My Watches

[cortman]

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.

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad it was entertaining- that's a good chunk of reading!
That really is the great thing- there's such a wide range of tastes in the same hobby, and it's so much fun to see what others come up with and pursue and collect, even if it's not entirely to my taste.
I may do a tips post sometime. Some things do seem to become more clear as you progress in the hobby.

[TCAL4404]

Just read this entire thread, thanks for sharing! It's funny how our tastes, size preferences, or what we're looking for in a watch changes over time

[cortman]

In January and February of 2020 there was another great purge. I felt I was holding onto a number of watches that weren't getting wear, and, ever wary of accumulating a depressing hoard instead of a rewarding collection, I sent a bunch off. The Junghans Max Bill went, the Citizen Promaster of the previous post, and the Samurai Save the Ocean. The Junghans and the Samurai were very hard decisions to make, but I felt that increasingly neither fit my wearing patterns or where I wanted to take the collection.
The collection at this point was reduced to 9 pieces which felt comfortable enough.
First watch purchase of 2020 was in February, when I saw a great deal on a used Bulova Lobster diver. This uses the Bulova Precisionist movement, a near-HAQ with a smooth sweep second hand. I had a brief experience with this movement last year, with a Bulova dress watch, but the watch itself turned out to be a non-starter in design. I liked the look of this one better and decided to give it a try.



This watch is pure '70s, with the radial brushing, the tonneau case shape and hidden lugs. The color scheme was terrific, and what surprised me most of all- the mesh bracelet included was absolutely fantastic. Supple, comfortable, solid, machined clasp- it was really comfortable and reminded me of my Staib which retails for about what this whole watch cost me!



The second hand sweep is perfectly smooth; it's like a budget spring drive. The watch wore quite comfortably at about 12mm thick and 42mm in diameter. With the dramatic lugless design it wears a little tall for its size, but I would still have not said it wore thicker than say an SKX.



One downside was the mineral crystal; would have been great if it was sapphire. Also I don't believe there was an AR coating on the crystal which made it very reflective.
I didn't expect this to stick very long, and indeed I sold it within a month. It was a little funky and large, but such a solidly built piece, with a truly important piece of horological history with that movement. For me it was a combination of being a little odd, coupled with an increasing aversion to acquiring a collection of mostly dive watches. I was and still am on a phase of trying to explore genres and styles besides divers, which are so ubiquitous in the hobby. I mostly wanted to give the Precisionist movement another try with this watch, and I still want a Precisionist piece someday. Looking back now, though, I kind of regret selling this. It really is a fantastic watch, and I can definitely recommend it to anyone to whom it appeals aesthetically.

[cortman]

Just read this entire thread, thanks for sharing! It's funny how our tastes, size preferences, or what we're looking for in a watch changes over time

Thank you! Very true.

[cortman]

I sold the Bulova shortly after its purchase in March, and around the same time sold the Timex world time. The Timex was a great watch, but the large size (42mm, 13mm thick, 50mm-ish lug to lug) resulted in less and less wear time. That's one way my taste has decidedly trended; towards smaller watches that look a little more sleek on my 7" wrist. I do believe some styles look good on the larger size; divers especially, but for everyday, I have more and more been enjoying watches between 34 and 40 mm.
The collection at this point was down to seven watches. Just to keep it clear that this isn't an endless accumulation lol.
Having said that, in March I bought another watch- kind of a brother to one I already had. This was the Glycine Combat Sub Chronograph.



This watch's case shape and dimensions are almost identical to the automatic Glycine Combat Sub. The chronograph is a little thicker, and its bezel is angled a bit more steeply than the automatic. The bracelets are not interchangeable either, from what I have been told, although I've yet to actually try this myself.
I stepped outside my usual taste a little with this watch, as I have never been a fan of dive chronographs. I like a dive watch to be uncluttered and legible. This watch, however, in addition to being a screaming bargain, also scratched another itch I had developed- a fully black PVD coated watch.
This watch came on a PVD coated bracelet that was excellent and not unusual in any way. The link geometry was just as smooth and pleasing as my other Glycine bracelet, and the links themselves are pleasantly slim.



Under the hood is a Ronda quartz movement, and I have been forced to take back some of my reservations about Swiss quartz. The movement performs flawlessly, pushers feel solid and reliable, and the seconds hand is decently accurate and has little backlash or chatter. My previous experience with Swiss quartz chronograph movements was with the ISASWISS in the Zodiac, and that one is not a good movement at all.
One really cool feature of this watch is the lumed subdial hands. Not a feature you see often!



