 for Seiko 5s. My everyday watch is a Seiko 5 field type watch. In fact, it's this one - https://www.amazon.com/Seiko-Automa...r_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=watches&qid=1259772140&sr=8-4.


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

Epaminondas said:


> I'm curious, can anyone tell me whether the Timexes of the 50s and 60s were sold in the 50s and 60s equivalent of a K Mart or Wal-Mart (I suppose it would have been some kind of five and dime store back then like woolworth's?). Perhaps I'm overestimating Timex's market position in its early decades?


As a kid in the mid-late 60's I remember Timex watches were ubiquitous and sold just about everywhere, from small five and dimes to drug stores to large department store chains (Broadway, May Company, Macy's etc).

I certainly agree with your point about Chinese produced Timex watches, but the question of what qualifies as trad gets more complicated when discussing the mechanics of a wristwatch. E.g. stylistically, Chaffee's watch is as trad as any watch can get, but it uses a battery instead of a wind-up mechanism. Does that make it less trad?


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## C. Sharp (Dec 18, 2008)

+1 for Hamilton.



boatshoe said:


> I know vintage Timex is very popular here. But if you want a higher quality movement that will likely last longer, the Seiko 5's aren't a bad deal. I got mine on ebay for something like 60 dollars. Don't have a picture of mine handy. But it has a black face with white markings, looks very military. You can change bands, if that is your thing.
> 
> I'm a bit surprised that vintage American watches don't get more attention on this forum. Timex was popular. But so was Hamilton (on the upper end of the scale) and Elgin (on the lower end). Both were made in America for a long while before being bought out. I often wear the early 40s Hamilton pictured below. I guess one factor may be that vintage watches are comparatively tiny. But they work well on my waifish wrist.
> 
> ...


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

I say no. Just my opinion, but Timex's are just too common to qualify. Growing up, my dad encouraged me to ignore them, so it's his bias speaking here.


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## beherethen (Jun 6, 2009)

Two recent presidents have worn them, Bush Sr and Clinton. Clinton made a big show of his during the LAX $200 haircut flap. "I don't get $200 hair cuts-see I wear a $30 watch."
The Easy Reader was featured in an out of print book called Cheap Chic, which featured normal American items like the yellow pencil-jeans and mirrored sun glasses that had a certain style, even though they were, well cheap.
So yes I'd say they can be.


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

They're inexpensive, but the company's "takes a licking, and keeps on ticking" advertising claim was and still is true in my experience.

If nothing else, Timex exerted pricing pressure on Seiko and other companies who were obscenely overcharging for quartz watches when the technology first appeared. In fact, now that I recall, I've had more Seikos fail on me over the years than Timexes.


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## Beresford (Mar 30, 2006)

Here's mine:



Timex "Ingersoll" model (a revival of its prior name; not made any longer). I would say this is Trad. A lot of Timexes aren't though.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

beherethen said:


> Two recent presidents have worn them, Bush Sr and Clinton. Clinton made a big show of his during the LAX $200 haircut flap. "I don't get $200 hair cuts-see I wear a $30 watch."
> The Easy Reader was featured in an out of print book called Cheap Chic, which featured normal American items like the yellow pencil-jeans and mirrored sun glasses that had a certain style, even though they were, well cheap.
> So yes I'd say they can be.


Clinton also said he didn't have sex with that woman, under oath, even. You could make a case, I suppose, that Bush, Sr. qualifies/qualified as dressed in the mold of a forum such as this--he did, I recall, wear sacks, etc. back in the day--but Clinton? Just because he went to Yale law and was elected president doesn't make him a sartorial splendor. For the record, I'm a huge Clinton fan, his various indiscretions notwithstanding. 
But I don't consider him a fashion plate.


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## chatsworth osborne jr. (Feb 2, 2008)

*this case is not base metal*

The Timex site shows that they only currently offer only quartz and automatic movements. I must agree that vintage mechanicals get bonus points, but many current models are the Bass Weejun of watches and still have a place as a cheap staple.


FrankDC said:


> I'd love to see it with a striped grosgrain band.


Well this is all I have, and I think the 3rd shown (left to right in order of descending absurdity) is the only one I've ever paired with this watch, and that was brief.
Image quoted in next post. Needs not be seen twice.


