Friday, May 15, 2009

How A Watch Works...


How A Watch Works
Hamilton Watch Company [Circa 1949]

Ever wonder how that mechanical masterpiece on your wrist actually works? Me too!!!

Many people don't know this, but the United States used to be a world leader in making watches up until World War II, when many of the watch manufacturers converted their facilities to manufacturing military components. After World War II, the United States of America went into manufacturing other things, but the Swiss kept going with making watches and watchmaking grew considerably in Japan.

This movie, from the Hamilton Watch Company, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania shows how a mechanical watch works. The primary difference between what you see in this video and a Rolex Perpetual is that Rolex has an automatic winding rotor that winds the watch, otherwise they work very similarly. Enjoy!!!

Flipper Friday is Back!!! Season 1 [Episode 4: The Gulf Between]


Flipper Friday
Season 1 [Episode 4: The Gulf Between]
Original Air Date: October 10, 1964

Flipper Friday threw me a curve ball I was not expecting last week when Porter Ricks was not wearing his Rolex Submariner, but a brand I never heard of named Croton. It made me wonder if I was hallucinating about Porter Ricks wearing a Rolex Submariner to begin with? So I did some research and watched some later episodes and I confirmed (with 99%++ certainty) that he was wearing a Rolex Submariner.


Also, readers of Jake's Rolex Watch Blog have mentioned to me that they like watching Flipper. There is something so wholesome, clean-cut and cool about it. I talked with Mark yesterday and he said that he grew up watching Flipper as a kid and that it brings back great memories.

Mark also said for a kid at the time the whole theme of two boys growing up with their really cool dad and their pet dolphin was the ultimate childhood fantasy and I agree. Especially when they are towing on flipper through the ocean or as Mark pointed out, driving around in a single engine power boat.

I did notice a strange continuity error where Porter Ricks watch keeps moving back and forth from his left to right wrist which is kind of funny. It is also kind of fascinating to watch Flipper from a anthropological perspective, like examining the fashion and the way they speak and interact–like when bud tells Porter Ricks girlfriend she is twitch (never heard that before).

It is also interesting to note that when this episode originally aired 44 years ago, I was not even born yet. Even thought JFK had only been dead 11 months, this world was still a JFK kind of world–idealism and all.