Today I'm wearing... ***NO quoting photos***

Wibbs

peasant wrote: »

For the average Soviet citizen in the day it was anything but ...and hard to come by at that.

True enough P. "Cheap" is very relative. There are a lot of them around, but there were many millions of Soviet Union citizens and a goodly proportion of them available today were made post the fall of the Soviet Union. It would be interesting to find out how much they were back in the 70's/80's compared to an average Soviet wage kinda thing.

Looking at them as objectively as possible they're not that cheaply made. OK they kept movements down to a couple(with quartz later on) so that made things cheaper to produce. No issue there, they clearly work and work well. The cases are well ahead of the cheaper Swiss/French western now "no name" brands of the 70's, your Yema's(the majority), Mortimas and Sicuras etc for a start. Dial printing and lume is well below the big names Omega, Longines etc of the time alright, the hands aren't too bad though.

IMHO if this had say Omega on the dial with an Omega movement the case would no way feel out of place. Indeed I'd go further and say it's a better cast and machined case than on my early quartz Seamaster. Feels like tougher steel with it. Never mind that it's a better designed case in the first place as far as water resistance goes.

HDMI

Khaki Field for me today.






Richard

893bet

We are enjoying a subway together!

fret_wimp2

Maranez Layan with about a year of patina, One of my fav's as im not super anal about scratches or little marks on this one, they just make it look better.

Mitch Buchannon

That looks great. For a long time I didnt like the California style dial but its growing on me now. I do like bronze watches though.. really cool. Only thing that stops me geting one is that they nearly all have a steel crown and that would bug the crap out of me.

fret_wimp2

Mitch Buchannon wrote: »

That looks great. For a long time I didnt like the California style dial but its growing on me now. I do like bronze watches though.. really cool. Only thing that stops me geting one is that they nearly all have a steel crown and that would bug the crap out of me.

This one is brass, not bronze. Wanted a bronze, wasn't willing to pay the bronze premium tax and this one scratched the itch. Wouldnt swap it for a bronze either, really like this one.

Initially i was going for the numeric dial but made a spur of the moment decision on the cali and again, dont regret it. Its very unique, you never ever see them in the wild.

The new version of the Layan has a brass crown also, and IMO, it detracts from the look, doesn't offer any contrast. Check it out though, it might just float your boat.

This watch, prob one of my most affordable gets a bucket load of attention and complements, roughly on parr wtih the orange SUMO which was easily twice the price. I always see it as a good sign when non watch people complement your watch, its doing what it should, be unique and stand out.

Eoin

I had the numeric dial for a while, and think the California one looks better. The screw in lug bars makes changing straps really easy too - it looks great on a single colour NATO.

Sounds silly, but the main thing that annoyed me was not having a seconds hand (my usual auto is a chronograph, so I miss the sweeping seconds sometimes).

Mick55

My Tissot!

893bet

My colt.

Could be the last time ever ;(

Have a buyer coming this evening for it. Kinda hope he backs out to be honest.

Close to pulling it myself to be honest.

Menas

893bet wrote: »

My colt.

Could be the last time ever ;(

Have a buyer coming this evening for it. Kinda hope he backs out to be honest.

Close to pulling it myself to be honest.

I know how you feel. I sold my Omega on tuesday and am missing it sadly.
But I have a great consolation prize on it's way to me....

893bet

Trigger Happy wrote: »

I know how you feel. I sold my Omega on tuesday and am missing it sadly.
But I have a great consolation prize on it's way to me....

And.......it's gone. Feels like a death in the family.

Gonna start saving for an Omega AT skyfall. Looks like if I want it I will have to go to an AD and pay full whack tho as there are little to nonesecond hand and even then they go for big money. Will save slowly fifor a year or two and assess.

Cyrus

893bet wrote: »

And.......it's gone. Feels like a death in the family.

Gonna start saving for an Omega AT skyfall. Looks like if I want it I will have to go to an AD and pay full whack tho as there are little to nonesecond hand and even then they go for big money. Will save slowly fifor a year or two and assess.

Two sold recently on tz-uk sales corner

893bet

Cyrus wrote: »

Two sold recently on tz-uk sales corner

Sadly only recently joined again so waiting until I can view sales corner.

What they go for?

Cyrus

893bet wrote: »

Sadly only recently joined again so waiting until I can view sales corner.

What they go for?

£2-2.2k

gavkm27

Panerai 2013 Luminor Submersible 2500m Titanium

fret_wimp2

Dodgy camera phone photo - SARB017 on dark brown buffalo strap with seiko deployant clasp.

893bet

Sshock for 5 quid that came from hong Kong!

For a fiver delivered I am impressed!

Grand for cutting silage!

