A Family Christmas Tradition❤️
Hi watchfam,so christmas is here and i will tell you a story about a special watch and it's meaning for the family.
My grandpa ,which i was named after, had a old Prim watch made in ČSSR. Owning it for his hole life,wearing it everyday,everywhere,all the time.
There is even a picture in the family photo archive,on which my mother as a toddler is looking very interested on his wrist,while he wears that particular watch.
Years after his death the timepiece was given to me by my grandma,when my passion for watches started to grow.
It's a 34mm steelwatch with Gold hands and no secondshand. With 34 mm it is definitevly to small for me,nowdays.
As far as i know it was his beaterwatch, never serviced or repaired. He also got it as a young man already, so i'm pretty sure,that it is 80-90 years old.
Prim itself was the one and only czech watchmaker and czech folks were/are really really proud of it.
It was a bit what Tissot is in switzerland today,if this comparison makes sence.
The quality of the watch speaks for it self,worn for decades,never serviced and it is still running and not even losing a minute a day. That's impressive for such a old peace.
Now,lets get to the tradition:
After getting it, i always wore it for special family ocasions only, especially christmas dinner.
Now it got absoluty to small for me,so i'm passing the tradition to my mother, having the little girl of the photograph in my mind,while she wears it with pride.
It is not important who wears it,it is important that it is on the wrist of a beloved family member. Because with that tradition,grandpa is still with us every christmas!
Do you have any particular watches,that you wear to family ocasions?
Have yourself a merry little christmas,crunchers!❄️
"Watches tell the world a bit about who you are, and they can, if you're lucky, connect you to the people in your life, who matter most" - Matt Hranek
Beautiful piece! It's rare to see an old watch with a dial condition THAT good. That case size is to die for vintage lovers ❤. Take good care of it!
Beautiful piece! It's rare to see an old watch with a dial condition THAT good. That case size is to die for vintage lovers ❤. Take good care of it!
Thank you,that's very kind!
Don't worry i will take good care of it.
Wish you a happy christmas🥂
What a lovely watch. You have every right to be proud of Prim. Their watches in the 1950's and 60's were very well made. The Prim calibers were based on ETA movements. That has the old logo which was changed around 1968. There is a book cataloging all Prims written in Czech, but you probably already knew that.
(Edit: I can't believe that your grandfather was named Righthandwatches. Must be a family name.)
34mm is THE new cool, buck the trend and wear it with pride. I have 2 x 33mm in my collection and I love them to bits, i wear both to work often as I tend to wear dress shirts to work.
nice watch, unfortunately there isnt any in my family lol
It in no way looks too small to me. I'd recommend a servicing whilst it still works, as I doubt anyone wants to try finding parts once it stops working.
Anyway, unbeknownst to me the family tradition was having about half a dozen watches of departed ancestors tucked away in drawers and never mentioning it. I have broken this silent tradition by liberating them and returning them to service.
It in no way looks too small to me. I'd recommend a servicing whilst it still works, as I doubt anyone wants to try finding parts once it stops working.
Anyway, unbeknownst to me the family tradition was having about half a dozen watches of departed ancestors tucked away in drawers and never mentioning it. I have broken this silent tradition by liberating them and returning them to service.
Thanks, yes getting it serviced is on the list for 2023!
Great Job you have done with the ancestor watches!
Cheers🥂
nice watch, unfortunately there isnt any in my family lol
Thank you!
Cheers🥂
34mm is THE new cool, buck the trend and wear it with pride. I have 2 x 33mm in my collection and I love them to bits, i wear both to work often as I tend to wear dress shirts to work.
Hi there,well maybe it is THE new cool,but i was never going with trends anyway😜
In my eyes it is to small.
But i respect your opinion.
Cheers mate!🍾
What a lovely watch. You have every right to be proud of Prim. Their watches in the 1950's and 60's were very well made. The Prim calibers were based on ETA movements. That has the old logo which was changed around 1968. There is a book cataloging all Prims written in Czech, but you probably already knew that.
(Edit: I can't believe that your grandfather was named Righthandwatches. Must be a family name.)
