HeadphoneAddict

Right now I have my Macbook charging with a USB drive plugged in, a thunderbolt to ethernet adapter for faster networking, and a USB DAC plugged - so a Macbook with ONE port holds no interest for me.

Those were only recently still selling for $3,600 new old stock, so that's a good price. I have the same watch but in Titanium - built like a tank.

I put Rick on the task 2 weeks ago, so I think it might be time to consider other options. Thanks for the PM.

I remind him that you sent me every time we speak. Thanks to you I found my perfect GMT II at Rick's last summer, and he overnighted it to me to have the Saturday before father's day. The year 2000 model was the first year for Superluminova and SEL, if I recall. That was the same day my local watchmaker's aging customer agreed to sell me his Moonwatch after a two week silence, so I had to take both watches. I bought the GMT II thinking the old man wasn't going to part with his Moonwatch, and then whammo, budget crisis! BTW, I'd love to know about the alternate source you have, just in case, but I'm gonna give Rick a few days. I do wonder if a new service dial from Rolex for the Exp II would still say Swiss T <25, SWISS, or SWISS MADE at 6 o'clock. I'm sure that it wont have tritium even if it said T<25, since they phased that out in the late 90's. I suspect I'd get the latest superluminova dial and hands from 2010 or 2011, if I went through Rolex. I'd really like to have a late 2000's Explorer II, if I could find someone to take mine plus cash. And it doesn't have to be a 2008-2011 with the 3186 movement either.

I've already got Rick looking for hands and maybe a dial, but he's not sure how long it will take, and I'm not sure how hard he'll be looking so I sent him a reminder email. I also told him I'd accept real Rolex hands with dead lume that I can have re-done, as long as I can save the original hands just in case. As for the strap, I was a little iffy about the looks as well, but I was looking for something more rugged and outdoorsy looking, that could spare the bracelet some wear and tear. I wore it like this at the watchmaker for half an hour while I looked at other straps, and it was really comfy this way. So I pulled the trigger with the two free 20mm NATO straps for my Omegas (orange stitching for the PO, and white stitching for my Great White). I have a 20mm NATO with red stitching on order for the Ti Seamaster Pro chrono, and it will look just like the one on my red Victorinox in the photo above (which uses a 22mm). Most of my watches take a 20mm, so I might see if any of my other watches can use this strap, but I'd love to hear from others if they like this strap as much as I do. Like I was saying, some "tritium" lume can be charged up with a bright light to become even brighter than it is on it's own.

PS: When I bought the Hirsch I got almost $40 in free NATO straps for free, one for my orange Planet Ocean and one for my Omega Great White GMT.

Titanium watches can be scratched so my best guess is they can also be engraved. BTW, I picked up a new Hirsch Catwalk desert tan suede leather strap for my Explorer II. Makes me want to go ahead and get that service dial and hands sooner than later, but I'm not due for a service for another 4 years and they wont do the replacements without doing a full service.

Why am I thinking about another Dive Master 500 in Blue?

Happy Birthday!

I wore this today and got the Titanium clasp got all scratched up on a granite counter, but I fixed it right up with a green Scotch Brite pad. Ceramic tile tables and granite counters play havoc with stainless steel bracelets. So, I ordered another black NATO 20mm with red stitching for this watch too (my other one is 22mm so I can't use it on this). I also considered buying a replica bracelet in stainless for $58 that I can just chew up and throw out when it's ruined. If I brush the Ti clasp too many times it will wear down into the shallow engraved lettering - it's already been brushed many times in it's life by previous owners. Also, I'm really happy with the lume, which you can see glowing bright with the lights still on. And it's running great - it only gained 2.2 seconds a day over the past 14 days.

Quartz

I'm wondering why I haven't considered Breitling before. I'm usually fixated on Rolex and Omega (with Victorinox and Luminox as my beater watches). Maybe the askmen.com watch snob ruined them for me? I've been thinking about a Jaeger LeCoultre Master Compressor Diver or a 36,000 VPH chronograph (Striking 10th maybe), but my budget wont support that right now. I'm not into fancy watches like PP or VC.

x2

Happy Birthday!

That looks great on the mesh.

Looks nice on you. The new 42 might look huge, but you never know. So, you posted at 5:31AM and your 24 hour hand shows that time, but your 12 hour hand shows 7:31AM. So I'll curious to where you have the two time zones actually set?

I set the Citizen to atomic time and then checked it approximately one year later, then divided the 6 seconds gained by 365 days in the year. But I also use an App called WatchTracker on my iPhone that lets me see how the watch compares to atomic time and set it, and then I can mark data points along the way over hours or days or weeks, and it will show me if I am pulling away from Atomic Time or falling back. Obviously the more data points and the longer the test, the more accurate. For example, I ran a test for about 15 days on my Victorinox Dive Master 500 recently (with ETA 2892.A2), and came up with an average of +3.5 seconds a day after over two weeks and 16 data points. But it could see that runs faster when I'm wearing and active, and slower when I'm asleep. So, it might gain as little as +0.5 sec a day, and other times as fast as +6 sec a day, but it averages out over time. ( http://www.victorinox.com/us/product/Timepieces/Discontinued/Dive-Master-500-Mechanical/241561 ) On the other hand, my Planet Ocean 2500c runs 4.7 sec a day fast no matter if I'm active, asleep, on the winder, etc. It has almost no variance since I had it serviced in July. I can have it adjusted to be as close as +1 if I want, but if it aint broke don't fix it, and it's within COSC specs right now.

My Citizen E820 movement based perpetual calendar chronograph only gained about 0.0167 seconds a day for the past year. 6+ seconds a year still sounds like a lot, but that's what many mechanical watches can gain in one or two days.

Happy Birthday!

Jacob, I bought a mesh that looks similar to the JB Champion last year, but I didn't think the speedy looked good with it - it looks much better on my Omega Great White GMT. See attached Pic. I mention this because it's almost infinitely adjustable and you might want to give it a try. I also have a larger chain mesh bracelet (generic) that looks pretty good on my orange planet ocean, but it often feels tight in the summer. I should just buy the Omega mesh while I still can. Also, here is a something very strange that I noticed in my photos of my two Explorer II watches - (1) both were on road trips with my daughter, where the 24 hour hand was set for home time (Mountain std) but the 12 hour hand was set for Central Standard for the location that we were driving at the time. (2) I took them at almost the exact time of day, simply by coincidence. I wasn't driving in one of the photos, and had help steering with the other. I also just noticed I had my minute hand off by about 23 seconds in the 16570 photo.

EEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!!!!! Been looking for one of those for a while. Arghhhh!!!! Good find though. I have one from 1993 and the new model I got in 2014. I'd really prefer a newer "old" one like yours, plus the newest model, I love both.

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday

Yeah, but Mikhail was a pussy and crazy guy - or an idiot savant - or just idiot... PS: Maybe the weather is screwing with Rick's moods. I bought some links from him on Thursday, and he seemed fine though.

That seems out of character for him, but I've only spoken with him 4 or 5 times.