Wibbs

Marathon Navigator military issued watch(US, Canada and Israel). Very light, tough as fuq and remarkably accurate for a crappy one jewel Ronda movement. The tritium lume is brilliant. Under a 150 quid, but if you know a chap or chapess in the US military they can get them for 45 dollars IIRC. Bargain IMH

m4r10

My cheapest and my most accurate ABC watch. Despite the negative display, it's very legible even in low light.

Skill Magill

The most accurate watch i ever owned, it keeps perfect time with the atomic clock,
G-shock 3050, no batteries, solar driven : quartz


and the best for seeing in the dark : and not too far off in accurancy : the marathon


\The gshock is about 8 or 9 years old and has never missed a beat, I mean second accurate to the atomic clock, perfect synchrony
and the marathon glows in the dark like nothing else Ive ever come across.

m4r10

Skill Magill wrote: »

The most accurate watch i ever owned, it keeps perfect time with the atomic clock,
G-shock 3050, no batteries, solar driven : quartz

\The gshock is about 8 or 9 years old and has never missed a beat, I mean second accurate to the atomic clock, perfect synchrony
and the marathon glows in the dark like nothing else Ive ever come across.

If you turned off the atomic reception on the watch and it's still in sync with the atomic clck, then that's a rare beast you have there.

Other than that, the watch keeps syncing with the atomic clock every night, hence the accuracy.

Skill Magill

m4r10 wrote: »

If you turned off the atomic reception on the watch and it's still in sync with the atomic clck, then that's a rare beast you have the watch keeps syncing with the atomic clock every night, hence the accuracy.

Absolutely I keep it on my window sill aimed at the stars, it corrects itself when it comes to time changes, you can set it that it lights up when you flick your wrist,
I use it to tell the time ( to compare my other watches too)
I was going to sell it but I realise I could never rebuy a watch with this accuracy so it will sit on my window sill and get little wrist time

Wibbs

From my last military issued to it's much older(and smaller) ancestor.

Alpina KM issued to the German navy in world war two(KM = Kriegsmarine). As you can see it's got all the patina of its years. The engine's good mind you.

CarltonBrowne

This is a beater mainly worn cycling. I've had it on a NATO since it's arrival but was looking on the Cousins website absent-mindedly and came across a generic jubilee bracelet for £5.52. The watch is a fairly generic case, not dissimilar to the types used by Heuer/Tag-Heuer (Bucherer did that a lot in the past) and the bracelet fits perfectly. The only problem now is that I'm finding it hard to live with the missing bezel insert - getting one made (I've tried a Tag one and it doesn't fit) is going to cost significantly more than the £24+£5.52 spent so far.



https://www.cousinsuk.com/catalog/watch-straps-bracelets-fittings/safety-clasp-bracelets/18-to-20mm-fitting6

Wibbs

For my money Bucherer and a few other "lesser" brands, as far as the public mind/marketing goes are almost invisible, yet made some fine and intresting watches. That list of outside the envelope makes and models is a very long one and can often turn up innovations and rarity levels that make an issued Rolex Milsub look both archaic and commonplace.

I've got a weird mix of watches in my meagre collection, but I was thinking earlier that if I had to choose a "generic watch" that did what a watch should do and did so beyond any history, "authenticity" and cache and beyond the subjective, which one would be the winner?

Probably the aforementioned Marathon Navigator. OK you couldn't go diving with it, but who does(gavkm27 can feck right off out of this discussion, you "I have a good reason for a helium valve" barsteward you )? That said it'll survive a dip into water. I know this all too well as it was my fishing watch and I have a tendency to fall into rivers from time to time... Accuracy wise it's well above what anyone actually needs(couple of seconds off per month). The bezel gives you another timezone. It's cheap to make and to buy. It has by far the best lume for nighttime viewing(Tritium makes superluminova look like amateur hour). Battery wise, if you can jam it in, it'll work, though the battery strap is a whoer as far as ease of installation goes. Too fiddly. It weighs nothing so is easier to ship in large quantities and you can barely notice it on the wrist. It's extremely legible. You could throw a G-Shock into the mix, but digital dials are less easy to acquire for the mind and more than a few studies have borne this out and the G-shock analogues tend to be too busy.

Yep I have to say if someone asks me I just want a Watch(tm) I'd steer them towards the Marathon.

Mind you the strap it comes with is pure shíte. And a non brass crown that wears off its coating would be a bonus.

daingeanrob

new watch! a universal geneve unisonic, nice watch on..

Zagato

Ocean 1 Vintage Red on GasGasBones strap

dancrowley

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 45.5 (8500 movement) on black Isofrane strap.

Quite large but incredibly comfortable on rubber; it's a bit warm outside (43C right now) to be wearing the gorgeous SS bracelet.

893bet

Nice. My finger has hovered over a black isofrane lately. Gonna buy I've decided later.

dancrowley

893bet wrote: »

Nice. My finger has hovered over a black isofrane lately. Gonna buy I've decided later.

Good call. I picked up an orange one, too.