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My Watches

Discussion area for watches, clocks and all other timekeepers.
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cortman
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

The next acquisition was a rare-ish one for me- a watch purchased brand new at retail price from an authorized dealer. I did make the purchase all online, though, so I guess I missed out on the "AD experience" :).
This watch caught my eye immediately when it came out in Baselworld 2019. I had it in the back of my mind for a while, and seeing a few here and there on Instagram, forums, etc., brought it back to the forefront. After a lot of thinking and research, I decided it was one I really needed to have, so I made the necessary sales to raise funds, and went ahead with the purchase!
Without further ado, the Seiko Samurai Save The Ocean Great White Shark Edition (whew), SRPD23:

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Of course the big deal with this watch is that blue sunburst dial. It's as close to magical as I've ever seen on a watch. It's such a bright, multi-hued blue that it just brings a smile to my face, and I absolutely love the wave pattern and the shark fin at 8:00.
Interestingly the lume plots are just a shade creamy white, and they compliment the dial so well. I love the simple date-only display and the classic Samurai handset, especially that sword-like second hand!

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The bezel on this watch is also an absolute delight. It's a fairly soft, but firm bezel, and the Samurai case shape, with the recessed areas at 12:00 and 6:00 give your fingers perfect grip on it to turn. It's definitely the best Seiko bezel I've ever experienced.
I'm also a big fan of the ridged circular pattern on the bezel, and that tasteful medium gray that compliments the blue like a stormy day at sea.

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Alignment of chapter ring and bezel seems to be spot on. The bezel has a little play to it but nothing bothersome.
The Samurai case is a new one for me. I'd never even seen a Samurai in real life before I ordered this watch, so I took a bit of a gamble. The case shape is unique to be sure. It's very angular, and from the sides it almost looks like a regular, circular watch case welded to these slab-sided, sharp-angled lugs. I will say the case shape was not my favorite immediately. It gives the watch an almost square appearance from the top. Its uniqueness quickly grew on me, though, and while still not my favorite diver case, I do like it quite well and it lends some nice variety to a collection of otherwise pretty bog-standard dive watches.
Once concern I read online about the Samurai was the crystal being set in from the bezel, fairly significantly. This is true- it is set in more than any other diver I've handled. For me this doesn't matter in the slightest- in fact I am really tickled by it thanks to a very nice design tough- the vertical part of the bezel that rises above the crystal is anodized a deep brilliant blue, matching the dial spot on. From an angle you can see this, and it's such a neat design touch.
The stock bracelet on this watch is excellent; I love the feel and the lug geometry. The clasp is stamped and in that respect leaves a bit to be desired, but it latches firmly and I see no reason to be upset about it.
The drilled lugs make strap changes a breeze, but I'm still enjoying it too much on the bracelet to change it, for now!
I love the smooth knurling on the crown- just enough to give it good grip, but still very subtle and nicely textured.
The last thing I'll say about this watch is about the movement- it has a regular 4R37 movement, but by some miracle the one in my watch is performing with almost unbelievable accuracy. From tracking it for about a week it seems to have gained about 2 seconds during that entire time. This may be a function of wearing it all day, then laying it crown up all night, but I don't care- I'll take my miracle watch!

Overall this is one of the best watch purchases I've made, even at full price. Of course it's not impossible, but I very much doubt I'll ever cut this piece from the collection. If you're on the fence about this one, don't hesitate!

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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

I realize looking back that I was (and kind of still am) on a pretty serious buying kick. It continues with this next watch.
I had been aware of this watch for some time, always admired it, but never really seriously considered it until the last couple months. The Glycine Combat Sub, GL0087.

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I didn't intend to buy another watch so soon, but this came up at an excellent price, barely used, WITH the stock oyster bracelet which is prohibitively expensive to purchase separately. When I first started looking into these, I was drawn to the GL0083, which comes on a NATO and has sand colored lume.

