Right, after a bikepacking overnighter last week I’ve decided I “need” a new watch for such occasions.

There’s this MRW-200H, currently on Amazon for <£20. I’ve got one and love it but TBH that’s not a great deal, they’ve been <£15 for about a year until recently they went down to a tenner for a couple of weeks before doubling in price to a mighty £20. I can’t vouch for the toughness because I’ve not battered mine, and the lume’s piss-poor but it’s still a little beauty. So light you won’t know you’re wearing it.

If you want something lumpier with a bit of wrist presence there’s this Phoibos for a ton. Or make me an offer for mine, I’m just not wearing it so it’s a bit spare in the collection at the moment. Again though, the lume’s not great if that’s important to you.
I’ve also got a Casio SGW-100 as recommended by cookeaa ^^. Obviously not analogue if you’re firm on that but a good backlight, and who doesn’t want a built in thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temperature in the immediate vicinity of your wrist?
Other than that, get yourself on to Aliexpress and marvel at what a 100 quid’s worth of low environmental standards and worker’s rights can get you.

edit – I’ve just remembered you’re bit of an Orient afficionado – what about the Kamasu? Great lume, sapphire and 200m WR for well under £200 so fits all your requirements.

@cookea – Timex is a good shout but I already have a Mk1 field watch, great little thing to be fair but the tick is ridiculously loud and the lume is pretty basic although it does have indiglo which is mega. It’s also very low-profile, literally and metaphorically, which is nice, nothing too expensive looking if I’m somewhere unsavoury. It is a touch small though which is why I’m looking elsewhere. A lot of their other field watches have a 24hr subdial which clutters things up a bit.

@johnners – I remember seeing that Casio and thought would be worth a look but again, the 24hr dial looks a bit busy for what I want and ideally I’m after some decent lume, tritium etc for in tent wrist checks (not a euphemism) so that rules out the Phoibos as well – although that style was a bit blingy for scrabbling around in the dirt in anyway.

I’d prefer to stay away from an automatic for this and stick with quartz for durability, more from the constant vibrations of being on the bike than impact etc. But yes, I have been eyeing up the Orients!

Yeah, definitely forget the MRW and the PX002 if you’re going to want to know the time more than an hour after either of them has seen good daylight and of course the Kamasu isn’t quartz so not totally friendly for occasional wear. Your £200 max budget isn’t going to make any shortlist all that short but go on Ivan, what’s in the running so far?

So, in the lead currently is the trusty Citizen eco-drive diver BN0150-28E. With discount I can get this for approx £150 so very tempting.

I also like the Elliott Brown Halton, I’ve got a Canford already and like the finishing etc so the Halton should be of a similar quality. Having said that the company seems to have gone a bit OTT with some of its military marketing, plus it’s a bit over my budget!

Hmmm, no idea where the links/images have gone – they were in the text field but nothing was showing.

The Holton looks nice but as you say they’ve trowelled on the military stuff a bit and to be frank, (tightwad that I am) well North of £400 to case a Ronda 715 movement is a piss take. The solid strap bars are a nice touch though. The Citizen would do the job and obvs the ISO Diver’s certification will come in handy if you get a bit of rain while you’re bikepacking.

We have 5 ‘haute horologists’ for the watch-swap so far. @mrsheen @cookeaa @frankconway @neilnevill you all expressed vague interest, come join us. It’ll only cost you a few quid and hopefully you’ll get something nice, or at least surprise that you’d maybe not have bought yourself.

Send me a PM if you’re in.

Me too @tthew!

Can I suggest that when we’re assigned our lucky recipients, we’re just given the address and not the STW moniker? Just to keep it properly blind, like.

Then again, I hope you all like f-91s 😉

Count me in, I may have already found a fleabay delight for someone…

Yep, you were already on the list Lunge. Thanks cookeaa, can you PM me your address.

Can I suggest that when we’re assigned our lucky recipients, we’re just given the address and not the STW moniker? Just to keep it properly blind, like.

