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I got a present from my fiancee last weekend, a watch I wanted for a long time, a vintage Doxa.
There was a traditional fair in my home town and the company I work for was participating, so I had to spend 4 days working on our stand, but also got a lot of time wondering about.
I stumbled upon these 2 guys with a stand of antiques. they had mostly old books and tools, but in one corner they had some pocket watches and a couple of wristwatches.
There were some Seiko 5's and a Darwil (a famous brand in Croatia in the 50's and 60's). I looked at the Darwil and liked it but it had way to much text on the dial and numbered markers which was not something I liked in a dress watch!
I asked them if they had any more vintage watches, and they said they did, but left them at home. They promised to bring them the next day.
I came the next day, and they had 4 Omegas and 2 Doxas on their stand!!
My fiancee came with me and asked me to choose whichever I liked the most!!
Although the Omegas were nice, they were a different style and the dials on all of them were in a pretty bad shape, while the Doxa just sang to me, and when I put it on my wrist, I knew it was the one!!
My fiancee paid and I became the happiest man at that fair, and that says a lot, as there were some REALLY "happy" people there (since a lot of the stands sold traditional strong alcohol drink "Rakija" :-d
Now to the watch:
The design of this watch is IMO EVERYTHING that a dress watch should be, thin, simple, no minute markers, hand wind.....
The only other thing that would make it better would be maybe a lack of the seconds hand completely, and a gold case, but that would have skyrocketed the price!
Anyways, I was surprised at the condition of this watch, in person it seems almost NOS, but when you take macro shots you see there is some oxidation on the applied markers, hands and logo. Still it all looks great and there is a real "shine" to all those when you wear the watch!!
The timekeeping is a minute late a day, so it made me go to my local watchmaker who inspected it and said the watch hasn't been serviced ever, but also to him, it looks like it hasn't been worn that much either!! So it is in great condition, but definitely in need of a proper service.
Today it is going to be left for a service and regulation (it will take 7 days) so I decided to take some pictures and post a question about the possible date of production. Just to have something to play with, until I get the watch back
Thank you to all those who read this and a special thank to those who help with dating it.
Here are the pics: sorry for the lint in the pictures (it is on the surface, not inside the watch)
![DSCN8502.JPG]()
![DSCN8510.JPG]()
Next to my Seiko Monster, although smaller, on the wrist it has almost the same presence, because of the large dial:
![DSCN8519.JPG]()
Side shot. It is about 8 mm thick (or should I say thin) with the crystal being half of that:
![DSCN8581.JPG]()
Caseback with the serial numbers... You can also see marks of the watch being worn on a Perlon nato strap (very popular with older people wearing vintage watches here)
![DSCN8576.JPG]()
The caseback on the inside:
![DSCN8525.JPG]()
And the movement: It reads
DOXA
11/2 (I guess the size in linges)
103 (I believe this is the caliber number). the 103 is written under the balance wheel and I wasn't able to take a proper picture where it would be visible.
![DSCN8527.JPG]()
![DSCN8543.JPG]()
![DSCN8523.JPG]()
There was a traditional fair in my home town and the company I work for was participating, so I had to spend 4 days working on our stand, but also got a lot of time wondering about.
I stumbled upon these 2 guys with a stand of antiques. they had mostly old books and tools, but in one corner they had some pocket watches and a couple of wristwatches.
There were some Seiko 5's and a Darwil (a famous brand in Croatia in the 50's and 60's). I looked at the Darwil and liked it but it had way to much text on the dial and numbered markers which was not something I liked in a dress watch!
I asked them if they had any more vintage watches, and they said they did, but left them at home. They promised to bring them the next day.
I came the next day, and they had 4 Omegas and 2 Doxas on their stand!!
My fiancee came with me and asked me to choose whichever I liked the most!!
Although the Omegas were nice, they were a different style and the dials on all of them were in a pretty bad shape, while the Doxa just sang to me, and when I put it on my wrist, I knew it was the one!!
My fiancee paid and I became the happiest man at that fair, and that says a lot, as there were some REALLY "happy" people there (since a lot of the stands sold traditional strong alcohol drink "Rakija" :-d
Now to the watch:
The design of this watch is IMO EVERYTHING that a dress watch should be, thin, simple, no minute markers, hand wind.....
The only other thing that would make it better would be maybe a lack of the seconds hand completely, and a gold case, but that would have skyrocketed the price!
Anyways, I was surprised at the condition of this watch, in person it seems almost NOS, but when you take macro shots you see there is some oxidation on the applied markers, hands and logo. Still it all looks great and there is a real "shine" to all those when you wear the watch!!
The timekeeping is a minute late a day, so it made me go to my local watchmaker who inspected it and said the watch hasn't been serviced ever, but also to him, it looks like it hasn't been worn that much either!! So it is in great condition, but definitely in need of a proper service.
Today it is going to be left for a service and regulation (it will take 7 days) so I decided to take some pictures and post a question about the possible date of production. Just to have something to play with, until I get the watch back
Thank you to all those who read this and a special thank to those who help with dating it.
Here are the pics: sorry for the lint in the pictures (it is on the surface, not inside the watch)
Next to my Seiko Monster, although smaller, on the wrist it has almost the same presence, because of the large dial:
Side shot. It is about 8 mm thick (or should I say thin) with the crystal being half of that:
Caseback with the serial numbers... You can also see marks of the watch being worn on a Perlon nato strap (very popular with older people wearing vintage watches here)
The caseback on the inside:
And the movement: It reads
DOXA
11/2 (I guess the size in linges)
103 (I believe this is the caliber number). the 103 is written under the balance wheel and I wasn't able to take a proper picture where it would be visible.