I was eager to try this watch out on some rubber straps. I'm not usually a big fan of rubber, but this one seemed well made for it. It looked fantastic on a green Barton silicone elite:



And of course with that Combat Sub case it wears wonderfully on a NATO.



In spite of all the positives I remain a little ambivalent about this watch. I still have a hard time accepting a dive chronograph. I think that's an irrational impulse, but it's there nonetheless. This one is such good quality, though, and to find a watch that matched the positives about this one would be far more expensive. Time will tell on this, but for now, it's a great grab-and-go quartz, and I wear it a decent amount.

[cortman]

I was on a bit of a Glycine kick this Spring, and the next watch I purchased was also Glycine. The Combat 6 with blue dial and bracelet. I liked the blue dial best; the white/silver was a close runner-up but didn't come on the bracelet, and I always try to buy on bracelet if one is available.
When this watch arrived from Ashford it was running ridiculously fast; something like two hours a day. I thought about trying to demagnetize it myself but since I didn't know for certain that was the issue, and it was a brand new watch I decided to just send it back to Ashford for warranty repair.
That process took over two months. Rather annoying, but they did return it running excellently (albeit in a box with virtually no packaging, watch just banging around loosely inside), and with no new problems, so I started wearing it and enjoying it.



First pro of this watch is the 36mm size- it wears so perfectly on my 7" wrist. I mean really perfectly. The lug to lug was 42mm- very nicely proportioned and helped the watch wear a tad larger than 36mm might suggest. The blue dial was really rich and beautiful, and the green lumed indices actually paired really well with it, in my opinion. It also has a display case back, which I love- mechanical watch movements are fascinating to watch.



At only 11.5mm thick it truly is a really great mashup of dress watch and field watch. If I had to choose between the two I'd say it leans dressy, with the polished parts of the case and polished hands. But with good lume on the dial and a good 50m of water resistance it holds up fine in the field as well.
I've worn it in both capacities- out on bike rides and hikes, and to dressed up occasions as well. All it takes is a strap change, and with 20mm lugs (a bit wide for the case size, in my opinion, but it still worked quite well) it fit the largest group in my strap collection.





The downsides of this watch: First, as far as I can tell there is no anti-reflective coating on the domed sapphire crystal. This is a big problem. This watch was difficult to read outside, and near impossible to photograph. Really could have used some AR here.
Second, the handset was a bit disappointing. It's highly polished and very thin and flat. Some more dimension would have been much appreciated. As it is they look like they were just stamped out of aluminum foil and turned shiny side up. The high polish of the hands added to the legibility issues as well.

The bracelet was ok. It did have solid endlinks, which were nice, but a butterfly clasp with no half links or ability to fine-tune the fit. As a result this one never fit right on my wrist.

I was a little ambivalent about this watch's permanent place in the collection, but that wound up being resolved this August when I had to do a bunch of selling to fund a larger purchase. All in all it was a great watch that I am thankful to have had time with. If Glycine makes a couple small changes to things like the crystal and handset, I may very well purchase again someday.

[cortman]

Next purchase was from a deal I think I found and posted- a pretty common one but a real bargain every time. The Timex MK1 quartz field watch.



This (and so many other Timex watches) are truly outstanding deals and work great in any collection. The MK1 has flawless classic field watch looks with bold and clear numerals and the little triangular lume plots around the outer edge. It's housed in an aluminum case, something that was a first to me- so far I like it quite well. As a result this watch is absurdly lightweight. I put it on a Haveston canvas strap and it stood up on its own for the picture.



The case diameter is 40mm, the thickness 11.5mm, and lug to lug of 47mm. Lug width is a very handy 20mm. It has a beautifully high-domed acrylic crystal- a really great feature of this watch that adds so much to the aesthetics than if it were just flat mineral like most of Timex's other field watches.



One of the biggest draws of this watch for me was how well it wears a wide variety of straps. I ran a little series on Instagram where I wore it on a different strap every day, and pretty well every one looked terrific, from leather to rubber to NATOs.







The one other killer feature of this watch is of course Indiglo, which has yet to be surpassed for usefulness in the watch world.
This watch cost me around $30, and I've gotten well beyond my money's worth out of it. I took it on a recent camping trip to the Badlands in South Dakota, and it really was the perfect watch for that trip. It technically only has 30m of water resistance, which is most certainly concerning, but I wore it through very high pressure campground showers without a single problem and didn't hesitate about getting it wet and had no issues. And for $30 I'm not going to be heartbroken if I do surpass whatever its actual water resistance is.