I can do, but you’re going to know who it went to when the pictures go up. You may never know who sent yours though unless they confess after a glowing review.

Or can we do shady looking Railway station handovers with code names and pass phrases?

My code name will be “Strawberry Falcon”
I’ll be wearing a Hawaiian shirt and different coloured shoes.

The Pass phrase is “Can you direct me to platform seven?”
The response is “I’ve never been good at Riddles”

Ivan I’d be buying the Instinct solar.  Don’t be put off by the Garmin hack, it’s happened to most organisations in the world and very likely the one you bank with, so they are not the first and won’t be the last.  Besides, now that it’s happened, they’ll be all the stronger for it.

It’s a great watch and very tough, although If £200 is your limit then just get the prior non solar version which still has 14 days of battery for smart watch /hr Use.

Yeah, on paper the Instinct/solar is the one I should get but the Garmin shenanigans are a bit off-putting, not because of the hack itself but more because its a reminder that it’s a piece of “technology” and as such will probably be (perceived as) outdated in a couple of years.

On the other hand something like the citizen is going to seem the same in 10 years as it is today.

That’s a fair point.  I must admit my marmite G shock (GST-B200G-2AER) keeps coming out to play, because it plays a dual role of looking ok and being tough and solar.   The instinct though is more informative and tent-usable for bike days – easier to set alarms, understand sunset/sunrise, be alerted to phone messages when your phone is on the bottom of a bag.

If you only want to tell the time and have it never run out, a solar citizen/seiko/G is definitely the way to go.   There a shop with a discount Arnie re-release although £375, I’ve consider selling the G Shock and buying that.

Happy new watch day to me

Nice.

Thats very nice Kato, bit of an admirable sleeper IMO, you kind of have to stare at it hypnotically to appreciate it.

On another note, anyone want this – (GST-B200G-2AER) – before it goes on ebay? Sensible offer accepted. All the original bits.  It does have a very slight hairline scratch from the “1” about 4mm long toward the “3”indices but you can’t see it unless you move it into and around sunlight on the crystal

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jqHhxt]20200728_174902[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jqHgZu]20200728_174849[/url]

Like the Tudor. Very nice.

Anyway, watch swap. We’ve ended up with 6, I’ll PM all the participants with their recipients later. Target for the end of the match is end of August, but if everyone puts their review up before that we can just get on with the voting. 👍 Off to eBay I go!

Watch swappers – I’ve just sent PM’s out with your recipent’s names and addresses, just in case you don’t get e-mail notifications.

Everyone else – I’ll shut up about it now, until my surprise turns up in the post. 😁

Happy new watch day to me…

I’d had a bit of a refund from HMRC and at the same time had spotted this with a decent discount.  I wanted a “historic” Seiko that was actually a Seiko, but wasn’t heartfelt with an SKX.  I saw this Arnie and knew immediately…

It actually wears lighter and smaller than you’d think…

I’m a fan of the previous model Omega AT and may well try an pick one up on Chrono24 – the simplistic durable look appeals to me.

Anyone here have one?

its a popular watch. Bearnecessities springs to mind and a google showed me nicko74 too, I suspect others have them too.

Off to eBay I go!

I’ve just been outbid on an absolute peach of a thing, with about 15s to go, grr!

Guys, where’s the best place to sell a watch that I don’t know the true value of?
I have a 1990’s Tudor and I need to raise some funds
TIA

I’ve just been outbid on an absolute peach of a thing, with about 15s to go, grr!

Me to. Hmm!!!

Was it a blue thing?

Holyzeus
well if you were a member of a watch forum then they would be a good place to sell, failing that though
ebay = probably best price but risky and with fees
chrono24 = decent price, bit less risky, with fees
watchfinder = much lower price but no risk and easy
local jeweller = poor price, easy and safe

that is unless its a sub…I guess its not, but if it is, its in demand, don’t let it go cheap.

