The cleaning and polishing station at the Toto’s bench. Every vintage watch starts with a little mystery. Sometimes it is running. Sometimes it is dead. Sometimes it looks clean in a photo, but once you get it under a light, you realize it has decades of dirt in the bracelet, around the case back, under…
A vintage Tweety Bird character watch from the Toto’s shop. Character watches are not usually the most serious watches in the case. That is part of the charm. Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Snoopy, Tweety, Goofy, novelty dials, oddball cartoon faces, souvenir watches, little licensed pieces from another era. These watches were often made to be fun…
I made this video a while back with my friend Andrew for his YouTube channel, Quartz Crisis, which you should absolutely check out if you like watches, repair projects, and the strange little corners of horology. The video is about servicing an old Timex movement. But this article is not really about how to service…
A small vintage ladies bracelet watch If you pay attention to watch media, or spend even a little time on TikTok, you’ve probably noticed it: small watches are back. Dainty watches, petite cases, cocktail watches, bracelet watches, and the kinds of pieces that were easy to overlook a few years ago suddenly feel fresh again….
A gold-tone vintage bracelet watch from my shop. Spend enough time looking at vintage watches and you’ll see the word gold used pretty freely. Gold case. Gold watch. Gold finish. Gold tone. Gold plated. Rolled gold. 14K. 18K. Sometimes those terms mean something very specific. Sometimes they mostly mean: “this watch is gold-colored.” Because I…
Sometimes the watch is not the problem. The strap is. I made a quick YouTube Short about this exact idea using an old Mickey Mouse watch. For a lot of us, one of those little character watches was a first watch growing up. Years later, they often turn up in drawers, flea market boxes, and…
