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Googling Seiko 5 and lots came up on Etsy. Does anybody buy from there, can recommend any sellers? I like the Orient Bambino's. Probably looking at about £100 and fairly understated looking, plain leather strap for example. My dad has a nice Omega which I hope to inherit one day but he may decide to leave it to my son.
I'd take a Orient Bambino over a copycat brand any day. Their own design and they look nice.
Another interesting historical watch in the collection. Mid 1980s Seiko Memo Diary (UW02). Fully functional
An no i havent worn it since the clock change 😀
I've many reasonably strong opinions about various watches and chief amongst them is that the only real Bambino is a mk1 and the rest are basically heresy - other than the mk4 which I'll grudgingly accept. The mk5 however, well, that can get in the sea.
Merry Christmas!!
Another interesting piece from the collection
Vostok Amphibia - Восток Амфибия - (with Komandirskie Dial)
(about Vostok Amphibia https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-vostok-amphibia-scuba-dude-reference-420380)
@SSS That's not a brand I've come across before. Thanks for the link.
I have the IWC Pilot Mark XV1 on today.
Merry Christmas everybody.
Love a Vostock. I've got 3 Komandirskie, one USSR era paratrooper and a new submarine with the grey Titanium oxide coating. Final one is more of a Amphibia because its got 200m water resistance but says Komandirskie on the bright yellow dial.
Too much showroom bling here, anyone got anything "lived in" - had this 27 years and going strong. Recently serviced and had a few firm conversations about not restoring it.
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Bloody hell, that Sub looks like it's had a hard life... 🙃
My Seamaster is 20 years old this year and is looking like it is too
i like the scuffs and scratches. Looks like a proper tool that’s been worn and loved. It’s the only watch I have no desire to sell
Christmas Day watch today is my Visodate with a silver dial. Not expensive but a handsome thing regardless
Jeepers! What happened to dent the bezel?
Jeepers! What happened to dent the bezel?
It hit a rock. Quite hard. Underwater. That's one of the reasons I don't want it sorted, that dent is part of a memory for me.
Deflected a bullet while battling Spectre agents.
Edit - one second earlier that might have been vaguely amusing
Deflected a bullet while battling Spectre agents
Actually yeah that, the rock story is just my cover 😀
And too slow / fast again
Rubber B but I'm not impressed for the £, it's not lasted well (though obvs doesn't get an easy life with all the fighting evil criminal masterminds)
Have you considered looking into getting an endorsement deal? 😀
Happy Boxing Day!
I always fancied a JLC Master Calendar. I dont have a JLC in my collection. I did think about one before the PP.
Well lived in..... circa 1952 Rolex Speedking
It was my late fathers watch. The crown needs replaced as the screw threads have worn.
A lovely thing to be passed on. Nice dial too.
From a time that Rolex's were just decent watches and not expensive investments or an indictor of significant wealth, (obviously doesn't apply to everyone on here - thepurist particularly!)
From a time that Rolex’s were just decent watches and not expensive investments or an indictor of significant wealth
Indeed the choice of communist revolutionaries;
https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-blog/just-because/rolex-watches-che-guevara.html
Jeez. Rock/bullet to bezel, ouch. I imagine a bruised wrist too!
Todays watch of the day 😀
I was given this as a gift from workmates as a leaving present. They knew i liked watches, and i used to say to them 'free mickey mouse watch with every project..'
I believe it to be a mass produced 1960s Ingersoll Mickey Mouse watch (even tho it doesnt have Ingersoll on the dial).
It doesnt have any great value, and as a mechanical wind up watch, it keeps terrible time, 5 minutes out every day.
But it is quite funky 😀
@SSS, do you rotate regularly? I must admit, I find it stressful and culled my collection of about 30 down to 8 so far, with a few more to go. I know it can change but all I want to wear day to day is my 214270 Exp, then Pelagos for the sea, g-shock for mtb, VC for formal. I'd like a very highly finished steel watch too but it can wait.
Missus' 50th is coming up so I'm mulling over JLC Reverso (red dial with diamonds) vs Cartier Tank but the new steel Musts look so sterile, and the step up to gold is v v large...
Gaidong, my wife has the Cartier Tank. Hers has the diamond bezel on a leather strap. It’s ok, but it just sort of looks dated. It’s about 4 years old. She feels old wearing it. She wears mens watches most of the time (Rolex Explorer or Breitling Superocean on a leather strap).
My answer to rotation was fairly simple….COVID struck and half of my collection is out in the States, so I’m down to just 6. But tend to wear only three of these. My daily is my Seiko Prospex divers, Oris TT for out and about and my BB58 when I go somewhere nicer. I have a Panerai and a Rolex Explorer II that I’ve not seen for over three years….guess I’m going to have a fairly large servicing bill to come.
@gaidong the only 2 i rotate regularly is the SMP 300 and the Submariner (no date). The Vostok comes a close 3rd. The 5146r and a Speedmaster Triple Date i have generally get the least wear as the complications and setting up. I dont use a watch winder. The others get wear time when i feel like a change, but with COVID and WFH, i would change often especially with going into the office.
Just got the Submariner back from a service few weeks back, so shes 'back in the game'....
