18 replies to this topic

[miniman24]

Hi all, not sure where to put this, but Im thinking of starting a little venture selling dashboard stopwatches - Im not looking to become rich here, these would cost me around £90 to make per set, its mainly to give me something to do and I enjoy making these, so I thought why not! I have a chance to buy a large number of NOS 70's stopwatches, all the same design and make, and for £100 you would get two NOS boxed stopwatches, a new mount plate with spring clips so the watches could be removed and all the mounting hardware to fix to your dash. Below is a picture of what these sets will look like (minus the cracked glass of course), the watches are the same apart from the branding. The below set is on ebay for £100 on bids currently (item 221586741013), and thats with the cracked glass!

 

$_57 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

 

If there's enough interest, I should be able to make around 5 sets a week.

 

 

 

 

[cal844]

Hi all, not sure where to put this, but Im thinking of starting a little venture selling dashboard stopwatches - Im not looking to become rich here, these would cost me around £90 to make per set, its mainly to give me something to do and I enjoy making these, so I thought why not! I have a chance to buy a large number of NOS 70's stopwatches, all the same design and make, and for £100 you would get two NOS boxed stopwatches, a new mount plate with spring clips so the watches could be removed and all the mounting hardware to fix to your dash. Below is a picture of what these sets will look like (minus the cracked glass of course), the watches are the same apart from the branding. The below set is on ebay for £100 on bids currently (item 221586741013), and thats with the cracked glass!

 

$_57 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

 

If there's enough interest, I should be able to make around 5 sets a week.

 

 

 

 

These are amazing

[Cooperman]

They would be good for historic road rallying as a good alternative to the very expensive Heuer clocks as used by the 'works' cars.

Best place to advertise them would be the HRCR magazine 'Old Stager'. They would suit all types of historic rally car.

Perhaps offer either twin stopwatches or one stopwatch and one normal time-of-day clock. You might also consider some form of illumination for night rallying.

I reckon you've made a great job of those. Maybe a bit on the low side pricewise. £125 would be about right, or £150 with some illumination.

[miniman24]

To be fair, those are a fairly poor example of what I would be selling - the backplate on those is rather amateur-ish, mine would be far better made. And of course the watches would be new, mint condition. The rear of the plate would be velvet covered to prevent dash damage. Here is an example of some Heuer watch sets Ive made in the past (sold for £650) to showcase the work:

 

P1010556 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

 

P1010521 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

[miniman24]

They would be good for historic road rallying as a good alternative to the very expensive Heuer clocks as used by the 'works' cars.

Best place to advertise them would be the HRCR magazine 'Old Stager'. They would suit all types of historic rally car.

Perhaps offer either twin stopwatches or one stopwatch and one normal time-of-day clock. You might also consider some form of illumination for night rallying.

I reckon you've made a great job of those. Maybe a bit on the low side pricewise. £125 would be about right, or £150 with some illumination.

 

Thanks for the advert tip and praise - I would be happy with £100 a set to be honest, these type of thing are usually far too expensive for a lot of people and Id like to think Im doing my good deed - Im not really hard up atm but I do have a lot of free time

[Cooperman]

Why not do a 3-clock non-Heuer version with twin stopwatches for regularity sections plus a time-of-day watch. Make it look similar to the Heuer one and offer it for, say £250, or £300 with built-in illumination.

I think they look superb and those involved in historic rallying will love them, 2- or 3-watch versions.

The other places to publicise them would be in Motorsport News & Autosport.  

[miniman24]

Very good idea, I had not even thought of a time of day watch. I shall follow those links up and see what I can do about getting a proper ad out. Suppose I could offer a range of different setups, providing I can find a source for NOS time watches. Thanks!

[Tamworthbay]

I don't have anything to fit them in but I would love one. Just got to think of a place to fit it and an excuse. Could be for timing the chips in the deep fat fryer...

Nice to see something doing good quality stuff and even better that they don't want to rip people off.

[Cooperman]

A good friend of mine, Don Barrow, sells a lot of rally navigation equipment. Take a look at his website 'Don Barrow Navigation Services'. In fact he might be interested in marketing them. As a 4-times Motoring News rally champion he knows everyone in historic rallying and is a genuinely nice guy.

[miniman24]

Wow that would be excellent - I will PM you r.e. Don :)

 

And Tamworth, they would be an excellent dual chip timer, just mount them in the kitchen (wife approval needed of course )

Edited by miniman24, 31 October 2014 - 08:20 PM.

[Dale_]

To be fair, those are a fairly poor example of what I would be selling - the backplate on those is rather amateur-ish, mine would be far better made. And of course the watches would be new, mint condition. The rear of the plate would be velvet covered to prevent dash damage. Here is an example of some Heuer watch sets Ive made in the past (sold for £650) to showcase the work:
 
P1010556 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr
 
P1010521 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

Yes but you are also selling them for 550 quid more....

[miniman24]

Indeed, but those pictures are mainly to show the backplates I make - the same quality of work would be present in these cheaper sets.

[Dan]

Don't you need to have synchronous start levers on sets like this?

[mk1leg]

To be fair, those are a fairly poor example of what I would be selling - the backplate on those is rather amateur-ish, mine would be far better made. And of course the watches would be new, mint condition. The rear of the plate would be velvet covered to prevent dash damage. Here is an example of some Heuer watch sets Ive made in the past (sold for £650) to showcase the work:

 

P1010556 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

 

P1010521 by victorkristiansen, on Flickr

taking the piss one thinks....I'd rather pay £100 then £650+

he is just trying to fill the gap as most people can not afford such extortionate prices......give him a chance before you blow him off .............

Edited by mk1leg, 31 October 2014 - 09:00 PM.

[miniman24]

Don't you need to have synchronous start levers on sets like this?

 

You can have synchronous start levers, but its entirely possible to use them as they are - the Heuer triple sets with two Monte Carlo stopwatches never had the start levers. These watches would be used for timing rally stages or circuit laps, and it is far more common to see them with out the start levers as they are just not necessary.