Gruen Watch Repair

Overhaul Service of a Vintage Gruen 510 RSS Wristwatch

This 1950s Gruen Precision Manual Wind Caliber 510 Wristwatch was fully overhauled. The watch was disassembled and cleaned. Reassembled and lubricated. The case was cleaned and lightly hand polished. Crystal polished, crown replaced, new case seal. Placed on extended testing. Overhaul service complete.

The following is a short biography on the original owner of the watch.

Here is a humorous picture of “Big Frank” from the 1950s, probably a few years before he acquired the watch, hamming it up at the barracks where he was stationed during the Korean War.

This watch belonged to my father, who worked in New York’s Garment District for thirty-plus years, beginning in the 1960s. He was a big man, and at first glance this 36-37mm watch with its torn and patched 17mm strap seems small for his beefy wrist, but the case diameter is typical of that era.

When he passed away in 2023, my brother found this Gruen among Dad’s personal effects. It was by far the oldest watch in my father’s “collection.” I put that word in quotes because my father didn’t really care for watches. He often complained that watches were too small to read the time. If a watch stopped working or ran fast/slow, he threw it in a drawer and bought another, preferably something that didn’t cost too much. In his later years, following this protocol, he acquired a lot of Seikos. I can easily picture him prowling through hole-in-the-wall watch shops and jewelry stores in Midtown Manhattan, venturing to the nearby Diamond District, or even ducking into a dinky shop located in the bowels of a subway station, to find something cheap to grace his wrist.

When the Gruen came to me, I was charmed by the font used for the logo and the Arabic numerals on the dial. Then, when I researched the manufacturer, I discovered that a Gruen Precision watch (caliber 510) was the first timepiece ever shown on the wrist of James Bond, then played by actor Sean Connery in the film Dr. No (1962). For more information on this, please see Dell Deaton’s excellent site on Bond watches. I hasten to add that that Bond’s Gruen was NOT the same model as Dad’s. (I don’t know what caliber this watch is, as I have no way to open the case.)

When I sought someone who could service the piece, it occurred to me to look for a watchmaker in Ohio, since that was the birthplace of Gruen watches. That is how I came to discover Cleveland Watch Repair.