Watch Photography.

I now have available the first of some very high resolution pictures suitable for printing up to poster size, these can be downloaded at modest cost or professionally printed as prints, posters as well as on mouse mats, place mats and even puzzles. Visit my Zenfolio Galleries to view and purchase.

Introduction

For 6 months using Photobucket for image hosting was a pain, frequently  50% of up loads were failing, then 50% of reloads failing etc. loading images had become tedious and there were also a number of outages. I gave Google Photos a try but there were issues there as well. So I bit the bullet and, at some cost, moved to Zenfolio, a site used by professional photographers to host and sell their pictures. All of my pictures previously on Google Photos have now been moved to Zenfolio, all new pictures will go there and I will gradually migrate photos from Photobucket to the new service.

Coasters, mouse mat and a large print.

One of the facilities provided by Zenfolio is a direct link to various photo processing laboratories, of which I am using Photobox, the largest processor in Europe. Photographs can now be purchased on line in various sizes – up to large poster size for high resolution images – as well as some specialist items such as coasters, place mats and mouse mats. Images can also be downloaded for personal use (for professional use please contact me directly). However this service needs to be used with some caution as explained below.

I have set up three sections on the Zenfolio site, the largest initially is the “Active” section which will host all higher resolution pictures used on my website accessed by clicking “more pictures” or similar. When watches are deleted from the main web site the photos will be moved to the “Archive” section. Thirdly there is a section described as “Hi-Res” where selected high resolution pictures will be stored to support printing up to 45” x 30”.

Pricing

Pricing is largely driven by Photobox with a service fee going to Zenfolio and a modest royalty coming to me which I hope will offset some of the cost of the image hosting service.

“Hi-Res” pictures.

A limited number of photos will have some degree of print optimisation and will be loaded in high resolution (up to 24 Mega Pixels) to allow very large prints to be made.

Given the price of each print in large format it is not possible for me to get professionally printed samples of each picture for quality control purposes so instead I have purchased a few sample prints in large and smaller formats plus some coasters, a mouse mat etc., so as to get a better understanding of what is required to get a good print using this technology. I have also printed the same pictures on my office printer for comparison and will “proof print” new photographs locally for some degree of quality control.

But please remember I am an amateur photographer of landscapes and other “non-watch” subjects and despite picture credits from the BBC and Vanity Fair, I do not class myself as a professional photographer so, especially with the photos not in the “Hi-Res” section, it is down to the buyer to satisfy him or herself as to the suitability of the image for the purpose intended.

“Active” and “Archived” pictures.

Photos in these sections are supporting my main web site selling watches, as such they are intended to show a fair representation of what the watch looks like and so have not been retouched or optimised for printing. Photoshop has been used to adjust exposure, to remove colour casts and for cropping but not to otherwise manipulate the images.

As images prior to June 2016 have been stored at around 1 Mega Pixel resolution and tightly framed they will generally not be suitable for printing in all formats or in larger sizes. Optimisation of the exposure has been biased towards showing detail on the watch which in many cases has resulted in the white background looking grey or blue / grey to avoid “washing out” detail on the watch.

From the end of May 2016 I increased the image size of new photos from the previous 1024 pixels per side and will not frame as closely to give more flexibility in cropping for different print formats and to support larger prints.

However due to the number of pictures they have not been proof printed, either by me or by Photobox so the service is used at the buyers risk.

I still have photos at 1 Megapixel for almost a thousand watches that I have sold over the last few years and most can be upload if requested by the purchaser of the watch.

Photo Prints

On high quality FujiFilm “Crystal Archive” photographic paper from 6” x 4” and 5” x 5” through to 45” x 30” (cropping required) for the highest resolution images.

Showcase Items

• Mounted Acrylic Prints.
• Canvas Wraps.
• Aluminium Mounted Prints.

Speciality Items

• Coasters & Place Mats.
• Mouse Mats – note that due to the textured surface of the mat, required to allow an optical mouse to work correctly, pictures do not appear as sharp as when printed on paper.
• Puzzles.

Digital Downloads.

Pictures can be downloaded for personal non-commercial use only:

• Individually for high resolution pictures.
• Any 15 in low / medium resolution from “Active” or “Archive”, up to 3 Mega Pixels but mainly 1 Mega Pixel for pictures prior to June 2016 and around 2 Mega Pixels in 3:2 format or 1.4 Mega Pixels in square format.

For commercial use, please contact me to discuss.

The buyer of the watch will, on request, receive a 75% discount voucher for a digital down load for personal non-commercial use (Coming soon).

Once purchased Zenfolio retain the images and order for 30 days in case downloads fail.

Visit my Zenfolio Galleries.

June market update

LWC half Hunter, 1910

Its a funny old game. A severe shortage of English watches for months, then an avalanche of them, but almost all by the Lancashire Watch Company with 6 completed and a couple more that did not make it.


It was much the same with Swiss watches with 7 signed by J.W. Benson of which 6 were by Tavannes and another Tavannes for Russells Ltd. So from 22 watches completed in the last 5 weeks or so 13 were either by Tavannes or the LWC, of course  Benson is a brand I specialise in and so buy more aggressively but even so  the proportions are odd.

