http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/list.php?54Wed, 22 May 2013 00:21:59 -0400 Phorum 5.2.11 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484699,484699#msg-484699 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484699,484699#msg-484699
My room in Beijing ($60/night):





Two photos of the interior hotel courtyard:





Just a few photos of my "home area" in Bejing, the Lishi hutong...













My time was limited, though, because being in Beijing meant my time in China was coming to a close and I still had lots on my agenda including visits with LiWei to the Beijing flagship store of Beijing Watch Factory, spending time with Liu Shuli and clock-maker Stephen Green at Liu Shuli's Beijing Wangfujing Jingshi Watch-Clock Shop on the Dongsi Bei Da Jie (and I had no idea how fascinating that would turn out to be), revisiting Mr. Cao at the Da Liu Shu market and having a couple of repairs done...and I'll get to all that, but today my plan was to see the Great Wall, at least a small part of it. I didn't visit the wall last trip and was tired of saying "no" every time I got asked if I'd seen it.

And so, another gondola ride, this time to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall























































Now that I've seen this one small section of the Great Wall, I clearly understand two things: 1) the Great Wall is, yep...Great...as in _very, very_ big, and 2) I've only seen a very small fraction of it.

...Headed back down...





...and through the gauntlet of souvenir sellers...



My tour companions from Benelux, Uruguay and Britain:



...and these last photos are from the "town" section just below the wall, where the locals live. The area surrounding this section of the wall is a thriving agricultural area (chestnuts, for example) that also has additional excellent income due to the Wall itself and the tourism that brings. As a consequence, this was described to me as one of the most properous rural collective areas in the country.

























...Same youngster, later on his walk...









So now that I had the obligatory visit to the Great Wall taken care of, I was relaxed and ready for the next episode...exploring VCM history in Beijing with LiWei...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeTue, 21 May 2013 14:20:30 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484403,484403#msg-484403 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484403,484403#msg-484403
I think I have posted this watch here before. I just posted it in today's Rollcall:

http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?4,484387,484401#msg-484401

Here is another movement shot with the rotor at a different position:



It would be nice if I could add movement information to this one. Thanks in advance]]> Reto Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 20 May 2013 01:00:15 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484174,484174#msg-484174 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,484174,484174#msg-484174

• Mr. Kevin Ma - Manager: US Sea-Gull
• Mr. Jiang - Director: Tianjin Watch and Clock Collector's Association
• Mr. Du Jianhe / Deputy General Manager / Tianjin Sea-Gull Watch Technologies, Co., Ltd.
• Li Huan - Sea-Gull Watch Group Marketing, Ltd. (and my translator/guide last trip)
• Mr. Han Huishuang: Store Manager / Tianjin Sea-Gull Watch Technologies, Co., Ltd.
• I've (regretfully) misplaced the name of my guide this visit. I'll amend this post as soon as I have her name. She was knowledegeable and friendly, and her English was pleasantly fluent.
• ...and, as always, Joel.

The weather was OK but gray and nothing special, so I didn't bother too much with outside photos (and I was happy enough with the outside shots from the last visit anyways) .

Inside, though, was different. I wanted to do a better job inside than I did last time and I think maybe I succeeded.These first photos are taken in the Tianjin Sea-Gull Watch and Clock Museum and then, as with last visit, taken from the outside hallway that surrounds the positive-pressured and sterile employees-only assembly and quality control areas.





































































(which I ended up buying later that day...here's mine...)



...back to regular programming...

























The next photos, especially, are only possible due to the remarkable generosity of Mr. Du Jianhe, who I noted is the Deputy General Manager of Tianjin Sea-Gull Watch Technologies, Co., Ltd. (aka "Boss Du" as he was very affectionately and respectfully described to me by his friend -- and my friend -- Marockong that I noted in my previous Tianjin Watch Museum post). Mr. Du was described to me as having held executive level assembly and quality control positions at Sea-Gull since the 1970s.

I had been taking photos from outside the sterile area when Mr. Du approached me and my guide, introducing himself to me with the help of my guide's interpreting. Mr. Du then explained the work that was done in the area and when I motioned as to take another photo through the separator window, Mr. Du requested we wait a moment.

My guide on this factory tour, who among other duties had been guiding executive and guest tours of various types for two years, was evidently as surprised as I was when Mr. Du returned -- bringing us both lab coats and foot covers -- and offered me the very rare opportunity to take photographs from inside the employees-only area. My guide stated that she had never been inside before either.

These shots with the red border were taken by Mr. Du and/or with Mr. Du's camera, and were provided to me by Mr. Du for use in this post.





















So...I'm utterly astonished, quite humbled, and very grateful that I've been made able to provide these photos, and I welcome your comments or questions or ... whatever :-).









































































After I returned to my hotel from the tour (which ended sometime around 5 in the evening, and I got there about 10:30 or so) I grabbed a bite to eat and wandered around to 1) make sure I got a few shots of a very cool steampunk clock (actually called the "Century Clock") that I knew was about two blocks from my hotel, and that I also knew was about a half a block from the train station where I'd be catching the fast train to Beijing the next day, and 2) settle down from the day's activities...and the day's surprisingly kind welcome.











]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeSat, 18 May 2013 21:56:23 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483924,483924#msg-483924 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483924,483924#msg-483924




Although I can’t find any official evidence, it has been said that the ZuanShi 502 was used only for military purposes. It runs at an amazing 180,000 bph, measuring time to one fiftieth of a second. The centre hand sprints around the dial every six seconds. An action shot:



There’s only one pusher. Hit it once to start and a second time to stop. A third time causes the hands to fly back to the top of the dial.

The back is marked with a serial number, but I don’t know its significance.



Inside the box is the accompanying paperwork. I can’t read it, but it appears to date to June 1969, only two months after the factory introduced the SM1A wristwatch. It’s interesting that only models 501 to 506 are listed.













180,000 bph is very fast, but the 502 movement doesn’t have the fastest beat rate Shanghai Stopwatch Factory produced. The 501 measures time to one hundredth of a second, running at a mind-boggling 360,000 bph. To put it another way, it hums away at 50 Hz.



It came in a box, but without the paperwork.



It functions in the same way as the 502, but the centre hand flies around the dial every three seconds.



The back has no serial number, but it is scratched with what looks like 38-3. It looks like the number 38 is also written on the box.



Like the 502 I didn’t open the 501 for any movement pictures, but I saved the seller’s:





]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeSat, 18 May 2013 05:57:37 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483854,483854#msg-483854 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483854,483854#msg-483854
And since I already thought Tianjin's river/waterfront is one of the prettiest urban places I've ever seen, and since I was trying -- and succeeding -- in getting rid of my fear of heights...well, I rode the Tianjin Eye three times, once in the daytime and on two separate nights.

One photo includes my good friend Da Wei. I first met Da Wei in scenic Peace River Alberta (where I live) because he was working there. But Tianjin is Da Wei's home city, and he was back there after a couple of years in Peace River. Before he left, though, we'd made plans to meet up together when we were both in Tianjin :-).

