Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

Wibbs

I've not heard of any reliability problems with them and wouldn't really expect any. Even cheap quartz movements tend to be very robust and Seiko are certainly a step above. That's the sweep seconds one?

Fitz II

redlead wrote: »

I never read the book so this thread has inspired me to read that next.

I envy you reading it for the first time.

Time

I’m fascinated by this book now. I’d like to say I’ll read it but the 30 odd unread books I have sitting here say otherwise. I’ll just have to wait for the film. I love Villeneuves stuff anyway so I’m sure it’ll be great.

As an aside if any of you ever find yourselves in the Bahamas, I’d recommend Dune at the Ocean Club for dinner.

Thirdfox

I guess for the people who like the Dune book series they may enjoy Issac Assimov's Empire series too? I haven't read it myself personally but I did enjoy reading Assimov's Robotics series.

Cyrus

“You know we were talking earlier about Dostoevsky? – Oh, yeah? – Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Born 1821. Died 1881”



Am I doing it right ?

TheRepentent

Fitz II wrote: »

I envy you reading it for the first time.

When I was a young teenager I mainly was reading fantasy..then when I was 14 I read Dune...man what a book and have read it multiple times. Was really looking forward to the new movie but a friend in the meantime got this to tide us over:

If anyone is looking for Sci Fi on that kinda scale I would recommend the Gap series and the revelation sapce series.

banie01

Also, if anyone does decide to read Dune?
Please for the love of all that's holy...
Stay the fúck away from any of the grave robbing desecration peddled by Brian Herbert (Frank's son) and Kevin Anderson.
Jesus those books are an affront to the originals.

As Fitz has alluded to, after book 3 of the original series.
It does get weird, but still very readable and very much of a thread with the original.

The son's cash grab throws that thread of continuity away and treats anyone who's read the original series as a dope.

Not that I have a strong opinion on it or anything :pac:

TheRepentent

banie01 wrote: »

Stay the fúck away from any of the grave robbing desecration peddled by Brian Herbert (Frank's son) and Kevin Anderson.
Jesus those books are an affront to the originals.

Agree 110%...read the 3 book series about the butlerian jihad....pulp transfromers crap.

Thirdfox

I wonder if there Alastair P frequents this forum too:
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/winner-announced-geckota-g-02-watch/#disqus_thread

blue5000

Vintage Longines are getting expensive,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Longines-Conquest-Calendar-Cal-19-ASD-Movement-Mens-Wrist-Watch-1958/203189313680?

Wibbs

They have gone up a fair bit since a few years back alright B, but rising tide and all that. They're still generally much cheaper than equivalent Omega. And that particular one is pure dealerspeak. "gold capped" AKA plated. "time warp condition" AKA not completely knackered. "wears large for the time at 35 mm" AKA don't be shocked when you get it and realise it's tiny if you like your grub. "18 K medallion in the middle which even now shows some of the protective green enamel covering in its centre" AKA it's pretty much all missing. Oh and no pics of the "highly regarded caliber 19 asd automatic date movement". Add in the on point Hoodwinkee hand in pocket wrist shot and the picture is complete(BS).

I reckon he's hoping the reissue will up the price, but I'd say it'll sit there for ages unless a newb comes along and buys the dealerspeak, as some people will. Few collectors would touch it, instead would wait to spend a little more on the 14/18Kt version. Personally I always felt that particular model of Conquest was very heavy looking and too 1960's, but in a staid rather than a good way.

unkel

Wibbs wrote: »

don't be shocked when you get it and realise it's tiny if you like your grub.

Had that once with a vintage little Poljot that peasant linked to. From the comments at the time it was not original, but it was a little beauty. But it was little. Very little at I think 34mm

Wibbs

I reckon the smaller sizes are one big reason why the vintage market after an initial jump in popularity and price has softened in the last while. There are always the popular models from the past, most of which are generally larger anyway and 70's stuff tends to be larger too(which I also reckon is why it took off), but the wider market not so much.

unkel

The 70s were a brutal decade for fashion, but I guess the watches have stood the test of time better than the clothes and the hair-dos

I've caught myself lusting over the odd vintage Omega and what not from the 70s. Some nice colours used too, orange, light blue etc.

