Watches N+1…

any love for Moon swatches?

I think they’ve got their following but not my cup of tea, and regarded by many as just a cynical cash grab. Which seems to me an odd criticism of a purely optional purchase.

I bet there are plenty of obsessives out there with the full set by now, here’s the place to own up!

any love for Moon swatches?

great fun! I’d have got one for holidays if they didnt fall apart *quite* so quickly

And as if by confidence on the same day Timex launch a quartz dive gmt at half the price.

yes quartz, but still sapphire and 200m.

https://timex.co.uk/pages/search-results?q=Deepeater

Well the Helm has been sent back to the US for an extended warranty claim and just got notification it’s already arrived in LA from Aus so hopefully they can fix the date not adjusting and the rattly rotor weight which sounds like it’s fallen off it’s pivot/axis.

Biggups to Matt @ Helm for agreeing to warranty, after the 12 month warranty period had expired, and for stating return postage is all covered. A little annoying but if it’s going to be fixed then I’m happy.

@ Kryton

Those Timex are nice – I love the first one with grey bezel and green numerals. Dunno if the pop up appears your end but when I went on the site there was a sign up link for 15% off.

I did yes although I’m not buying currently. I like that Ti diver also, but if I had to buy one it’d be the GMT Diver with a QR bracelet – a whole lot of watch for effectively sub £200.   Jnr is 16 in Jan and im thinking that could be a good gift, especially as he likes to travel.

Yeah also liking the Timex, I’ve signed up to be notified when it comes into stock.

I like the blue gmt on a rubber strap.

Talking of cheap fun, whilst bored at home with man flu I rediscovered MN straps:

Bloody hell how did I forget the comfort and infinite adjustability!   Just ordered a couple more, £12 amazon recommendations, most notably a dark grey / light grey stripe for the Slim Turtle.

My Erebus Ascent arrived a few weeks ago and I’ve been wearing it a fair bit. It’s outstanding value for money, but I’m still not sure it’s my kind of watch. It seems (to me) to be too shiny for everyday wear, it feels like a dress watch. I’ve tried it on leather and canvas straps and that dresses it down nicely but it also highlights the small size of the case. It’s only 1mm smaller than my Seiko SPB143 but it wears smaller off the bracelet.

This popped up on my feed the other day. For an everyday watch, I’m sorely tempted. I like those recent Timex releases but they look too similar to my Seiko, these look different enough and are properly set and forget.

Seiko Solar Divers £470 (steel)

https://oracleoftime.com/seiko-prospex-solar-diver-41mm/

Blimey £470 and they put Sapphire in it.  They finally listened.   That’s quite compelling, if I hadn’t just put the above 5kx/ strap combo together I was thinking of selling the 5kx, and I’d replace it with that if I didn’t have the King Sam & slim turtle & Arnie already lol.

I’d be quite compelled by that as a beater / holiday watch TBH.

Edit: available as backorder with 10% off at Firstclasswatches.

Kryton57Full Member
Talking of cheap fun, whilst bored at home with man flu I rediscovered MN straps:

Question: how well do you find they hold the weight of the watch in place? I’m not a NATO fan mainly because I hate the way the watch rattles around on my wrist and feels unbalanced; figure MN should be better, but you might need to have it pretty tight on the wrist to keep everything in place?

Well, the 5kx above doesn’t move around at all no matter how hard I shake my wrist, bear in mind you can do up an MN strap pretty tight and it’s still comfortable due to the elasticity, and that same elasticy is pulling the Watch to sit very flush on your wrist anyway.

The material is also basically a loop a la NATO, and the friction of it – even under the caseback – stops it rotating.    When the new ones arrive I’ll stick one on the Panerai for the acid test and report back.  🙂

Buy a cheap one from eBay/amazon and give it a go.

Question: how well do you find they hold the weight of the watch in place?

They can feel a bit unbalanced compared with a bracelet because all the weight will be on one side of the wrist but I’ve always found them secure enough, even with a (relatively) heavy diver. They’re very comfy.

I’ve finally found on my Tudor Heritage Chrono Blue again, it’s time to sell it. Is the consensus here that ebay’s still the best place to sell? Any advice/ guidance/ things to bear in mind?

It’s been a while since I sold owt on ebay, and nothing as serious as a ‘proper’ watch.

TheLittlestHoboFree Member
Value is in…….£1000

I think i will try ebay and put it at £1500 reserve.

How did you get on with selling yours btw Hobo; did you get what you’d hoped for? How was the process of sending it off to ebay’s assessor etc?

The Erebus do look a little similar to…. Say a Helm Vanuatu….?

But not as good.

There’s something about the Erebus…..a mix of this and that….. its the watch equivalent of Homer Simpson ‘s car.

I quite like the Erebus, I prefer it over the Helm….beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that…..

(With my watch collection its clear I have no idea on what looks good or not!)

I kinda like the textured dial on the Erebus but not much else. Even their logo looks a bit Helmy. Copying is the best form of flattery, I guess.

Every time I looked at that Erebus (the one at the top of the page, not the one a few posts up), I would be thinking ‘not a Grand Seiko’ and looking wistfully at the Grand Seiko website, again

I’d be constantly thinking “Helloooooooo” every time I looked at it. 😀

Seiko Solar Diver watches have been amazingly affordable I thought. If I didn’t have an older Kinetic version of same be tempted particularly the PADI specials seem be available widely for £100 less: eg  https://www.goldsmiths.co.uk/Seiko-Prospex-Prospex-Sea-PADI-Solar-Diver-quote.s-43.5mm-Mens-Watch-Blue-SNE549J1/p/18280239?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmjqHvuLK5iOnQv2Jc326nR4NMEU&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx53qoe-QiQMVp4hQBh1D2Cn8EAQYASABEgKU9fD_BwE

Solid wear anywhere and not so much worry about cost but nice looking watch that runs way inside mechanical  chronometer spec … and not a beater …

I have a seiko solar diver in titanium which my OH imported from Japan, it is by far my most worn watch. Very light, comfortable with great lume.