I had a great day with my friend. He and I expect to see each other pretty soon as he's headed back to Peace River in a short while. Small world. Da Wei and I are neighbours.

Here's the shots: Tianjin, April 20-23 2013...

















































]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 15 May 2013 12:09:43 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483579,483579#msg-483579 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483579,483579#msg-483579


...a trip to meet Mr. Jiang who is the President of the Tianjin Watch and Clock Collector's Association, and who is also the owner of the private Tianjin Watch and Clock Museum.

Mr. Jiang (blue shirt. dark jacket) had very kindly arranged that we be joined during my visit by two Tianjin watch-making pioneers, Mr. Na (darker jacket) , a senior engineer at Tianjin Sea-Gull in the 1950s, and Mr. Su (lighter jacket/leather cap), a general engineer at the Tianjin Watch Factory in the 1960s.











A very pleasant -- and totally unexpected -- additional surprise was the presence of a long-time Chinese forum friend "marockong" AKA "Marco" AKA KooNing, the Editor of China's "Portrait" photography magazine. Marockong and I have been "instant buddies" since we first encountered each other, and it was that much happier in person. Plus: Marco speaks excellent English and was a great help to my understanding of what I was seeing.



The next two photos cover pretty much everyone at the Tianjin museum that day as we all went for lunch together. My poor notes and memory don't allow me to name the women present, which is a shame because they're all really friendly, smart people (I hope someone can provide me

with names...I'll amend the post). The youngest woman is a beginning collector of VCMs. The others are: a good friend of Mr. Jiang who -- along with her brother -- very kindly acted as a translator for me, and (the woman in the black sweater and blue top) Mr. Jiang's wife.





And this happy photo is from a later -- and very friendly -- evening meal:



I can't say enough about the kindness I was shown by Mr. Jiang's family and by his many friends. I mean, what could I say? This is a dream trip for a VCM collector on many, many levels and I'm very aware that the people shown here went to appreciable effort, time and time again, to provide me with memories to last a lifetime. Among other things, Mr. Jiang informed me that I had the honour of being the first westerner to ever visit the museum, and that the welcome was extended more widely...so...please visit... ;-)

...and even after meeting everyone collected at the museum that morning, I still wasn't anywhere near prepared for the depth of the museum's collection:

I'll let most of the photos speak for themselves. But...here's some fun for VCM sleuths: the photos run in rough chronological order and so -- occasionally -- there are a few long-time VCM mystery questions asked, implied and maybe answered in the photos. Let the discussions begin.































































































































Note these hand-painted porcelain dials. These are Mr. Jiang's creations and were headed to Basel along with Mr. Jiang the day following this meeting.







Mr. Na proudly wears the 60th anniversary Sea-Gull...





Continuing the many kindnesses, Mr. Jiang and the Tianjin Collection Association also gifted the AMCHPR these watches:

Top row: ZhuFeng, Beijing, Zhongshan, Qionghua, Sea-Gull (ladies)
Bottom row: Sea-Gull, Jixing, Sea-Gull, Hangtian, Sea-Gull (ladies)





















Still to come in Tianjin: more "no more fear of heights" antics and another trip to the Sea-Gull Watch factory.]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 15 May 2013 00:41:32 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483403,483403#msg-483403 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483403,483403#msg-483403
But now, I'm back home and back to my two full time jobs, and somewhat settled in, so I'll be get back to posting my trip account in chronological order, so this follows post #11 (Shijiazhuang part 1...).

Besides my brother Ma Rong, I also have another friend in Shijiazhuang: a young man named ShiShenjiie who I met during my last trip. Back then, I was returning from my first visit to Cangyanshan when a young man on the bus who heard me speaking English with a middle-school teacher I'd met offered to assist me with a bus transfer to nearer the hotel where I was staying.

I accepted the offer...but we ended up walking and talking instead of taking the transfer bus. He'd said we were only twenty minutes away from the hotel, that he was headed that way anyways, and that he was a school student enrolled in an English program and he wanted an opportunity to practice.

Our friendship has continued since that day and we've kept in occasional touch using China's QQ messenger software. So here's ShiShenjiie (in the blue jacket) after we met at my hotel, with his best friend whose name I embarrassingly don't recall...



I took the two of them out for lunch, and then we all went hunting for Ma Rong's aunt's shop which had changed locations since I last visited.





We found it and I made an appointment to re-visit her store the next day as Ma Rong's aunt said she'd bring some VCM stock from home. As you'll see in the next photos (from the next day), that was a good idea ;-)





...and I also had a meeting that next night for supper at MaRong's home with his wife QiRan teaching me to make...something. Which tasted good. And to buy some watches from Ma Rong as well :-)

Here's some photos of some kids in MaRong's neighbourhood, and a shot of me being taught.











So it was sort of VCM heaven with great food for a couple of days. Here's what I got from MaRong's aunt:

From right to left, top row: Butterfly, Diamond, 40 zuan Double Rhomb, then blank, then Honglian
From right to left, bottom row: Shuangcheng, Kongque, Chunlei, Sea-Gull and Zhongshan (4 butterflies dial)















...and one quartz Sea-Gull because it had a "diver's bezel" and I just liked the look...



...and what I purchased from MaRong:

From right to left, top row: Sea-Gull, Shanghai, Mingzhu, Double Rhomb
From right to left, bottom row: Kongque, Zhongshan, Diamond, Shanghai









The next day I spent packing and re-organizing from the busy days in Shijiazhuang, getting ready for Tianjin, and MaRong and QiRan and I met for one last night out at a local restaurant. The meal and company was wonderful. but there was nothing fun at all about saying goodbye to my brother MaRong and his wife again :-( ...

...till next time...

When I left for Tianjin by bus the next morning, the temperature had done a freak nosedive and Shijiazhuang had woken up to a morning snowfall!









...but it was only raining when I finally got to Tianjin...for my next adventures. Here's the view that night from my Tianjin hotel...

]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeTue, 14 May 2013 20:50:24 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483289,483289#msg-483289 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483289,483289#msg-483289
If you haven't (or if you have, and are thinking about buying one), you might like to know about the review I posted earlier this week (here).

Wrist Shot]]> Patman Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeTue, 21 May 2013 03:51:17 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483115,483115#msg-483115 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,483115,483115#msg-483115


The date can be adjusted by moving the hands back and forth between 8:37 PM and 12.



I’ve never seen the logo on the crown before.



The automatic SG6ZS is based on the SG5, a manual women’s watch movement.





The bracelet is signed with the Dixmont logo, but it might not be original to the watch.



Yangcheng is another name for the city of Guangzhou and was a Guangzhou Watch Factory brand for many years. The brand name doesn’t appear anywhere on this watch, but its logo can be found a few times.



The quick-set date and day (in English and Chinese) are adjusted by turning the crown in the middle of its three positions.





