Post pics of your watches Part II

Pablo_Flox

It's a €30 watch, of course it looks cheap and nasty - I think that is the charm.

Any €30 Casio is also going to be cheap and nasty. Again, part of the charm! Just like Vostoks are cheap and nasty...

TBH, I kinda thought that cheap and nasty was your niche!

Cyclingtourist

Getting back OT this is my wife's Bering that the battery went flat on and my Swatch Irony that the battery also went flat on. I got a new battery for the Swatch and did the extra-easy replacement but she'd rather have her smaller lighter watch that she bought in Weirs' basement.

Cyclingtourist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118262070#Comment_118262070

I love the Royal 'we' but to explain what I consider cheap but not 'nasty' here's what I mean. A Casio that I believe is currently available at your nearest Argos store (not somewhere in China) for a few cents over €15. So you could buy two (more or less) for the price of an OP rip-off that claims to be a 'superlative chronometer' but you'll be lucky if it's still working in six months from now.

About three years old and still keeping 'superlative' time, as well as being super legible and has a handy bi-directional bezel.

Edit: €15.99 for anyone interested.

https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9025873/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CJewellery+and+watches%7C14416987/c_2/3%7Ccat_15701267%7CMen's+watches%7C14417316.htm

Blanchy90

Tbh I didn't even cop that it said that on the dial when I bought it.

It's definately a bit cheap and nasty but its also colourful and fun. I'd much rather this than the casio posted above, my collection needs more colour in it and there was a space for this colour.

As for the longevity of it, I had an €11 automatic from aliexpress that lasted me 3 years before I gifted it to a friend that was amazed at the display back on it. So I'd expect this to go for a while anyway.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118262319#Comment_118262319

They're an utter bargain in my humble.

Cyclingtourist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118262731#Comment_118262731

Absolutely fine. That's your personal opinion and it's your €30 so spend it on whatever you want.

Are you planning a review of it on YT?

Edit: On reflection probably not a good idea to do a YouTube review video, Rolex tend to be touchy about copyright issues.

Blanchy90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118262819#Comment_118262819

Yeh, I filmed an unboxing... can I call it that when there was no box... handy filler video😂

I'll do a full review in a few weeks, there's huge interest in super budget watches so some will find it useful.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263071#Comment_118263071

Is it a DG2813? Or have they upped the movement to a 28800?

Cyclingtourist

I was curious about the super shine on that Paulareis (even difficult to pronounce) so checked on AliEx and it's described firstly as a 'stainless steel luxury fashion watch' but later it says it's a "High-quality-finished Alloy case with solid stainless steel strap". So probably chrome-plated brass. Nothing wrong with that in a €30 watch ( thinking Timex/Vostok) but I'd rather they hadn't been so disingenuous in their headline description.

Men New Automatic Self Wind Mechanical Stainless Steel Luxury Red Yellow Sky Blue Green Colorful Rainbow Dial 41mm Fashion Watch|Mechanical Watches| - AliExpress

I notice also that this particular model seems to be the only one where they put 'superlative chronometer' on the dial.

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118261536#Comment_118261536

Well mission accomplished, average quality has plummeted since...🤣

Here is value...two watches in one

Cyclingtourist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263595#Comment_118263595

"Here is value...two watches in one"

Either of them any use for telling the time or is that irrelevant at this level of quality?

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263595#Comment_118263595

Mmmmm def one of the nicest modern reversos IMHO.

hitemfrank

Superlative chronometer? May as well post mine

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263847#Comment_118263847

As reversos go I think its a nice one. The moonphase ones are nicer but a bit too pricey for me testing my taste in reverso.

Pros of the reverso:

1. Nice to see the display back without having to take the watch off.
2. Lovely movement with a massive power reserve (8 days with 2 extra but not accurate)
3. Classic design
4. The Grande date is a good size, some reverso's can be a bit dinky.
5. Good value
6. Easy to spot for those in the know.

I am however in two minds on it. Been wearing it all week but my other watches are calling to me. In a way I think it more of a you watch than a me watch.

893bet

How easy is it to flip the face on the wrist? Could it happen accidentally?