Thank you! No i didn't know that already.
The book might be also interesting for me,do you have the title or a link ?👀
Cheers!🍾
(Edit: Touche on the name joke😎)
Such a beautiful piece you got there. Maybe servicing the watch might extend its lifetime and fill it with more memories to come.
Merry Christmas to you and your family 🌲🎉🎉😁
Thank you! No i didn't know that already.
The book might be also interesting for me,do you have the title or a link ?👀
Cheers!🍾
(Edit: Touche on the name joke😎)
I couldn't find it on the internet. It was referenced by a seller in Slovakia from whom I bought my Prim. Here is what I could find. The first is a PDF of some sort. The second is from an old discussion on the watch forum of ChronoMag. I removed the links because they were broken.
https://www.physics.muni.cz/~skalicky/download/katalog.pdf
"There is an illustrated book called Stroj Času . Manufacture PRIM is also mentioned in the book The World of Watches and another available book is The history of Watchmaking Industry in the Czechoslovakia( Dějiny československého hodinářského průmyslu I a II.)"
Lovely piece , I would wear it with pride. That size is cool.
Hi there,well maybe it is THE new cool,but i was never going with trends anyway😜
In my eyes it is to small.
But i respect your opinion.
Cheers mate!🍾
if you go back 20 odd years you wouldn’t even think about the size because big watches didn’t exist. Trends have made them too big and things are reverting to smaller sizes. when I see pictures of Mohammad Ali wearing a Cartier Tank it’s Uber cool, I certainly wouldn’t have pointed it out to him hahahahhahaah
Honestly it doesn't look to small, It's all in your head. Get it serviced and when it comes back to you again wear it with pride!
IMO, Prim was at the top of watches from the Eastern Bloc, along with the GDR's GUB Glashutte. It's a nice watch in great shape. The age estimate is off, though. I'd say 1950s-1960s.
I don't have a special occasions watch. I tend to wear whatever I feel like wearing. If I favour any watches for family occasions, that'd be my vintage Omegas:
What a great story. I have a watch that appears nearly identical. It is a UMF Rhula from what was once called"Eastern Germany" I believe. I really am attached to this little guy. It beats at about 18k/hr but keeps good time. How nice to have this heirloom in your family.
Here's mine
I couldn't find it on the internet. It was referenced by a seller in Slovakia from whom I bought my Prim. Here is what I could find. The first is a PDF of some sort. The second is from an old discussion on the watch forum of ChronoMag. I removed the links because they were broken.
https://www.physics.muni.cz/~skalicky/download/katalog.pdf
"There is an illustrated book called Stroj Času . Manufacture PRIM is also mentioned in the book The World of Watches and another available book is The history of Watchmaking Industry in the Czechoslovakia( Dějiny československého hodinářského průmyslu I a II.)"
I will take a look,thank you very much for the research!❤️
Such a beautiful piece you got there. Maybe servicing the watch might extend its lifetime and fill it with more memories to come.
Merry Christmas to you and your family 🌲🎉🎉😁
Thank you! Yes,it will be serviced in 2023.
Merry Christmas to you,too😊
if you go back 20 odd years you wouldn’t even think about the size because big watches didn’t exist. Trends have made them too big and things are reverting to smaller sizes. when I see pictures of Mohammad Ali wearing a Cartier Tank it’s Uber cool, I certainly wouldn’t have pointed it out to him hahahahhahaah
Hi,there,yes the picture is legendary.
Also considering a tank in upcoming years.
Thanks for sharing!
Lovely watch and lovely for your mum to wear. But as others have said it fits you very well indeed.
Thank you,really kind indeed.
Well for me it is still to small...haha
Also it would not get so much wristtime,because of the size and because of the fact,that i enjoy my other watches a lot as well.
I would even if it would be in perfect condition wear it really carefully because there is no real way of replacing it. My other watches can be replaced easily.
Honestly it doesn't look to small, It's all in your head. Get it serviced and when it comes back to you again wear it with pride!
Thank you, yes i will get it serviced soon,and wear it more often then.
