Reply With QuoteThe idea of silk/silk like sends a slight shudder of making it seem a bit effeminate
At 16mm it needs something very durable like nylon IMO
What about genuine lizard even if not very PC
I've held this up because I can't decide on the strap. The swivel lugs are 16mm and will have to take an open-ended strap. It doesn't suit a screwed/riveted strap so the options are one which glues down, making strap changing a destructive process, or one with the fold-back metal tabs. It will have a view back and wonderful movement so a strap which threads under the watch is a non-starter.
I know that silk straps were contemporary for the period and had an idea of having a silk-topped tan leather. Not real silk because it spoils too easily but artificial silk. Nothing is decided, however, so all ideas and pictures if possible are more than welcome.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
The idea of silk/silk like sends a slight shudder of making it seem a bit effeminate
At 16mm it needs something very durable like nylon IMO
What about genuine lizard even if not very PC
I wont be filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, I am not a number, I am a free man, my life is my own!!!
Be seeing you
Toodle pip
Griff.
Eddie
what's the strap it's pictured on?
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
I don't know Ralphy, all the pictures I have are tightly cropped and that's as much of the strap as you see. I think goatskin was quite common.Originally Posted by ralphy
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Croc grain calf is the obvious choice even if you do have more bother with US Customs. :wink:
Goat actually sounds like a good idea. It's easy to break in, has wonderful grain and is one of the toughest hides out there.
Calf or goat with folding tabs would be nice; the same glued with "silk" lining would be perfect!
No photos to help out, however due to individual differences on leather, you might need around three colour choices (e.g. black, light brown, dark brown).
I was thinking of putting the silk on top of the strap Colin, just leaving a narrow band of leather showing.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Oh
I was thinking more along the lines of the beobachtungsuhr straps. Not a fan of fabric over leather, so I'll stick with my first nomination of calf or goat with folding tabs.
The strap in the picture is most likely one of these:
A very long one piece, that goes double thickness over the wrist. Interesting, original, but somewhat impractical.
Here is a crude (very crude) schematic of how one might make one:
Eddie,
I don't know much at all about trench watches except that they were adaptations of pocket watch designs to WWI ground combat and aviation, I believe. However, if somebody would have asked me, I would have thought and guessed that the screw-down open ended TF Aviator strap design would have been historically correct, or close to it, and I'm surprised these won't suit this one. I think the average trench watch ignorant person, like myself, would have thought the same so you could probably get away with it if you wanted to just slap an Aviator on it :D
Also, if you are going for historical accuracy(and I know you are), and because after the turn of the century and the concurrent decline of the reliance on horses as personal and commercial transport, I believe there was a surplus of horsehide available for leather goods. If so, and it historically made its way to use for WWI military wrist wearable watches, then you might want to take a look at it for the strap, whatever the design you choose for it ends up.
Terribly politically incorrect I know---equestrians here are probably ready to kill me for mentioning it---but I've used both horsehide and goatskin in jackets and gloves for years and by far prefer the horsehide---it's my favorite leather. I like horses a lot too---I just figure the particular one that donated the skin doesn't need it anymore :)
An alternative way of threading a Trench watch strap, this method gives more security on the buckle end.
Not any brilliant idea but a too specific strap may create headaches in the medium term....Eddie, why you say it doesn't suit a screwed strap?
Eddie -
Here's a suggestion. Some "high end" and custom folding knives use decorated rivets or pins to secure the handle materials. Perhaps you could use a similar idea on the screws, along with a soft, grained goatskin strap. This, I believe, would fit in with the "vintage" look of this model. You might also want to make the screw-head a bit smaller, to maintain the balance. Offering the strap design in several colors would give us the chance to get additional straps to change to suit different ocacasions. Hope this is useful.
Grayman
At least here in Finland horses are not bred for the meat or the hide, they are "working animals", all of them. However they do have a limited lifespan and it'd be a terrible waste so we (or at least I) do not mind at all the delicious steaks and nice hide. And the price is right because some people clearly avoid them for sentimental reasons..
Another option might be elk skin, I have an elk skin wallet somewhere and it's amazingly soft and supple. Not sure if there's a steady supply of the stuff though.
