Watches N+1…

Omega Century 1967

This very watch. I fell in love with it. Arrived on Christmas Eve.

Cracking website – just lost an hour there.
Lovely watch too.

Mrs W got me this one for Xmas….
https://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/d/5312892/seiko+prospex+save+the+ocean+blue+silicone+strap+watch/

I have a fair few watches including a 007 Seiko Divers, was fancying the non chrono save the ocean prospex (blue), but when she went into the shop she thought it was too similar to what I already have (the 007 and also I have an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean). The seamaster is ceramic but I can see why she thought it was a bit “samey”. The new save the ocean is likely to become my new daily beater, time to give my Oris TT Chrono a rest. (Current favourite out of all my watches). Not decided on staying with the blue rubber strap or going for a nato. If NATO would need to be blue as don’t think the bond colours would work.

Loving the newly released unimatic…

According to Watchville Seiko is discontinuing the SKX007 now that they’ve brought out their new range of Seiko 5 Sport models, get em while you can kitty kats.

@neil_bolton – I can’t see the photos of your TAG Series 1000, so not sure what it’s like, but I’ve got the Series 1000 Night Diver, which I’ve mentioned previously; it’s the all black PVD case and bracelet with lumed face and hands.
There’s someone in the States who specialises in repair and refurbishment of Series 1000’s, which may be be of interest to anyone with a Series 1000 that needs fixing:
https://forums.calibre11.com/threads/heuer-and-tag-heuer-1000-restoration-parts-and-service.51697/

What was not fine was the £100-£1k in-between, no man’s land which is a total waste of money.

I happen to think the mid-range is the poorest value, but the important thing is to think about your own values and hence strategy rather than taking a scattergun approach to what can be a very expensive interest (though maybe not so as expensive as MTBs).

Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha! 🤣
I think I must needs a corset, for fear my sides should split!
My three most valuable watches are ones I never paid more than £300 for, one of them, a Yema Rallygraf (or an identical model), sold at auction in London last year for £3800, I paid £50 for it; I paid £250 for my TAG Heuer Series 1000, since it’s been shown that that model was worn in The Living Daylights by Tim Dalton, the Bond watch collectors are starting to push values up above $8-900, and my Seiko SPORK is starting to fetch similar amounts, I paid £300 NOS for mine.
Son, who died and made you an expert? The midrange is for those with limited resources, where interesting watches can be easily aquired, and where collectors look for unusual and uncommon watches to add to collections because the big name watches are becoming far too expensive except for speculators.

That’s a bit harsh count. He merely expressed his view. Like you I disagree and think there are lots of brands that offer great value in that price bracket, I tend to think its one of the best bang for buck brackets and above this is diminishing returns (although I own a couple of more expensive watches), however I’ll listen to the different views.

And squarely in that price bracket… My Seiko sumo, Hulk. finally my bracelet pin pusher tool arrived so I resized the bracelet yesterday and have been wearing since. I’m impressed, very! It’s huge in theory at 45mm but it wears very very comfortably! It’s more comfy then my 41.5mm PO…. But then that is a huge lump. Quality of finish on the head, very good, bracelet is comfy and decent, I think I prefer screwed to pinned and the clasp is bent tin not milled steel but the links are solid and it’s comfy. Case is very curved so it hugs my wrist, and the bracelet pivots on the spring bars which helps. The clasp is long, very long and the divers extension is stuck out the end, this seems to help as it balances the head. 6R35 movement should be decent, hand winds and hacks, mahooosive 70 hour power reserve. I’m guessing it won’t be as accurate as my po or pelagos though but we shall see in a few days. Green is lovely! In some lights it’s black, in bright light it’s vivid with a sunburst to the dial. Overall, for the money is superb!

Damasko DA38

DA30 blue

the DA36/38 in black is similar, in many ways, to the Sinn 856. The Sinn has a nicer silicone strap though (IMO) although I have seen Damaskos fitted with the Sinn strap.

These might be of interest to anyone looking for something a bit unusual and with a bit of history behind the name. Nice looking watches, too
https://ow-watch.ch/

Squared off hands. No!

I quite like them, the ‘beads of rice’ bracelet looks good. And the

Squared off hands.

Think they look better than some of the MASSIVE arrow styles I see.😁

Ollech and wajs…. Didn’t they have something to do with the navitimer? Either something to do with the original development of the watch or, like Sinn, something about buying bits or rights when Breitling went breasts up.

Baton hands are fine for me.

Squared off hands. No!

I love a squared off hand, so much so that my most recent purchase is a homage of the most beautiful diver ever made the Seiko 62mas IMO.

I agree with tthew about arrow hands. I think they make watch look like it is wearing foam gloves. Some modern Seiko divers look like this, accentuated by a really stumpy length of hour hand. No!

Looks like my sumo is running at -8 to 9 sec/day. I guess that’s ok. Not seen much variation which is good.

Long time lurker on the thread.
My dad died new year’s eve, and the last thing we spoke about (he was doolally on morphine and sadly thought he’d be leaving hospital) was that he wanted to buy a watch with big numbers for his failing sight.
So here I am. I’m not a massive watch wearer but I’d like one with big numbers. Obvs not comically big… Might just remind me of him.
Rubber or NATO strap, don’t really have a preference of movement (current watch is either a Seiko 5 or an Instinct). Dad was a windsurfer into his 70s so that might be a theme to pursue. No idea about budget, just keen on suggestions. Anyone?

Bob_Summers, sorry for your loss. It’s hard.