Inside is an unsigned Miyota-style movement. It can be hand wound, but there’s no hacking. Could it be a version of the DG28?





Its bracelet, which also may not be original, is signed with the logo for Mingzhu, yet another Guangzhou Watch Factory brand.

]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeThu, 09 May 2013 05:15:09 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,482245,482245#msg-482245 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,482245,482245#msg-482245
I waited a long time before getting a WuYi, but finally I decided on this one after careful study of the helpful pages at Joel Chan’s Micmicmor Vintage Watch.



Although the print on the textured dial isn’t as crisp as it used to be, it’s remarkable that there’s any at all after approximately half a century.



The model number 62-A was the second generation of WuYi watches, following the 58-001 and preceding the ST-2 and ST-2A designations. 62-A was the first model to be manufactured with stainless steel case. Plated cases were available too.



The movement was based on a Swiss design, and closely resembles the FHF 25/28 series. It is likely that it was manufactured using machinery purchased from Fabrique d’Horlogerie de Fontainemelon.

]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 01 May 2013 15:26:57 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,482083,482083#msg-482083 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,482083,482083#msg-482083
I visited both the Sea-Gull store at the Sea-Gull factory, and the Beijing flagship store in Beijing. I'll write about both later, but I just got back home and among the 60 or so watches I acquired in China this trip, these are the only two new designs, not at all VCM, and I'm really excited about both of them.

First, the Sea-Gull 813.384, running a Sea-Gull ST1812 / 28,800 24 jewel movement. 40mm by 10MM high, stainless case and crown, sapphire crystal, limited edition. Mine is 378 of 2012:

















The second is the Beijing model B078201203S, a 200M diver built to commemorate the commissioning of China's first carrier: the Liaoning, a refitted 300m (990ft) ex-Soviet ship purchased from Ukraine. Stainless case, screw-down crown, 43mm w/out crown x 10.9mm thick. Sapphire crystal, luminous hands, numerals and pip, 27 jewel Beijing B1609ZR movement.

















There ya go...100% watch content. More about the trip and visits to come...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 01 May 2013 16:19:36 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481517,481517#msg-481517 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481517,481517#msg-481517
I'm in Beijing at the moment, wrapping up what has been an incredible month in China. I haven't put together any posts over the past little while and I figured I'd best explain why, and it's simple :-) ...

I've been just plain too busy with pretty much non-stop activity due to the (I'm trying not to over-use superlatives, but...) astonishing generosity of the people have been meeting.

Over the past week and a half or so, since leaving Shijiazhuang (where I acquired over 25 watches, and also met with Ma Rong and another friend I'l detail in a later post), I've:

• toured the Sea-Gull factory again (and I have surprises to relate from there, including: yup, I bought something ;-) )
• met with Mr. Jiang, the Chairman of the Tianjin Watch and Clock Collecors Association (again, more suprises to relate)
• toured the Tianjin Watch and Clock Museum (private, owned by Mr. Jiang)
• visited a major Tianjin scenic attraction three times with really jaw-dropping photos to show for it,
• walked miles along the Hai He (Tianjin's central river) both day and night, and
• met with a Tianjin friend (he lives there) that I'd happened to meet in scenic Peace River

Then I went to Beijing where, so far, I have ...

• revisted Mr. Cao at the Da Liu Shu market, this time for watch repairs
• met with Mr. Li Wei (a friend of Joel Chan) who escorted me while I....
• visited the Beijing Watch Factory flagship store in Beijing (again, yup, I bought something ;-) )
• visited a store selling the newer fashion and tool-watch oriented wristwatch brand Longio (2000 meter dive watches, etc), and
• had a shocking-to-me visit to the store/culture center of master watchmaker Mr. Liu Shuli where I was shown his own vast collection of horological history (and more surprises),

...and today in about an hour I will meet with Mr. Liu Shuli and a British master watchmaker that I have not yet been introduced to for lunch (and who knows what will follow...).

And I have one more day (tomorrow) left in Beijing and have lots of parting arrangements to make including shipping home stuff I just can't fit in my luggage. That's a high class problem ;-)...

So, it's quite likely you won't see new posts from me about this trip until I get back to Peace River, but I'l do my best to post events in order so that they follow the chronology of my travels.

And many, many thanks to all of you for the inspiring support you've shown me for my postings so far!!

Ron/AlbertaTime]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeTue, 30 Apr 2013 04:54:05 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481290,481290#msg-481290 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481290,481290#msg-481290


Light reflects in different ways depending on the angle from which the dial is viewed.



Liaocheng Watch Factory’s history began in 1967, when Yantai Clock Factory moved its 6th parts factory to Liaocheng. The new factory was named 烟台钟表厂聊城分厂 and produced wall and alarm clocks, as well as clocks for the Navy. It began to manufacture watches in 1969, releasing its first trial watch, Xiangyang brand (not to be confused with the brand of the same name from Shanghai), in 1970. Full production of Taishan brand watches, named after the well-known mountain, began in 1975, and the factory’s name was changed to Liaocheng Watch Factory at about the same time.

After a period of success, it faced the same difficulties as other Chinese watch factories in the 1980s and 1990s. It went bankrupt but was revived as Shandong Liaocheng Zhong Tai Watch Company, which produces movements for PTS Resources of Hong Kong.







Under the balance of the ZLC tongji movement are the letters L and J. Between the L and the J is a smaller character. I don’t know what it is, but it looks like an r or a 厂.

YanShan brand watches were produced by Beijing No. 2 Watch Factory and were named for a mountain range near the city. This YanShan has the classic white dial/red dot design, but its case has an unusual shape:



Otherwise the watch looks like a typical YanShan, except for the crown, which is signed with the Shanghai logo. Even though I have loads of experience taking photos of incorrect Shanghai crowns, I couldn’t get a clear picture of this one.



]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeFri, 26 Apr 2013 22:22:17 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481035,481035#msg-481035 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,481035,481035#msg-481035
I mean that my life is very, very much different than what it was or would have been. I have many new friendships, many new appreciations and countless new experiences. I have been shown more kindnesses than I could ever have imagined, travelled further than I would ever have dreamed (twice now)...and I have a few more watches, too.

And, I've noted in passing, I also very proudly have a new brother.

My friendship with Ma Rong (CameronMa) has grown from our first watch-related business dealings a few years ago when I started collecting VCMs (and MaRong was the first seller I contacted) to a friendship so close we now consider each other as family, and we share much more of our lives than just talking about watches.

So it was a true pleasure for me to be back in Shijiazhuang, once again spending time with my brother in China, MaRong and his wonderfully friendly and intelligent wife QiRan.

Mind you, I was so bagged from travelling that all I managed to capture that first day was one photo of MaRong and QiRan when we first met in my hotel room before going out to eat, and a couple of photos of Shijiazhaung's massive brand new train station. It was so wide that I couldn't get all of it in frame from anywhere on the street. And the street, as you can tell by the straight-on shot, is quite a distance away.