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Purchasing the GL0087 was meant at first to just be an economical way to acquire the bracelet, as I really prefer to wear my dive watches on bracelets, or at least have them available. But upon receipt of the GL0087, I quickly fell in love with it, and have put plans to swap on hold indefinitely.
The first thing I noticed about this watch is the case. The case on this watch is absolutely amazing. For starters it's less than 11mm thick overall- the thinnest 200m diver in existence, to my knowledge. That's amazing enough, and makes it wear so well. Even more so in my opinion though, is the way the lugs curve down aggressively. This picture illustrates it slightly.

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This watch wears incredibly well on my flat 7" wrist. The lug-to-lug is a solid 49mm, but it just melts over the wrist and is so comfortable. Glycine absolutely killed it with this case shape.
The rest of the specs are all there too. Crown- perfectly sized, big enough to be easy to work with, but small enough to remain elegant. Bezel- solid 60 click, quite tight, a bit flat, but excellent feeling in spite of the tightness. Dial- absolute classic dive watch with really excellent lume, and all without being homage-y at all. Love the color matched date wheel. Crystal- sapphire, also very flat (to achieve that thin profile). Handset- extremely legible and elegant at the same time, and again not homage-y or derivative (as much so as such a simple design can be, anyway).
The stock bracelet is excellent as well, very pleasing lug geometry, a solid clasp, and well fitting solid end links. It has pin and collar adjustments that were not very fun to work with but I achieved the end result regardless, and with no damage to any links.

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One more advantage of that incredible case shape is that this is the new NATO king in my dive watch collection. It wears them beautifully, and I especially like an old school Bond NATO on it.

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What really comes through to me is how elegantly tool-ish this watch is. It's all business, with a full suite of good specs and no-nonsense, legible and clear-cut design. But at the same time it's incredibly svelte, the case shape wraps around the wrist so smoothly, and the dial layout and bezel are sleek and clean. I know a lot of people pursue ownership of Rolex Submariners for their perfect blend of work and elegance, and I really get that feeling with this watch. I would be more than happy to dive with this watch (and I plan to in the near future), and at the same time wear it with any dressed up outfit or any occasion.
The only con I found for this piece was that the ETA movement was running a bit fast- +18 to +20 spd, which is still within spec, but we all know they can do way better. This turned out to be a big positive for me in the end, actually, as it prompted me to open it up and try my hand at regulating a watch for the first time. It was a successful project, and the watch is currently ticking right at +6 spd.
All in all, I really love this watch, and it's going to be getting a lot of wrist time.

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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

I'm a little behind on this thread. There are a couple updates!
In late August our own [mention]yinzburgher[/mention] posted a deal on these Zodiac Grandrally quartz chronographs from Watchstation. The Grandrally is almost a reissue of the chronographs made by Zodiac and Heuer back in the 70's and 80's. Heuer actually produced watches for Zodiac hence the style similarities, so both companies can legitimately lay claim to this beautiful design.
The design and dial layout immediately spoke to me, and after browsing my notebook of "watches I like" I realized I had made a note of this one nearly a year ago! Nice to know I've stayed fairly true to my tastes.
There were several models on sale, including a silver panda, a couple blue and silver, and a brown, but the one that stuck out to me was the green dial, with a red seconds hand. I never had owned a green watch before, and felt like this would be a great way to acquire one without defaulting to yet another dive watch.
I went ahead and ordered a green dial Zodiac, and when it came I was glad I did.

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I've been trying since I started collecting watches to find a chronograph that really stuck with me. It was harder than I thought as my previous postings here will show. As a rule I prefer quartz chronographs, out of necessity as much as personal inclination, due to the usually high sticker price for most mechanical chronographs, and the truly terrifying costs of servicing. To me chronographs are where quartz truly is a no-contest winner on all practical counts.
I also really dislike a 24 hour subdial- they seem pointless to me as I'll always be able to tell whether it's AM or PM, and they just serve to fill in a subdial- I'd much rather just do without the subdial if that's the case.
I'm not a fan (at this point anyway) of dive chronographs, and I like a chrono to be a little sleek, so no rotating countdown bezel or anything.
Size-wise I was definitely not interested in anything over 42mm, and I like a short lug width as well.
The Zodiac really filled all these requirements admirably. It's a bicompax style quartz chronograph, using either a STP or Ronda quartz movement (I can't figure out from online resources which it is), with a 30 minute totalizer and running seconds subdial. I absolutely love the dial layout. The fonts are excellent, the hour markers are bold and unique, the white tachymeter bezel is legible, classy and subdued, and that sunburst green dial- wow!

