I unfortunately I have quite an expensive taste in watches, so I can seldom afford to buy them. I’ve just seen one I really like for £60!

The other unfortunate thing is that, (according to Just One More Watch Jody) they are only worth about twenty quid.

Yeah, but the rainbow colours!

Bought a Flightmaster back in the day as my first ‘proper’ watch (cheap as chips from a local auction). Sold it about 4 years later and regretted it ever since.

Managed to find this a few months back;

911 ST 145.036 from 1973. According to extract, sold in Switzerland originally – clearly well travelled as I bought it in Mexico. The case has been polished (and was a bargain because of it), but that aside, it’s in original condition – showing it’s age with fading dial, patina all round. But it’s a daily wear, keeps time well and for such a lump, is remarkably comfortable on the wrist.

I like @woffle.  It looks like a biggun though! Whats the case size?

I like @woffle.  It looks like a biggun though! Whats the case size?

It’s hefty – single block of steel – 52mm in length, 46mm with the crowns, 43mm without, and 15mm thick. Around 140g without the strap. Doesn’t seem so excessive now but it was VERY oversized for 1969 when it was released.

That being said, the hidden lugs means it wears surprisingly well. It was designed to be functional – it’s a tool watch, deliberately oversized for pilots to be able to tell the time instantly. They had a dig at Rolex in the marketing – “a Pilot’s watch that has rather more than a revolving bezel,”

The other Omega beast of a watch is the Speedmaster 125;

They have a wierd backstory related to the supposed limited number sold vs. the number clearly on the market – it’s a solidly made watch with a really nice movement.

I had one but sold it on pretty quickly.  It was wildly impractical and kept on getting banged up on things – it wore every millimeter of it’s huge case and integrated strap. I think which accounts for the fact that they are remarkably common on the usual used-watch sites / dealers, with prices being relatively depressed given it’s supposed rarity and the quality of movement etc – they’re not a watch that can be easily worn.

In comparison, Flightmaster prices are all over the shop but seem to be slowly on the up.

Gave my old Ti Seamaster a bit of TLC at the weekend. Took it off the tatty looking bracelet, gave it a good clean and repainted the bezel markers.
I’ve had this for around 20 years and it’s been all over with me, including a good few years working offshore, so it’s not been molly coddled. Sadly, I’d loaned it to my dad a few years ago and he was wearing it when he passed away, so it holds a lot of sentimental value.

web photo hosting

Looking great, and a wonderful piece to have to remember your dad. My dad passed away recently and his only watch was a fake quartz Rado with a big chip in the not-ceramic case. I’ll keep it to remember him by, but will never wear it.

How did you repaint the bezel? Looks like a very neat job.

How did you repaint the bezel? Looks like a very neat job.

Tamiya acrylic paint and a very fine brush. Let it dry and wiped off any excess paint with nail varnish remover and cotton buds.

How did you repaint the bezel? Looks like a very neat job.

A trick with filling in recessed numerals and markers on a smooth surface like that is to just fill in with paint, letting it go over the edges, and let the paint dry a bit, then find some very smooth cloth, like a bit of old tee shirt or bed sheet, cut a bit off and wrap around something like a rectangular pencil rubber/eraser, making sure it’s perfectly flat, put a small amount of appropriate solvent or thinner on the cloth and carefully run it around the bezel, keeping it nice and flat to the surface. I used to fill in the etched rail lines on the painted steel tiles used on railway signalling boards at Westinghouse Brake & Signal in Chippenham. I had a stack of sheets of white paper, with white spirit splashed on, I’d paint the tracks with black enamel, making sure the etched lines were full, then press onto the paper and swipe across. Once the black was dry, I’d paint carefully the colours of the tracks inside the black lines with a square ended signwriters brush, ‘cos that was my job, a signwriter in the paint shop.
Useful little trick to know, I’ve used it a few times over the years to add some colours or brighten up engraved lettering that’s faded or chipped.

@countzero you are pretty much bang on but you don’t want to fill the recess. The paint sits in the recess if that makes sense. You want some depth rather than the paint filling the recess. You definitely don’t want the paint sitting flush with the surface.
I’ve painted the draft lines on vessels using the same technique (on a much different scale).

Have just ordered one of these on black leather.  Not sure about a 39mm case, but how much difference can 1mm make! Will report when it arrives

https://www.christopherward.com/sport-new/c63-sealander-gmt/C63-39AGM3-S00K0-B0.html

Evenin’ all,

I’ve been watching (punaroo) this thread for a few months now, admiring your wrist candy. If all goes well I’m off to Greece for work tomorrow morning, and this is my selection for my month away. GS SBGN005 for crossing timezones (ok, one, but it’s the principle). 214270 for everyday and a hopeful dash up Mt Olympus. The G-Shock for running. And the Pelagos in case I accidentally fall in the Aegean during a work trip…

Cheers,

G

That’s quite the travelling collection. Is it insured? Replacement would sting if it got nicked.

@tthew, no, not insured, abroad or at home. My watches (n~20) are either with me or in a safe at work. My office is locked. And then the whole facility has a few dozen massive guys with all the gunzzzz. Seriously though, this is a trip to Greece, mostly staying with friends as I move around. If I was going somewhere dodgy it’d probably be just one or no nice watches. Cheers.

