MoT's WDF

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 3:07 pm I am honestly not trying to mess with the rules, but so am doing my best to interpret the spirit of them as I am see it. MoT has several times advised me to not make clarifications as they just lead to headaches. Let my stupidity be a lesson to future challenge runners.

1. Please interpret the rules to the best of your ability.
2. Honor the spirit of the challenge.
3. If you disagree with someone’s interpretation of the guidelines then don’t vote for their entry.

I will say no more of it as I wouldn’t want it to come between us.

You are good. I think your initial rules are fine. I'm glad you put this together, my first forum challenge!

Confession: even though I feel good about my incoming candidate, I can't stop looking at vintage watches! Maybe this is how gamblers feel. Scrolling through eBay listings has become like watching the wheels of a slot machine, waiting for the jackpot, which you know is just one. more. click. away.

My challenge watch arrived. So far it keeps good time. It stopped a couple times early on, but has since kept running. Its old strap was *very* worn, in strange contrast to the watch's overall good condition -- guessing it was swapped in just for the auction. The spring bars are brass, I think.

Having it in hand, I like it even more. It isn't a strong "field watch" competitor, but it's a good addition to my collection. In the photos I thought the dial was a matte tan. In real life, the dial is a champagne color with a fine, horizontal brush which catches the light in fun ways. So, where I thought it had a military vibe, IRL it has a 60s vibe. That won't stop me from putting it on a NATO, lol.

BostonCharlie wrote:My challenge watch arrived. So far it keeps good time. It stopped a couple times early on, but has since kept running. Its old strap was *very* worn, in strange contrast to the watch's overall good condition -- guessing it was swapped in just for the auction. The spring bars are brass, I think.

Having it in hand, I like it even more. It isn't a strong "field watch" competitor, but it's a good addition to my collection. In the photos I thought the dial was a matte tan. In real life, the dial is a champagne color with a fine, horizontal brush which catches the light in fun ways. So, where I thought it had a military vibe, IRL it has a 60s vibe. That won't stop me from putting it on a NATO, lol.

Don’t worry, my in-hand candidate’s didn’t is also of a similar color. However, it looks good so that is something.

I guess I've learned something about eBay. I'd been stalking an auction for a few days. Excellent candidate, imo, although I wasn't planning to bid. I only wanted to observe and hopefully see it show up here, later.

Today was the final day and there were no bids yet. And the seller pulled the listing: "This listing was ended by the seller because the item was lost or broken," which I don't believe. Maybe it sold through another channel, but I bet that if somebody had put in just one bid, the seller would have had a harder time backing out like that.

If I were planning to bid, I would contact the seller. Instead I'll just be watching to see if it appears again, later. Or maybe it will still show up here!

Update: the seller has relisted it, and it has already attracted more attention than before.

BostonCharlie wrote: seller pulled the listing: "This listing was ended by the seller because the item was lost or broken," which I don't believe.

If I recall correctly, eBay forces you to choose from a predefined set of reasons for why the listing is being pulled. "I didn't want to item to sell for opening price" isn't an option, so the seller chose an arbitrary reason. (another is "price mistake")

Just saw a good challenge candidate on eBay get sniped when there weren't even any bids. By eBay's timestamps, the one and only bid was 8 secs before the close. Hope to see it here!

I think I may have overly handicapped myself by ruling out radium lume. Had a great candidate lined up that someone else got at the limit, expect to see it here.

There's still time, but don't want to get anything, just because...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Similarly, I need a strap for my candidate but I can't bring myself to pay more than I did for the watch. That wouldn't be so hard if the lug width weren't 16mm. So now I'm fixated on the idea of buying a watch with a 16mm strap that I can use on my candidate -- and I have to like the watch as well as the strap. Keeps it interesting.

BostonCharlie wrote: ↑Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:04 pm Similarly, I need a strap for my candidate but I can't bring myself to pay more than I did for the watch. That wouldn't be so hard if the lug width weren't 16mm. So now I'm fixated on the idea of buying a watch with a 16mm strap that I can use on my candidate -- and I have to like the watch as well as the strap. Keeps it interesting.

CNS has a variety of 16mm straps, but you'd have to pay $4-5 for one.

https://www.cheapestnatostraps.com/coll ... size/16-mm

Here is an example of a well executed 18mm -> 16mm (?) strap shave, found on an eBay listing:

Big bummer for somebody out there. It was sitting at $36 until Mr. $37 sniped it w/ 9 seconds left. (I wasn't bidding.)

It’s the last week to purchase a watch for this challenge. I will be contacting those that have expressed interest in participating to confirm that they are still in.

If you purchased a watch and haven’t done so, please post here before the month’s end to ensure that I have you on my list.

Tomorrow is July 1st, which means that you will be able to start posting your challenge entries tomorrow. Posting period is 2 weeks followed directly by the voting period.

I have a number of messages pending a response that I just sent a little while ago, but so far I have the following forum members with confirmed entries:
Sporkboy
ManOnTime
Watchpalooza
Stretch44
TheJohnP
BostonCharlie
Peskydonut
Halaku
Guyinwatch
Tin-pusher

As you look through the entries, keep in mind that you will get to vote for your top 2 favorite entries this time around.
That way if a very clear 1st place emerges then we can have a more interesting 2nd place race going on.
I am really looking forward to seeing how badly I have been beaten.

Sporkboy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:45 pm I am really looking forward to seeing how badly I have been beaten.

Me too! I have no fighting chance.