Blanchy90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263175#Comment_118263175

I've no idea, I'll have to open it up and have a look.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263178#Comment_118263178

It could be cool to strip it back to brass too...

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118263855#Comment_118263855

Ok Hitem, here's my Super Very High Precision Chronometer. 😁

Well it was originally advertised as under a minute every five years and I've tweaked this one down to looking like in or under 30 seconds every five years(it's currently running around 2-3 seconds fast after a year). As a standalone non radio connected timepiece that's about as accurate as you can get.

It's also a Milguass. Well 1000 Oersteds is roughly equivalent to 1000 gauss. And it's two tone. With a screwdown crown. And came in a green box. All it needs now is a fluted bezel and a huge price tag. 😁

dinorebel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118261536#Comment_118261536

Did they mean to call it Polaris but f**k up the spelling?

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118264217#Comment_118264217

NO chance, there are two spring loaded bearing that lock it in place, and the path of rotation is unusual. You would never do it by accident but its smooth enough to be a nice adult fidget spinner when you are bored.

eljono

As we're talking Chronometers, the GM is a METAS certified Master Chronometer. It's definitely the most accurate auto I've had, though a previous 1960s Oyster Perpetual I had was also impressively accurate, especially considering it's age.

From Fratello Watches: "The Master Chronometer certification means that Omega does not only tell you that your watch is accurate, anti-magnetic and water resistant but that they actually guarantee that it is. This guarantee can only be given when their test work – including their processes – are audited and tested by an independent party, in this case that is METAS (and COSC)."

893bet

Speaking of accuracy.

I was wearing my ALS yesterday and it was lunchtime before I realised the power reserve had ran out during the night.

Fitz II

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118266822#Comment_118266822

I do this all the time. Always fine it funny that in order to judge the accuracy of your watch, you have to look at a more accurate clock. And its fair to say that if you have more than one or two watches that you rotate regularly, accuracy is totally irrelevant cause you have to reset all the time (talking mechanical watches here of course) and that if down to the second accuracy is important to you maybe consider using a quartz.

Mechanical watches of quality fulfil other roles much more efficiently.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118267508#Comment_118267508

Most quartz aren't particular accurate either. Accuracy was naturally always a major driver of technology in watchmaking going way back. At first the aim was within a minute per hour, then a minute per day, then per week, month, year. And people had always set their personal timepiece by a more accurate clock of the time. Pocketwatch to the station clock, pilots watches to radio beacons and all that and today watch to atomic time on phones and computers.

Then when electronics came along it looked like and was the answer to accuracy. In the early days of quartz companies competed with each other to develop the most accurate movements they could, culminating with Omega's Marine Chronometer in the mid 70's which was accurate to 12 seconds per year and scarily expensive to boot. It soon became obvious that the public weren't that pushed. So long as a watch was accurate to under a minute per month(something a quality mechanical can achieve) they were happy and weren't willing to pay for more accuracy.

That Longines above of mine was pretty much the last gasp of standalone hyper accuracy and the watches with that movement sold well at first in the early 80s, but sold more as the price and the accuracy dropped off with cheaper movements in later versions. By the time of that one above in 88 it had become an expensive very small niche and they only made a thousand of them. They've recently revived the VHP high accuracy quartz line and it sells well enough, but nothing like their range of homages to the past.

Cyclingtourist

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118267508#Comment_118267508

"Mechanical watches of quality fulfil other roles much more efficiently."

Yet if say my Stowa Klassik or my Aqua Terra were giving me the kind of accuracy I get from a Seiko Five I'd feel pretty pissed off. Yes looks, comfort and brand identity do matter but if I can't 'efficiently' tell the time with it either due to inaccuracy or illegibility then, to me, having it on my wrist seems pretty pointless.

'Well there's always your smart phone' I hear people say but for those, like me, who don't always have it in our pocket or even if we do, don't want the bother of pulling it out and turning it on, having a reliable timepiece on ones wrist is important.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118267631#Comment_118267631

'Well there's always your smart phone' I hear people say but for those, like me, who don't always have it in our pocket or even if we do, don't want the bother of pulling it out and turning it on, having a reliable timepiece on ones wrist is important.