Currently wearing my pelagos smurf, fantastic watch. Since pelagos is Greek for open sea, surely that is the only one you need for your trip

Heimdallr have some new ‘homage’ watches at the moment, one is interesting, it’s an SKX with a black PVD coating, and a full-lumed face, so effectively an homage to the first TAG Heuer sports dive watch, the Series 1000 ‘Night Diver’ which I’ve got. But significantly cheaper! Looks good, having a full-lumed face with black indices isn’t common, and looks that bit different to most sports/dive/tool watches.

https://heimdallrwatch.com/store/PVD-Black-Full-lume-SKX-p342266207

Any recommendations for a tough but cheap “Casio?”

I kind of wanted a gshock for kicking around but it’s use case kinda clashes with my Garmin instinct and at around £100 too expensive a duplicate, so I started think “tough solar” and got fixated on owning a solar watch.

Yet, I could buy classic/retro such as a Casino Royale very cheaply and change the battery myself after 10 years if I needed to. F91 is a bit small for me, so…? What cheap digital with a little history?

Casio Watch CA-53WF-1BEF, actually as you’re in sales, CA-506G-9AEF more blingy 😉

So you can write boobies on the screen obviously or make a diver that will go down to 900 meters below sea level

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?330958-The-Little-Watch-That-Could

Lol, I am actually looking at the black resin calculator, thinking about the Casino Royale for me and the Calc for Jnr. He can’t take it for school, but its kind of justifying one for my collection in a transparent attempt to convince Mrs K its not for me…

But a gold one? Clashes with the Beemer a bit… 😉

DW-290

Heimdallr have some new ‘homage’ watches at the moment, one is interesting, it’s an SKX with a black PVD coating, and a full-lumed face, so effectively an homage to the first TAG Heuer sports dive watch, the Series 1000 ‘Night Diver’ which I’ve got. But significantly cheaper! Looks good, having a full-lumed face with black indices isn’t common, and looks that bit different to most sports/dive/tool watches.

https://heimdallrwatch.com/store/PVD-Black-Full-lume-SKX-p342266207

Wonder if it will be a badly made as my Sea Shepard Homage ?

After smacking my Arnie against the car bonnet – luckily no damage – I got all precious. So welcome to my shed/gardening/mechanics/lounge/bed watch;

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2kZi237]signal-2021-05-18-182119[/url]

Alarm I won’t use
Solar
52 Cities I’ll never look at
Stopwatch I won’t use
Day/date
Light as a feather
Shit plastic strap

All for…. £26! (AQ-S810W-1A2VEF)

Does anybody have s 2013/14 ish omega catalogue? I’d like to know the list price back then on a 23153422202001. (red gold aqua Terra day date)

Wonder if it will be a badly made as my Sea Shepard Homage ?

Who knows, but I have no issues with either of mine, other than me stupidly breaking the date change by forgetting you shouldn’t change the date between 21.00 and 04.30, but that’s my fault. Otherwise neither of mine are badly made, especially considering how cheap they are, I wear them virtually all the time, currently wearing my SKX007 MM300 ‘Homage’, otherwise I wear my sandblast Tuna, which was the one I broke, and a kind gentleman on here fixed it with a new movement, and swapped the face and hands for MM300-style ones, and I fitted a fully lumed ceramic bezel insert, and I love both of them.
There are photos on previous pages.

This arrived the other day!
Sinn 556i rs.

Can’t remember if I’ve posted this before, but can’t be bothered to go back through 90 pages so posting again anyway…

CWC squaddie issue watch, RE wristband in honour of the old man. Case is broad arrow marked and dated 1998…

After smacking my Arnie against the car bonnet – luckily no damage – I got all precious. So welcome to my shed/gardening/mechanics/lounge/bed watch;

How dare they put ILLUMINATOR in big letters when all you get is a piss-poor 6mm of orange glow?

Still good value. I bought one a few years back as my “holiday” watch.

Hadn’t ever considered Certina watches until the other day – but this Certina DS Action Diver is really nice…
https://www.certina.com/gb/watch/ds-action-diver/c0324071104100

I’ve got a Certina DS Podium automatic. Nice watch, excellent value. Certina are a bit ‘under the radar’ aren’t they?

Certina DS Action Diver

That’s an excellent watch for the money. Looks good and new swatch group powermatic 80hr automatic movement.

Went to change the strap on the bellmatics to discover an endlink is missing.

FFS.

Sinn is a handsome watch! Lovely

Wish I hadn’t seen it 😉 (the Certina that is) although the Sinn is nice.

Sinn is very nice – I had a Yobokies homage, which I sold on here, so is the CWC, Polywatch it?
I’ve found that this Anus watch is really light (Ti) accurate (Mutiband radio) and would pass through LumeWars a couple of rounds. Been my 24/7 watch for a number of weeks now. Looks huge in image on my dainty wrists, but only 39mm and thin.

Anus watch

Before I google that, I assume theirs a spelling mistake somewhere? On the light thin Casio front, I found the Casio Lineage last week, I’m very tempted, Sapphire, solar, thin, light, ani digi….

…but I’m desparetly trying to stop buying watches lol…

CASIO OCEANUS OCW-S100-1AJF Made in Japan
It’s a sleeper of a watch.

Casio are making some really nice watches at the moment…but I keep coming back to this

Yema Navygraf

I’ve just been offered a new job so wondering if I should treat myself….

What’s there to wonder about?!

Looks good