Show Off Your New Watch

[Sporkboy]

First of all, I think the way CW ships their watches is really cool. Really like the box. And impressed at how quick it gets here.
Also, the sale bracelet I ordered does not fit this variant of C65. It's too thick. So I'll need to send that back and think if I want to buy a full price bracelet.
The aged strap it came with is really cool. But not wearing it for now in case there watch goes back with the bracelet. Quick release though so I'll need to look for my extra 22mm spring bars. Threw it in this Barton strap for now.



Let's be Instagram friends @bbrou33

I have some 1.8mm 22mm spring bars that I bought for a project and I have plenty of spares. PM me your address and I can send you some.

[whoagorgeous]

Immediately on a new EO MN Strap I've been saving around. Luckily I had one pair of extra 22springbars that fit.

[MoT]

So it's not a well-kept secret that I have a weakness for "mystery box" sales, and impulse watch purchases.

Combine the two, and I'm a gonner.

Aragon was promoting a "Wing's Birthday Mystery Box" for $99. So I ordered it. It came in today.





Look at the dome on that crystal!


It also has an NH36, ceramic bezel, screw down crown and 300M rating. Fortunately I also have the real estate to pull off the size.

[Sporkboy]

I finally got the Boldr Venture before the used market dried up. They seriously need to keep making this watch.

It reminds me of the Timex Camper that has grown up a bit. I really dig it. I think I am going to treat it to something with black hardware from Toxic NATOS as this thing needs to live on a NATO.

I am not sure if the black was the best way to go, but so didn’t want to miss out on the watch altogether.

[watchpalooza]

This Difor arrived just before lunch. While the internal bezel functions smoothly, the outer bezel had completely calcified and become one with the inner gauge. Several cycles of brushing, scraping and ultrasonic cleaning removed many years of accumulation. Was happy to find the bezel spring inside to be in working order. Now with smooth action.

You can see some of the calcification extruding from under the bezel in this before photo. What was inside / underneath was 10x worse:

E58148DA-A2F8-4C0E-A81D-FAE78C71FCE3.jpeg (125.61 KiB) Viewed 7799 times

Here are the parts after cleaning.

And after crystal polishing and reassembly. Actually had to use a watchmaker's mallet (carefully) to set the inner gauge back around the crystal.

I am very pleased with this acquisition. The deep red dial is a dazzler, and save for a bit of exposed base metal on the back the watch is in exquisite condition for its age. Quite a value at about $100.

[Sporkboy]

This Difor arrived just before lunch. While the internal bezel functions smoothly, the outer bezel had completely calcified and become one with the inner gauge. Several cycles of brushing, scraping and ultrasonic cleaning removed many years of accumulation. Was happy to find the bezel spring inside to be in working order. Now with smooth action.

You can see some of the calcification extruding from under the bezel in this before photo. What was inside / underneath was 10x worse:

E58148DA-A2F8-4C0E-A81D-FAE78C71FCE3.jpeg

Here are the parts after cleaning.

C8190C71-B927-4752-AE25-C69424F6D142.jpeg

8880A903-9077-46C4-8354-5E4EA96C8CE1.jpeg

AEE5DC62-656C-497F-9656-DD2A57CCCAFD.jpeg

CAA490A1-3A1C-4569-951E-A226A4CAFB9E.jpeg

And after crystal polishing and reassembly. Actually had to use a watchmaker's mallet (carefully) to set the inner gauge back around the crystal.

54AB17B1-39A5-408F-87BF-0C806B14675A.jpeg

I am very pleased with this acquisition. The deep red dial is a dazzler, and save for a bit of exposed base metal on the back the watch is in exquisite condition for its age. Quite a value at about $100.

That is quite a looker you have now that it is cleaned up. Congrats on a job well done. If you are willing to put in the work to clean things up and learn how to service movements then there are certainly deals to be had and beautiful watches on which one can work.

[watchpalooza]

That is quite a looker you have now that it is cleaned up. Congrats on a job well done. If you are willing to put in the work to clean things up and learn how to service movements then there are certainly deals to be had and beautiful watches on which one can work.

Well said...I really enjoy finding the “diamond in the rough” and then doing the project to make it shine...something I think we have in common.

[Sporkboy]

That is quite a looker you have now that it is cleaned up. Congrats on a job well done. If you are willing to put in the work to clean things up and learn how to service movements then there are certainly deals to be had and beautiful watches on which one can work.

Well said...I really enjoy finding the “diamond in the rough” and then doing the project to make it shine...something I think we have in common.