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It was definitely love at first sight. The case shape is that classic 70's style tonneau, with a polished bezel ring and brushed flat and sides- the contrast is really beautiful. The case diameter is 41.5mm and lug to lug is a really convenient 47.5. The pushers are polished, and the crown is signed. The date at 6:00 balances the two subdials beautifully, and I like how the date wheel is white like the subdials. The handset is simple and legible, and the red seconds hand goes perfectly with the green dial.

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With nice short 20mm lugs this watch is a joy to try straps on, and you never know what you might put on that will be an absolute win. The stock leather strap it came on is decent, with signed hardware which is quite nice, but why limit yourself?

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All in all, this is honestly the perfect non-panda quartz chronograph for me. I'm still a huge fan of the panda/reverse panda colorway, and plan to own a chronograph in those colors someday, but besides that this watch satisfies my chronograph desires completely. It wears its motorsports sensibilities and heritage proudly, but is such a sleek, polished watch that I feel it wears very well in semi-dress circumstances as well as more casually.
Don't hesitate to jump on this one if you're in the market!

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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

My next acquisition, in mid September, was also a quartz, though considerably more inexpensive. Thanks again to the impressive abilities of our deal hunters here (you guys are simultaneously the best and worst) I was able to pick up a quartz Timex I'd had my eye on for quite some time- again probably close on a year. The Timex Intelligent Quartz World Time.

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I'm a sucker for world time complications. They come in a variety of forms- some have a 24 hour ring on the dial or chapter ring that rotates with the main hands, some have a world cities bezel that you manually rotate, and some (such as this watch) have a 24 hour subdial that shows the time, and a pointer hand on the main dial that points to the selected time zone. I like this complication so much more than just a GMT- a world time manages to convey twenty four times as much info as a GMT with just as much, if not more clarity.
Most automatic world time watches are quite expensive. I would love a model with the automatically tracking 24 hour ring, but that's very likely never going to be an option for me. I picked this watch up for about $40 from Rakuten- an amazing deal considering that the cheapest I'd found before was around $80 for used models.
It houses the Timex Intelligent Quartz movement- a step above their standard quartz movements. Introduced in 2011, it's a proprietary in-house quartz movement with more refined components, and the ability to process and display multiple types of information, allowing for some very interesting watches with unusual complications.
This watch has an internal chapter ring with the names of twenty four world cities, a date window at 2:30, a 24 hour retrograde subdial between 9 and 12, and a Winter-Summer daylight savings time selector at 4-5. There's the usual crown at 3, and then pushers at 2, 4, and 8. The right side pushers advance or retreat the city indicator hand, and moves the 24 hour subdial hand as well. This can be done without any activation of the crown, for quick and easy adjustment. The pusher at 8 selects winter or summer, which adds daylight savings time when set to summer.

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The dial is a really attractive cream color, with a very lightly etched image of the western hemisphere. It's subtle enough to still be legible and classy, but such a cool feature to notice when the light catches it. Like most Timex quartz watches this watch has their killer Indiglo feature, where the entire dial lights up with a push of the crown. On this watch only the ocean parts of the dial light up, which I find absolutely charming.

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The case is bead blasted and polished 316L stainless steel and 43mm across, 51mm lug to lug, and just shy of 13mm thick. It's a large case for sure, but it still wears really well on my 7" wrist- entirely due to the wonderfully downturned lugs. Another benefit of this lug design is excellent NATO wearability- I put it here on an olive green canvas Haveston NATO strap for a look that I think is absolutely killer.