Enjoy your holidays!🥂
This is my grandfather's watch - he was a tightfisted old Yankee farmer, born in 1895. Nobody in the family has the slightest clue about what he was doing with this on his wrist, but he wore it constantly, and wore the hell out of it. (I had the crystal replaced; you could barely see through it when it was passed to me!)
Case and movement date to 1940, but the hands are obviously a later modification, probably done when the originals, with their radium lume, had died out. The bracelet is Rolex, but probably not original either. (If "Frankenrolex" is a thing, this is that thing.) Anathema to a modern "collector", but exactly what a practical man would have done back in the day.
Still runs like a champ, too - the "Precision" tag is well-deserved.
Great watch,great story!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Enjoy your holidays!😊
IMO, Prim was at the top of watches from the Eastern Bloc, along with the GDR's GUB Glashutte. It's a nice watch in great shape. The age estimate is off, though. I'd say 1950s-1960s.
I don't have a special occasions watch. I tend to wear whatever I feel like wearing. If I favour any watches for family occasions, that'd be my vintage Omegas:
Hi,there thanks for the information and thanks for sharing your lovely vintage omegas!
Cheers!🥂
What a great story. I have a watch that appears nearly identical. It is a UMF Rhula from what was once called"Eastern Germany" I believe. I really am attached to this little guy. It beats at about 18k/hr but keeps good time. How nice to have this heirloom in your family.
Here's mine
Cool watch, yes they are really simular.
Thanks for sharing yours!
Cheers,mate!🍾
Lovely piece , I would wear it with pride. That size is cool.
Thank you! I wear it with pride,but not so often,because of the size,yeah its cool but unfortunaly to small for me😉
Have a great day!🤝🏻
My grandfather became blind back in the 1970's from glaucoma. I was a young kid and remember that he wore a "Braille" watch in order to tell the time. I would see him pop open the glass and feel the Braille to "see" what time it was. He passed away in the late 80's and I only wish I knew what happened to his watch. A thank you to the Helen Keller Foundation for the Deaf and Blind who provided him with the watch and other daily use items that made his life a bit easier !
My grandfather became blind back in the 1970's from glaucoma. I was a young kid and remember that he wore a "Braille" watch in order to tell the time. I would see him pop open the glass and feel the Braille to "see" what time it was. He passed away in the late 80's and I only wish I knew what happened to his watch. A thank you to the Helen Keller Foundation for the Deaf and Blind who provided him with the watch and other daily use items that made his life a bit easier !
I'm really sorry to hear that!
But thank you very much for sharing the story.
Merry Christmas!🥂
Your watch has the type number 55 056 1 (Originally 014 056). It was first released in 1960, so it has to be slighltly younger then you suppose. Prim, or it's mothercompany Elton, formally Chronotechna, released it's first watch in 1954, so it's a pretty early piece in the company's history.
Judging from the pictures, your watch seems to miss the second hand. It should be pretty easy to have it replaced in Czech Republic. They do very good renovation services in the factory of Elton themselves, yet are very expensive, there are a few alternatives, that are a lot cheaper.
The book Aurelian mentioned is called "Primky" and has been written by Libor Hovorka, ISBN 978-80-7577-584-9. You'll find your watch on page 205.
However it's a very nice watch with a very nice story. Enjoy it.
Your watch has the type number 55 056 1 (Originally 014 056). It was first released in 1960, so it has to be slighltly younger then you suppose. Prim, or it's mothercompany Elton, formally Chronotechna, released it's first watch in 1954, so it's a pretty early piece in the company's history.
Judging from the pictures, your watch seems to miss the second hand. It should be pretty easy to have it replaced in Czech Republic. They do very good renovation services in the factory of Elton themselves, yet are very expensive, there are a few alternatives, that are a lot cheaper.
The book Aurelian mentioned is called "Primky" and has been written by Libor Hovorka, ISBN 978-80-7577-584-9. You'll find your watch on page 205.
However it's a very nice watch with a very nice story. Enjoy it.
Thank you very much for the useful information! Made my day!
Cheers,mate!🥂