Watches N+1…

Anyone seen an Elliot Brown in the flesh?

They look quite tidy in the pics… and British?

I’d never heard of them and now I’ve looked at their website I think I know all I need to. They don’t look horrible but from what I could gather in a couple of minutes they look to be charging 400-odd quid for a case wrapped round £20 worth of low end Swiss quartz movement, and their website is an absolute masterclass in utter bullshit and misplaced apostrophes.

Not my cup of tea.

£20 worth of low end Swiss quartz movement

That one up there ^^ claims to be automatic.

That one up there ^^ claims to be automatic.

Looks like it, but that’s not one of the £400 watches I was referring to. They’re looking for £800 for that one.

I’ve got a canford.

They are owned by one of the original owners of animal and there original watch designer

It’s a big watch, mine has a metal strap which also makes it a heavy watch.

It seems well made (probably over built for what it needs)

But I like it and a thynham is on my wish list

The thynham is a bit smaller which should make it a bit more usable.

That said they are overpriced new and depreciate like a lead balloon. Have a look on ebay and you can often pick one up that’s been hardly worn for less than half what they are new.

I’ve got a Canford, really nice solid watch in the flesh and gets great reviews across various watch websites even though they acknowledge that on paper it doesn’t look great value.

I’ve had a couple of email conversions with the owner and always found him to be a really helpful guy.

Just spotted this on the G-Shock site

Titanium original

Bit spendy, really quite spendy, but has my stealth smug gland twitching.

cheers for the Elliot Brown comments.

Weight is something that’s not really mentioned with watches, which surprises me a bit, as it surely is a factor. I usually wear either a Swatch or a Boss, as both are nice and light. I also have a cheap ‘diver’ watch (Accurist) but that’s noticeably heavier and nowhere near as nice to wear. Maybe I have weak wrists…

I guess titanium would help, over heavy steel?

Who does good sub-£400 watches then johnners?

The default answer for sub £400 watches in usually a seiko of some form. (But if every one had the same watch life would be boring)

Well made, good value in house movement, usually automatic, big choice of styles and good value (especially if you look at creation watches and get lucky and don’t get picked up by customs)

If your thinking of an Elliot brown then a seiko samouri or turtle would be worth looking at aswell

Or a hamtun titanium watch with a seiko nh35 movement

Kraken H2 Black

Or you could end up like me wanting one of each

£400 ish I’d agree with itlab and look at Seiko as 1 option.
I’d also be looking at the Orient watches on Creation, the various Mako models are well worth a look.

Sub £400, Steinhart. Much better than they ought to be for the price!

On the Canford front, I’ve had one for several years and inspite of the cost to value ratio I still love it.

It does weigh a fair bit though.

I’m not in any way delicate with watches either, so it’s probably more me than them. That being said, I’ve trashed 2 leather straps (retainer band for the strap tail snapping off on both). I’ve had 2 of the rubber straps where the sizing pin tore through the rubber. It seemed to have a faulty crown at some point and would stop randomly despite the battery being ok (this was replaced free of charge). Most recently I dropped it and gave it a good bang on a tiled floor, I now have an Ellio Brown as the t went stray and ended up stuck to the inside of the glass for a while.

So in summary, yes it’s expensive, yes it’s hardy but not unbreakable. It’s one of my favourite looking watches still (Stainless case with a black face and silver hands – it was a custom spec originally). It beats the crap out of my delicate wrist when I wear it, I have quite a lump on the bone at my wrist that it rests on. Customer service has been great with hand written notes from Alex back in the day. However, I’m currently riding to work daily and using a garmin to track my rides and runs so it doesn’t get worn much at all, the garmin is functional, but I have no love for it stylistically.

Found this one, which is similar to the Canford but a lot cheaper…

Seiko SNK 809 – £61 at Creation

Any opinions in here about the Tissot Seastar 1000? Looking for a dive watch roughly in that ball park figure, something I’ll be keeping forever as it’ll have sentiment behind it.

Any recommendations similar to that?

https://www.tissotwatches.com/en-gb/shop/t1204071105100.html

I’ve got one of those @reggiegasket and it’s cracking for the money, keeps good time, no complaints.
It’s not a big watch, 38mm if memory serves but it sits well on the wrist.

Nice one Lunge. Just seeing if there’s a blue face version to buy in the UK.

I’d probably swap out the strap for a rubber one but that should be no problem as it’s a std 18mm lug.