The next day, however, my camera-fu improved somewhat and I was also blessed with the opportunity to finally meet MaRong's parents, taking photos of the clan in the parent's apartment plus a few shots of a neighbouring apartment buildings next door (the Ma's live on the 14th floor), and a shot at our lunch together.











...before we went our separate ways for the day, the Ma family to take care of family business and me for a peaceful day relaxing and shooting in Shijiazhuang's smaller-than-Zhengzhou's but still quite beautiful People's Park. (It's worth noting that Mr. Ma is actually Dr. Ma; he was an Orthopedic specialist for thirty years, mostly working in Beijing before retiring.)































It was getting so it would be darker in an hour or so, so I headed home, walking a few kilometers from downtown to my hotel, but not shooting, and then wrote Post #9 about the Guoliang Tunnel and Village that night.





I didn't want anything more strenuous because the next day was going to be my return to Cangyanshan (this time with MaRong, QiRan and parents) and, like last time, I knew that that was going to mean some significant exercise, plus another challenge of my (diminishing) fear of heights, and it was.

The next morning we all headed out from Shijiazhuang to Cangyanshan which is a ways, but not terribly long, and I'd been warned that unlike last time, this day was going to be very busy as it was an important Buddhist prayer day. You'll see there were a few people there, and I'll mostly let the photos speak for themselves...except to note that the gondola ride to the summit is breath-taking and that, again unlike last time when I could start right at the foot of Cangyanshan, this time we had to trek about a klick and a half to get to where we could start the climb, or in this case, the gondola ride. The gondola wasn't running last time, and I knew I wanted photos that can only be taken from there.

And the gondola ride wasn't near scary for me, as it turned out, so that phobia was improving, lots. Mrs. Ma joined me, praying as we rose...



Here's a shot of the gondolas, which doesn't really get the point across...



...and the shots taken from the gondola, which, I think, do...





















The buildings seen here are about 3/5 up the full height of the Cangyansahan site, only slightly higher than the bridge and temple that cross the ravine...



...as you can tell if you study this photo which has the right side of the ravine-crossing temple and bridge at the left edge of the photo.







MaRong's dad waving from the gondola behind us...









...and to give another view of the wider scope of things from the gondola...







Safe at the top, and as I noted, we weren't lone at Cangyanshan (and yes, there were souvenir sellers all over the place that day...)...







MaRong's folks grabbing a bite...







What follows next are just shots around the top area and then on the way down, with the occasional note...







My brother MaRong and his wife QiRan )











I did not -- at all -- expect that this day would be the day I would get to (finally) ride a camel, but...there ya go...Ron of Cangyanshan...wearing a vintage Hongqi three hander...





There were many ceremonial fires all over the Cangyanshan site, filling the normally quite good air there (see my last Cangyanshan post) with haze as believers sent prayers on notes into the fires and into the sky...



I noted in my last visit to Cangyanshan that I'd encountered "a set of steep, quite long and very rough hewn "stairs" around a ledge with just a metal pipe handrail that scared the $#@&*% of me so much I completely forgot about taking pictures."

Well, I wasn't going to let that happen this time :



















...and there's always people making a foreigner welcome



Part 2 of the Shijiazhuang visit as soon as I can...with a fair bit of watch content, unlike this time... ]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 01 May 2013 17:07:53 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480485,480485#msg-480485 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480485,480485#msg-480485
(And, yes, I'm up about 20 more watches since I last posted...but most of that will be later in the Shiiazhuang posts...or even after Tianjin, maybe. I have a very busy schedule in Tianjin).

With all that activity, I haven't taken the time for posting and I'm about a week behind. So time to catch up. A bit.

Today is mostly a post about my second day in Zhengzhou (the day after my Guoliang visit/April 12th) -- again spent with Sky, my guide (and with some of the time spent with the driver and Sky's very friendly father who is about my age, as well.

The plan was very loose, just a "stroll with no schedule" around downtown Zhengzhou (city details at link), a city of roughly 10 million people. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, nicely warm and dry...and a great day for sightseeing.

But first: a quick blurb about what will rank as one of the most surprising -- and enjoyable -- minutes of my life.

It happened the early evening the day before I went to Guoliang, April 10th. I was exploring along a street near my hotel, taking photos like these...







...When I heard a startling, very abrupt rush of noise erupt beside and just behind me...a whole bunch of people suddenly yelling and cheering and shouting, so much so that foot traffic on the street stopped dead with everybody looking at the source, so I turned to find out what was happening.

Evidently _I_ was what happening.

It was a busload of mostly students who had spotted a foreigner!!!. They were pretty much all cheering and waving , smiling and laughing, and shouting "hello!" and "ni hao!" and "laowai!" at the top of their lungs and...and I'm quite sure the bus driver hates me every time he visits his audiologist now.

I can't describe the noise except that it was very very loud, very shrill like only the sound of many boisterous yelling teenagers can be, 100% friendly and quite astonishing...









It's fun stuff being a foreigner in China :-)

OK...back to our regular programming. Now, here's the photo log of April 12th in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province...

We started off wandering...













...loosely headed towards Zhengzhou's much smaller-than-Beijing's "Panjiayuan-style" antique/flea market...









...where I bought two watches, a Shanghai 7120/746 and a gold-tone Baoshihua, neither high value, but neither high cost, and both horological souvenirs of my trip to Zhengzhou's flea market (neither made in Zhengzhou, mind you; they're both products of Shanghai factories). The watch photos are "hotel room" shots, so please excuse the photography.





Following the market trip, Sky, plus our driver and Sky's father, and I walked to one of Zhengzhou's landmarks: the Erqi Tower near the center of downtown...









...then we had a tasty noodles and tomato lunch together at a nearby restaurant. Afterwards, Sky and I headed off alone through town...





...and then to the Zhengzhou City Center People's Park where we did our best to enjoy the afternoon like everyone else there :-)

















...including, we hopped on a very tall ferris wheel since there's a pretty good size amusement rides area inside the Park (and I'm very much getting over my fear of heights ) ...













...and we also grabbed a self-steered ride on one of the park's battery powered rental craft...

















The highlight of the day for me, though, was a period of about a half hour early on in the vist to the park. Sky and I sat down on our way through a playground area so I could take some quick shots while we were headed to the ferris wheel.





A couple of young schoolchildren quickly approached me, asking questions in quite good English, like where I was from and what was my name, and so on. The kids were evidently on a schoolday trip to the park. Within seconds, though, we were both surrounded, with the kids asking questions in English or Chinese, with Sky answering in Chinese and me answering in English.

Here's a shot of me surrounded by the kids and a shot of just the kids:





And if you're ever wondering why things seem so generally clean even with all the people in these cities, this is one of the most common sights in the country at any time of day, from the busiest street to the least crowded, a veritable army of workers, alone and in groups, wielding various sorts of brooms and litter grabbers:



Next posts: Shijiazhuang (where I am today, as I write this post), including a return visit to Cangyanshan, then Tianjin (where I go tomorrow)...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 29 Apr 2013 04:03:24 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480358,480358#msg-480358 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480358,480358#msg-480358








The antimagnetic shield usually seen in 7221 models is absent from this example. The date code is IH, August 1982.