Anyone on here got a new Bulova Jetstar?

My mate has one and he’s smitten. It looks really nice with the dark red face.

Accuracy should be -20 to +40 seconds a day for a Seiko 5. There’s no real point in servicing a cheap watch, a new movement will be cheaper. If you send it away for a service that’s what they’ll do.

I downloaded one of those accuracy checking apps and it is running about 160secs a day slow.

So who would I send it off to for a new movement?

Any local jeweler would do that swap for you. In fact with a few cheap tools and some YouTube instructions you could likely do it yourself if you get a new movement off eBay like Murray suggested. I did with an old SKX diver. Just be aware if you do upgrade at the same time, you’ll need a new stem and crown too because the original won’t fit.

I downloaded one of those accuracy checking apps and it is running about 160secs a day slow.

So who would I send it off to for a new movement?

Any local jeweler would do that swap for you. In fact with a few cheap tools and some YouTube instructions you could likely do it yourself if you get a new movement off eBay like Murray suggested. I did with an old SKX diver. Just be aware if you do upgrade at the same time, you’ll need a new stem and crown too because the original won’t fit.

Don’t be too hasty, the SKX movement is a doddle to regulate yourself. I’ve got two, and after a bit of fiddling (which is especially easy using one of those apps) they run nicely to time.

The little screw pot with +/- next to it?

Worth a go I guess… How much of a turn is it likely to need? And presumably turn it to + to speed it up?

Is it as simple as that?

You don’t turn the screw, you move the little lever, and you only need teensy-tiny movements. And yeah, + to speed up, it’ll be a bit trial and error to gauge exactly how much or little you need to move it, but if you’ve got the app you can check each time.

There are actually two levers, you need move the top one. The bottom one sets the beat, leave that alone unless you really can’t get it running to time.

There’s tonnes of how-to’s on YouTube.

How much of a turn is it likely to need?

.

A tiny movement produces a substantial effect IME. It could take a while to get a reasonable result though, unless you’re using a timegrapher or some sort of app you’ll have to wait a fair while to see the effect of what you’ve done.

Have you been wearing it regularly? An old watch plucked out of a drawer after being there a while will often need to settle into regular running on the wrist so I’d make sure it’s been worn for a few days before making any judgements on its accuracy or attempting to regulate it.

Cheers, I’ve watched a video now. I’ll order a cheap case opener and give it a go, with tiny nudges.

I wear it most of the time apart from when I swap to my Garmin either for a few days at a time or holidays etc. So it doesn’t sit around too much.

Can anyone suggest a good watch box brand? My collection of Nixon’s has grown in size and value so feel it fitting to house them in something other than the Amazon special they’re currently in.

I had a moment of inspiration and got an Archer NATO for the Panerai (sorry, if I knew how to make pics smaller I would):

it arrived a bit more blue/grey than the olive/grey 20mm I already have but I think it looks ok.  It seems to snug down on my wrist well also bearing in mind the weight of the watch.   I’ve installed it single pass, and I think the polished hardware adds balance.

it kinda surprised me how good it looks, so now I’m waiting for someone here to tell me I’ve got vision issues and actually…. 😀

It seems to snug down on my wrist well

It does, I’ve always found NATOs to be a bit prone to leaving the watch sitting high unless cinched a bit too tight, especially when new but that’s conforming very nicely.

You should see how it looks with a nice watch.

Update on the slow Seiko 5…

Started at 180 seconds a day slow, now 58 secs / day I think.

Will check it again tomorrow and give it another little nudge forward.

To counter any Monday afternoon blues here is some watch porn to cheer everyone up!

A wee while ago I was seriously considering: https://www.watchfinder.co.uk/Bremont/Martin%20Baker/MBII-WH%2FOR/30789/item/304456

Love the white dial pilot aesthetic, but I’m increasingly drawn to smaller rather than large … I didn’t buy it and it sold … and not that common on second market but you never know … but since looking at similar (to my eye) aesthetics … and currently drawn to smaller and thinner …  https://nomos-glashuette.com/en/store/watches?o=9&cf=11#/en/ahoi/ahoi-neomatik-560

If that Nomos was matt brushed steel or ti …

Monday Watch Porn – enjoy!

Both very nice. I have that knurled crown on a dive watch and they are by far the best grip of any crown.

The Nomos is lovely. Also see the Junghans Max Bill range which may fit in with that style.

Anyone own a Steeldive sd1992? Kinda like the look of the white face / silver bezel on orange rubber strap. Cheap on Ali-Ex @ $130. Wondering what Steeldive’s lume is like? I understand it’s not going to match my Helm in any way but… Tempting.

Check ebay for steeldive watches, I noticed a fair few on there when I was looking for my monster

I looked at the steel dive watches a wee while ago, am sure they can be found for even less than $130 on Ali express.

they look great value and reviews are mostly good. As a beater watch they probably take a lot of beating 🙂 they do look like really good blatant copies of some recent Seilo watches.

i didn’t buy one, was tempted but at the end of the day i have some nice Seikos i should wear more often & so stopped myself

this from long island watches has piqued my interest though

https://longislandwatch.com/spinnaker-x-islander-bradner-gmt-automatic-watch-with-blue-and-orange-dial-sp-5150-liw44/