I was lucky (😔) that I bought a Seamaster for me, gave it to my Dad, then inherited it back when he passed.

I hope you find a watch that makes you smile when you think of your Dad.

Now I’ve been wearing my Heimdallr Tuna homage for a while I checked it’s timekeeping across last month, and it gained four minutes, which I worked out at +8secs/day which seems within spec for the NH35A movement. Just checked:
“ In the technical documentation, Time Module claims that the NH35A accuracy range is within -20~+40 seconds per day under normal conditions.”
So yes, I think it’s well within spec. 😁

@bob_summers

If you fancy something pretty unique you could look for a Raketa Big Zero. It’ll fit the bill but also a lot of watch geeks would find it quite interesting.

Annnnd it here, the new Omega Speedmaster 321!

https://www.omegawatches.com/en-gb/watches/speedmaster/moonwatch/calibre-321/product

Expensive for a steel Omega, but damn it’s pretty.

The more I think about it, the more I can’t get on board with that price…damn. There is so much competition at £11k. I’m not sure it would be the watch i’d buy if I ever had that to spend on a watch.

I wish Omega all the luck competing with Rolex, though.

Bob Summers, maybe a Magrette?

If you fancy something pretty unique you could look for a Raketa Big Zero. It’ll fit the bill but also a lot of watch geeks would find it quite interesting.

I have one in my collection. Did quite a bit of research to make sure I got an un-modified one. Some are redials or are in the wrong case or have different hands.

The design is cool and the numbers at 12,3,6 and 9 are huge. (It gets its name for the 0 rather than 12 at the 12 oclock position.) The triangular indices are also big. You get some great distortion from the big acrylic domed crystal.

One issue with it if it is for someone with failing eye sight though is that it does have very small hands for a watch its size. It can be difficult to be very accurate when the minute hand as between the 3 minute indices.

The Damasko above looks a favourite but pushing the budget really.
Raketa is indeed cool and would certainly remind me of him every time someone asked why my watch had enormous numbers! How rare are they?

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.de%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F264574156727

20 mins of research later, this one seems to check the ‘genuine’ boxes right?

Another watch with real history that’s looking to reintroduce itself, that I hadn’t heard of before, and may interest some on here:
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/watches/article/doxa-sub-200-dive-watch-colour
The rubber strap is unusual, textured a bit like the steel ‘grains of rice’ bracelet.

@bob_summers

Worth a read if you haven’t already come across it…

Raketa 2nd hand guide

Kaz on the blog is usually happy to help out as well.

@ivandobski cheers, I’d had a man-read, but after reading again that one I linked is wrong. Second hand and no raised markers. Who knew! Clearly a minefield but I do like its weirdness. What’s that feel/quality like? I’ve owned soviet cameras before and they were quite nice things, albeit not as nice as the Leicas they were based on.

Edit : this looks nearer https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.fr%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F264563020145

No idea to be honest, I’ve never seen one in the flesh but started having a look when I heard them getting quite a bit of attention. From what I’ve read/heard they’re roughly Seiko 5 standard but with some Soviet charm.

Bob, the raised markers can be hard to tell in photos. On a big zero the markets are slightly glossy transfers type affairs so they dont really look raised. The dial in your link looks printed as if ink has bled into the white but that could be a bad photo. None of the photos were taken close up which would have helped.

You are right about the second hand counterweight shape not being right.

Also, if you are after original then I would definitely want to see a photo of the movement. The big zeros have a 2609 movement which is clearly stamped on one of the bridges. Soviet watches generally use a very small selection of movements all produced from either 1 factory of just a few.

Soviet watches are generally inexpensive so you should not really get badly burned, but parts are easily interchanged between watches. I have tinkered with a few of my own. I imagine in the past people have had replacement movements fitted from other watches and they may not quite match up if you are seeking original.

I would add that the big zero has a lot of wrist presence but it is not a big watch by today’s standards, having a case diameter of 40mm.

Raketa Big Zero

Bob, this look legitimate to my eye. Description in Italian though so do a quick Google translate to determine condition. There seems to be a lot of “franken” big zeros on ebay at the minute.

plyphon

Member
The more I think about it, the more I can’t get on board with that price…damn. There is so much competition at £11k. I’m not sure it would be the watch i’d buy if I ever had that to spend on a watch.

I wish Omega all the luck competing with Rolex, though.

Can you imagine if Rolex were to remake the Valjoux 72 movement, announce it would be restricted to 2000 units per year with one watchmaker overseeing each watch produced, then fit the ‘new’ movements into a modern yet faithful interpretation of the Paul Newman Daytona?

There’s no way the first one that appears on Watchfinder is going to be under retail.

Heimdallr

The Viking hereditary in me got me interested in that, I’m getting very tempted for the dark blue 62 MAS Homage…   I really could…..

The Sub Homage on there is quite good from a distance as well.

Can you imagine if Rolex were to remake the Valjoux 72 movement, announce it would be restricted to 2000 units per year with one watchmaker overseeing each watch produced, then fit the ‘new’ movements into a modern yet faithful interpretation of the Paul Newman Daytona?

There’s no way the first one that appears on Watchfinder is going to be under retail.

Indeed. I had not realised initially that these would be 2000 units a year. This will be an incredibly exclusive watch that will sell like absolute hotcakes I’m sure.

It just stings paying 11k for a movement that isn’t COSC. But as you say, a lot of fan service here that will be incredibly popular with those who are into that kind of thing.

BTW, I have TW Steel.
Don’t open it up – you will realise the poundland build quality!

New watch day, comrades

OMG my brain cannot compute that!