Hi all,
A colleague came up to me at work yesterday and asked about my watch (I was wearing the one discussed here
viewtopic.php?t=57682 ).
He said he had a similar one.
I asked him to bring it in and I've attached some photos here.
It’s a 60s Cosmonaute 809 but a few things caught my eye so I thought I’d share with you guys and I’d appreciate your thoughts too if you have the time.
The lume has blackened and the outer ring of the slide rule has darkened and faded.
He told me that the previous owner had stopped wearing the watch after cracking the crystal and put it in a draw in the 80s where it stayed up until a couple of years ago. I guess being stored with a cracked crystal allowed moisture ingress.
The replacement crystal is incorrect.
It’s a shame about the loss of lume in the minute hand but the case is wonderfully sharp.
Crown and pushers look to be original to me.
The printing of Cosmonaute is quite low down on the dial. Is this normal? I’ve been unable to find other examples with this exact configuration.
The outer bezel is the beads of rice kind but I’d expect to see that on an earlier watch. Again, is this normal?
And finally the text on the caseback is pretty wonky. I haven’t seen that many so I guess that’s just sometimes how it was.
No movement/ serial number pics yet but I’ll post them soon.
He’s keen to have the watch serviced and a correct crystal fitted so I was quick to recommend Craig (chronodeco) since I sent my 806 to him (after recommendations here) and was so happy with the job he did servicing that.
He’s keen to keep it in his family. It was his Great Grandad’s who bought it new and used to work in aviation - servicing planes in the UK.
Apparently lots of his work mates had Cosmonautes too.
Thanks,
David.
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