I have raised £200 selling the Kreigsmarine u-boat stop watch I found in dad’s garage! not bad!

Thanks Neil, it is indeed a Sub

I’m a fan of the previous model Omega AT and may well try an pick one up on Chrono24 – the simplistic durable look appeals to me.

Anyone here have one?

Yes, I have one, if by previous you mean the one with vertical teak decking and date at 3 O’clock, 8500 movement. . Superb looker, very much an everyday piece of understated luxury.

Ahoy, watch nerds!

Am looking for a decent submariner “tribute”. Does anyone have an opinion on the below? At 518 AUD / 285 GBP, does it represent good value compared to alternatives?

linky

MOVEMENT | Mechanical, 24 jewels, 21,600bph (6 per second). NH35a Manufacture Seiko

WINDING | Bi-directional Self Winding via rotor. Additional Manual Winding

POWER RESERVE | Approximately 41 hours

SHOCK SYSTEM | Diashock

FUNCTIONS | Centre hour, minute and seconds hands. Calendar. Unidirectional rotating bezel

CASE ARCHITECTURE | Screw-down case back and winding crown

WIDTH | 40.8 mm (excluding crown) / 46.2 mm (including crown)

LUG-TO-LUG | 49.2 mm / STRAP WIDTH | 20 mm

WEIGHT | 89 grams (excluding strap)

CASE THICKNESS | 15.1 mm (measured at the centre of the watch)

CASE MATERIAL | 316L steel / BEZEL | Fixed steel

CRYSTAL | Sapphire Crystal

WINDING CROWN | Screw-down, waterproofness system

WATER RESISTANCE | Waterproof to 300 metres / 1,000 feet

Got a photo n model number on the Tudor?

@duncancallum me?

@batfink – what I’ve gleaned from viewing a lot of Just One More Watch is that what makes the micro brands good value for money is pretty much what you won’t see from photo’s on the website. Things like the security and action of the bezel, polishing of the case, quality of the strap (often the bracelet clasp, but that doesn’t apply here) that kind of thing.

It’s got solid specifications for that price. The movement is a good one, reliable and accurate and common in watches like that plus it’s got a Sapphire crystal too. Nice dial design with applied markers, bit of sunburst would give it more pop but you can’t have everything.

I don’t think you’d go far wrong and distance selling means you could send it back if it’s not what it seems.

four
Member

I’m a fan of the previous model Omega AT and may well try an pick one up on Chrono24 – the simplistic durable look appeals to me.

Anyone here have one?

Yep, one of the original models with the 2500 Co-axial calibre, bought new in 2008. I’ll see if I can dig out a picture, but it’s dark blue hands and ticks, on a white-ish face. I like it, as a great understated dressy watch that’s also WR to 150m, with a display back etc.
However, I think I’d lean towards one of the 8500 calibre models (the revised ones, launched in 2010ish? that Scapegoat mentioned) if you’re looking. I’m not a huge fan of the teak decking look, but the movement is an upgrade on the original 2500, and the bracelet and clasp are way better too.

ETA (shockingly bad) pic:

Thanks @tthew….. the marketing **** on the website is strong, So it it’s good to know that the cost is in the right ballpark for the specs.

Completely understand that the fit/finish will be the determining factor in value, but unfortunately there are very few Hands-on reviews that I can find

he marketing **** on the website is strong

Is it ever! I’ve never heard an NH35 described like this before –

powered entirely by renewable energy drawn from the wearer’s own arm movements – no batteries are required. It is exceptionally accurate, highly serviceable and ready for generations of active use

If anyone could help with pricing please.
Negatives are it’s on a NATO strap and numbers need re blacking.

Lume pip AWOL? Probably doesn’t matter, is guess a bezel insert isn’t too costly. I’ve never seen a silver dialed sub. Dunno if they makes it more, or less valuable. I’ll see if I can find out. Any more info? Age? Yours from New? Last service? Paperwork? Condition?

What size is it Holyzeus? Is it a 32mm model ref 73290?