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## JDC (Dec 2, 2006)

chatsworth osborne jr. said:


> Well this is all I have, and I think the 3rd shown (left to right in order of descending absurdity) is the only one I've ever paired with this watch, and that was brief.


I said grosgrain, not grossgrain. :crazy:


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

32rollandrock said:


> I say no. Just my opinion, but Timex's are just too common to qualify. Growing up, my dad encouraged me to ignore them, so it's his bias speaking here.


Wait, what? Too _common_ to be trad?

https://tsgmenswear.com/product.sc;...9C69C2.qscstrfrnt03?productId=45&categoryId=8


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

FrankDC said:


> I said grosgrain, not grossgrain. :crazy:


What's wrong with #3 and #4. I have and wear both. In fact, in the fall, I wear #4 all the time.

JB


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

Coleman said:


> +1 for Seiko 5s. My everyday watch is a Seiko 5 field type watch. In fact, it's this one - https://www.amazon.com/Seiko-Automa...r_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=watches&qid=1259772140&sr=8-4.


I've been wanting a 5. Is amazon's a good price? It seems much higher than the same watch, new, on Ebay. Or are those fakes?


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

The OCBD/khaki/penny/etc ubiquity argument is not entirely analogous (I considered making the same argument), because Timex is the brand, a watch the product. So one might argue that it is the brand's ubiquity that is the problem, like a Walmart OCBD vs. a Mercer. 

That being said, I've never agreed with the ubiquitous-can't-be-Trad argument.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

Coleman said:


> The OCBD/khaki/penny/etc ubiquity argument is not entirely analogous (I considered making the same argument), because Timex is the brand, a watch the product. So one might argue that it is the brand's ubiquity that is the problem, like a Walmart OCBD vs. a Mercer.
> 
> That being said, I've never agreed with the ubiquitous-can't-be-Trad argument.


Oh, I actually think that's one of "Trad's" strongest selling points: it's the everyman's wardrobe. Indeed, we love our Brooks Brothers ocbds here, but I suspect many of us would take a WalMart ocbd over a stripey, spread collar, french cuff, non-iron, sweatshop made shirt any day.

Is not the bass weejun analogous with the timex wristwatch?

JB


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I agree with you entirely that it is one of it's strongest points.

The Weejuns would be a good analogy, but then we will be opening a whole other can o' worms with those that dislike Weejuns for all the same reasons they dislike Timex :icon_smile: (which, don't get me wrong, I would love my watch to be a Hamilton, all my OCBDs to be Mercer, and my shoes to be Aldens, but for now I just can't afford all of these things).


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

Yes, that's where trad runs afoul of our cousins in the forum next door. I've always bristled at the notion that people here won't wear Weejuns because they're corrected grain and made offshore. 

To me, it's about the tradition. the weejun is THE penny loafer. The rest are imitations. For a style that espouses the original article, I can't see spending $300 more on a corodvan penny loafer. It's a beater shoe. For use with khakis and clam bakes. It's ok if they get wet or they wear a hole. They're weejuns. buy a new pair.

That's how I see my watch, too. To me, it's a $30 investment in the short term. I don't use my watch to control satellites or dive thousands of feet. I use it to tell the time. and in a year, when this one craps out, I'll buy another. 

JB


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

Pentheos said:


> I've been wanting a 5. Is amazon's a good price? It seems much higher than the same watch, new, on Ebay. Or are those fakes?


I think at the time I bought mine (and I bought mine from Amazon) it was in the 70-80 dollar range (so maybe it's just a waiting game). Then I read in other threads they could be had on eBay, new, for $40. I haven't heard if eBayed 5s are fake or otherwise.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, Pentheos, for some reason I missed your post.


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## jph712 (Mar 22, 2007)

I wore a Timex Indiglo (white face) on a variety of straps, until two things happened: 1. The 'crystal' became so scratched it was hard to read the time in a certain light, and 2. It just plain quit. Replacing the battery did no good. 

Anyway I replaced it with a Singapore made Seiko automatic, some of the 5s look similar, and I wear it on a NATO strap from westcoastime.com, great watchand have had it for nearly 5 years. Other watches have entered the collection but it is tops in the rotation, along with a Wenger Swiss Army my wife gave me for Christmas last year. Neither has a plastic 'crystal' and neither has a single scratch.

