[f]Old art decorice om found in suitcase

Last year I shared a story about finding an Art Deco Oris watch in a suitcase. I was looking at the case when I saw something sparkling here in Sydney. It turns out to be a rather abused, rusty Oris watch. It wasn’t running, but I liked the dial and appearance of the watch so I bought it with the idea of ​​seeing if I could make it work again.

Love for old objects

One of the great things about this hobby is that it helps you appreciate not only flashy new objects, but old objects as well. Certainly there is a lot of excitement about the massive events like clocks and wonders. These shows reveal the new watches the brand has to offer. But I also like to go down the rabbit hole on a vintage watch. Finding an obscure or fun watch is one of the joys of watch enthusiasm.

When we discovered Oris, my friend Jack was shopping with me. He picked up a vintage eniker.

Please don’t get me wrong. I also love exploring new watches, but there are certain brands and types of watches that are naturally drawn to. These brands like Seiko, Citizen, Tudor, Doxa and IWC provide watches and history that resonate as watch reviewers. You’ll find many articles that I’ve worked on these brands and the tool-like watches they produce. And although I like a lot of their new products, I usually find their vintage models tell me the most.

Old Art Deco Oris Watch with Suitcase

This love for old objects is also showing my shopping habits. In Australia, it stands for “opportunity shop” and has the tradition of OP-Shops. These are essentially second hand or vintage shops, and usually offer items at a modest price. It’s possible to find great gems in these stores, but it’s hard to get a decent watch. Usually, there are cheap quartz items from random fashion brands, and they usually see watches. In short, this little Art Deco Oris clock stood out from the crowd.

So when I discovered it at the bottom of my suitcase, I knew I had a responsibility to bring it back to life. The dial was fascinating, with its neat, nonsense Arabic numbers and subseconds. It dates back to the 1940s, so you might wonder who owned this watch.

Bring Oris back to life

To restore this Oris, finding a watchmaker available to tackle this age of watches was not an easy feat in Sydney, so it was a major part of the six months. The fact that parts are difficult to bring about by complex problems, and the watches suffered from the rust, a common problem in Sydney.

Six months after finding the watch and dropping it off by a local watchmaker, I put it back in. The dead Lume, in the hands of time, had fallen during the repair process, but as I wrapped my oversized crown I gave a smile on my face. The winding sensation of action was amazing!

Things associated with repairs

The watch faced several issues during repairs and renovations. Some of the movement had to be replaced due to rust. Also, Springsbur was virtually dead. I placed the watch on a strap with a built-in spring bar. The dial was slightly cleaned but not repainted. The case appears to be chrome metal, but the case back is made of steel.

But overall, the watch was in relatively decent condition considering it was left in the suitcase for how long you knew! The beautiful style of numbers, including the Art Deco 9 and the flat top 4, is now much clearer. The subsecond hand is chopped hard, and timekeeping is very reasonable at around 10 seconds per day.

The idea of ​​conclusion

The movement within this Oris is caliber 297. Some Oris watches from around the 1940s feature a 7 jewel hand-winding movement inside. From what I can say, this was a common caliber for Oris watches of this era.

How about you, Fratelli? Are there any vintage watches you found and restored? I’d like to read about your experience in the comments. For me, this lovely little Art Deco Oris watch will ultimately make a great gift for a friend. In the meantime, I can enjoy wearing it and know that it has returned to the ticking land.