Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

Iguarantee

Thanks all, watch this space 😊

banie01

Browsing through Reddit this morning and happened across this. A cloned Patek Phillipe 240 Calender movement, apparently fully functioning. It was hard enough when it was Rolex movements being copied but, now it's creeping into super complicated watches too.

Reddit link for any interested, https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1bx9xhk

As an aside, saw a post on TZUK where a dealer was very, very nearly stung with a fake Rollie.

Rolex thread for any interested.

https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?527710-Beware-FAKE-Rolex-Submariner-1817U9N5-quot-with-receipt-and-warranty-card-quot

Also read elsewhere that in addition to the known Rolex movements fakes, Daytona and GMT especially, that the new Daytona 4131 movement has also been faked. Its not just lookalikes on the surface anymore.

dave_o_brien

A question for the techie here:

My divers bezel is slipping 2 clicks clockwise but only in one position on the dial - when the 0 marker aligns with 12. I assume this may have been a result of it getting snagged, but the fact this only occurs in one location is strange. Any thoughts or advice on why this might be the case or how to repair?

Roycropper63

Evening folks. Just a question. How could you tell from a genuine SKX009 from a modded SKX007.

Thanks

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121995096#Comment_121995096

Dial and bezel the only change so if the modded one has oem seiko parts there woudnt be any way of telling the difference, bar there being noticeable poor quality fitting .

traco

New 2024 Rolex watches. New GMT is about the only one that might interest me.

https://www.rolex.com/watches/new-watches

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121996556#Comment_121996556

Agreed, the rest of them look like they're set to be part of Conor McGregor's new collection.

scwazrh

Yeah the solid gold bluesy sea dweller is a real classy understated piece.. It must weigh nearly 400 grams.

traco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121996601#Comment_121996601

The Daytona is full gangster rapper style. Horrible looking thing but I guess they are following the money and I'm definitly not the target demographics!

Eoin

I'm hard pressed to tell the difference with the new GMT, but it's the least garish of them. The 1908 looks OK - I do like a textured dial, but combined with the coin-edge bezel it all looks a bit much.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121997281#Comment_121997281

The 1908 was the one that caught my eye too. The rest of it? Is all a bit meh or garish. I've a similar reaction to the new Tudors too tbh. The clair de rose dial is v.nice, but it's a ladies watch 🤷‍♂️ In my own estimation, Tudor are also suffering from being too Rolex adjacent these days. I can't remember the last time I wore my black bay at this stage like.

I know it's cool to talk down Rolex and Tudor, but this year's models from both are very meh and that's at extortionate pricing too.

Eoin

I suppose Rolex already went wild last year (for them) with their different colour and patterned dials in the oyster perpetual range. The Daytona and Deep Sea are just vulgar looking - I think I'd rather have seen the usual teeny differences in models that the Rolex nerds go crazy for.

Tudor's new black bezel on the BB to look like every other diver is a bit meh - but maybe they've carved out enough of a space in the market with Omega's crazy price hikes that a generic diver makes sense for them.

Roycropper63

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121996248#Comment_121996248

Thanks for reply. Have 007 but didn't realise they had diffent dials.

Pablo_Flox

Question for the wise people of this forum:

If you were buying a used watch on the secondary market, would it bother you if it's warranty card was never stamped? I'm assuming that Omega would have some database to see where and when it was sold, but I'm curious if it would put you off?

OmegaGene

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000948#Comment_122000948

once the watch is sound and in good condition the warranty card wouldn’t bother me being stamped, omega do have a database but wether the watch is on there would depend where it came from like a grey dealer for example

most cards these days are digitally coded and quite often not stamped l

Kintarō Hattori

Having bought the Steeldive 1970 I said I'd check out some reviews and noticed that Jody said the spring bars it came with were rubbish. I never gave too much thought to the quality of spring bars but I guess like anything quality can be good and bad. I'll purchase a few replacements- is there a halfway decent brand in this area?

Roycropper63

Have an Orient incoming from Germany. Never thought about German on date wheel.

Would english be the second language would anyone know?

Thanks

banie01

I've not had a watch on my wrist since Monday and you know what? I really do miss it, continually glancing to my left wrist and then realising I've not got one on🤦‍♀️

I was supposed to have surgery on Monday and went sans watch to the hospital, less stuff to worry about. Anyway surgery was cancelled as I was in Pre-Op. Frustrating but 100% the right call as I want to be better and not dead😉

It's been rescheduled to next Thursday and the necessary safety steps to avoid another cancellation have been sorted. So fingers crossed I'll be well on the mend by next weekend.