That is definitely something we have in common. I think that growing up in the antiques business did that to me. I still need to learn how to service a movement, but I think that I will get there relatively soon with my pile of Raketa movements that I have ready for the adventure.

[yinzburgher]

A whole mess of new stuff to show off here. The first two are both from the deals thread. So a big thank you to [mention]pdsf[/mention] for posting the Timex Q reissue and to [mention]Gorem[/mention] for posting the Bulova Oceanographer/Devil Diver. The Q probably won't get a great deal of time but I think I'll definitely enjoy it on occasion and then maybe resell after a while. I have no shortage of divers but the Bulova seems a bit different being all polished rather than brushed. I just wish they had paid some attention to getting the applied Bulova looking better. Both watches are a good size for me.




The next 2 are eBay finds. A bronze Borealis Navale with Panerai vibes. I like the Isofrane style strap on this. And the Seiko Samurai Blue Lagoon SRPB09. I've had thoughts of this since it came out. I like all the newer STO Samurais but still preferred this and eventually found a price I was comfortable with.



Last is a Vostok Amphibia SE 150B04 from Meranom. Took forever to get here. I've got it on my wrist now and I really like the case shape. Took it off the orange "ballistic" style orange NATO and liking it much better on the grey and orange NATO. I could see this one being a long term keeper for me.....more than any of the others above. I may consider a bezel mod at some point but not any time soon.

[cortman]

A whole mess of new stuff to show off here. The first two are both from the deals thread. So a big thank you to @pdsf for posting the Timex Q reissue and to @Gorem for posting the Bulova Oceanographer/Devil Diver. The Q probably won't get a great deal of time but I think I'll definitely enjoy it on occasion and then maybe resell after a while. I have no shortage of divers but the Bulova seems a bit different being all polished rather than brushed. I just wish they had paid some attention to getting the applied Bulova looking better. Both watches are a good size for me.

The next 2 are eBay finds. A bronze Borealis Navale with Panerai vibes. I like the Isofrane style strap on this. And the Seiko Samurai Blue Lagoon SRPB09. I've had thoughts of this since it came out. I like all the newer STO Samurais but still preferred this and eventually found a price I was comfortable with.

Last is a Vostok Amphibia SE 150B04 from Meranom. Took forever to get here. I've got it on my wrist now and I really like the case shape. Took it off the orange "ballistic" style orange NATO and liking it much better on the grey and orange NATO. I could see this one being a long term keeper for me.....more than any of the others above. I may consider a bezel mod at some point but not any time soon.

What a haul! I like that Vostok as well, that's a terrific strap match.

[CVP33]

You win some, you lose some. I was bidding on an Undone Titanium Batman on eBay. Can’t see paying $369 new, but I was willing to go $250.......it sold for $319. Oh well.

Then I saw the NTH Tikuna Diver. Absolutely a great watch even at the full $650 price......but extremely happy with paying $473 for a new, never worn version. Got a feeling this will be the first of many NTH’s in my future.

[pdsf]

Looks fab!!

[Stretch44]

My SARB017 came in today. I must say, I now understand the Alpinist hype. It is a really beautiful watch and the size is perfect. I'm quite enamored and like it a lot more than I thought I would. My only gripe is the band. It's stiff and not sure I like the feel. Hopefully it breaks in well because it looks good.

[yinzburgher]

My SARB017 came in today. I must say, I now understand the Alpinist hype. It is a really beautiful watch and the size is perfect. I'm quite enamored and like it a lot more than I thought I would. My only gripe is the band. It's stiff and not sure I like the feel. Hopefully it breaks in well because it looks good.

Looks good. Unfortunately the band won't get better. It's a big reason you almost never see anyone wear the stock strap. I've owned and flipped a few examples of that watch. The closest I ever came to getting it broken in and more comfortable was taking off the coating with acetone. So I basically chemically distressed it and then manually distressed by continually bending, folding and manipulating it and then I wore it a lot but it just never really got that much better. Great watch.....not a great strap. But google images and instagram are wonderful resources for figuring the best strap for well known watches.

[Stretch44]

Looks good. Unfortunately the band won't get better. It's a big reason you almost never see anyone wear the stock strap. I've owned and flipped a few examples of that watch. The closest I ever came to getting it broken in and more comfortable was taking off the coating with acetone. So I basically chemically distressed it and then manually distressed by continually bending, folding and manipulating it and then I wore it a lot but it just never really got that much better. Great watch.....not a great strap. But google images and instagram are wonderful resources for figuring the best strap for well known watches.

Thanks, that's what suspected. I'll dig into the box and find a strap and then start looking around for a new one.