This one’s date code is JH, August 1983. Although they were produced in different years, it’s interesting that the movements in all three of my 7221s were manufactured in the month of August.]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeThu, 18 Apr 2013 06:01:31 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480101,480101#msg-480101 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,480101,480101#msg-480101
Unlike most of the time when I go it alone, or with friends, I chose to use a guide since transportation from Zhengzhou to Guoliang is a bit complicated and because it would also take more than two hours even direct by car from Zhengzhou, going through Xinxiang (pop: 5.7 million) to further complicate things

(more on Zhengzhou in the next post).

Getting a guide was a very good decision. Sky and his driver friend were a treat to deal with and helped make the trip as fascinating as it was. In the following shots, Sky is wearing the jacket and the driver has the checked shirt. I don't know why Sky is so serious looking in the shots; he's hilarious and great fun to be around. So is the driver. (You might see more of them in the next post about Zhengzhou city).

The day was hot and dry and I was informed this was a couple of weeks before an expected rainy season.

Here, as far as I can glean, is the story behind the tunnel:

In 1972, the Chinese government decided _not_ to spend millions of dollars making a tunnel that would replace a precarious mountain path used to connect Guoliang (high up the cliffs) to other villages and towns lower in the valley as it would assist only about 300 residents of Guoliang Village. So some villagers decided to build a connecting tunnel and roadway themselves.

As far as I can find out, 13 villagers started the project and not all of them surived (among other things, because they were unskilled amateurs using explosives) but five years later, the 4/5 mile tunnel was completed adn opened on May 1, 1977. It's two cars wide, quite steep and the exposed windows were used to expel rubble which can still be seen on the valley floor below the tunnel.

Anyways, about 4 years ago, WUS moderator Soviet pointed me to photos of the place...and changed my life.

So here's my photographic attempt to convey why I wanted/needed to go there: photo overload of the tunnel, the village and the surroundings -- including stepped terraces for corn growing, right up to the ravine/cliff edge in places -- taken all day April 11th/2013 and shown in no particular order...































































































































...and that's one more destination checked off the Bucket List. . I was in shock after seeing the tunnel photos that Soviet pointed me to; I'm even more in shock after seeing this up close and personal. It's just astonishing to me.]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 29 Apr 2013 04:01:36 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479979,479979#msg-479979 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479979,479979#msg-479979


...and a beautiful spring day in the midst of Luoyang's annual spring Peony Festival. I decided to take a good stroll through the park across the street from the hotel before I killed Bucket List destination #1 for this trip: the Longmen Grottoes. (note: the guy in the camo is just a private company parking lot guard for the hotel. He's armed with a pencil and paper and I'm quite sure the most dangerous action he's seen at the hotel is poor parking).

These photos were taken between 9 and about 10:30 in the morning and I gather this is a pretty usual spring weekday morning at this Luoyang neighbourhood park, just folks taking a morning stroll or getting some exercise. Nothing appeared organized except that probably one of the dancers had brought a decent but certainly not pro-quality portable music system.

Keep in mind that nothing that's happening in this park in these photos is a part of the Peony Festival event. The prominent activities for that were taking place elsewhere in the city and I didn't have the time in the city to explore that. Instead, I just visited the park and Longmen, and the park photos are pretty much just day-to-day for this time of year. I asked.

It was a Tuesday.





















Since yesterday's weather had been so poor, I made up my mind to get to the Longmen Grottoes in case the weather got bad again (which it didn't...but still), so I went back to the hotel, grabbed my cameras and took a cab to the Longmen Grottoes entrance.

Before reading further, I'll suggest that to put the rest of this post in historical perspective, it might be an idea to take a quick read of the Wiki on Longmen (but tldr: as many as 100,000 statues of varying sizes within 1,400 caves, started in AD 493.).

To put things in physical perspective, I'll suggest you first -- even if you don't read the Wiki -- [upload.wikimedia.org]click on this hi-res panorama shot of Longmen that I didn't take. It's the best single shot of the Grottoes I've ever seen and the one that convinced me to visit the site).

Anyways, here are my shots in no particular order, taken on the Grotto side and across the river...





















































It was a day of a lot of walking and a lot of climbing, but the Longmen site is a fascinating, scenic place with very worthwhile statues and other curiosities not available to be seen without some arduous climbing, especially high on the less traveled eastern side away from the main western section.

You'll notice I included one photo taken with a youngster; I wish I had a quarter for every time I got asked to pose with someone that day...probably happened about 30 times. "Foreigners" are scarce in Luoyang, and many people seem to want proof they can keep that they actually saw one :-). I'm very OK with that, and accepted every request.

And here's the watch content. From the AMCHPR collection: How I learned about Longmen -- a 1980s or 90s Mudan commemorative of the Longmen Grottoes.

]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 29 Apr 2013 04:00:05 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479726,479726#msg-479726 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479726,479726#msg-479726
I'll post about Luoyang and Zhongzhou within a couple of days as I'm very busy with travel (Yuolang to Zhongzhou, and then tomorrow to Shijiazhuang), plus checking off bucket list items (Longmen Grottoes at Luoyang on Tuesday the 8th, and Guoliang Tunnel somewhat near Zhongzhou on Thursday the 10th) but I've wanted to write this post ever since a small, but very memorable experience that took place on Monday, April 7th, on the morning of my first full day in Luoyang.

===================

My first night in Luoyang had not been a success. It may have been just my room, which I doubt but -- unlike the otherwise always very adequate, and mostly even quite nice --- rooms I've had before and since in China both times now, this place smelled awful, had almost zero heat and was so obviously mouldy and damp that I thought health was at risk...and it had crappy internet service.

That last bit sealed it. The fact that the staff of the place were young, ultra helpful, polite and exceptionally friendly wasn't near enough to make me want to stay more than a few hours overnight, so far too early in the morning I got up, and as soon as it was a reasonable hour, I begged off the remaining nights. I then booked another hotel.

It was a cool and gray day but better outside than inside at that place, and I had a few hours to kill before check in time at better digs (and they were). So I went walking.

(I'd find out later --and you'll be able to tell from the photos in following posts -- that this was a much lower status area than elsewhere in Luoyang city, but then I'd seen similar areas in other Chinese cities so --- leaving aside the nastiness of my room -- I actually quite liked the environment, and I was happily exploring and shooting. And, as always, looking for watches)

Here's where I was walking. First a few blocks on this very urban street...



...then turning a corner and down a few blocks of this quite busy but mainly pedestrian and bicycle side street...



...then around another corner and over a few blocks to this narrower street where it was still somewhat busy...



...then finally around another corner to this again wide but much less busy street. It was quite quiet there and oddly reminded me of something like an old western town...




