Through the Porthole… #1 - Hales

Dude, I cannot speak for others, but for my two cents, you should never apologize for your posts. 

Always informative and enjoyable. 

Excellent as always. That Maharishi speaks to me.

Edit: Just spent time googling it as I never heard of it. Looks cool, but not sure about the price.  Keep sharing these cool stories.

Yes, the Maharishi was my Christmas present, and it’s one of the very  few occasions where I have picked homage over original. It’s a collab between Maharishi and Watch Experimental Unit (WMT). WMT seem to be a brand that focus on military homage, and this 1950s Bubbleback  is such a nice little piece. The price was high at RRP, but rest assured, I picked this up for a good deal less.

I noticed when looking at them. I am going to add to my ebay watch list and see if any pop up. 

Yeah, you should skip the justifications for this post, you don't need them.  This is 1000X better than another poll about whatever, and at worst, people can just ignore it.  Things I learned:

Watches used to be even more comically small than I realized.  Which is to say, modern watches are even more comically large than I realized.

The more I learn, the less I can believe how convoluted and strange the watch world is.

"Dutch courage" isn't just a racist term for false courage, it's also a gin bar quite near where I live.  I'll have to check that out.

You're doing a lot more to maintain and further watch knowledge within the greater community than I am, for which I thank you.

Cheers.

I wouldn’t say this watch is comically small, it’s more age-appropriately sized if it was a 1940s watch, but in the 1960s it’s classically sized or retro which is amusing. It’s very handsome, and there is little to nothing pertaining to Hales online, but that is quite common for a large number of brands; a small footnote on Mikrolisk is all you get. If I ever find out more, I’ll revisit this, but I’m pretty sure this is it. I am aware of a Zodnas post on WUS which has a Hales case, but there is no link there between Sandoz and Hales so it might be franken. They also show that watches movement to be an FHF 67, just like mine, and the watch is very, very similar, but it’s not a Hales.

The key things that this little watch has in its favour are the Datejust / Oyster vibes, the nice movement with the “roulette wheel” date, and the fact it is very well put together as a package. Despite the price I picked it up for, it’s definitely a justified £50 watch to the right collector. The fact it cost so little is probably due to the fact that it’s a slightly later, smaller-end of mens-sized watch with no information to back it up. If you go digging, you may find a little treasure.

Great post, thanks! Very handsome piece with the classic handset and indices. 

I think the watch is both “comically small” to my modern eyes AND size appropriate for the time it was made. I own a few 34mm watches, so I’m not opposed to smaller watches, this just seems a little much to me. And that’s saying nothing of my ability to read a date that small. 
 

Having said all that, it’s a great looking watch, and the attributes you mention make it really interesting. It’s the kind of watch I’d love to have, and maybe after seeing it in person the size wouldn’t bother me. 
 

I think the lack of information on the brand is especially interesting. I tend to assume there’s plenty of information about everything on the internet. I guess nobody’s gotten around to adding this brand, which is a shame. I don’t share your interest in researching old brands, but I think the world is a better place with that knowledge intact. I hope you, or somebody is able to find out more, it’s a shame when knowledge, even trivial watch knowledge, is lost. 
 

And finally, I love that watches like this still exist. I have spent countless hours looking at old watches online, and will continue to do so. I think the variety of what’s out there is fascinating and would love to own more old watches. 

Picking up awesome vintage watches for the price of coffee and cake at Starbucks is my new favourite hobby.

I have a £22 vintage beauty on its way to me as we speak, so you can give me marks out of 10 for that buy when it arrives.

There is a shameful lack of posts about cheap vintage gems that yourself and @Aurelian work hard to fill, which I deeply appreciate. 🍻

I have one that isn't on Mikrolisk. The mystery is part of the intrigue.

I enjoy that one. It will fall into that space where the casual watch fan will not recognize it, but that it is well made enough to give it a chance. So, it can be had for cheap. That is a joy to find.

It’s not cool, and to be honest I think a lot of people don’t really care. There has been a glut of “tell me more about this watch, I can’t find anything online” on here, which is now becoming a bit tedious like SOTCs were around New Years. I don’t really know how many more times one can post “pop the back” and link to Dr Ranfft and Mikrolisk before the novelty wears off. Then again, I suppose people probably just want to know if they can sell what they have for a few hundred quid to a grand (spoiler alert, you can’t). I should be pleased, but it feels hollow. Most people moan about how small vintage is anyway, you either get it or you don’t. I mean 28mm is not comically small, it’s 1940s standard, and 34mm is not a children’s watch. Next you’ll be telling Clark Gable he was wrong to wear a 28mm Rolex despite that being what he could go and purchase at that time.  I might not do more of these type of post, its too niche and it’s not really the platform for it… it’s all polls, Rolex bashing, and recommend me a watch with no guidelines when you see what people actually engage with. The answer is of course (d) Seiko.

To those saying I don't have to apologise for, or caveat my posts, thank you, but considering my position of the pantomime villain of the platform it is one way to ensure that anything that might be useful within them can be separated from the "brand". You can still learn from a teacher you don't like.

Another great informative write-up 🍻