If you look at the strap at the 6 o'clock lug, it appears to be two layers, with only the top layer passing through the lug. Would it be possible to have a screwed strap with the screw head between the top and bottom layers, so that the screw head was hidden by the top layer?I've held this up because I can't decide on the strap. The swivel lugs are 16mm and will have to take an open-ended strap. It doesn't suit a screwed/riveted strap so the options are one which glues down, making strap changing a destructive process, or one with the fold-back metal tabs. It will have a view back and wonderful movement so a strap which threads under the watch is a non-starter.
I know that silk straps were contemporary for the period and had an idea of having a silk-topped tan leather. Not real silk because it spoils too easily but artificial silk. Nothing is decided, however, so all ideas and pictures if possible are more than welcome.
Eddie
I wear Aerostich Elkskin Roper gloves for motorbiking & have done so many years. They are, by a long margin, the most hard-wearing yet supple gloves I've ever had.
Remarkable cheap too, so I guess supply isn't a problem.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
My good lady wife saw the prototype trench watch and asked me if Eddie will be making a ladies' version. Complete lack of authenticity not withstanding, in so much as the only ladies' watch seen anywhere near the trenches would be a nurse's brooch watch, there is a precedent for this (lady speedbird).
Early days yet, but what do people think?
If the screw head was under the top layer, how could it hold the top and bottom layers together?
The original type of strap found on some of these watches is a very long one piece. Earlier posts have shown how some of the originals were connected.
You could have a patch of leather with a hole in it to hold the screw head captive in the strap and stitched to the underside of the strap after insertion of the screw. Of course the screw would need to have a thin, flat head.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
You would have to come up with a reliable way to preventing the screw head from spinning while screwing in the bottom part.
Two holes in the flat head and stitch it to the leather.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
The head could be square or rectangular, which would prevent it turning.
All this so you can swap straps (with what)? I'd rather have a glued or bent tab strap and be done with it, though I do like Lysander's proposal also.
Michael.
Interesting.
My wife is a nurse and I reckon there could be a market for a Timefactors fob watch :!:
I'd buy her one in a second :lol:
Martin.
and I would also buy one for my sister, who is a nurse.
Eddie, regarding the other side of a screw not moving, when I remove my aviator, I hold the other side steady with a piece of synthetic rubber (the sort that those speed balls are made of) and it crews up really tight.
Eddie,
I think Hogthrob's idea to bracket and retain the female screw stud with its thin incorporated base plate inside the strap's sandwich construction with the stud's theaded barrel poking through the leather strap liner, and yours to secure it from spinning by sewing(or riveting?) the stud's elongated and pierced base plate down to the strap liner itself before sewing the "strap sandwich" together would be very good.
I think Hogthrob's other idea of using a square stud barrel through a square hole in the strap liner would also be good, but I think you might have to use a thicker and stiffer strap liner than you otherwise might want to in order to well enough secure and stabilize the stud that way---I don't know.
At any rate, Lysanderxiii's historically accurate strap and buckle designs with Hogthrob's hidden screw-down stud idea for quick strap detachment seems excellent to me and the right track to be on. Otherwise, though, maybe one of the very authentic designs put up above would be the best for this watch as I think its appeal will be its accordance with the originals.
However, if the hidden stud idea works out well, maybe it might be a good idea in the general sense of using it for adding a new model series variation to the existing TF "Aviator" strap line. I mention it because some here have commented that they would like to use an Open-End Aviator for their respective watches, but in some situations were concerned that the prominently visible stud would tie the wearer to the Outlaw Biker image and stereotype on the theory that only a mil-watch oriented WIS might likely understand the studded Aviator strap design's tie to early military aviation.
Forgive me, I may be way off beam here, but I don't see this watch being a big seller for Time Factors. I would be interested to know what other forummers opinions are. Please feel free to shoot me down (WWI fighter ace style) if you like!! :blackeye:
Cheers
David
When Eddie first proposed the 19 I believe he had 50 (or was it 100 I'm getting fuzzy) reserved in a matter of minutes with just a picture of the movement he wanted to use.
When Eddie first proposed the 19 I believe he had 50 (or was it 100 I'm getting fuzzy) reserved in a matter of minutes with just a picture of the movement he wanted to use.[/quote]
Well that just goes to show how much I know doesn't it!!!
David
I think as a short run LE, these will move quite happily. As said, when first announced there was plenty of interest.