P & A Guye, 13J, London 1892

It was much the same with Rolled gold chains, very few since November then a bunch of them so that there is finally some stock at Brackley and on the web with one or two more to follow shortly.

The month closed out with a couple of nice English watches not by the LWC and I have some more coming in that hopefully will appear on the web site in a week or so.



May Market update.

There was a sudden rush of good English watches in the second half of the month supplemented by a few watches from one of the big auction houses (the 20% buyers premium  hurts!).

Unfortunately quality did no always match quantity with several being scrapped or put to one side in the probably vain hope that spares will become available. Still 9 English watches, finished in a month (including the just finished 17J Rotherham from 1894 pictured) is probably a record and there are a few more on the way.

Particularly annoying were a Benson Ludgate and an Errington 16J (several of those this month!) which both had the impulse jewels replace with a metal pin, this kept the watch running but not well and it causes damage to the roller and frequently to the lever pallet so those have both had to be put away, the Ludgate joining 5 others in the same state - its long impulse jewel being particularly vulnerable.

Strangely the number of mid to good quality watches by Waltham such as the 1908-620 (a favourite of mine) has been in very short supply but hopefully that will change.

J.W. Benson "THE BANK" Half Hunter & April Stock Update

English Watches and good Swiss continue to be hard to get hold of so I have continued to import quality American watches and have now build a small stock of very high grade watches by Waltham in size 16 and 18.

The exception has been a remarkable run of 19 Jewel Rotherham watches with hopefully another, this one for Benson, hopefully going onto the web site at the week end.

The second exception is this cracking Half Hunter by J.W. Benson, "THE BANK" in English silver dating from 1908/9. This is only the third example of the half-hunter version I have had in the last 2 years.

Important information for Customers outside of the UK.

From 1st April 2014 the recently privatised Royal Mail withdrew their international "AirSure" service, the means that the maximum insurance available through the mail is now £250. Fully insured postage over that value is now very expensive (e.g. £70 to Japan!) full details and options available are on the web site.

UK customers are unaffected, their watches will continue to be shipped by RM Special Deliver, fully insured.

“Summer” Office Hours.

The upper reaches of the river Test
near Whitchurch

With the Salmon fishing season now underway in Wales and the Chalk Stream trout season opening in mid-April I will no longer be working 6 or 7 days a week at watches but 4 or 5 instead. So until early October:

Shipping: I will only be able to ship watches on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and either Friday or Saturday, usually alternating week by week.

Order processing and queries: On non-shipping days I will usually be able to answer queries and process orders late in the evening, if not then they will be dealt with first thing the next day. Orders will be processed in the order that they are received.

Web Site

I understand that some customers cannot access the web site, neither was I this morning but I thought it was fixed by lunch time. I am chasing the service provider to find out what is going on and hopefully they will sort things out!

February Market and Stock Update

In the three months to the end of January I sold 90 watches which is far in excess of the rate I can restore them as a “one man band”. During February the number sold dropped significantly, probably as a result of very low inventory, seasonal factors and a bias in my inventory towards more expensive American railroad watches over the last couple of months. But still inventory only increased slightly.

Good quality English watches continue to be in very short supply, I have not had a restorable English Benson or a Rotherham in since November and the next level down is almost as bad. I have therefore been buying a lot of railroad and other high grade Waltham watches from America and probably now have the best selection of these watches available in UK if not in Europe. More are on the way but anecdotal evidence suggests that the US market is also tightening which suggests a worldwide shortage of good quality pocket watches and a general increase in prices of watches for restoration, as I have seen here in the last 4 – 6 months.

With the Salmon and Trout fishing season starting shortly in this part of the world I will “only” be working 4 or 5 days a week (this is meant to be a “retirement” business!), so the current level of demand would be about right for me but enquiries are starting to increase again with the approaching spring wedding season so I anticipate that availability will not improve significantly in the medium term.

E-Mail Problems

Not for the first time Yahoo are having problems with their e-mail system, I am moving to GMail and have set up forwarding but if you were expecting a reply from me and have not received one, please try again.

Yahoo E-Mail Problems! 

Since Christmas at least 3 e-mails I have sent have gone missing and someone I know has lost many more. Then yesterday incoming mail stopped downloading to my computer so I am having to log in on line to retrieve mail which delays things a bit, but even so I am currently able to respond to all emails with 24 hours so if you don't hear from me please resend your message, or message me through Facebook. I am looking for ways around the problem, sorry for any inconvenience.

A slight change of plan.

My Wallingford outlet is to close:

With continuing high demand through the web site and the resultant low stock levels I am no longer able to efficiently stock two antiques centres and I am spending an inordinate amount of time going to one or the other to retrieve watches for dispatch to internet customers. I have therefore decided that I will close the display cabinet at Wallingford shortly after Christmas. Hopefully this will give me a bit more time to restore watches which is what I want to be doing.

More Posts on Facebook

The posts from here till the 14th February 2014 were added when I started the Blog, the originals, some with comments and older posts are to be found there on Facebook