Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

banie01 wrote: »

Genius Idea!

@HDMI, thanks for the idea.
An email and an additional $40 and I have best of both
Should be here in early January and I'm bloody chuffed but no longer left buy any more watches without moving 1 on 1st now :pac:

Haha glad you got what you wanted - I'll still try tempting you with a Starlight later in the year though

I've a bit of a dilemma about an orange monster I bought in the early 2000s. I gave it a right knock and now its runs slowly and stops regularly. I wore it daily for years and particularly when diving so it has sentimental value.

As you can see, its well scratched up and the epoxy on the bezel is worn off.



Do I try and get it repaired by replacing the movement?, the dial rotates slightly in the case now so I suspect the dial feet may have sheared. I see now the 7s26 movement can be replaced with a 4r36 if I don't want a straight swap.

The other option is to buy a replacement that hasn't had such a hard life, prices seem to vary wildly on ebay anything from 400 to 800 euros, are they that sought after ?

what to do repair or replace with another?

banie01 wrote: »

I may need some input from you good people!
Thanks to Thirdfox, I found HKED and his line of Bundeswehr Homage watches.
The latest model gets released on Monday and there are 4 dial options and 2 bezels, whilst the blue sunburst and panda dials are nice.
For me it will be the sterile black dial variant, that much I am certain of.
But I've just learned there will be 2 bezel variants, black and steel.
The black is the classic of course, but I have the black bezeled U2 so I am leaning towards the steel.
What say you good folk?
[IMG][/img]https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=494847&d=1573306990

So I managed to get my own one of these ordered on Sunday as Ed have me an early in as birthday present.
Watch will be delivered in early January with both the original Black bezel and the silver as a spare

It also ships with a Fulco Rally strap, which is tbh far better quality than I was expecting.
Will do a detailed and hopefully we'll photographed review when it arrives.

OmegaGene wrote: »

https://thelondonwatchshow.com/

Might make an interesting trip! Thanks OG....


That's a bit unexpected gangsta too :pac:

I like the Arsenal sign off OmegaGene

A general question for anyone willing to offer their experience:

What options to I have for marking a secure payment when buying face-to-face? I don't want to pay cash. Bank transfers can take a few days so I guess that's ruled out. Is PayPal my only instant payment option?

If ye both have Revolut, transfers are free and instant.

Eoin wrote: »

Have many people here owned a mechanical watch with no second hand? I always thought it was a bit of a waste to not be able to see the sweeping hand, but I've taken a shining to one that I think looks better than the model with a second hand.

I think there would need to be a pretty special reason for me to accept a mechanical watch without a seconds indicator - the only one that comes to mind would be an ultra thin watch where literally adding a seconds hand would add a few tenths of a millimetre and a large proportional increase in size.

Even in those cases often the seconds hand can be fitted in a subdial without an effect on thickness.

The second hand allows easy visual confirmation of a watch is running, and gliding hands are, as you point out, one part of the attraction of mechanical watches.

Revolut is grand for picking up a bit of daily shopping and using on holiday but i wouldnt be using it for a 4k private transaction like that, cash all the way.

Eoin wrote: »

Have many people here owned a mechanical watch with no second hand? I always thought it was a bit of a waste to not be able to see the sweeping hand, but I've taken a shining to one that I think looks better than the model with a second hand.

What was the watch in mind btw?

This is what I mean btw - even most modern ultra thins have a second hand somewhere (and hey if you're a billionaire you can get a minute repeater and flying tourbillon thrown in too)
https://manofmany.com/fashion/watches/10-thinnest-watches-in-the-world

The Rado in that link doesn't have a second hand - but it's a (relatively) "affordable" ultra thin at 4.9mm and automatic………

Huh just looked into it more and the link is wrong(!) The 4.9mm version is the quartz one - the automatic one is around 7/8mm - still pretty good for thin and minimalist...but 8mm is getting close to 9...which is close to my Sólás baby haha which will have date, seconds etc.

The solas starlight is going to be between 9.4mm and 9.8mm btw - two factories gave competing designs with different specs but for example I would have only considered going without seconds hands if they could offer sub-8mm thickness like the Rado here.

Great macro shot of a Grand Seiko on reddit today. Thread here
https://www.reddit.com/r/Watches/comments/dyjrql/grand_seiko_macro_shot_of_the_sbga415_winter_dial/

I made a post a while back about re-luming my Sinn as it'd had been left in a drawer by its previous owner for nearly the entirety of its life and the hands in particular had serious issues with dead spots and blotching.

Wibbs, our doyen of tinkering re: lumes did advise how difficult a job it could be.
I thought with quite a bit of modelling and electronic soldering experience, that it couldn't be "that" tricky!

I was wrong!
I've a head mounted magnifier/illuminator, I went and bought some extremely fine brushes and disassembled the watch to get to work!

Wibbs is right, its an absolute bollox of a job to to right!
No matter what method I tried, brush marks in particular were a pain in the hole!

Then I hit upon an idea, the lume I'm using came in a syringe.
I have some precision application tips for syringes, usually used for glues.

Tried it, and it worked
For precise fill, excellent control and no brush marks.
In dials with recessed lume location or with defined areas with a border, it gives an in my inexperienced opinion at least a great alternative to us poor brush handlers.

The tips I'm using are usually used for precision glue application in medical device construction.
I have a pile of them, if anyone needs or wants any?
Drop me a PM and I'll post some on.

Draw some of your preferred Lume into a syringe, fit the tip and drip, drip away...

Wrecked my Casio W753D-1AV tide graph at work, too much steam and IPA alcohol I think. Cheapo but it lasted 8 years, loved that watch. I went into Argos to get a cheap Casio while waiting for a proper G-Shock tide graph bargain to appear but decided to push the boat and get this for the extra fiver:

https://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9106967/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CJewellery+and+watches%7C14416987/c_2/3%7Ccat_15701267%7CMen%27s+watches%7C14417316.htm

Bargain! Looks really good on my hand. I got rid of the horrible World Time and Illuminator wording by scrubbing it with IPA.