18 May 2024, 05:40
About a week ago, a "lot" of four watches was listed. A gold Dress, a stainless Dress, a Men's Sport, and an Accutron (none were working). It sat for a few days at $1000 (a single bid), than disappeared. The poster emailed me directly, asking for information about the Pulsars. I ended up making a direct phone offer that he accepted. Anybody else see this listing?
Turns out the gold Dress was...quite out of the ordinary...an 18K Model 1408-2.
For those who did not see the listing, I quote from the seller's description:
For sale is a Time Computer, Inc. Pulsar in 14k gold, serial number 180483, with gold bracelet (8-in.) marked 0.750 18k BW. It has hour and minute setting places on the back, but I've lost the special setting tool. I've owned this watch since the 1980s. The last time I wore it was in the 90s, and it worked well then, but now needs a battery. Before I began researching for this sale, I had always assumed it to be an original Hamilton Pulsar from 1972; but I learned that it has a different shape from the original (a more elegant one, in my opinion) and lacks lacks the Hamilton stamp. It also has an odd serial number (180483) that is out of sequence with the original Hamilton Pulsars (and also with later Time Computer Pulsars), so I think this fixes it as one of the first Time Computer variants. I don't know if it has special collectors' value as such and leave that up to you. I'm starting the bidding at an extremely modest $1,000 for an interesting solid gold watch and gold band. I'm not a dealer, just someone who collected and wore nice gold watches in the 1980s and 1990s, so as a bonus to the winning bidder of this gold watch, I'm throwing in an almost-matching stainless steel Time Computer, plus another more-ordinary shaped stainless steel Pulsar, and a very pretty gold-filled Bulova Accutron on a brown 8-in Gatorchrome strap, all of whose serial numbers and case details can be seen in the pictures. (Except the Accutron, whose serial number is C50802 M7.) Happy bidding if you are a collector of these things.
How this came to be on eBay...the seller is 80, and is selling off all his collectibles (he mentioned 80 banjos and 50 vintage film cameras, among other things) to be a grandfather to his son's child, in Texas (he is currently in Virginia). Makes you wonder what other treasures remain tucked away, waiting for their moment to be plucked from the darkness and revealed to the world (the New York hoard comes to mind, including the Grima models...I doubt we'll ever see anything like that again, but, who knows?).
I had the case, bracelet, clasp, and case back (which I replaced) tested for gold fineness by XRF analyzer. Interestingly, they differ slightly. The case was 18.23K, bracelet 18.17K, the back 18.12K, and the clasp was 18.00K even. The alloy contains over 10% each of copper and silver. There is a Swiss inspection hallmark on the side of the case (as was on ALL of the NY watches), indicating it passed through Switzerland on it's way to it's final destination (and somehow later returned to the United States.
So far, this is the only known example of the 1408-2 Pulsar. There may be others, but unless someone comes forward with another, that will remain speculation. There are several of the Midas Collection models that I have never seen in almost 20 years of monitoring eBay, and I think it possible that, for some models (being made in such limited numbers to begin with), there are no survivors at all (thanks to the Mass Melting of 1980), making a complete collection of the entire Time Computer product line impossible to assemble (though I am working on it, and am close).
Now, we just need to see an 18K P2, or a solid-gold Classic...
Turns out the gold Dress was...quite out of the ordinary...an 18K Model 1408-2.
For those who did not see the listing, I quote from the seller's description:
For sale is a Time Computer, Inc. Pulsar in 14k gold, serial number 180483, with gold bracelet (8-in.) marked 0.750 18k BW. It has hour and minute setting places on the back, but I've lost the special setting tool. I've owned this watch since the 1980s. The last time I wore it was in the 90s, and it worked well then, but now needs a battery. Before I began researching for this sale, I had always assumed it to be an original Hamilton Pulsar from 1972; but I learned that it has a different shape from the original (a more elegant one, in my opinion) and lacks lacks the Hamilton stamp. It also has an odd serial number (180483) that is out of sequence with the original Hamilton Pulsars (and also with later Time Computer Pulsars), so I think this fixes it as one of the first Time Computer variants. I don't know if it has special collectors' value as such and leave that up to you. I'm starting the bidding at an extremely modest $1,000 for an interesting solid gold watch and gold band. I'm not a dealer, just someone who collected and wore nice gold watches in the 1980s and 1990s, so as a bonus to the winning bidder of this gold watch, I'm throwing in an almost-matching stainless steel Time Computer, plus another more-ordinary shaped stainless steel Pulsar, and a very pretty gold-filled Bulova Accutron on a brown 8-in Gatorchrome strap, all of whose serial numbers and case details can be seen in the pictures. (Except the Accutron, whose serial number is C50802 M7.) Happy bidding if you are a collector of these things.
How this came to be on eBay...the seller is 80, and is selling off all his collectibles (he mentioned 80 banjos and 50 vintage film cameras, among other things) to be a grandfather to his son's child, in Texas (he is currently in Virginia). Makes you wonder what other treasures remain tucked away, waiting for their moment to be plucked from the darkness and revealed to the world (the New York hoard comes to mind, including the Grima models...I doubt we'll ever see anything like that again, but, who knows?).
I had the case, bracelet, clasp, and case back (which I replaced) tested for gold fineness by XRF analyzer. Interestingly, they differ slightly. The case was 18.23K, bracelet 18.17K, the back 18.12K, and the clasp was 18.00K even. The alloy contains over 10% each of copper and silver. There is a Swiss inspection hallmark on the side of the case (as was on ALL of the NY watches), indicating it passed through Switzerland on it's way to it's final destination (and somehow later returned to the United States.
So far, this is the only known example of the 1408-2 Pulsar. There may be others, but unless someone comes forward with another, that will remain speculation. There are several of the Midas Collection models that I have never seen in almost 20 years of monitoring eBay, and I think it possible that, for some models (being made in such limited numbers to begin with), there are no survivors at all (thanks to the Mass Melting of 1980), making a complete collection of the entire Time Computer product line impossible to assemble (though I am working on it, and am close).
Now, we just need to see an 18K P2, or a solid-gold Classic...
Last edited by bruce wegmann on 14 Jun 2024, 09:02, edited 2 times in total.