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
DJG(David),
I think a professional would consider this to be "niche" marketing in its purest form, where, as best I personally understand it, something like a high quality, high specification, historically accurate, high-value-for-the-money, limited production recreation of a turn-of-the-century pocketwatch design adaptation to the ground and aerial combat of WWI would have very little appeal to the watch consuming public in general, but its appeal to a relatively small number of vintage style watch enthusiasts and collectors oriented to the history of the period would be intense IF things go as planned and the gamble pans out.
In other words, there is relatively very little demand I believe one has to assume----however, there is more obviously and definitely an even more limited and extremely intermittent nature to the supply of something like a genuinely useable high quality WWI style "Trench Watch" homage upon which that demand would focus.
I can understand some collectors may wish to see this model in their collections. Maybe what I should have said was I didn't see it having mass appeal. Thing is, I wear all my watches and can't get to grips with the "keep it in a safe" collection point of view.
Eddie seems pretty good at gauging his market, but this one isn't for me - bring on the Vanguard!!!
Cheers
David
I would personally wear this type of watch with a backing pad, which apart from being historically correct, would make it more wearable, a thin strap feels odd these days. Because of the movement though and display back, one solution would be and open ended 2 piece where the fold over ends feed back under sewn in wide keepers underneath. I've seen an example of this but I cant remember where now...
I could see this watch on a distressed calf-skin bund strap. I don't know if that's historically accurate for WWI, but I think it would be aesthetically correct.
David
As I understand it, the PRS-19 Trench Watch will be designed to meet modern standards of water and shock resistance, etc., and be intended to be worn all the owner wants which would be part of the attraction to it, I would think---even and maybe especially for a collector of the originals who keeps those in the safe.
I'm really looking forward to the '19', this is definitely one for me.
Even with the display back I'll wear mine on a strap like this:
A quality, Timefactors, version of this style strap would be a welcome bonus :wink:
Cheers :)
Well that just goes to show how much I know doesn't it!!!
David[/quote]
The huge interest was the result of old-handers here saying "it's going to be one of the six, if you know what I mean" or words to that effect - I assume something along the lines of the CAF.
When the dial was revealed, much of the initial interest tapered off immediately.
Eddie,The strap in the picture is most likely one of these:
A very long one piece, that goes double thickness over the wrist. Interesting, original, but somewhat impractical.
If it's not a problem at this point in transitioning from prototype to production, I think filling in the 19 dial's hollow arabic hour numerals and cathedral hands on the production models with the dark orange aged color lume like the historical Trench Watch Lysanderxiii posted above would be a nice addition and might broaden this watch's appeal.
Aged lume was very expensive if I remember correctly and it delayed one of the PRS watches in the past (was it the 14 or the 50?) so I do not think Eddie will consider it for this project.
Not only is aged lume expensive, it's not very bright.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Nor very bright to use it!! :shock: :lol:
I wont be filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, I am not a number, I am a free man, my life is my own!!!
Be seeing you
Toodle pip
Griff.
I am looking forward to this watch!
Sounds like my ex-wife !! :D
That's a bit of a shame about that as an option for this and other models because I personally like the golden-orange aging tritium lume sometimes takes on and I would think duplicating that look might have potential market appeal. Maybe like other technologies go, the aged colour type modern lumes will be developed and improved as to their effectiveness over time and their high cost will drop someday.
Definately not a safe queen, but now somewhat 'delicate' after all those years so not worn as often as I'd like; indeed, it's currently with my watchie being fixed. I would love a 19 to complement it.As I understand it, the PRS-19 Trench Watch will be designed to meet modern standards of water and shock resistance, etc., and be intended to be worn all the owner wants which would be part of the attraction to it, I would think---even and maybe especially for a collector of the originals who keeps those in the safe.
The 19 would look good on one of those straps Dapper posted. Yes, I know that you wouldn't be able to see the movement, but it would look better on the wrist IMO than just a thin strap.
Gets my vote. :)
Now, if only I could get this one going too.........
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Is the 19 moving yet?
Ducks and runs for cover. :offtheair:
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
It was delayed because it might not be a Richmond Spencer now. I applied for another trademark which, coincidentally, is due to be awarded tomorrow after it was published for opposition for two months.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Ahah!! :o :?It was delayed because it might not be a Richmond Spencer now. I applied for another trademark which, coincidentally, is due to be awarded tomorrow after it was published for opposition for two months.
Eddie
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