Loved that Timex though, until it gave up on me.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

Sure, you can buy a university stripe shirt from Wal-Mart or Kohls, and lots of folks do. It won't look the same as Ben Silver or Brooks Brothers, nor will it last as long, nor will the seller stand behind it if it wears prematurely. At junk stores, you can easily spot a quality shirt on the rack amid the Arrows, even if the fabric patterns are the same. Bills makes khakis, so does Levis, but there's no question Bills and Dockers are completely different animals, even if the colors are the same. Bills, at least where I live, are not ubiquitous, although tons of folks wear khakis. Lots of folks make, or at least, used to make wool shirts, but a Pendleton stands out--I'm still wearing one that's at least 20 years old. Would you rather wear loafers by Dexter or Allen Edmonds? It is, above all, a question of QUALITY. I don't think a $30 Timex is the same as, say, a $500 Bulova. They may look the same, but odds are, one will be more durable than the other. I say all this despite the fact that I am no watch expert; rather, I think that in most, but not all, things in life, there are good reasons for stuff costing more. I recently bought a brand-new Orvis watch for less than $100. Looks nice, keeps good time, there is really nothing wrong with it--a perfectly serviceable knock-around item. But I don't think I'd do it again, not when I could spend about the same, or perhaps a little more, and get a quality vintage watch on ebay. Others may feel differently, which is fine. But the primary aesthetic, again, is, or should be, quality.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I try to buy as few throw-away products as possible, but I do think some knock-around products are at least aesthetically or historically Trad (although they may no longer be philosophically Trad)---and these products are useful for those who want classic style but don't yet have large pocketbooks. That being said, once I can afford to dump these products (like Weejuns for Alden), I probably will (not for any title, but for quality). So I guess I agree with both of you, 32 and Joe, to degrees.


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## HistoryDoc (Dec 14, 2006)

https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/showthread.php?t=52094

Here is a nice thread on watches from a while back. I like Timex. I prefer Seiko automatics. I wear a "railroad approved" Seiko quite a bit.


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

beherethen said:


> Two recent presidents have worn them, Bush Sr and Clinton. Clinton made a big show of his during the LAX $200 haircut flap. "I don't get $200 hair cuts-see I wear a $30 watch."
> The Easy Reader was featured in an out of print book called Cheap Chic, which featured normal American items like the yellow pencil-jeans and mirrored sun glasses that had a certain style, even though they were, well cheap.
> So yes I'd say they can be.


Bill Clinton?? They guy who as a young man owned an El Camino with astro-turf in the back? Clinton was a bubba, not a trad, not even close.


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## Epaminondas (Oct 19, 2009)

Joe Tradly said:


> Yes, that's where trad runs afoul of our cousins in the forum next door. I've always bristled at the notion that people here won't wear Weejuns because they're corrected grain and made offshore.
> 
> To me, it's about the tradition.


Sorry, but to me that sounds like buying a Ford that's made in Mexico and lovingly referring to the model T and its tradition.

The 2009 Weejun ain't the iconic 1950s Trad weejun - blind adherence to some misguided notion of tradition will lead you to buy crap. I say that having in my closet a pair of plastic-y weejuns from circa. 1996 and a pair of shell Brooks LHS. I haven't worn the Weejuns in years - I bought them in law school to replace two pairs I bought before I started college (circa. 1985, both of which pairs I still have as well - out of a sense of nostalgia I can't seem to part with them). Frankly, I doubt I'd ever buy another pair of Weejuns (though I have an extra pair of BB shell LHS loafers boxed and in my closet "in reserve"). It's Bass that abandoned the tradition - not me. I still buy my shoes from a traditional American shoemaker which uses quality materials, pays fair wages, and is not exploiting labor in some third world country. Frankly, it doesn't strike me as Trad to be sporting a Chinese quartz watch and buying a sweat-shop/slave labor OCBD from wal-mart while wearing El Salvadoran Weejuns all in the name of cheaply aping a look. Where's the mention of quality? Am I missing something? There's a difference between being cheap and frugal.


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## Pentheos (Jun 30, 2008)

Epaminondas said:


> Frankly, it doesn't strike me as Trad to be sporting a Chinese quartz watch and buying a sweat-shop/slave labor OCBD from wal-mart while wearing El Salvadoran Weejuns all in the name of cheaply aping a look. Where's the mention of quality? Am I missing something? There's a difference between being cheap and frugal.