All in all a terrific watch. At $30 there's a place for one in any collection.

[Split-Time]

Next purchase was from a deal I think I found and posted- a pretty common one but a real bargain every time. The Timex MK1 quartz field watch.



This (and so many other Timex watches) are truly outstanding deals and work great in any collection. The MK1 has flawless classic field watch looks with bold and clear numerals and the little triangular lume plots around the outer edge. It's housed in an aluminum case, something that was a first to me- so far I like it quite well. As a result this watch is absurdly lightweight. I put it on a Haveston canvas strap and it stood up on its own for the picture.



The case diameter is 40mm, the thickness 11.5mm, and lug to lug of 47mm. Lug width is a very handy 20mm. It has a beautifully high-domed acrylic crystal- a really great feature of this watch that adds so much to the aesthetics than if it were just flat mineral like most of Timex's other field watches.



One of the biggest draws of this watch for me was how well it wears a wide variety of straps. I ran a little series on Instagram where I wore it on a different strap every day, and pretty well every one looked terrific, from leather to rubber to NATOs.







The one other killer feature of this watch is of course Indiglo, which has yet to be surpassed for usefulness in the watch world.
This watch cost me around $30, and I've gotten well beyond my money's worth out of it. I took it on a recent camping trip to the Badlands in South Dakota, and it really was the perfect watch for that trip. It technically only has 30m of water resistance, which is most certainly concerning, but I wore it through very high pressure campground showers without a single problem and didn't hesitate about getting it wet and had no issues. And for $30 I'm not going to be heartbroken if I do surpass whatever its actual water resistance is.

All in all a terrific watch. At $30 there's a place for one in any collection.

Dang dude, your Timex shots could be in a Timex catalog .

[cortman]

Dang dude, your Timex shots could be in a Timex catalog .

Ah thank you man! Very kind. The strap makes the watch (and I think the picture) with this one!

[cortman]

The next watch acquired was a very special one, possibly the most important of all of 2020 so far. Early in 2020 I received a promotion at work, the first in many years, and had decided of course to celebrate with a special watch purchase. I took my time shopping, as I wanted to be sure I got a good deal, and to familiarize myself a little with the market as it was completely unfamiliar to me before.

I'd had a growing interest in the use of precious metals in watches. I'm a longtime coin and bullion enthusiast (not so much a collector) and the idea of a classic, handsome watch cased in solid gold always had an appeal to me both from a watch collecting standpoint and a lover of "shiny".

The watch I wound up finding and purchasing was a vintage Hamilton Thin-O-Matic from the late 1950's, cased in solid 14k gold.



Vintage gold watches are an interesting market. The usual suspects that everyone wants, Omega, Longines, Tudor, Rolex, etc. are high priced; for the most part well, well out of my price range. For some smaller brands, however- Hamilton, Gruen, Smiths, Waltham, Benrus, Elgin- the market is still, I think, very soft. They certainly are not as common- a good deal on a solid gold watch is something you'll have to wait and watch for- but good deals are readily available on them.

Gold is divisive. I know a lot of watch collectors who would never dream of wearing yellow gold. A common complaint is that it's gaudy. But I have a hard time describing this little beauty as gaudy.



A special feature of this watch is its movement- one of the few mass produced microrotor movements around (to my knowledge). This allows the watch to be quite thin compared to contemporary automatic watches.



With this particular model I was very fortunate, in that it arrived in working condition (keeping stunningly good time- +6 spd or so), dial mostly free of blemishes, and the case gently used and unpolished. It's a small watch at 33-34mm, but in my opinion is the perfect size for a discreet yellow gold dress watch.



I love the subtle heft this one has on the wrist- it's definitely noticeable! The dial is beautifully simple and elegant. The only downside to this watch is that the lug width is 17mm- the seller said it was 18 in the listing. I was so dead set against an odd lug width that I probably would have passed had I know the truth about this one, but in the end I'm glad I didn't. A vintage gold dress watch isn't exactly going to be a "strap monster", and once I have it on some good leather (with a perlon every now and then for variety), it'll stay on it.



This watch has been a fantastic experience in a niche of horology I'd never previously explored, and has been pure joy to own and wear. If you're on the fence about gold, give it a try, I say!

