TEN YEARS later...

[bruce wegmann]

It occurred to me that today is the tenth anniversary of my trip to New York, that ultimately added nearly 70 solid gold Pulsars to my collection, including the Grima group. Much has happened in the intervening years, now with 117 in solid gold, more than 150 in stainless and goldfill, with only a handful of models not represented; hopefully that number will diminish in the coming years. The Pulsar LEDs have become an all-consuming passion, as Rob (Seikokid) can testify . Once in a while, an interested party will make it worth while to assemble it all in one place. So, for future reference, this is what 116 gold Pulsars look like (a Ladies' 6414 Oval has been added since these were taken). It will be interesting to see if the next ten years are as productive...(I doubt it, but I can hope!).






With just a single exception (the sterling silver Grima pocket watch), every watch you see is solid gold (mostly in 18K, which is another noteworthy aspect of this assemblage, as the 18K models are many times rarer than the 14K ones). Also, all but one (the 18K Omega TC1), is a Pulsar. At this point in time, I consider my birthday a less important date than May 7th. The reaction of a friend to these pics was "This looks like King Midas' banquet table", so, these images will always be known by that description.

[helmarw]

WOW, never saw so many in one place !

[Old Tom]

Amazing, for some reason it reminded of Auric Goldfinger in the Bond movie "Goldfinger" or to paraphrase the relevant section from the movie;-

JB
$1billion in gold Pulsars weighs many tons. 6 men would take 2 days to load them onto a truck.

AG
Who mentioned anything about removing them? Is the julep tart enough for you?

JB
You plan to break into the World's largest Pulsar repository, but not to steal anything.

Why?

AG
Go on, Mr Bond.

JB
Mr Ling, the Red Chinese agent at the factory?

He's a specialist in nuclear fission...

But of course! His government's given you a bomb.

AG
I prefer to call it an atomic device.

It's small but particularly dirty.

JB
- Cobalt and iodine? -

AG
Precisely.

JB
If you explode it in Fort Knox, the...

...entire gold Pulsar supply of the United States will be radioactive for...

... 56 years.

AG
57,3 to be exact.

JB
I apologise, Goldfinger. It's an inspired deal.

They get what they want - chaos in the Pulsar watch collecting World.

And the value of your gold Pulsars increases many times.

AG
I conservatively estimate... ten times.

JB
Brilliant

Not that I am suggesting Bruce is a ruthless master criminal intent on cornering the World's remaining supply of Gold Pulsars!

[bruce wegmann]

Actually...
My favorite line from the film (and one with which I seem to be more strongly identifying with each passing day) is..."This is gold, Mr. Bond. All my life, I've been in love with its' color, its' brilliance, its' divine heaviness; I welcome any enterprise which will increase my stock...which is considerable". As a teenage coin collector, back in the mid-60s, I had stacks of 5, 10, and 20-dollar gold pieces (mostly birthday and Christmas gifts, when a $50 bill would buy a double-eagle, so, not as extravagant as it sounds); anyway, I caught the gold-bug early. Of all the noble metals, only gold has inspired more passion, and fueled more violence, than any other measure of wealth. An interesting factoid...not a single atom of it is native to this planet; it's all leftover supernova-dust that got caught up in our condensing solar-system nebula...given its' density (fourth after osmium, iridium, and platinum), it's remarkable that any is found on the earth's surface. Some of the world's first coins were made of electrum, a naturally-occurring alloy of gold and silver. The watches may be only about 40 years old, but the metal they're made of is closer to 5 billion...

[Diginut]

.

Bruce - Impressive collection! No one else on the planet has so many gold Pulsars, thats for sure. Hopefully you have $500k of insurance.


Of all the watches shown, the one in particular I'd love to see more of is the unique Grima "Moonscape" LED as highlighted in the pic below. Very little is known about it.

Any danger of you posting up photos of this watch ? (Complete with your copyright credit off course ..!)


[/color]

[Kasper]

Still a lot of watches that can't be collected by others. For that part its a shame a few people have a big collection of the same watch. I would sell or give them in loan to a known watchmuseum so more people could enjoy these gems.
Now they are 99% of the time stashed away. Don't get me wrong Bruce...it's still a remarkable collection that you have, with a bit of luck involved but thats how life works.