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I think it's a great look on a leather strap as well- on brown Horween Chromexcel:

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I have gotten way more than my $40 worth of enjoyment out of this piece. Recently my team at work has been working on some projects in Australia, and it was just plain fun to be able to glance down and check their local time when arranging meetings or sending emails. This watch was a good reminder to me that expense often has little to do with how much fun it is to own and wear any given watch. This one has a nice blend of rugged and refined, and wears such a variety of straps so well. I think this one will be around for a while.

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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

My next purchase was rather impulsive, and a quick in and decision to move out (though that part took a little longer).
I love world time watches (as seen by my previous purchase). Having them on the brain, I guess, I grabbed this one when it came up used. It also represents my first vintage watch purchase. I bought this one in early October of this year.
The Orient World Time, model number something ridiculous that I forget now. It's a 1980's vintage, running a standard issue Orient 46943 automatic movement (no hacking, no handwinding), with a manually rotatable internal bezel showing the names of major world cities.

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This particular watch was in surprisingly good condition. Almost no tarnishing of the handset, indices, or day/date trim, and minimal scratches on the case. The lume even still glowed! The crystal was oddly crazed, however, and the internal bezel was a bit dusty.
I received this watch and wasn't too impressed. The case was slab sided and quite thick, and the shape wasn't particularly pleasing. The crystal was a problem that would need replacing, and the dial moved a bit when the crown was pulled- evidently a dial foot or movement holder problem. The watch ran well enough, but to replace the crystal, fix the holder, and do a movement service was going to cost more than I felt comfortable investing in the watch given how little it spoke to me. I moved it on to a new home a couple months later (with the low purchase price it was easy to forget about in the watch box).
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

The next watch I bought was the Orient Mako USA II. I bought this mostly to give the product line a try, since they're so well known and well liked. I'd been tempted by Makos and Rays numerous times before but never quite pulled the trigger. I knew I could pass this on at no loss, so I bought it to give it a try.

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This one didn't last long at all. The bezel was much too stiff to be operated with wet hands or with gloves, something crucial when on an actual dive (and I do actually take my watches diving). I wasn't a fan of the shape of the bezel when it came either, or the polished edges. It did have a very pronounced, solid click, so that was a plus.
I liked the white dial quite well and the handset was very good too, but that very deeply framed day/date window really messed it up for me. I prefer much less to-do about the day/date aperture, and this Mako was quite the opposite.
The case size was quite good, small (for a diver) and well-wearing, but I didn't like the tiny crown. The bracelet was fine, just that- not impressive but not bad either.

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I wore this one only a couple days before deciding to move it on. It just wasn't quite a good fit for my particular tastes. If it aligns with yours, this is a really good watch, especially for the money.

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Re: My Watches

Post by TheBrownHope »

Letting it be known. This thread by cortman got me to join MoT. Had a pleasant chat with him as well.
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

TheBrownHope wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:14 am Letting it be known. This thread by cortman got me to join MoT. Had a pleasant chat with him as well.
Hey buddy! Great to have you here! :D 👍
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

The Mako USA was resold quickly and I managed to recoup my investment on it. Another watch that got sold around the same time was the Boldr Venture. It was a great little field watch but eventually I decided it was time to move it on. I just wasn't wearing it much, and I try not to keep anything in the collection that falls by the wayside when it comes to daily wear.

I had intended to wait until Black Friday to make any more purchases, but an excellent deal arose in the form of a forum post, and I acquired a new watch a bit earlier than I'd meant. This was the Seiko SPB087, the PADI MM200.

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If that bracelet looks a little unusual, it's because it is. If you've stuck with this thread from early on, you'll remember that I have already owned an MM200- the SBDC063, black dial with blue bezel. One of the things I didn't particularly like about the SBDC was the stock bracelet- don't get me wrong, it's a truly well made bracelet with solid endlinks and a fantastic clasp, but the flattened tops of the links was a look and feel I just wasn't a big fan of. So when I purchased this PAD MM200, it was with the knowledge that I would immediately replace the bracelet. For a replacement I went of course to Strapcode- this is the Strapcode Super J Louis bracelet, with endlinks fitted for this watch.