I was on that street, and had just finished a short conversation in halting Chinese and halting English with the owner of a small neighbourhood watch and jewelery shop. (I'd asked if -- among the fakes and cheap quartz offerings -- he might have some old VCMs laying about from earlier times. The seller was very friendly but the answer was nope, he didn't have any.)

As I left the store, I was approached by this gentleman. In very basic and rudimentary but polite English (at about same very poor level of my Putonghua), he asked if I might like to accompany him to his home for tea as I was a foreigner and he wished to show me welcome. Plus, he indicated, he liked that I knew about the old watches and he had some history to show me.



His entire manner was obviously not dangerous. He was very gracious in fact, so we walked together to his home down the street and then into this narrower alley as he described to me a bit about the history of the neighbourhood...



...We then stopped here at his home:





He explained that his home was over 200 years old and as we went inside I was struck by the simplicity of his life. I saw a neat and spotlessly clean but very spare bedroom on the left, a second orderly room that was his work area on the right, and between them only a single chest with teapot and some cupboard area. That was really it, except for three simple chairs and a table, and a small third room bare of any furniture except a cupboard, with a few items of art on the wall, floor and window sill.





That was it, at least in what I gather was his section. I didn't see anything like a heater, and certainly nothing like an air conditioner.

He then began to show me the art, which he explained was either of his own crafting as a now mainly retired calligrapher and woodworker, or that were gifts from friends, and that the pieces were not for sale, but he thought I might like to see them.

He was right and here's some examples:









Following the time we spent looking at his art, he introduced me to his brother and then made us tea. The very close relationship they had was immediately apparent.





We spent the next hour using our smattering knowledge of each other's language and a translator app on my phone and a phrase book, to learn about each other, sometimes with some success, other times with no success at all except mutual laughter or quizzical shakes of the head.

He also wrote his name and address on an envelope, but I'll have to get it translated when I get home because he couldn't write any English, and I can't read near enough relevant Chinese.

In other words, the morning turned from cold and frustrating to fascinating, friendly, confusing, informative, illuminating, challenging and utterly memorable.

After about an hour, I explained that I had things to attend to and that I must leave, so we said our goodbyes at the door of his home...



...but not before his request and my promise to write him when I get home. It's a promise I'll gladly keep.

He's a friend.]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 29 Apr 2013 03:57:05 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479453,479453#msg-479453 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479453,479453#msg-479453
Here's the watches (and some additional ephemera) I've been blessed with so far this trip (with huge thanks to a number of very kind people for most of it):

Mr Zhou, webmaster of the Chinese watch forum at www.watchstore.cn, provided this lovely Qionghua...





...and this collection of Zhongshan dials:



This rare prototype piepan dial Zuanshi (with a S marked on the back case) was given by Mr Shao, webmaster of the Chinese watch forum: yiwatch.net:





These original research papers on the A-581 and SS1A movements were written and provided by Mr.Cheng, the webmaster of China's yiwatch.net and camgle.com, (Once translated and placed at the AMCHPR, this will be the first time the documentation will have been seen in the English language):





This masterful list of watch brands and originating provinces was gifted by Mr. Zhou:



I believe Mr. Tong (or possibly Joel?) provided this original translation of the article where I was quoted in China Watch and Clock's "Fans of Timekeeper" supplement:



...and here's the copy of the article itself, now signed by both the author, Mr. Tong (Production Team member for the A581 movement as well as the former vice chief engineer of Xian HongQi Watch Factory and the former Senior Engineer at Shanghai Watch Factory) and Mr Jiang (Designer of the Shanghai Watch Factory SS1A movement).



These next 8 watches were very generously gifted to me by Joel Chan:





























and this Zijinshan which Joel says can be my first successful repair as there's only a couple of small things wrong with it ;-)



...and here's a couple I picked up myself at the Dongtai Lu market, the first from the seller I shook hands with (Joel's good friend...who gave me a much better-than-usual deal) because I don't recall seeing a Hai Shi with the red Hai Shi characters between the branding...





...and this because I wanted a day/date Chunlei:





...and, yes, I do feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet :-)]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 29 Apr 2013 03:54:40 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479452,479452#msg-479452 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479452,479452#msg-479452








Everything looks correct except for the Guangzhou crown. Under the balance of the ZNCA movement is NC 79 (Nanchang 1979?).

Second, a Zhongshan with a plum blossom pattern:







The date code on the reliable SN2 movement is MC.

Third, another Zhongshan – this one has a double phoenix pattern.







The date code is DH.]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeFri, 12 Apr 2013 10:08:39 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479307,479307#msg-479307 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479307,479307#msg-479307
As I think I'd mentioned in an earlier post, WUS members ntchen2 and 13143268 and I had plans to meet together in Shanghai. Chen had contacted me some time ago and I was really looking forward to seeing him. He had expressed that he didn't speak much English but he'd already shown his English is miles ahead of my Chinese, and Chen had also noted that Sean was very English speaking as well as fine at Chinese, so I anticipated a small, relaxed and fun evening with a couple of watch friends.

Not quite how things turned out.

During the day, while I wandered from Shanghai City Center to the Bund, Chen and I were in touch by phone text but Sean had called to -- very unfortunately -- note that he couldn't make it as he was quite sick with a bug of some sort. Still, Chen and I were going to meet and I still thought the two of us would have a fun night doing whatever the two us us would end up doing.

Back at my hotel, Chen pinged me on QQ (like Messenger but Chinese) saying he was now in Shanghai, so I asked "where should we meet"? Chen replied: "look at the photo"

I did.

I saw:



Cute. subjectsmiley02!

Chen was right outside my hotel.

So I went down and found Chen with two friends of his. OK...more folks to have fun with, and we all head upstairs to my room for a bit...where I was astonished to be presented with:






Tourbillon cufflinks subjectsmiley05! subjectsmiley05!subjectsmiley05!subjectsmiley05!subjectsmiley05! and some very high quality Memorigen promotional and technical materials.

哇!!

Following this very pleasant surprise, Chen said we should head downstairs, which I gathered meant to find some place to eat, so off we went in Chen's friends car. We headed down some major roods and then...turned off into...some deeper into the maze alleys (???) finally coming to rest here...???...



...which is, I soon found out, right round the corner from here:



...where, very very much to my surprise, this group ended up being assembled :



Xiaobo Yuan (Member of Chinese Watch Enthusiast Association/likes Chinese watches best), Jian Chen aka Ntchen2 (The leader of Chinese Watch Enthusiast Association/likes Chinese watches best) Ron/AlbertaTime (very fortunate old man/likes Chinese watches best), Gang Li (Member of Chinese Watch Enthusiast Association/likes German watches best), Liang Chen (Member of Chinese Watch Enthusiast Association/likes Swiss watches best); Hao Shen/Uncle Watch (BBS Moderator of Zenith Forum on the website: [www.iwatch365.net]) and Wei Shi (Member of Chinese Watch Enthusiast Association/likes Chinese watches best).