Who does good sub-£400 watches

It depends – sub £400 is a huge category, and despite the impression you can get from the enthusiasts of the high end stuff the vast majority of watches sold are sub £400. It’s also totally subjective, if I was looking for a big brand with an in-house movement Seiko and Orient have a lot of pieces in that price range, and in loads of styles from chrono to dive to field, and more dressy stuff too. If you want something Swiss some Hamilton and Oris will just edge into the sub £400 category. It really depends what style of watch you’re after too, but if I were looking for value and originality I’d probably head for a smaller manufacturer or a micro brand. Among all the homages you’ll find a lot of original designs, usually wrapped round a dependable Japanese movement from Seiko or Miyota, or maybe even a Selita or ETA at the higher end of that price range.

BTW, every watch I own is sub £400, almost all of them very comfortably so!

Found this one, which is similar to the Canford but a lot cheaper…

Seiko SNK 809 – £61 at Creation

I’ve got a SNK805 – same watch but with a green face. I love it, it was my daily watch for several years. Very different size to the Canford though, much smaller (37mm vs 44mm) and shower proof at best vs the Canford’s 20atm. The SNG15 might be a better bet, it’s got 10atm water resistance and splits the size difference at 41mm. Still only £77 at Creation.

Creation has a Hamiltion Khaki Field for £225… (a bit similar to this one).. must resist

https://www.creationwatches.com/products/hamilton-watches-250/hamilton-khaki-field-quartz-h68551833-mens-watch-11224.html

I actually prefer the smaller faces/dials.

Anything over 40mm in a field/dress watch just looks a tad too big IMO.

I actually prefer the smaller faces/dials.

Anything over 40mm in a field/dress watch just looks a tad too big IMO.

Totally – I’ve a few 42mm divers which I think wear OK because the bezel takes something off the apparent size, but I’ve a Flieger and a chrono in the same 42mm which always look bigger.

Well with all that talk of G Shocks and me favouring brass watches currently, I bring you
GST-B200G-2AER:

Coated, solar, bluetooth for time zones, alarms etc and and and and…. Carbon 88g.   But – is it fugly or charmingly unique?  I can’t decide.

But – is it fugly or charmingly unique?

Hideous

😀

But – is it fugly or charmingly unique?

God, I can’t really tell. The face doesn’t look legible enough for my failing sight which rules it out for me, though at least the digi display looks a useful size for once. I don’t hate it.

me favouring brass watches currently

Seen the Ventus Mori and Northstar? Actual brass rather than the usual bronze and just released after filling their kickstarter orders (I think). Employing that old chestnut of an impending price rise to promote sales!

Charming isn’t the word I’d use. Butch you can have.

Just been to see about my broken SKX, (couple of pages back now) the watchmaker says it’s not winding, which I’m a bit dubious of, but he is going to repair it. Taken him a week to get that far, good job I’m in no massive hurry for it! 😁

Seen the Ventus Mori and Northstar?

Just googled – yes they look nice.   About that G Shock, the more I look at it the better it gets as an “unusual” talking point.  Of course its technically its very adept also.  I reckon its a bit of a marmite watch for sure.

The issue I take with Omega is that their Moonwatch still comes with a 1861 movement which is almost as old as the Speedmaster design itself. I know its a workhorse movement that has pedigree etc etc which holds a lot of weight – but it becomes hard to justify it’s tolerance of +/- 10sec tolerance when even the “cheapest” of Rolex watches comes with a Superlative Chronometer Official Certification which is +/- 2sec … it’s a noticeable difference. Last time I checked my Explorer it came in a +0 secs…

If they changed the movement it would no longer be the only watch certified for EVA and NASA would be forced to evaluate a bunch of new watches. I bet they’d choose something different after 50-odd years of progress and it would be marketing suicide from Omega’s perspective.

If you want a different movement there are plenty of other Speedmasters to choose from. The fact that the Moonwatch has barely changed in 50 years is one of the main reasons I love it and I can live with mine gaining a consistent 5s per week.

I’ve been inspired, by this thread, to revive my +1, which has been sitting in a drawer for 5 years.
It’s a Christopher Ward Quartz Chrono, and from memory when I took it in to the local jeweller 5 years ago for a battery change, they said there was nothing wrong with the battery, it was the movement. The crown also doesn’t screw in.

I’ve sent it back to Christopher Ward, and have just been presented with a £300 quote for a service and repair, which includes a new case. The watch cost me about £130 brand new! I’ve asked why it might need a new case, so I’ll wait to see what they say.

The market rate for a quartz service seems to be about £120. Forgive my ignorance, but when a new movement (ISA 8174-220) seems to be about £38, wouldn’t it be cheaper and easier to just swap out the movement, rather than servicing the old one? What am I missing?