Gold watches are only appreciated by older people with a few exceptions , youngsters are only interested in silver and colored watches. In the 60-70 and beginning of the 80ties gold was a status symbol...gold watches, glasses, jewelery was seen as a good investment and to show-off that you were doing good in life. It also was the only thing that you could buy everywhere and was easily available for every social class. It all changed with the rise of the pc and mass production from oversees. Suddenly other status symbols were available for everyone like special cars/ interior design/ mobile phones etc..
Every year manufacturers are predicting gold watches and glasses are on the rise again, but still i only sell it to old people..above 60.

I personally think it will never be as popular as it once was and only is interesting as investment cause all rare earth metals are getting more scarce over the years. How the love for a nice watch can change in the love for money after years of collecting

All of my watches are sitting in a watchcabinet in my shop (no i don't sell watches in my shop:-) and every client/friend can see them and can have a personal tour of the digital watch history by me if they are interested. So much more satisfaction for myself and others if they can also enjoy the beauty of these gems.

yeah always interested in detailed shots of the Grima watches

Btw..happy birtday

[dutchsiberia]

Hey Bruce, I was wondering, do you have a white cat?

[Timecollector]

I only see 9 P1's......Must be an older pic.

[bruce wegmann]

Good catch...I had 10, briefly, then someone made me a Godfather-style offer (you know, the kind you can't refuse) on one (I have pics of the ten here somewhere). I'll put then up, if Kasper promises not to pillory me for hoarding them away from other collectors. Seriously, are you actually criticizing me for having too big a collection??? I put ten years of time, thousands of hours of work, and a staggering amount of money into this effort, and I'm getting bagged on for depriving other collectors??? They'll eventually have their chance; I don't plan on living forever, and you're not even a Pulsar collector, so the extent of my collection doesn't affect you in any way...in the future, I'd appreciate it if you kept that kind of nonsensical musing to yourself. And, I don't need you or anybody else to remind me how old I am...I have my aches and pains doing that every day. Not usually a grumpy old man, but that kind of silliness really hammers my WTF button...
On a lighter note...
For the record, my actual birthday is in late March; for me, May 7th represents the birth of the collection, when things got really serious, and I decided it was something I had to pursue.
Oh, and no white cat...just a green parrot.

[Timecollector]

Good catch...I had 10, briefly, then someone made me a Godfather-style offer (you know, the kind you can't refuse) on one I'll put then up, if Kasper promises not to pillory me for hoarding them away from other collectors.

I think selling a P1 would remove alittle bit of the hoarding buzz chat? Wouldn't it? Maybe?

[charger105]

.

Bruce - Impressive collection! No one else on the planet has so many gold Pulsars, thats for sure. Hopefully you have $500k of insurance.


Of all the watches shown, the one in particular I'd love to see more of is the unique Grima "Moonscape" LED as highlighted in the pic below. Very little is known about it.

Any danger of you posting up photos of this watch ? (Complete with your copyright credit off course ..!)


[/color]

Yes I was thinking exactly the same thing. I was sure I'd seen it somewhere before:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/728 ... hes091.jpg
A few more detailed shots would be very welcome.

It also seems that 3 of the P3s with leather strap layed flat on the table have the strap on the wrong way. I'm sure there's a good reason

BTW, awesome collection and great to see it all assembled together.
I've tried to figure out what you're missing, but can't. What are you still looking for ?
Rgds.

[SASM]

Excellent pictures, thanks for sharing. This is what I really like on this forum.

[bucko170]

63 years young Bruce a belated happy birthday to you :) thanks for sharing the photo's, I have been looking forward to seeing your collection in all it's glory for a long time :) I would say you need a bigger table rather than a smaller collection ;)

[Seeker of Time]

Bruce,
Thank you for the fine conversation on the phone tonight, sir! Beautiful collection, and thank you again for the secret on my 902.
Dale

[Seiko Kid]

Here it is Bruce - The famous Tenth P1 !



I must say here that my meeting with Bruce and the ability to see such a collection was something I feel won't be topped for , well a lifetime.....

WHAT a collection of watches, regardless of make - Hope all is well with you Bruce on your very sunny side of the planet?

Here is a sneak shot of that same dining table in a less organised manner

[Mr Frequency 32768hz]

Beautiful.

[70's_gal]

Speechless in awe....



~Sherry.