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I love this bracelet. It fits the watch and its color scheme so well, and is just a bit unusual amongst the sea of other dive watches- something I really like. It also reinforces my opinion that this (and any of the MM200 series) is truly the best version of the SKX archetype out there. The only thing about the bracelet that disappoints me is the clasp- it's very large and bulky, and while perfectly well made, a sleeker, more svelte clasp would fit this slightly more polished bracelet much better. I have considered replacing it with a Seiko MM300 clasp someday.
I guess my few years of watch interest have also taught me that I'm a sucker for the Pepsi color scheme. Just something about it seems really fun and vacation-y, but classic and serious at the same time. I'm not going to wax poetic about a juxtaposition of two colors, but there it is- I really like Pepsi stuff.

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The other problem I'd had with my previous MM200 was the bezel- on the SBDC063 it was quite stiff and yet had a very mushy feel. It was very difficult to operate when wet, which is primary operating condition for a dive watch, and so I moved it along. This watch, I am pleased to report, has a much better feel. The bezel is much easier to turn, and may even have a slightly more decided, crisp click- not entirely sure. Regardless that aspect of the watch is now quite satisfactory to me.

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The dial is the usual matte gray, with a single date window lightly framed with printing. The lume is great as always; the hour hand and indices are the usual superluminova blue, while the minute hand glows green- a great, practical touch for the working diver to whom minutes elapsed are the most important.
I also love the bit of color in the red seconds hand.

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When I received this watch it was keeping time at around -15 SPD. Having had some success at simple movement regulation in the past, I opened this one up to regulate it. Without a timegrapher it was slow and painstaking as usual, but in the end I have it running at around -2 SPD, which is quite satisfactory.

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I've said this and been proven wrong many times before, but I think this one is here to stay. It solves all my issues with my previous MM200. It fits and wears wonderfully, and is super rugged and for me, just the quintessential Seiko diver. It can be hard to find "your" Seiko diver amongst their huge catalog, but I think this is the one for me.
I'm eager to try it on some other straps someday- I really would like the stock rubber Seiko strap- but this Jubilee wears and looks so good I've not really been tempted to swap it out yet.
All in all, this is definitely *my* Seiko dive watch, and I enjoy it even more every time I put it on.

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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

Right around the same time I bought the MM200, I had an opportunity to purchase a watch I'd wanted since my earliest days of watch interest. This was the Zelos Hammerhead, in bronze.

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The Hammerhead was first released in 2018 and sold out very quickly. On the used market the price actually increased to around 50% over MSRP, and they were really hard to find. I could never quite bring myself to pay that much more than list value, though I came close. I was very excited therefore when Elshan of Zelos announced the preorder for the Hammerhead 2.
I ordered the blue dial with blue ceramic bezel, in bronze of course. I much preferred the look of the bronze bezel as opposed to ceramic, but when I asked Elshan if I could get it swapped or even just buy a second bezel, he said he wasn't making extra available. I debated a little after that information between the teal, no bezel insert, and the blue with the insert, and decided to stick with the blue.

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The watch arrived in early January. Actually the first one sent to me was stolen in the mail- Fedex left a completely empty, slit-at-the-top envelope on my porch and ran before I could get to the door. Made me suspicious but after telling Zelos about it they sent another one out immediately, no questions asked. Excellent service. It's wonderful when companies and consumers can operate on that level of mutual trust.