Wibbs

I think the 70's still has the hopeful future and futurism going on, even with the economic and social woes of the period. A lot of the 60's stuff leaked into the era. Even watch design tending to be traditional and slow to react picked up on that. The main Swiss brands started to rattle the cages of traditional design and when you have AP and Patek not long after pushing radical designs for them it says much. It felt "safe" for them to try. The market was confident enough. Some brands like LIP went completely rogue and avant garde. Even Rolex got in on the act to some degree and they're a brand who lived and live in the safe consistent traditional as one of their biggest selling points. And contrary to interwebs lore this was happening before any "quartz crisis" came along. I think some of that futurist angle still resonates with us today.

Cienciano

unkel wrote: »

The 70s were a brutal decade for fashion, but I guess the watches have stood the test of time better than the clothes and the hair-dos

I've caught myself lusting over the odd vintage Omega and what not from the 70s. Some nice colours used too, orange, light blue etc.

Yeah, I wanted a birthyear watch and the 70's weren't a kind decade! Omega are the one brand that I think always have a few mad designs of the time that still work now and always seem to have "classic" designs too that still work.
Think about getting a 70's watch or a birthyear watch, I think it's cool to get one that's clearly of it's time rather than something that looks more or less the same now. It doesn't get more 70's than this

Lorddrakul

@Cienciano: Wow, that is quite a piece.
Had you said it was a Soviet relic, I'd have believed it.

It looks like it could double as a Geiger Counter!

blue5000

Wibbs wrote: »

They have gone up a fair bit since a few years back alright B, but rising tide and all that. They're still generally much cheaper than equivalent Omega. And that particular one is pure dealerspeak. "gold capped" AKA plated. "time warp condition" AKA not completely knackered. "wears large for the time at 35 mm" AKA don't be shocked when you get it and realise it's tiny if you like your grub. "18 K medallion in the middle which even now shows some of the protective green enamel covering in its centre" AKA it's pretty much all missing. Oh and no pics of the "highly regarded caliber 19 asd automatic date movement". Add in the on point Hoodwinkee hand in pocket wrist shot and the picture is complete(BS).

I reckon he's hoping the reissue will up the price, but I'd say it'll sit there for ages unless a newb comes along and buys the dealerspeak, as some people will. Few collectors would touch it, instead would wait to spend a little more on the 14/18Kt version. Personally I always felt that particular model of Conquest was very heavy looking and too 1960's, but in a staid rather than a good way.

Glad I got mine a few years back. No movement photo is a big turn off for any vintage watch. Ok if it’s sub 100 quid and photos are a bit blurry it might be worth a gamble.

18 carat case and pie pan dial weren’t anymore expensive 5 years ago. Still I prefer vintage Longines to a more expensive modern lookalike.

Wibbs

Heuer along with Omega and Longines were among the few Swiss brands who embraced or tried to embrace the digital trend(and to stick with quartz in general). To varying degrees of success. The Heuer were notoriously unreliable and working ones today are rare enough. Omega and Longines were of better quality and more long lasting. They ultimately couldn't compete with the Japanese in functionality, speed of getting new stuff to market and price. Note how the Heuer has two dials/screens. The Swiss did this kinda thing a fair bit, they'd stick two modules in the same case to give the functionality Seiko would have in one.

Me rocking the 70's myself today.



Thank god it's not a smart watch or I'd be concerned about what the day function was trying to tell me...

david

Tuesday's always catch me off-guard on the Germans, glad I'm not the only one! The missus didn't know what to make of it.

Cienciano

Wibbs wrote: »

Me rocking the 70's myself today.

That's a really cool Omega, one of the nicest 70's quartz.

Eoin

The Sinn should have a dual language day wheel IIRC, if you want to change it over to English.

Dobbytoes

Dobbytoes wrote: »

Thanks guys. I'll update and post pictures when it arrives. I paid a couple of dollars extra for the fast delivery, and it is expected to arrive on Friday. I am expecting it to cost €387 in total, as Amazon add on the appropriate taxes ($85). They haven't deducted anything from my card yet, so I will confirm that also. I could have got it delivered to a relative in the States, and then got it forwarded, but for the sake of the extra few quid, I decided to just do it properly with Amazon.

I really like the look of the orange dial myself, and it was that colour on their cheaper model on Amazon UK that started me on the trail that ended up with this purchase. This particular model is an Amazon exclusive. There is anoter model number that comes with a spare rubber strap, but I couldn't find that anywhere.

