Cabot Watch Company watches, I’m finding myself admiring the CWC RN Divers auto, with date.

From people that have worn them, or the …er hum.. black case quartz version (as service watches) i’m told first hand that they are solid and feel well built (this particular guy has his own Seamaster as a comparison). They also have good movements, the workhorse ETA 2824 25 jewel. looks are a bit …military (clearly), and the crystal glass is mineral but all in all they seem nice for the cash. If I could pick up a second hand one I’d be happy.

CWC are nice watches. simple but solid – that diver does look nice, though I’m not a fan of the nylon straps.
I have 10 issued G10s that I’m (very slowly) refurbishing. Will probably be able to fix 5 of them fairly easily, the others I may sell for repair.
the glass is fairly easily scratched/ cracked, but you can get replacements and you can polish it.

G10s have acrylic crystals, less likely to shatter but easily scratched. cheap to replace mind, if you can’t polish out a scratch.

for strength (water pressure resistance) the diver gets glass but only mineral. Apparently it is possible to get domed and anti reflection coated sapphire crystals to fit them and upgrade them. I might do that to one if I was replacing the crystal but otherwise…nah probably not.

I quite like the NATO straps, cheap, strong, light, washable, don’t rot like leather…they suit a tool watch. Think all the CWCs have fixed bars (part of the mil spec) so NATO straps are obligatory unless you unbraze the bars.

Timefactors for a very nice NATO strap.

Bump

Nice! I like that for exactly the same reasons I love my Seiko SPORK:
clarity, totally uncluttered face with lovely big hands and markers.
Tasty.

Yes I agree. Ought to be so though, is the MOD spec dial pattern. The photo I put up is the non date version but the date version is very clear, nice size date window at 3 o’clock.
Supposedly the lume is pretty good too. Not as good as the latest super luminova stuff but it doesn’t ‘charge’ it’s constantly glowing…. Is tritium lume. That’s what the ‘T’ in a circle on the dial denotes.

Blimey! Have I found the one watch that stw had no opinion on? The so called snobs (I include myself here) stumped, and the anti snobs stumped too? Surely not!

I like it a lot. A good, simple watch. I have an Ollech & Weiss at home which I love for similar reasons.

ok, so what about Braun watches? Seem reasonably priced.

Braun

The CWC is OK in a bland sort of way. Crikey though, those Brauns are vile!

I wouldn’t say the Braun’s are vile, they’re very much Braun’s signature style, very simple and uncluttered.
Too thin for my taste, but a good dress watch.
It seems that most posting about the CWC actually do have an opinion, which is that it’s a nice, solid, quality watch.
Not a watch snob myself, what with currently wearing a Casio G-100 G-Shock, and thinking about buying that £15 Casio divers watch as a work back-up. 😀

CWC are now owned by Silvermans I think. Have a look at their website.

I had a wee bout of collecting British military watches a few years back- I still own mechanical cwc, Smiths and Hamilton issued w10’s, and an early (1970) issued Hamilton chronograph, which was an eBay bargain at £120.
Trying to buy issued watches is a bit of a minefield outside of dealers, there’s a lot of fakes and redials around due to the premium they command.

Technically the watches referred to above as g10s are w10s, g10 can refer to any issued watch, I think g10 is the form that’s signed for on receipt.

Good score brakes, where did that lot come from?

yeah okay most people like it, just surpirsed to get so few words on a subject that stw normally says a bit more on.

yes CWC are now owned by Silvermans. Getting a brand new CWC from them, or their ebay shop is easy. There are plenty of fakes or ‘hommage’ watches about but many are easily spotted I think.

I’ve not been looking long but haven’t seen a second hand cwc diver auto come up and have no idea what they command in price. I like the watch…and it is a bargain for its quality in many ways, but not sure I want to pay £525 for one when I could pick up a nearly new ORIS TT1 for tat or even 50 quid less. I think the cwc may hold its value well though.

the black Braun looks…better than the grey 😉

Good score brakes, where did that lot come from?

MOD auction. Bought them blind. Paid a fair sum but should be able to make my money back if I can get half of them working – the rest will be profit.
There’s an interesting mix spanning 20 years or so, issued to Army, Navy and Marines, a couple of fat body ones too.

I personally wouldn’t have a G10 strap – hate them. Too narrow and fiddly for what they are. That would look much better with a steel bracelet on it – or even a normal rubber strap IMHO. The watch itself is a fine, no nonsense dive watch (for non-diving of course).

There’s a mechanical g10 a few hours from ending on eBay. Current bid is 155, so you have a few quid there potentially brakes.

mine are all battery, they seem to go for £60/70 a pop.

Looks East German to me..ex DDR

The mechanical on eBay went for £235!

Nice watch desperately needs a decent bracelet on it like this