I like this. Unfortunately, given my circumstances, I'm often reduced to being cheap. (I have a quartz Timex EZ reader.)


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## P Hudson (Jul 19, 2008)

"It is, above all, a question of QUALITY. I don't think a $30 Timex is the same as, say, a $500 Bulova. They may look the same, but odds are, one will be more durable than the other."

I don't think it is ABOVE ALL a question of quality. As was suggested earlier, I'd rather wear LE's cheapest ocbd than a fashion forward product by Versace. 

Furthermore, while odds are that one will be more durable, I'm not sure which one it will be. My Tag Heuer has issues: my Timexes (Timi--pl of Timex?) have NEVER given me any trouble. Seiko 5s are good, but my 15 year old son has lost both of mine. I blame the company for that, since I have no knowledge of a Timex that has ever been lost.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Joe Tradly said:


> Wait, what? Too _common_ to be trad?
> 
> https://tsgmenswear.com/product.sc;...9C69C2.qscstrfrnt03?productId=45&categoryId=8


+1. If that old saw about the right picture(s) being worth a thousand words is correct, you sir have just written a book. Point well made! :thumbs-up:


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

P Hudson said:


> "It is, above all, a question of QUALITY. I don't think a $30 Timex is the same as, say, a $500 Bulova. They may look the same, but odds are, one will be more durable than the other."
> 
> I don't think it is ABOVE ALL a question of quality. As was suggested earlier, I'd rather wear LE's cheapest ocbd than a fashion forward product by Versace.
> 
> Furthermore, while odds are that one will be more durable, I'm not sure which one it will be. My Tag Heuer has issues: my Timexes (Timi--pl of Timex?) have NEVER given me any trouble. Seiko 5s are good, but my 15 year old son has lost both of mine. I blame the company for that, since I have no knowledge of a Timex that has ever been lost.


Apologies. What I meant was, you take two university-stripe OCBD's, one made by BB, the other by Arrow. Most, if not all, of us would take the BB, even though the fabric pattern is the same. I apply the same way of thinking to the Timex question. Much of the stuff we wear is the same stuff made by the same companies a half-century ago, and there's a reason for that: Quality. I know: They made Timexes a half century ago. As I say, and Patrick knows, others are free to disagree. Perhaps a better example of what I mean. Go back to the Arrow and the BB shirt. Given the choice between a brand-new Arrow and a used BB, some folks here would choose the Arrow because they won't wear used clothing. I feel otherwise and would take the BB. For some, newness trumps quality, and that's OK, I suppose, although in my narrow view of the world I would say that's getting away from the core aesthetic. Your Versace dilemma is an interesting one. If BB OCBD et al didn't exist, if there was really nothing out there except Arrow (LE is acceptable) and Dockers and assorted other made-in-China crap sold in big-box stores, I think I would have to go with Versace, Prada, et al. Cheap fabrics and cheap clothing suck. They really do.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I said I'd post my vintage Timex collection, so here it is:

50s Marlin



another 50s Marlin



50s Sample Watch



50s ? (I'm not sure of the model, maybe an early Sprite?)



70s Sprite


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## Dr.Watson (Sep 25, 2008)

Nice collection Coleman! I have the same version in your second picture. It is a neat looking watch, but it loses about an hour a day, so I rarely wear it. 

I also have the ubiquitous Timex Easy Reader, and it is still going strong after a year of hard wear; looks brand new too.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Is Timex trad? 

Does Ian Paisley wear orange underpants?
Is The Pope a Catholic?
Does a bear do his No. 2 in the woods?
Does Elvis live in Bolivia?
:icon_smile_big:


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

Coleman said:


> I said I'd post my vintage Timex collection, so here it is


Awesome. I love vintage Marlins. Do all of them run well?


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

They're all within 15 mins by the end of the day. I consider that pretty good for their age.


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## Coleman (Mar 18, 2009)

I've been paying a little closer attention since answering last, and, really, only the second Marlin above is off by about 15 by the end of the day. The rest are only off by 1-2 mins by the end of the day, if at all.


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

My old ones usually run 2-5 min. per day one way or the other. Not bad, IMO, all things considered. However, I have one (on the far left in the photo) that's 10 min. slow per day...I don't wear that one when punctuality is an issue.


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