I think though, that I need to get upstairs and put a watch on now, or my Mrs will think I'm hallucinating I'm checking my naked wrist so much 🤣

micks_address

Hi folks,

I succumbed to another speedmaster... At least this one doesn't need servicing but I'm short two links..it's the latest reference with brushed bracelet..if anyone has any links for sale be happy to hear from you.

Cheers,

Mick

Iguarantee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122034812#Comment_122034812

Best of luck with the surgery.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122037787#Comment_122037787

Thanks @Iguarantee really appreciate it. I am hoping that this surgery closes a chapter for me and lets me start getting back to normal 👍

In watch related news, a Franken watch Newman Daytona sold at auction in Monaco for €671k (€871k including buyer premium) and did so despite being flagged by Paezescope. An insane amount of money to spend on something that has the issues flagged.

Unless it was being sold by Rolex themselves as a fundraiser for the Foundation? Its a high risk purchase and even then? I couldn't imagine having enough cash to be able to disregard the risk.

https://perezcope.com/2024/04/19/when-monaco-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade-frankenstein-rolex-daytona-6241-paul-newman-lemon-and-other-beauties/

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045524#Comment_122045524

perezscope calls out so much deception in the watch world. We really are in the land of make believe and bulsh*t . When I think of dubious watches , I always think of Chinese tat but it’s mad to see the amount of Frankenstein watches going for hundred of millions .Buyer beware at every level but what sellers can you really trust at any level ?

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122046603#Comment_122046603

At the vintage end of things you kinda always had to keep a suspicious eye in your head. In the Old Days™ not so much because of chancers and dealers, but more because old watches were, well, old and often got new parts, "dials cleaned" etc, so if you wanted originality you needed to have the knowledge.

Well since the mid 90's when the interwebs came along and so much info with it. Going full nerd deep into the lore and look of whatever model you were interested in. That takes a lot of time and effort mind you, which was fine for watch nerd collectors/obsessives, but normal folks rightfully couldn't be arsed and that's where a lot of the dealers and chancers live, especially as the once niche nerd world went much more mainstream.

That said even back in the 90's auctions and many of the pro dealers were often viewed with suspicion in the hobby and many frankens pointed out. EG for a time in the late 90's there was a bit of a frenzy for early Rolex Oysters and Bubblebacks and redials were a near given with most of them. "California" style dials and unusual colours(like pink…😁)were ALL redials, but were still going for good money. Genuine original dials from estate sales, or in family heirloom sources were nearly all very badly aged. US based Redial companies were even then quite open and advertising in the hobby. Another common enough thing to see were mashups of parts; dials and hands. That stuff was far easier to get back then. 70's Rolex Daytona dials NOS for 400 quid kinda thing

Now early Oysters and Bubblebacks are about as fashionable today as velour loon pants, but a lot of other vintage watches got the refresh treatment back then, particularly pre 60's chronographs, many of which seemed to have aged rapidly and badly(I've seen very few pre 50's Longines flyback chrono dials I'd trust). It has occurred to me that fast forward a quarter century and those once clearly new redials could look a lot more worn in and "authentic" today. I suspect a fair number of "original" dials out there are more like original to the 90's.

In the high end vintage world I'd trust NO vintage Panerai unless it was pulled from the skeleton of a long dead fascist diver in the bay of Naples last week. Ditto for early Rolex Daytona's unless it was a new to market heirloom and the family are still with us. Goes triple for the rarer dials on any vintage Rolex model, where the addition of a line of text can add five, even six figures to the value. Tiffany dials on anything another minefield.

banie01

Just saw the following over on TZUK, apparently Paul Thorpe has moved on from watches... and on to sharing a platform/bench/bin to racist twat Stephen Yaxley Lennon.

From 3:04 in the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKRiWmTZlSQ

A snip of the dynamic duo...

If ever there was an example of following the money and finding a new grift, surely it's going from watches to being a concerned citizen abetting a twat like SYL and hoovering a superlike or 3 to do it.

OmegaGene

Thorpe is a grifter and will do anything to make money, he moans the illegals are breaking the law but he was okay with his son selling fake Rolex making a fortune

893bet

If the glove fits. And it fits.

scwazrh

that’s a shame . He always seemed such a lovely honest guy ,A real cornerstone of the watch community..

scwazrh

1500 euro for these!!! At 35mm its perfect size for the hodinkee fan boys .The recent collectors video from them with "kith " was a bit of sneaky advertisement for these

Ian OB

Won't be easy to pick one up

https://www.wired.com/story/tag-heuer-kith-formula-1-watch-reborn-2024/

NIMAN

I owned one of these for a short time.