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Here's the funny thing. When I got the watch and opened the box, I was... just kind of meh. I still have no idea why. It was a fantastic watch. Absolutely impeccable build quality, specs out the wazoo, and a well proportioned, well-wearing design. Still I just wasn't really taken by it. I was really surprised at myself.
I gave it several months of on/off wearing to see if my initial impression would shift. It didn't. I just remained kind of meh about it. I think it may have been that the blue of the dial was not the shade I was expecting (much darker and more purple) and the ceramic bezel when I had wanted the bronze. I thought long and hard about it, but decided to sell it this May.
To me this confirmed something I suspected and had heard from other watch collectors: if it doesn't wow you at first, it's very likely not going to ever. In a hobby as driven by immediate, pre-intellectual impression as this, first appearances are very important.
As far as the piece itself, I have no complaints. The lume was outrageously good. The 120 click bezel was sharp and had a firm but easy action. The crown was a pleasure to work with and screwed down solidly. The NH35 movement kept great time, and the bronze aged very handsomely.
Just wasn't for me, I guess. Every watch has the potential to teach you a little something about the hobby, and about yourself and your preferences, and so I thanked this one for the lessons and sent it off.

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Re: My Watches

Post by recapt »

I just now discovered this thread and have thoroughly enjoyed being brought along on your watch journey, @cortman. Thanks for sharing! I might even be inspired enough to do something similar someday soon.
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

recapt wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:19 am I just now discovered this thread and have thoroughly enjoyed being brought along on your watch journey, @cortman. Thanks for sharing! I might even be inspired enough to do something similar someday soon.
Thank you for the kind words! Documenting and writing down my thoughts brings some meaning to the hobby for me, keeps it from just becoming a churn of consumerism. Would love to see yours!
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Re: My Watches

Post by recapt »

cortman wrote:
recapt wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:19 am I just now discovered this thread and have thoroughly enjoyed being brought along on your watch journey, @cortman. Thanks for sharing! I might even be inspired enough to do something similar someday soon.
Thank you for the kind words! Documenting and writing down my thoughts brings some meaning to the hobby for me, keeps it from just becoming a churn of consumerism. Would love to see yours!
Well, I can tell you that I’ve already gone back through and documented the dates of all of my transactions. Now I just need to sit down and start putting the story along side the timeline. Hopefully I can start that this week!
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Re: My Watches

Post by cortman »

My last watch purchase of 2019 was very much on impulse. It was a watch I'd considered many times before for the place of field watch or beater; it was a top contender for my modern field watch search last March that resulted in the purchase of the Victorinox INOX. This is the Citizen Promaster Tough.

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The reason this watch didn't make it to the final round in my initial field watch search certainly wasn't because it was weak or poorly-spec'd. 316 stainless steel with a rugged anti-scratch coating, eco-drive movement, sapphire crystal, H-link bracelet with milled clasp and solid endlinks, monocoque case, 200m water resistance, screw down crown... It is almost perfect from that standpoint.
The reason I didn't buy it then was simply that it seemed boring. It's a very plain dial, very average size and case shape. Just nothing really special about it, aesthetically, to me.
Thanks to our great deal spotters this was a great deal and I decided to take a punt and see how it worked in person.
This watch is terrific. All the specs above, plus it's something around 11mm thick. The bracelet especially is incredibly well made.
However I found in wearing it that indeed it was just boring. The lug-to-lug was too long for me to comfortably wear a NATO on it, and a short experiment with leather ended very poorly, aesthetically. It was a great watch, but just didn't speak to me. I moved it along after a couple months' trial.
As I write more I can see that my tastes have gotten much more refined, or as one watch friend put it, I've become much more of a "picky SOB" lol. But I find myself really desiring only pieces I feel I can own for a long time, and really create a history with. That of course leads to more pickiness, but I think the end goal is good.
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Re: My Watches

Post by cheddar »

I just read this entire thread. 10/10, would recommend. [emoji3] It’s funny because our tastes are very different (although that Max Bill looks great in your photos and I do like the Grandrally), but reading your thoughts on each one really drives home that one of the great things about this hobby is we don’t have to all like the same things and can appreciate that. At some point you should summarize your top tips for newbies who are getting started in the same buy/sell phase that you and I and so many others have encountered.
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