Franken watches

What are the thoughts of other members on Franken watches?

I have quite a few that I bought knowing what they were and priced accordingly.

The place is full of these watches at the moment and the prices seem to be rising on them.

I buy if I like the look and they are a bit of fun, most of mine are HMT's.

But strangely I would NOT buy a seiko in that condition as that is just wrong, but I do have modded Seiko's.

Double standards I know surely a Franken is closer to the original watch etc than a modded.

I do not buy fakes I will never buy a fake but a Franken IMO is not a fake it is simply a watch built with various parts . I have heard of cars that have their engines taken out and replaced with a different engine that is pretty much the same as a franken . Personally I would buy a Seiko Franken but only if I could see the watch in my hand so to speak and would definitely need to look at the movement .

Buy one if the price is chap enough and if you do not like it then keep it and it may come in handy for spare parts. Oh a quick mention on HMT's I love them thy are great watches made in India extremely cheap and I have found them very reliable I have owned a few over the years

I possibly have a few without even knowing it.

A fifty year old watch which has been serviced over the years may have had mainsprings, cogs, winding stems, crowns etc etc replaced to keep it going.

My understanding of Franken watches is a variety of parts are deliberately put together to achieve a maximum price from a buyer who believes it to be all original / genuine while the seller knows otherwise.

In that instance the watch is built to deceive rather than being a genuine example which has innocently evolved over many years.

It's a fine line between the two though & there is more awareness these days of the need of caution, research and experience when buying watches.

I meant to reply to this topic at the weekend though didn't quite find the time. I personally find this to be a very intriguing topic. I don't know whether marriage watches are classed as Frankens though I can't see why not. Marriage watches tend to be old pocket watches placed in a new ss case, given a new dial and converted into a wrist watch. I wouldn't normally approve of this sort of thing as I prefer authenticity though I'm aware that many vintage watches and pocket watches would have had the cases and movements separated so the silver cases could be sold for melting. This would leave the movement unhoused and only suitable for spares and repairs use. In my opinion, if someone wants to put these redundant pocket watch movements to good use, and give them a second lease of life, why not? There are plenty of them on eBay and if the right one appeared at a good price I'd definitely consider it.

Elwood wrote:I meant to reply to this topic at the weekend though didn't quite find the time. I personally find this to be a very intriguing topic. I don't know whether marriage watches are classed as Frankens though I can't see why not. Marriage watches tend to be old pocket watches placed in a new ss case, given a new dial and converted into a wrist watch. I wouldn't normally approve of this sort of thing as I prefer authenticity though I'm aware that many vintage watches and pocket watches would have had the cases and movements separated so the silver cases could be sold for melting. This would leave the movement unhoused and only suitable for spares and repairs use. In my opinion, if someone wants to put these redundant pocket watch movements to good use, and give them a second lease of life, why not? There are plenty of them on eBay and if the right one appeared at a good price I'd definitely consider it.

couldn't agree more, i don't see a problem with Frankens or marriage watches provided the buyer is full aware of what is being sold, trouble is when the lines are blurred there will always be bad and unscrupulous sellers and unfortunate buyers...i suppose in some ways ignorance is bliss as probably 99% of buyers will be totally unaware of what they have bought, its probably only us loonies that care or would even think about these things also i think Frankens have been around for a very long time, it was not unusual for a silver or gold pocket watch wearer to scrap the cases when times were hard and replace them with gold plated ones, its common to see high grade movements/dials in low grade brass or nickel cases cases so really they are also Frankens.
maybe we all have at least one Franken in our collection and we don't even know it
lets dig out our known Frankens and see whats out there !