What time is it? Watches and horology

Thanks I'll look into these I have seen a couple of pictures of these which looked good but didn't know who was doing them. Current front runner is the Squale

Cheers.

I still haven't sent it because I'm dithering over the bezel insert. It's an extra cost and I just can't make up my mind. I think that with the black day/date and brushed hands the overall feel will darken, so having a contrast colour to brighten it makes sense.

But then I'm trying to go for an OEM+ rather than a modded look. I guess it can always be changed back...

Fuck it. I'm going for the coke bezel. Plus playing with it has reminded me that the bezel is sticky so hopefully having it removed and refitted will sort it.

Time to email, remove the bracket and get this thing wrapped for posting.

Quite excited/nervous.

More questions, do I need to get it pressure tested?

It's £30.

Gut says in for a p in for a £.

do you intend to dive/ swim in it?

Does anyone have experience with Kings Hill jewellery in St Albans? Looks like a nice selection of stock.

https://kingshilljewellery.com/collections/all/ladies

Diving... no. The boat rides ruin it for me. Snorkelling? I'd love to sometime, but not for a bit. Swimming? Definitely.

It seems like a false economy not to so I'm going to. It's just that move from £150 for a movement swap to £220 plus whatever I've spent on parts...

...could have just bought a better watch to begin with :O

This is wicked!

Anyone catch this Omega Speedmaster Apollo-Soyuz on Antiques Road Show? Not super clued up on the Speedmaster variants but definitely never seen this one:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00156p3/antiques-roadshow-series-44-ham-house-2

It's right at the end of the show.

1 Attachment

£30 seems like a cheap solution to the the risk of killing the watch.

I suppose the next question is, if it fails the pressure test, how much are new seals ,etc. going to cost to make it waterproof?

Also a Tudor Black Bay 'Royalty and Specialist Protection' sold at auction for 9k. Shame the auction house wasn't intelligent enough to move the hands so you can actually see the insignia properly.

3 Attachments

Tax payers' money. What a scam.

20 times my ass.

Look at the smeg on the case.

20 times my ass.

1st time was for 2 months, 2nd for 7 months, etc.

Haaa smeg.

On that note, I thought I'd just add it up:

SKX013 - ¿£150? maybe?
StrapCo Oyster bracelet - $77.52
Coke Bezel - $15.50
Black day/date wheel - $49.90
MM300 Hands - $18.50
Unneeded Orange SKX007 hands ~ ¿£20?
All the modz - £222

Total ~£520

Not as bad as I was expecting. But not great vfm when you think what other Seikos you can get for that money. Although there are none that are >40mm.

I'd hope he'd have new seals etc.

When I was searching my emails to find pricing it looks like I bought a set, so maybe I should try and find those and send them.

He should at least replace the crown ones as the mod requires an aftermarket crown and stem.

have you looked at https://www.monsterwatches.nl/?lang=en ?
Sells standard and modded Seiko, might be worth an email to see if he can do something sinilar?
Unless you already have stuff purchased (which it seems you do) then ignore me.

Cheers. Also all those esty sellers look like good value.

Unfortunately I've already got all the bits. I originally meant to do this in March 2020 but a few things got in the way. Basically it's the sort of thing where I'm not sure I'd do the whole thing again, but equally this is where I am now... if that makes any sense.

The StrapCo Oyster bracelet is still a definite winner tho, even if it did cost half the cost of the watch. It is excellent.

It's so odd that I can't find any record of buying the actual watch tho.

I agree it does seem a bit of a weird variation for an El Primero. Its this one. An earlier version of which I noticed in a read back through the thread got a kicking a few pages ago ... LoL. I love it, probably my favourite watch and definitely would be the last to go.

Best not get started on date windows ... I don't mind a date but I absolutely detest contrasting date wheels, especially in an otherwise single colour dial. If its a panda dial or similar I can sort of understand it, but a black dial with a white date wheel just grates.

1 Attachment

I love the tall indices on this King Quartz. Never seen them before. Are there other references with this feature? This one is a 4823-8120 from 1977. Apparently it's 36mm wide exc. crown https://vintageseiko.nl/store/product/seiko-king-quartz-4823-8120-sold-1 Imagine it was 40mm...it would be madly collectible.

I think a white date wheel on a black dial can make sense if it's taking the place of a marker or lume plot that would otherwise be there. But that's very dial-dependent.

There are some Grand Seiko VFA references with similar markers. Those are very much collectible.

Those indices are seriously tall. Kind of a northern european/Bauhaus look. Maybe there were some similar designs from Germany 100 years ago?

Edit: here's a 61GS VFA which fetched £36k at auction! Really? Not a typo? https://www.phillips.com/detail/grand-seiko/CH080121/173

The auctioneer said the indices were 'possibly influenced by the monolith featured in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey'.

Edit again: great minds!

There is a story, possibly apocryphal, that the proportions of the markers on the VFAs were based on the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1 : 4 : 9).