What time is it? Watches and horology

Nice work, top bloke, had some banter, he fixed my Seamaster, put a new battery in the Seiko and it cost me a tenner.
LOLWUT?

I'll definitely be going there forever.

Parents want to buy me a 30th birthday present watch. budget is up to £1k, I'm obviously looking automatic, I'm into pilots watches and black faces, so the Steinharts are appealing but the Max Bill in black is swaying me, non Chronoscope version. I'd really like to try a Junghans on, anywhere I can do that?

I don't think I can push their budget to a Bell & Ross as much as I'd love one.

That's Damasko territory. (If new)

http://www.damasko.de/en/

or Stowa...

https://www.stowa.de/Flieger/index.htm

or Archimede...

http://www.archimede-watches.com/watches/pilot.html

or if preowned check out Chronomaster...

http://www.chronomaster.co.uk/

Liberty has Junghans watches

Glad Alsal were good.

If I had £1k ish to drop on a watch of that style, I'd look at new Precista watches, vintage Omega '53 fat arrows (good investment), 70's CWC chronographs, Hamilton 6B, Smiths W10 or 6B. The vintage ones are more of a gamble though.

A few observations from the Watches of Knightsbridge auction this weekend.

Lots of watches went unsold, no bids rather than not meeting reserve.
A vintage Tudor sub with snowflake hands went for waaay over the guide price.
The 1940s Rolex sold for £70k.
Two Tudor Black Bays in unworn condition sold for £1400 and a Pelagos sold for £1700.

Shit - I'd be buying a Pelagos at that price!

Add 21.6% for VAT and fees and its not quite the same bargain.

There's always a catch

And something like 3% if you bid online!

3.6%...hence why I was there for a friend. It adds up.

Gamble how? Purely based on whether they're in good condition or not? The 53 fat arrows and the Hamilton 6B are really nice.

Fuck that Precista Czech Air Force watch is really nice.

My max bill collection has come to a head i think, at least for now anyway... the grey face is beautiful but need to save for my nomos.

Will be having a clearout of several watches soon too, mix of a few things - all good of course ;) will plonk them on here before they go to the dreaded bay of broken dreams

What is dia of centre piece? Looks bigger?

It's a gamble in that you need to know what you are looking at, to avoid buying a turkey. But, all it takes is studying some photos and you can become sure about what you are buying. I always pay close attention to dials and hands as they are often replaced and swapped out. If you get movement shots then generally I just look out for parts that are tarnished differently from the rest of the movement (can suggest it's cobbled together) and also note if the regulator arm is way off centre, if it has one. People often sell watches as "running strongly" or "keeping great time" whereas in fact they are as dry as a bone and dirty. For ones which I wear regularly, I make sure they get cleaned and oiled, so factor in say £60 - £100 to have that done.

in order left to right it's 40, 34, 38, 38, 40mm

Just for future reference, Alsal keep the full selection of Junghans in store. That place is amazing, more banter, met more of the family, we're basically best friends now. I feel like I have to buy a Max Bill now. Maybe it's just clever marketing.

Can anyone tell me what the right size of watchband is that I need? I got 4 watches with this exact size. I'm afraid 18 is too big but I can't find any 17 nato straps.

Squeeze in an 18mm, Shirley.

Lol ok, thanks

Well you're talking 200 microns... width of four or five human hairs.

Looks like the shoulders curve in anyway. Prob 18mm at the pin.

I wear a 1mm to big nato in my watch because the odd size is hard to get. I'm sure you can squeeze in 1/5th of that

an 18 will definitely fit, you can go 1mm either way, i have some 19mm watches that a 20mm looks much better on, better a tight squeeze than have a space imho - i have some straps that are listed as 18 but actually measure 17 or 19 too