Post pics of your watches ***Please NO QUOTING PHOTOS***

Santa came for me too, only the bastard forgot the new camera so apologies for the crap phone pics.

First up is an Alpina issued wristwatch for the WW2 German navy, the Kriegsmarine. 30mm, nickel plated brass case, fixed springbars. Got a nice little bargain on that one. Ignore the strap, t'was the only open ended 16mm I had. Will replace with honey leather coloured one.



Second. Well everyone seems to have a chrono of some nature in their collection, if not the whole collection itself, so figured I should have at least one, preferably handwound. I did think of the omega speedmaster, more precisely a 65 vintage one I had my eye on with the actual movement that went to the moon(unlike the later one that claimed same on the caseback). Then I thought meh, while a gorgeous watch they're also relatively common, still being made today and their value is pretty stable over time and unlikely to climb much, even for a "proper" 60's one. So I looked around and went back through my "keep an eye on" list and went for this one. It really helped the price was very good on an already (IMHO) criminally undervalued vintage issued watch. Even more so considering the name on the dial.



Heuer Bundeswehr from the 60's(very early serial). Issued to the Luftwaffe(German theme today:)) until the mid 80's. It was one of the designs Heuer took from Leonidas when the companies merged. Much influenced Sinn and Damasko later on. The former took over maintenance on these watches for the luftwaffe. Uses a modified Valjoux Calibre 23(230) to make it a flyback chronograph. Movement also hacks, IE it stops when the crown is pulled to set the time. Handwound. Movement held into case by 4 screws. Large watch too. 43mm minus crown/lugs.

Again sorry for the crap photos, will try to take better ones.

Yep it has the tachymeter, but it's on the bezel so can be dutifully ignored(NASA originally wanted to retrofit a 24 hour bezel on it(and add lume to the chrono dials), but time ran out). This is a good thing(tm). The hesalite(plastic/acrylic shhh) crystal is no big issue and like you say needs a fair amount of muppetry to damage it. Plus it can be polished out at home pretty easily. Ordinary Brasso is a charm for it. It also survived the NASA tests where sapphire glass failed in the later tests. It being "a beautifully glorified stopwatch" is a good thing godammit!! :mad: It's legible and useful. Which is more than can be said for some of the so called pilot/tool watches out there these days. Dates are a waste of dial IMHO. Moon phases I've a little more sympathy for, but not on a black dialed tool watch.Hell I may have gone for a chrono recently, but even there I consider a three register chrono an extravagance

Cyrus wrote: »

Got this last night, a reissue of a little retro 70s cool, flipped the planet ocean and added a few quid to snag it, i think i like it!

One crappy wristy

Fuuunkay and a two register chrono to boot.

bedlam wrote: »

What were the tests? Given that the Seiko Spacewalk uses sapphire crystal, is it a case of sapphire produced back then being less reliable?

From what I recall it was down to the sapphire crystal expanding and contracting more and thus popping out. I cant recall which brand it was in the later tests though. Plus if you read the Seiko blurb the specs they test for are less than NASA's in the 60's never mind the late 70's. Seiko= "As the watch will be exposed to a range of temperature from minus 20 degrees Celsius to plus 70" The NASA temp range was higher 90 degrees C and in a vacuum as well as oxygen environment. And the omegas were exposed to more shocks again. http://www.timekeeperforum.com/showthread.php?12445-Omega-Speedmaster-History Whats cool about the Omega is that it was never purposely designed for the task and yet it worked. Well once on one moon walk an example popped the crystal, so the guy used his hamilton chrono on the next moonwalk with no issues. TBH I suspect many quality mechanical watches would work in space.

Good idea there. I've applied the electrodes to the zombie thread.

Ouch. Though I wear vintage stuff which tends to be small(and I have girlie wrists) 25mm is pretty tiny. That's a bummer.

Noooice.

TBH I prefer the tudor stuff for the most part. Like you say 90%(if not more) of the quality for a lot less.

Cool site. My very first vintage buy was a tudor oyster from the 40's IIRC.

I always had a thing for G-shocks. That neg display is kinda funky alright. Would it not eat more battery with the screen being more on than a standard display though? Like the dirty great star screws in the bezel too.