Cordura Alarm, ca. 1975
Sort of a whim purchase, though I've wanted one with this movement for a while. For less money than a couple of pizzas, how wrong can you go?
The movement is a 1970s Ronda 1223 - one of the cheapest alarm movements ever made - now bringing my count of unique alarm movements to 8. (Hey, I'm a completist, and this is one of the cheaper ways to round out the collection.) They made a couple of variants, including 1-jewel and 17-jewel versions and jeweled-lever and pin-lever versions; this is the highest-end (if you can use that term without laughing) version, with 17 jewels, a jeweled lever, and gold plating (I believe that the gold plating was used to indicate the higher-grade jeweled lever). The movement is surprisingly clean and keeping within a minute a day, which is unexpected given the outside cosmetic condition and unknown service history. The alarm signal itself is woefully quiet and underpowered - might notice the vibration on your wrist but it probably wouldn't wake me up on my bedstand.
Under a loupe (or even without it), the watch pretty clearly betrays its plebeian origins; from the gaudy goldtone pot-metal case and ungainly sticky-out crowns to the mediocre dial printing, it's a look that says, "I'm a pimp, but a budget pimp." Nevertheless I've decided to embrace the kitsch on its own merit; I've got a white strap on order. Hey, if you're gonna go cheesy, go all the way.