My very sincere gratitude to all who attended.

This assembly is mostly a group whose focus is on modern Chinese watches much more than (or as well as) VCMs, brands like Apogee and Memorigen, for notable examples displayed at the table.

The rest of the evening was spent with watch talk, general friendly conversation, astonishing food (jellyfish, for example, is very good, I found out...and almost crunchy :-!), some straight up and delicious jet fuel that came in a blue bottle...and premium horological eye candy...so here's photos from the rest of the evening.

















..including this impressive box of international candy...





I had a great time. The hospitality and friendship I was shown will stay with me forever. I do know I'll never really have the words to describe my gratitude for how I'm being welcomed here in China.

So now I'm off to the Longmen Grottoes, checking off a major item on my bucket list. More when I get back...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeThu, 11 Apr 2013 08:30:40 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479165,479165#msg-479165 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479165,479165#msg-479165
WatchuSeek member ntchen (who I'd first met on China's iwatch forum) and I had made plans to meet in Shanghai, along with WatchuSeek member 13143268 (Sean), and April 6th was the day this was gonna happen, so I knew it was going to be a fine enough day. I had no real idea...;-)

I wanted to start the day with a visit to Mr. Billy's Handmade Shoes in Shanghai, which I'd read about on the net, but Billy's store was closed when I got there, and it looked dusty, almost boarded up, and very closed so I took a cab back to the hotel, and then headed straight down to Shanghai City Center for another look around. And the weather was windy but much more sunny than the last couple of days, so...good.

Now, Shanghai City Center is a tourist mecca in Shanghai...loads of high-end and mid-market shops, many of them large. It's readily apparent that this is a cosmopolitan area of town, teeming from early on till quite late at night with people from all over the world shopping and taking photos of each other and of the stores...and when in Rome...



























...but if you go two blocks away from that very fashionable section, you get another day-to-day Chinese big-city neighbourhood...



















After that walk-around, I grabbed a couple of hot lamb skewers from a street seller and then headed to the Bund for some shots of the riverfront and the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower / 东方明珠塔...





















...and I still had the evening to come...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 10 Apr 2013 05:54:06 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479159,479159#msg-479159 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,479159,479159#msg-479159
I'm sitting in my hotel in Luoyang (it's now 9 PM here, April 8th), taking a night off from wandering and shooting photos, and from the astonishing friendship (and Olympic calibre drinking) that have occupied these last few days, so that I can organize my thoughts, cull and process a whack of photos (literally hundreds) and try to put events in some sort of accurate time order.

These photos were taken April 5th, between the wonderful evening get-together with the VCM experts and engineers and the equally impressive evening with the new Chinese watch enthusiasts (the latter I exect to detail in post 4 or 5 if my plan holds...and it might not

So here's April 5th, starting with a morning return to Dongtai Lu antique market, followed by an afternoon cruise around...at Joel's suggestion...the very busy Cheng Huang Miao not-antique market. It was a kinda cool, sort of drizzly day, but I used to live in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island so rain's no stranger, and now I live in northern Alberta so I didn't find it cold at all...didn't even need a jacket, but it seems everyone else did ;-)

First, Dongtai Lu...















...after which I grabbed a cab (about 50 RMB or less -- maybe $8 -- for a twenty/twenty-five minute ride) to the entrance of Cheng Huang Miao. I'll note that in the middle of the Cheng Huang Miao photos are a few from the surrounding non-touristy area, since I have a tendency to wander off the beaten path. Cheng Huang Miao is a very wide-ranging collection of mosly small consumer-level retail shops from inexpensive tourist goods through jewellery and home design to high end collectibles and furniture. And lotsa stuff in between.

Judging by the photos, it seems a popular place :-)











So here's where I get off the beaten path, to an adjacent area of much more local shops...a neighbourhood, really, and just the kind of place I like to explore. Normal, non-tourist day-to-day Chinese living in a somewhat downtown neghbourhood. You'll see a quite nice small park area. That's where I found a small cafe hidden in the trees, and had a great lunch of beef and noodles...

















...with a wander through an almost labarytnian indoor market of neighbourhood stalls, selling everything from...well, everything...if you could find it in a department or hardware store, there's a good chance you'll find it here. Maybe a hundreds very small shops in a single building. I've never seen anything like it where I've ever lived.







...and that sign must work at least a bit. I didn't see one single copy in any stall in that particular market area, and I looked.

...and back into Cheng Huang Miao













I was particulalry impressed by this fellow...an exhibitor from the Yuyaun Folk Craftsmen. His specialty is crafting intricate sculptures from cut and folded palm fronds.







After that, it was back to my hotel for a bit, then out again, this time no jacket but in what became pouring rain, to shoot some lights and neon (some of you might recall from my last visit thatI like doing that in China). These were taken in and around Shanghai City Center. I got soaked to the skin and had a blast.

There's some watch content here...kinda...

















...and that's the 5th, which will lead me to April 6th which includes a daytime vsit to Shanghai's Bund (and some shots of the Pearl Tower), followed by a fascinating dinner with WatchuSeek member(and China's Iwatch member) ntchen2 and his very welcoming friends...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 10 Apr 2013 05:52:52 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478737,478737#msg-478737 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478737,478737#msg-478737Micmicmor Vintage Watch. We had a bite to eat and good chat after which I crashed solidly since I'd been up 28 hours straight, too excited to sleep on the plane subjectsmiley04!;-) and the trip had taken that long with two flights, layovers and customs and taxis, etc...

First order of the following day was an awesome Chinese style breakfast feast at the hotel (included with the room subjectsmiley09!:-!) followed by a walk around the streets and park across from the hotel. (The first three photos coming up were actually taken from my 6th floor room just before dusk from my hotel on April 3rd before I met Joel. The rest are from the 4th... )

















Joel met me later that afternoon (the 4th) and we headed to Dongtai Lu antique market to fill some hours before a very special Dinner that had been arranged for my arrival (more on that later in this post), so here we are at Dongtai Lu. Joel is used to it, but my VCM brain went into overload subjectsmiley03!







Joel has known this seller for years, and I was very pleased to be introduced to him...and his stock of VCMS subjectsmiley09!;-)











Then it was on to the very special Dinner...but for that you would go here...]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeSat, 06 Apr 2013 15:25:22 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478736,478736#msg-478736 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478736,478736#msg-478736go here.

Onward...

I owe very special thanks to Mr. Cheng of the Chinese watch site Yiwatch. Mr. Cheng was kind enough to make the arrangements for this heartwarming "greet the foreign visitor" VCM Dinner that very appropriately highlighted the achievements of the Shanghai Watch Factory in the 1950s and 1960s. I have no sufficient words to express my gratitude or his efforts.