[yinzburgher]

Great post cortman. That's an awesome watch and impressive photography. I wouldn't have thought to put that on grey perlon but it works really well. I think it looks best on that reddish leather strap in the top photo though. I could get used to that combo. Above all, I find it interesting to read your thoughts and decision-making in these posts. I probably won't go hunting for a gold piece anytime real soon but I hope to somewhere down the road.

[cortman]

Great post cortman. That's an awesome watch and impressive photography. I wouldn't have thought to put that on grey perlon but it works really well. I think it looks best on that reddish leather strap in the top photo though. I could get used to that combo. Above all, I find it interesting to read your thoughts and decision-making in these posts. I probably won't go hunting for a gold piece anytime real soon but I hope to somewhere down the road.

Thanks for the kind words man! I like writing these and it's fun for me to go back and re-read my thoughts as I progressed through this hobby. I think it helps keep me responsible about buying and selling lol.
Good luck when you do look for a gold watch! I'm kind of intrigued with white gold at the moment; much harder to find, but would be so cool.

[cortman]

A watch that caught my early on in my collecting was the well known Seagull 1963. This gets mentioned a lot amongst beginner/budget collectors because you can get an honest to goodness mechanical chronograph for around half what an entry level Swiss piece costs. The reliability of the ST-19 movement is spotty, with reports varying from immediate and catastrophic failure to years of accurate, reliable service.
There are many manufacturers of the "1963" chronograph. IP in China is a strange thing and it appears that multiple factories produce this watch, not just the Seagull factory. Whether these others are fakes, homages, or legitimate watches is up to personal feeling I guess. Our own [mention]pgcity[/mention] put together a good guide to these in a thread here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1128&p=46554&hilit= ... 963#p46554

I wasn't too choosy about where my 1963 chronograph came from, mostly because I found a good deal on a used one and had always wanted to try it out. My only requirement was that it have a display caseback, as the movement is definitely the attraction of this piece, both classically and romantically.



Yeah, the screw heads aren't ACTUALLY heat blued, but you can't look in there and not fall in love. The finishing is quite good and just so beautiful. I honestly wished I could wear this one upside down sometimes!



The version I got was 38mm in diameter, with a domed sapphire crystal. The movement is of course hand wound, and winding the crown was a very pleasurable experience, very smooth with a solid, positive stop at the fully wound position.



No AR on the crystal, which it definitely could have used. The dial is the classic 1963 layout we all know and for me anyway, I love it. The color palate looks terrific, and I love the cream colored dial and clean, simple markings.



The case was a little chunky, especially in conjunction with the 38mm case diameter, but quite manageable, and it looks great on pass-through straps.



Somehow I neglected to take, or save any pictures of this watch on leather or rubber. It wore both very well. It has very straight, angular lugs, which in my opinion wears pass-through straps best.
This watch grew on me very quickly. I really enjoyed its looks and that fascinating mechanical movement. It worked well for me as a semi-dress chronograph, something I wore to the office quite often.
I had no intent to move this one along, but it became one of many casualties of the Fortis acquisition later in the year. I could easily see myself buying one of these again if I could justify two mechanical chronographs in the collection. In my opinion it really stands on its own as a worthwhile, handsome watch.

[cortman]

The next in what became quite a string of purchases was an opportune find on eBay- my vintage Smiths DeLuxe. Coincidentally to this timeline, I've just finished writing a full review of the Smiths over at watchclicker.com, so instead of writing a second review here, I'll just post a link to the story.

https://watchclicker.com/2020/10/01/the ... es-part-2/

I contemplated and even listed this one for sale when raising money for the Fortis, but even though I had several satisfactory offers I withdrew it from sale. I couldn't send it off- its place in the collection is a really important one. It's moderately rare, precious metal, made entirely in the United Kingdom, and from a brand with fascinating history.
Of course I can't predict if I ever will wind up selling it, but I do plan to keep it in the collection for a very, very long time.

[VCheng]

I'm a little behind on this thread. There are a couple updates!
In late August our own @yinzburgher 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.



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!



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.



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?



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!

Drawn here by the WPCG post, i wondered how I miss this.

Wow, just wow! Really good write ups. It covers a wide array of brands, different types. As said, not just trivial spec, but 4W and 1H, and most importantly, passion. What a journey!

I am just in the middle of finishing all posts which takes quite some time, but I definitely enjoy. Appreciate it.