I have just started wearing a watch again, and am currently wearing a cheap Skagen that I picked up a good few years ago, which isn't too bad looking, but this will be my first proper watch since the Seiko I had many, many years ago that had a digital calendar built in which let you check a date from up to a hundred years ago. That was quite the novelty at the time, which will tell you how long ago that was!

Shortly after I posted this, someone mentioned the reliability of the Citizen Eco-drives, and I remembered that I had one buried away in a drawer somewhere. I did a search and found it. It had been lying there in the dark for about ten years. It was of course, totally dead, so I popped it, face up, into the light shade of a ceiling LED light for a few hours, and it came back to life, and I have just reset it and it is working perfectly. The only problem is that the band is very tight, as I had got links removed when my wrist was a lot thinner. I think I will drop it into a jewellers and maybe get a leather strap for it. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good jewellers on the northside of Dublin?

cnocbui

Eco-drives are the final stage of evolution of wrist worn time display devices because they have achieved perpetual motion. I have one that has been running continuously for 25 years and has needed nothing doing to it other than setting the time a few times, mostly due to crossing time zones or that loathsome stupidity, daylight savings. It's made of titanium and weighs 49.3g.

My Seiko Ti Samurai, on the other hand, weighs 110.9g. That is about the limit I would ever want hanging off my wrist. I don't know how anyone could put up with more.

I haven't had this long and something I am incredibly impressed with is the lume. It's what I have been wanting most of my life. The other night I charged it up with my hefty Ti flashlight and had it by the side of my bed and went to sleep. I woke up about 6 hours later and it was pitch black and discoverd the lume was still dimly visible and that I could easily still read the time if viewed from about 8cm. It's still really bright to dark adapted eyes 2 hours after being zapped. Chuffed.

I wonder what is the heaviest wrist watch anyone wears, that isn't some antique pocket watch converted?

Wibbs

Good question. Since I'm not a drug dealer and my culinary exploits are minimal, raw, or steak that a good vet could revive I don't have a weighing scales. Most of mine are light enough as being vintage they're also small enough. I'd reckon the heaviest would be either a 30's pilots watch, or a 70's Longines(quartz or tuning fork). They'd be the ones I'd notice the weight if I thought about it. They'd not be exactly heavy though. The heaviest I ever had was an original B-Uhr I got back in the 90's. Though it was enormous and I never wore it really, but it was heavy. 50 plus mm of steel case and was in many ways like a pocket watch conversion.

unkel

cnocbui wrote: »

I wonder what is the heaviest wrist watch anyone wears, that isn't some antique pocket watch converted?

That's worth its own thread

I'd say the winner is someone with a solid precious metal watch and bracelet, platinum is heavier than gold, but I don't recall anyone here having one. I guess Fitz with the gold Daytona - maybe around 200g

Edit - looked it up and the Daytona in white gold is 195g including the bracelet. A big but only stainless steel watch like my James Cameron is 212g with the bracelet. It's a big heavy yoke alright

Thirdfox

Just wait for our Equinox watch - I'd say it would be close if not breaking 200g on a tungsten bracelet...

unkel

A quick Google shows that there are some beasts of dive watched out there, I've seen people mention 350g, even 380g

Lorddrakul

I did a little comparison recently, as I added a new bracelet to an old watch that substantially increased it's heft.

Having also just acquired my first Ti watch, I got out the kitchen scales.

Lightest was the Aerospace TI at 72g.

Heaviest was the SKX009 with the MilTAT Super Engineer II bracelet at 184g.

For comparison, a Citizen Eco Drive 42mm on its OEM mesh was 121g, and the Alpha Moon watch, with its OEM stainless, solid link bracelet was 152g.

I also got a cheap folded link bracelet to experiment with different options for the Mark II, and I like it a lot. Though the Mark II is not as hefty as it looks, there lighter bracelet makes it very comfortable.

As much as I like the Super Engineer, I'm leaning towards the lighter options.

cnocbui

unkel wrote: »

A quick Google shows that there are some beasts of dive watched out there, I've seen people mention 350g, even 380g

pssheeehhh... 'Avee you seen Unkel, he should have surfaced by now?'

'I saw him about 10 minutes ago, he was descending rapidly into the abyss and seemed to be fiddling with his new watch. I thought it was bit odd, it's a couple thousand metres there, straight down'

'Oh sh1t, i hope he remembered to take a weight off his belt....'