I had always loved the retro styling on them, so kept an eye out for a clean one and took the plunge.

I didn't keep it for long, simply due to the dimensions of it. I have a small wrist, but even for me it wore tiny. Just couldn't grow to like its size.

Ryath

Jebus I thought the Swatch X's were over priced.

Originals were £85 which adjusted for inflation is £312

NIMAN

I didn't realise they were new releases.

Thought they were the old originals.

scwazrh

Yep , special edition with “Kith “ .I had no idea who that was but he must be popular if Tag have partnered with him.

jefferson73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088544#Comment_122088544

The "Tag" in Tag Heuer was not great many years back, but to brand these "Kith Heuer" on the watch logo is unforgivable

OmegaGene

Kith is a clothing lifestyle brand according to google, the video on the watches if very good in this link

https://kith.com/

Lorddrakul

Hmm.

Conflicted with this.

Kith means absolutely nothing to me but my first good watch, bought new in 2001 was this:

Still have it as my go-to tough wear watch. I also use it when on my motorbike as it has such a small, slim profile as to be easy to go under the gear.

Also, I grew up as a kid in the 80s watching F1, and a TAG Heuer chrono was just iconic to me.

This one has a superb ETA 251.262 7-hand movement with a 1/10 s function. I've used it in anger, timing laps driving around Mondello Park in, of all things, an Audi R8 V10+! Got two PADI licences with it too.

I'm all for reviving famous marques, but dubious tie ups with transitory, passing consumer brands seems a little dubious.

OmegaGene

those older tags are great and so easy to restore to new with a new bezel and they don’t have the plastic crown guards like the later models which crumble like a digestive over time

the original f1 was my first purchase as a young lad, I queued up in Liverpool st and picked one up along with two of my mates, I wasn’t even into watches at the time but someone working in Hatton garden advised me to grab one and it’s still in its box in a draw

jefferson73

I found this part at 4.40 mins aligned with my thoughts

https://youtu.be/SaiRW6trsGg?si=_6qSDSva1_dF5foQ

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122091341#Comment_122091341

To be fair to TAG they saved Heuer from the dustbin and turned the company around. Not an easy task as Heuer as a company while utterly fantastic as a watch design house seemed to have a great knack for losing money and long before the Quartz Crisis© came along too. Quality went up too. I've had a few vintage Heuer in my day and imho TAGs were far better built.

In the 90's and well into the noughties TAG were the "Good Watch"™ for normal people. Pretty much universally known as a brand. You'd wonder how it could go so downhill in the last 15 odd years. Could say the same for IWC.

But yeah this who da fuk are Kith being attached to the name is cringe central. Though as Scwazrh notes the Hodwinkie man bun bumbag crowd will likely buy them out quickly. Especially given how few they're putting out.

jefferson73

Good points made. I believe they have huge potential, suspect these new releases have disappointed me as a wasted opportunity so maybe a tad harsh on my behalf. On a positive note some of their recent releases have been very good..namely

furiousox

As an F1 and Senna fan I have to say I'd be tempted by this if it was a bit bigger.....and I had a spare 3k lying around.

https://www.recwatches.com/timepieces/98t-4/

https://www.motor1.com/news/717657/rec-watch-aryton-sennaAxl Nice Meteoroidcar/

micks_address

Hi folks,

Might be stupid question. I was wondering if it's possible to get a display back for the hesalite crystal speedmaster?

Cheers,

Mick

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100471#Comment_122100471

https://www.spiralwinderwatchparts.com/product-page/sapphire-exhibition-caseback-for-the-3861-omega-speedmaster

Assume it’s for your recent 3861?

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101185#Comment_122101185

Yes thanks..is it a DIY fit ?

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101875#Comment_122101875

Yeah , it’s a complete case back .Unscrew old and fit new .

scwazrh

just to add and I’m not sure if this is the same with your model as mine is the previous model but the 1861 movement comes in the solid case back and has a plastic break .The sapphire model comes with the exhibition case back and 1863 which has a metal break .The plastic one stands out and ruins the look of the movement hence why I didnt put an exhibition back on it.

Like I say maybe not the same with the newer models but worth checking first as a lump of plastic in the middle of the movement isn’t the most attractive thing to see through the case back.

Homer

eh €6600 for a quartz F1 Tag????

OmegaGene

that’s a mistake because it’s a carrera not a red bull

Wibbs

Well when you read "investment watches" you know you're dealing with utter chancers so…

OmegaGene

anyone fancy a kith f1 ?