I love miners (Ernest Borel Chamber of Mines Safety Competition Watch review)

A watch like this is a one-horned cow. Basically, it is a watch that is as rare as a unicorn, but not as sought-after. Trust me, I felt like a genius when I came up with that term.

Service watches are nothing new in my collection. This one is my third, although it may not strictly be a service watch. See, my other two service watches, a gold-plated Omega and gold-plated Eterna, were awarded to employees who worked for twenty-five years at the same employer. The Omega is from the Johannesburg City Council and the Eterna is from the East London Municipality (the East London in South Africa, not East London as in Ilford and Greenwich.) This Ernest Borel was awarded not for long service, but instead to the winner of the annual safety competition held at each mine in the country.

Each year, every mine would host a safety competition. I don't know what it entailed, but I know my paternal grandfather used knowledge gained from those events to perform CPR on his family dog. I don't think my grandfather won a mine safety watch, although he did get a Seiko for long service. That watch has since been pinched after his passing and my uncle never received it. Greedy and jealous family members are likely to blame. Seeing as many mines gave these watches out, they aren't rare. Well, actually they are, because plenty have been destroyed over the years. Miners do a lot, I know that having grown up in a mine town, but one thing they tend not to do is look after watches. When awarded a gold watch for twenty-five years' service, many miners put those watches in safes or bedside tables until they retired or at least until they went to church or a formal dinner. Many miners did not do that and wore them underground. As a consequence, many Omegas, Zeniths and the like were almost totally ruined. A good heap of those got sold on for gold value, as the dials were many times destroyed with the movements not looking much better. My watchmaker has seen it all: many of those poor watches suffered abuse beyond our comprehension. These Ernest Borels fared worse than those. Frankly, I think that the majority of these watches have either been destroyed or are in serious need of restoration.

I elaborated a little more about the condition mine was in in my post on The Escapement Room. I'll stick to reviewing here.

Firstly, the watch is strangely in an uncanny valley between uninspired and quirky. There are some variations of the dial, with some being printed in English and some featuring the province name. The dial is unique and interesting to look at, but as soon as your eyes leave the man hammering a chock or something between the roof and a post, they have nothing to grab onto. I don't know how I feel about the red seconds hand. The case shape is a bit blobbish, but that's era-appropriate. The crown is tiny and makes winding a pain.

Some other variants owned by my watchmaker

The movement is an ETA 2783, which is excellent. It has a three hands and a quickset date. A simple movement by today's standards, yes, but it was nothing to scoff at in 1978. These movements are known for being indestructible and mine was in good knick even after the rest of the watch looked like it went through Hell. After a service, it runs with 300°+ amplitude. Not bad for a ham-fisted oaf and some Moebius 8000. The watch is no longer water resistant due to age taking its toll. I think the crystal might have needed some glue or some sort of sealant when being inserted, but I'm not sure, and frankly, I don't care. No vintage watch is water resistant, even if it is. Quality is good enough. It's on par with most other watches that housed ETAs back in the day. Ernest Borel was quite a respected brand in its heyday, or so I am told. The case is nice and heavy. The more vintage watches I buy, the more I struggle to write reviews. So many watches feel roughly the same to the point that I always feel that I'm being redundant. This is why the conclusions to my more recent reviews have all lacked some pizazz. Good watch. Good dial. I love miners.