I didn't know about the Sala book, so I started to make this. Maybe someone will find it useful.

CarSnob · Feb 19, 2015

Hi all. I'm new around here, but I've been wanting a Tri-Compax for quite a while. I started to make this a few days ago when I decided to try and make my own little resource to refer to. It's not quite complete, but it's pretty well filled out in the areas that I'm most interested in, which is Polerouters and Compaxes (Uni/Tri/Compur/Medico/Space/etc.). I'll be adding more to it tomorrow so it'll be a constantly growing thing to make it more and more "complete". It's essentially a bunch of stacked folders that you can use to see an example of a watch based on parts. The flow goes: Model>Case Metal>Pusher Shape (no pushers for Polerouters)>Dial Index/Marker Style>Hand Style>Case Diameter. I tried to make the pictures of non-redials and legit watches only, but for "rarer" watches I included redials and clearly marked them in the file name. The pictures come from here, eBay, Caso Watches, and a bunch of other places.

Here's a link to the dropbox. It's not done uploading but it should finish up soon and you can take a look through it.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6w8m1gp2skc70ds/AACfVSgXI2COaIVTUfcWhz59a?dl=0

x3no · Feb 19, 2015

Sweet, checking this out now. I've got a "less organized" version of this on my macbook air. Nice job with the organization!

CarSnob · Feb 19, 2015

Thanks. It might be hard to find pictures if you're just looking through it because I based everything on a pretty generalized format, but if you have a specific configuration in mind you might be able to find it.

LouS · Feb 19, 2015

I guess there are not yet a lot of pics in the folder? Because I keep coming up with "Empty Folder"

x3no · Feb 19, 2015

LouS
I guess there are not yet a lot of pics in the folder? Because I keep coming up with "Empty Folder"

Nope, only a handful in there currently as I'm finding out. More folders than pics at the moment 😒

CarSnob · Feb 19, 2015

Sorry guys it will get better in the next few days, I will admit it's a little skeletal. Currently there are quite a few empty folders because I couldn't find anything to fill them with. I thought it would be easier to start out with a broad format and then fill in specific things than to make entirely new categories and paths later. You have to start out with a pretty specific idea of what you want to get a picture. Some stuff may just not even exist (for example, a pink gold square pusher Space Compax) but there will be a category for it because I just copy/pasted a lot of folders and attributes that mainly apply to 40's/50's chronographs. To get an idea of how it should work you can use pretty much any current eBay listing.

Edit: One working path is Triple Date>Stainless Steel>No Pushers>Printed Markers>Cathedral Hands>35mm

LouS · Feb 19, 2015

Don't be sorry. It's a heroic effort. Let's see what happens.

SeanO · Feb 20, 2015

if you're looking for examples try vintagewatchforums.com

Dave has a Hamilton database that should provide some guidance as to construction.

woodwkr2 · Feb 20, 2015

If you're going to set one of these up and expend all of this time, I would highly, highly encourage you to read up a little bit about database design before taking on this project.

Your filing system--while logical--is almost cumbersome to the point being dysfunctional.

Great idea! Just... there's just a better way to store the information.

A SQL database or even a custom Evernote notebook with extensive tagging would be more useful to you IMHO

CarSnob · Feb 20, 2015

woodwkr2
If you're going to set one of these up and expend all of this time, I would highly, highly encourage you to read up a little bit about database design before taking on this project.

Your filing system--while logical--is almost cumbersome to the point being dysfunctional.

Great idea! Just... there's just a better way to store the information.

A SQL database or even a custom Evernote notebook with extensive tagging would be more useful to you IMHO

Any recommendations for reading? I go to a technical school so I pretty much have an entire reference library at my disposal. I started streamlining it a bit today so there are less useless folders but I know very little about what I should be looking for and I keep finding new models so I end up making new folders to fit a new category.

eustace · Feb 20, 2015

woodwkr2
If you're going to set one of these up and expend all of this time, I would highly, highly encourage you to read up a little bit about database design before taking on this project.

Your filing system--while logical--is almost cumbersome to the point being dysfunctional.

Great idea! Just... there's just a better way to store the information.

A SQL database or even a custom Evernote notebook with extensive tagging would be more useful to you IMHO

Agreed. Heroic effort but it needs to be in a database. I would suggest PHP/MySQL. I'm sure if you sniff around at Sourceforge you will find a suitable codebase that already exists. If I were a few years younger, I would do the coding myself. Any takers here?

woodwkr2 · Feb 20, 2015

Agree on PHP/ MySQL. Check to see if you have access to the Lynda.com tutorials.

x3no · Feb 20, 2015

I do this for a living.. Too bad I don't have time, wouldn't be too hard to put together. 😗

Diabolik · Feb 21, 2015

Excellent idea. As with all data warehouses, speedy access is the key. A warehouse of data that cannot be accessed is pretty useless. Just a thought, why not wrap your logical structure into something that can be easily referenced by type, model number and year ? MySQL and PHP seem to be the obvious tools to do something like that, you could then host it and "Tay daaaaahhh "

I think there are some good examples on the interweb like bid fun ...

CarSnob · Feb 22, 2015

Hi everyone. Thanks for the advice. I downloaded that MySQL and opened a few folders but then I realized I don't know anything about Java or hosting a server or anything like that. Until I learn, or get one of my CompSci friends to help me out on this, I've started to trim away some of the excess empty folders so you don't have to work as hard to find pictures. I should have all the fat trimmed away by Tuesday or Wednesday, as well as new pictures all the time. Hopefully I'll figure out that better format soon.

woodwkr2 · Feb 22, 2015

Through your tech school, you may have a lynda.com subscription. Check into this option. It's a great place to get started.

CarSnob · Feb 23, 2015

woodwkr2
Through your tech school, you may have a lynda.com subscription. Check into this option. It's a great place to get started.

Will do. It's probably a good thing to get familiar with anyway.

waXology · Feb 24, 2015

This is a fantastic idea. Would be amazing to get a solid database together. Agree, dropbox is not the best way to do it though.

watchsnob · Feb 24, 2015

This is very nice good work

x3no · Mar 19, 2015

Just bought universalchrono.com .. will try to make this something based on this article.. where we can standardize all of our UG information that is in Sala, as well as all the models, etc, etc.

More to come hopefully.. If anyone would like to help with this, private message me!