I owe many thanks as well to all who attended as I was shown superb hospitality and friendship by everyone. I had a great time over nicely strong rice wine, very good Chinese beer :-) and lots of excellent food, most of which I'd never tasted before b-), and reports on Yiwatch suggest the fun and friendship was shared :-)

I am honoured to introduce the guests that assembled at the event:

Back row from right to left:

• Mr Cheng, the webmaster of China's yiwatch.net and camgle.com (a watch and camera site, well known in China);
• Mr Zhu, webmaster of the Chinese watch forum at www.watchstore.cn which has a popular forum area.;
• Mr Shao, also webmaster of the Chinese watch forum: yiwatch.net, and the very experienced VCM collectors:
• Mr Liang,
• Mr Xia,
• Mr Sun.

Front row from right to left:

• Mr Jiang Qing, Designer of the Shanghai Watch Factory SS1A movement (1966);
• Mr Tong QinFen, former Production Team member for the A581 (mid-1950s) movement as well as the former vice chief engineer of Xian HongQi Watch Factory and the former Senior Engineer at Shanghai Watch Factory;
• me; and
• Mr. Joel Chan of the Micmicmor Vintage Watch website.

And here are some other "special guests" at the table, most I never thought I'd ever see in person, let alone touch....

...a very rare 24 jewel non-diver military issue Shanghai...



...a very rare 17 jewel Shanghai watch, marked for military use...



...a rare 24 jewel miltary diver...



...followed by an even rarer 29 jewel version...



...and a very rare ZuanShi SMI with date complication...



...an original and rare "panda" 581....



...a stunningly rare Dong Fang Hong "East is Red"...



...followed by an equally stunning and rare He Ping "Peace"...



...an uncommon "sitting" XiongMao...



...an original 1960s Chinese Air Force chronograph (note the sub-dial hands with no "tail", just to muddy the details of the controversy about which side "properly" has the tail ;-)...



...and rarest of all:a Shanghai 24 jewel automatic with date. I very graciously received special permission from the owner to show this watch as Joel noted that it really hasn't yet been seen in this detail even on a Chinese website.











I also want to note that the AMCHPR was gifted at the Dinner with 10 quite hard to find vintage Chinese mechanical watches (no, none of those), plus a set of beautiful Zhongshan dials as well as some scholarly research papers that will need to be translated before I can post them at the AMCHPR...but I'm a shameless tease, so that's for a future installment :-d

...and here's the translation of the Yiwatch report of the event:

yiwatch.net/thread-105761-1-1.html - Translator]]> AlbertaTime Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeMon, 08 Apr 2013 16:23:44 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478500,478500#msg-478500 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,478500,478500#msg-478500
Even though I've done a substantial amount of VCM research I still can never be sure if any ST5 Sea-Gull is 100% historically accurate, but on several occasions I've been able to get past that personal roadblock and purchased one. So, for the first time on this forum, here is my ST5 Sea-Gull collection.

First the ones in nearly new condition:











It has been speculated that the ST5D models without the automatic winding mechanism were assembled recently, but AlbertaTime has cited a reliable source who said they originated from the factory.






Now, the more used-looking examples. Unfortunately, it's still possible they were assembled from more than one watch.

The red dial is rare -- I've seen only one other.






This silver dial model has a finely striped movement which, unusually, is signed with the brand's name and logo.






Please don't let my doubts discourage you from buying one. Regardless of its provenance, an ST5 Sea-Gull is always an excellent addition to any collection. AlbertaTime wrote a guide which can be extremely helpful to a potential ST5 buyer. I stand by what I said almost two years ago: it's the best post I've ever read on a Chinese watch forum.]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 03 Apr 2013 12:29:31 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,477560,477560#msg-477560 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,477560,477560#msg-477560




The back is stamped with the China Rail logo and the number 4016. Below is 一九七五, which I think denotes the year 1975, a time when coal-powered steam locomotives were in predominant use in China. It appears that this watch was used (and it definitely looks like it was used) by an employee or employees of the railways. It has been said that the best quality Meihualu pocket watches were reserved for military and railway use.

I’d open it to take a movement photo, but I don’t know how.

Also from Jilin is this wristwatch.



Aoqilj is an odd brand name. WUS member Seele once described it as looking like it was created by a cat walking across a keyboard. I think it was a mistake, however, because I’ve seen what I think is the same brand spelled Aoqili, although I don’t know how to translate it.



The factory name, Jilin Tian Xing Biao Chang translates literally to Jilin Sky Star Watch Factory. I couldn’t find much information about it, but it appears that it had a relationship with Jilin Watch Factory. Curiously, several JWF brands have either tian (Hangtian, Tianchi) or xing (Jixing, Fuxing) in their names. The watch’s crown and movement bear the marks of Jilin Watch Factory.





Under the balance is J824, probably dating the movement to April 1982.]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 27 Mar 2013 10:51:54 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,476555,476555#msg-476555 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,476555,476555#msg-476555

We just wrote article on Chinese Watch Exhibition Movements and why sometimes China can be smart choice.





Thanks and as always enjoy!]]> AdeeKayeOnline.com Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeWed, 20 Mar 2013 12:36:13 -0400 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,476548,476548#msg-476548 http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?54,476548,476548#msg-476548
Although Resda manual wind watches can be found, I decided to go for an automatic. It’s in nearly new condition, but its box isn’t.







The date can be advanced by adjusting the time between 10:10 PM and 12. The crown isn’t signed.



Inside is what appears to be an automatic tongji movement, but it’s unusual.





The barrel bridge and click look different from any I’ve seen. I don’t have enough technical knowledge, however, to be able to say how this is significant. WUS moderator Chascomm pointed out that this movement is uncommon also because the automatic winding mechanism winds in only one direction.

The code under the balance is AH above 2J2. Manual tongji movements with this code inscribed on the train bridge are sometimes, but not exclusively, seen in mid-1980s Baoshihua brand watches. Some factory code lists mention that AH 2J2 movements come from Shanghai No. 2 Watch Factory, but I don’t remember seeing any example of an automatic model produced there.

I found an article from April 1985 that states (I think) that Shanghai No. 2 contracted Hefei Watch Factory to manufacture a number of Baoshihua watches in the mid-1980s. Could AH be an abbreviation for Anhui, Hefei’s province? I don’t know how to explain 2J2, except to speculate that it may have something to do with Shanghai No. 2.

This may not be related, but I found another article that said Hefei Watch Factory made a significant investment to purchase equipment from Switzerland in the mid-1980s. The decision appears unfortunate considering increased availability of inexpensive imported quartz watches at the time. The question remains, however: which factory produced the AH 2J2 movement?

After looking at this example and photos available on the internet of manual versions, I still don’t know. When I could see codes under the balances of the manual AH 2J2 movements, ZSE (Shanghai No. 2) always appeared. The finishing and shock protection, however, resemble what can be seen in ZHF (Hefei) movements. If I were to guess, I would say the movements were assembled at Hefei Watch Factory using Hefei-made parts and possibly parts from Shanghai, but this is only speculation. Hopefully more information will be discovered someday.]]> saskwatch Chinese Watches by AlbertaTimeFri, 22 Mar 2013 11:30:15 -0400