CW will replace the movement at service – makes no sense to pay one of their watchmakers 3-4 hours labour to service the old one when a new movement is so cheap. Replacing the case because the crown won’t screw down sounds fishy. If the threads on the crown tube are gone the tube can be replaced in minutes and they only cost a couple of quid. They’ll probably fit a new crown rather than replacing the gasket in the old one, maybe new pushers too. You’re looking at £60-80 worth of parts there if the case tube is replaced and two hours max to do. This is why Rolex, Swatch group and an increasing number of other manufacturers won’t supply parts to independent repairers – far too much profit in it when you have a monopoly on spares.

If they changed the movement it would no longer be the only watch certified for EVA and NASA would be forced to evaluate a bunch of new watches. I bet they’d choose something different after 50-odd years of progress and it would be marketing suicide from Omega’s perspective.

If you want a different movement there are plenty of other Speedmasters to choose from. The fact that the Moonwatch has barely changed in 50 years is one of the main reasons I love it and I can live with mine gaining a consistent 5s per week.

You’re right – I hadn’t considered the NASA certified aspect too much. That’s a huge draw of the speedy – the fact it’s still certified for flight.

Though saying that – they sell the sapphire version as ‘certified’ – but NASA only certified/flew with the hesalite version, right? So there must be some leeway in that certification. I wonder if the movement is the crux of it. They also flew with the 321 movement (which Omega have just reintroduced) so wonder if they’ve already certified the 1861 once before.

Anyway – I really don’t like the co-axial speedmasters. Well, not compared to the professional anyway. I fell in love with the history and still love my Speedy! I wore it yesterday, in fact.

If you want a spaceflight certified watch the Casio G-Shock DW-5600c is the one!

Gahhhhh, bloody image linking.

I’ll try again with this:

“I’m someone who hasn’t got the money to burn on Rolex’s etc, so am a budget peruser.

So far my favourite is my custom 80’s SX007 7002 (and a couple of broken ones). Have a few Seiko 5’s, a couple of Vostoks, etc. I also have a couple of Grayton Harriers which were an interesting Amazon find.

Was a bit of a Master copy collector, but found that they generally couldn’t take daily use, often failing when knocked or dropped. I do fancy one of those Parnis’s tho…

However my pride and joy is my quartz Heuer Diver 980.006 – a rare and appreciating little curio – 40mm case, but super tough.”

Also, obligatory Garmin, but who cares about a FR235.

Don’t forget this beauty is available for about £550.

You’re right – I hadn’t considered the NASA certified aspect too much. That’s a huge draw of the speedy – the fact it’s still certified for flight.

Though saying that – they sell the sapphire version as ‘certified’ – but NASA only certified/flew with the hesalite version, right? So there must be some leeway in that certification. I wonder if the movement is the crux of it. They also flew with the 321 movement (which Omega have just reintroduced) so wonder if they’ve already certified the 1861 once before.

Anyway – I really don’t like the co-axial speedmasters. Well, not compared to the professional anyway. I fell in love with the history and still love my Speedy! I wore it yesterday, in fact.

The sapphire version isn’t certified. The case back tells you that it was the first watch worn on the moon but there’s no mention of it being flight certified like on the standard version.

It was the 105.003 with the 321 movement that was originally certified and the 105.012 was the first watch worn on the moon. I guess when the 145.022 with the 861 movement was introduced in 1969 NASA decided that the spec hadn’t sufficiently changed for it to require re-evaluation.

There are plenty of other watches flight qualified by NASA but still only one qualified for EVA after over 50 years, and the fact that it’s basically a vintage watch you can still buy new is pretty cool.

Ever wondered what watch is on the wrist of a Premier League footballer:

Wonder no more!

The Who Wears What Watch list: (With thanks to When Saturday Comes)

https://www.barringtonwatchwinders.com/who-wears-what/

In the very unlikely event that anyone cares, the player with the Premier League’s most expensive watch is apparently Chelsea’s Willian.

https://www.wsc.co.uk/

Good knowledge, thanks Fudd.

Agreed on your last point – it’s an incredibly cool watch.

Don’t forget this beauty is available for about £550

Needs more minute markings.

It does. You’re right :O)

Following on from the tough solar, Square G musings the other day I’ve just gone and ordered one of these:

(GW-B5600-2ER)

Not sure if I really want or need the Bluetooth features, but it’s got a negative display, it’s solar powered, does world time, and has multiband 6 plus it cost tenner less than a GW-M5610 so I sort of had to…