And why we moved from the pocketwatch to the wrist in the first place. These days the phone took most of us in the other direction. The wristwatch on men faced resistance outside the military world at first. That it was considered feminine was one issue, another was the average pocketwatch was more accurate than the average wristlet(larger balance, more stable environment), but perceptions of "quality" and "luxury" were a big part of it too. The pocketwatch was very much a staple of status in men*, usually in precious metal and often with huge "jewel" counts, crazy complications, fancy dials and fob chains that would weigh you down to your doom if you fell in a lake. 😁 The new fangled wristlet was seen as terribly common among the aspirant and middle classes. It was either the very wealthy or the poor(who could buy them for buttons after WW1) that took more to them as those two demographics have one thing in common, they tend to care less about status and cash, because they either already have it or will never get it.

That pocketwatch value thing was even in play when I first got interested in watches as a kid in the 80's. In the vintage world back then very few people were collecting wristwatches. The collector value was in pocketwatches. Wristwatches for the most part were just old/secondhand.

*it had previously been the same for women as a repository of wealth. One of the most common items in pawn shops in the 18th century were silver pocketwatchs, pawned by women.

Wibbs

That reminds me; I found out the original RRP for that Longines VHP 1000OE back in 1988. 1299.00 sterling. By comparison a couple of hundred quid over the RRP of a Rolex SS Sub date. And even though Rolex RRP had been steadily climbing through the 80's the Oysterquartz range was more expensive than the Datejusts and the Day dates. Well they did cost more to produce and the movements were far better quality and finish, but still. How times change. 😁

Cyclingtourist

When I was antique dealing gold pocket-watch chains were very popular with women to wear as necklaces and maybe still are. Of the antiques I bought and sold I particularly remember a gold pocket watch that was presented to a member of the London police by one of the Romanovs (not Nicholas II or his wife but someone in his extended family) in I think it was 1911 when they were over probably for the funeral of King Edward. It had the enamelled royal crest on the case. God, I wish I'd held on to it.

Wibbs

Speaking, kinda, of leccy and springs and accuracy...

Decided to swap out the NATO for the bracelet on this today. A change is as good as a rest.

A springbar took off and I had to do some hands and knees work

What I'm actually wearing today:

56 years separate them(1916-72), but the tech couldn't be more different. For one powered winged flight was barely a decade old, for the other men were walking on the Moon. Two Apollo flights that year including the last one. One of the most rapid changes in technology and culture in all of human history bookended by two wristwatches.

njburke

I suppose what Blanchys Paulareis has going for it is a splash of colour more than anything else. For 30€ it seems to have,one of the most desirable features in a watch, just the right amount of shiddy. Doxa have been doing the splash of colour since their revival.

As ever Wibbs, the ultronic is looking well.

I've been alternating between the Grand Quartz and Lip Nautic Ski for the last few weeks. As quartz accuracy was mentioned, I've been tracking both. I've concluded the Seiko is inaccurate at body temperature, but more accurate as the temperature decreases. Unlike Wibbs vhp, it's temperature compensation is achieved through analogue electronics. I think it all still functions but its calibrated temperature point has drifted down due to aging components. It's rate is about +0.4 s/d when worn, accuracy improves to +0.1 s/d when left at ambient room temp. I'm waiting for a frost to test it further, into a Ziploc bag and out to the garage with it.

The lip electronic runs about -12 s/d unworn but improves to -4 s/d when worn. An interesting observation and why it'll never be accurate is how it starts up from hacking. The second hand rocks back and forth a few times before it begins to tick around. I don't know if this is a characteristic of all electro mechanicals, I've only seen this one. Starting any DC motor is a challenge, this damped oscillating start makes sense if you think about pushing a child on a swing, the physics are the same.

And a picture.

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118270647#Comment_118270647

I'm waiting for a frost to test it further

And that folks is a hardcore watch nutter summed up in a sentence. Genuflect at the true WIS and take a good long hard look at yourselves. Newbs 😄

Yeah NJ, the LIP leccy movement has a very odd seconds hand behaviour. Rocking back and forth, while moving forward is par for the course.