The ones on my radar are perhaps a U-Boat as i quite like the look and style, a Breguet XXI in rose gold, a JLC Master Calendar (in steel) and a Omega AquaTerra 15000 Gauss.
The wife has a Tag Aquaracer with diamond face and bezel. She wants a 2 tone DateJust, but she doesnt wear a watch! So until she wears the AquaRacer regularly.....
Thanks W00dster and SSS,
One of the watches I sold was a 9002 U-Boat actually. Nothing wrong with it but I wasn't wearing it, which pains me. I actually want my watches to get enough patina, namely my 214270, so it'll mean more to my son when he gets it (I've got him wearing his first mechanical at 13 and he doesn't take it off :D). His name is Constantin, so obviously he'll get the VC too. And then I think of my daughter, who should inherit from her mum. They're both into horses, hence the oft-repeated link to the Reverso, but also the style is right up my wife's alley.
The Tank Louis are very nice but, IMO, need to be in gold to give them a bit of warmth. I've seen this Americaine in the flesh and it is extremely feminine.
Choices choices. I'm not going to go blind into such a big spend though. I'll take her to the shop and just ask the sales rep to hide all the prices, or she'll go ap€sh1t!
Ive only ever seen a Reverso once up close and personal, on the wrist of a guy i used to work with about 10 years ago.
The Master Calendar Perpetual is a steal compared to the Master Calendar!!
vs
Maybe change my mind 😀 @gaidong so many nice watches, decisions decisions!
Bought myself a new everyday wear watch a couple of weeks ago - a Christopher Ward C63 Sealander GMT. It's a good size for my little wrist (39mm), not too deep (11.85mm), Sellita SW330-2 movement with a 56 hour power reserve. Cordura/rubber blue/orange strap to match my bike too!
I bought a C60 trident bronze a couple of years ago - this is that little bit smaller.
</wrist nazi>
That looks nice. Is it on the approved limb...?
<wrist nazi>
It is if you're left handed!
My wife has a stainless steel quartz tank on bracelet. I think it's classic and elegant, she never ever ever ever ever ever wears it (which irritates a bit). She's worried of marking it. FFS, it's really not that expensive
@neilnevill, I don't think they look bad. Being a few years old, I presume your wife's is a Tank Solo, with the flattened brancards? At least that was its own watch. The new SS Musts have exactly the same shape as the Tank Louis, which has always been in precious metal. To my mind (like they care!), they are undermining their white gold Louis offering with the SS Musts. The WG Tanks are, currently, exclusively with diamonds but you can get the Musts with that too. Makes no sense.
Thats a nice Christopher Ward there @beej Nice and fresh and clean lines. Very clear too.
I havent worn the Triple Date in a while, so here it is
There wasnt much love for this model. It wasnt a true Speedy moonwatch, and it was based on the Valjoux 7751 (modified by Omega as the 3606 calibre).
I picked this up at less than 50% price at an AD. It had sat in the window for over 8 months so it got included in the sale window (with an Ebel 1911).
Its also on my right wrist to trigger @boblo OCD 😀
She’s worried of marking it
Pfft show how her my sub and SSS's speedking - though that probably counts as having a patina rather than being battered!
Too much showroom bling here, anyone got anything “lived in”
Well, my TAG Series 1000 certainly is! I have posted a photo of it before, but I’ll put another up just to prove it.
You’ll have to zoom in a bit, the wear is apparent on the edges of the lugs. The bracelet is very worn, but it’s never really fitted me very well and rattles, so it wears a James Bond nylon, the correct colours, not the grey and blue ones. Just to add, it’s not the original face, which had Series 1000 underneath the logo - the retaining pins broke and it went back for repairs and that was the face it came back with. Apparently there were a number of variants, as it was Heuer’s first dive/sport watch, and their first watch with TAG, so some variants just had Heuer, some like mine is now, and some had Series 1000. Bugger-all I could do about it really, it went back through the retailer in Bath I’d bought it from.
Tbh I don't know, I didn't buy it, she bought it (in a staff sale) before we met. Honestly, I can only think of once in a decade she's written it, it lives in the safe, I check it's still running one or twice a year, change the battery when needed, put it back in the safe. She wears my old 1961 manual wind seamaster if she wears a watch at all. I keep suggesting things that she might like but....
That's nice count, I like it.
Here you go, one for the (plastic) aficionados 😛
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I took a couple more photos of the TAG earlier, it’s tricky to get an idea of how ‘patinated’ it is, but I’ve included the bracelet which does show some wear and tear…
…and before some smartass makes a comment about the date being wrong, I haven’t worn it for yonks, but amazingly it was exactly an hour out, bar a few seconds, but I forgot to reset the calendar. There are other versions with a white date background as well. It was early days, so TAG/Heuer were basically winging it.
If I wanted a nice looking watch for not much, just for the occasional time when I go out and my old plastic Casio isn’t appropriate, what should I look for?
don’t know your budget, but a thd Longines Conquest quartz looks like a good buy. That said, i’m not sure if they are still available in the UK. they were £400 and have a carrera/explorer look.
alternatively, a quartz Grand Seiko or for less, one of the many great looking Seikos. you may need to order from overseas, though.
edit: some lovely watches turning up on this thread. the one time i was comfortable making a big watch purchase, i bottled it! i just couldn’t do it.