HeadphoneAddict

Finished up our taxes with HR Block - paying the IRS enough for a trip to Hawaii... ...for a Family of Five. ...for a week... I was afraid it would be even worse than that. We'd saved up for the possibility that we couldn't get the Educational Tax Credit this year or home office deduction, so it wasn't so bad.

Oh sorry, I thought it just disappeared on its own.

I wonder if it's that one spec of visible dust that disappeared, and is now inside the movement...

I've been playing with my new Roxannes when I'm able, and the sound does seem to be highly dependent on the source and amp, and output impedance. I'll post a short review when I'm done putting together my impressions. So far I've come to the conclusion that if I'm using my iPhone 6+ un-amped that I slightly prefer my JH16 Pro Freqphase, because of their increased treble presence. But with my CEntrance HiFi-M8 with the impedance switch set on the middle setting, the Roxanne are clearly smoother, more refined, and more transparent sounding. I was still surprised at how close the Roxanne and Freqphase sound, just not with the same source and amp.

Turns out that Bill who made this post about the Chuck Maddox Homage Watch http://omega.watchprosite.com/show-forumpost/fi-677/pi-3850551/ti-614576/s-0/ which started me on my quest for one, bought his Titanium Seamaster Pro Chrono (like mine) from none other than Rick at Pieces of Time. And Rick was friends with Chuck Maddox. Small World.

Can you experiment and see what the markers & hands do when in the dark, and then what it does when you hit it with a flashlight or blacklight?

I think of calling radioactive luminous as Tritium is like calling all photocopies a Xerox copy (or Hook and Loop vs Velcro). The radioactive paint used on the Omega Moonwatch has been called Tritium for years. It's also been described as a phospho-luminescent material that was activated by Tritium that was impregnated inside it. It came in two strengths, with the more radioactive dials like mine showing "T SWISS MADE T" on the dials at 6 o'clock. Less radioactive were watches with the markings saying "SWISS < 25 T" like my Rolex Submariner or Explorer II. With either, the decay and release of beta particles is too weak to penetrate the case and get into your body. Because of the phospho-luminescent material (even though the radiative element has been through 2-3 half-lives) my weak 1976 Moonwatch lume will still light up with a flashlight or sunlight for an hour or two in the dark. But without hitting it with a light you can't read the time in the dark at all. This is unlike the "Tritium" luminous on my 1983 Submariner and 1993 Rolex Explorer II which do NOT respond to any white or UV light at all. The Explorer II luminous is slightly visible at night, but not bright enough for me to read the time.

I'm glad to hear the hands and dial were salvageable, since many that old have crumbling tritium dust that can get into the movement eventually.

You must have huge wrists! I like my bracelets to be shorter on the 6 o'clock side, so that the watch clasp fits the underside of my wrist better. So, I have 7 links on the 12 o'clock side and only 4 on the 6 o'clock side in my new Explorer II (11 total).

Happy Birthday!

I'd love to know what you allowed him to replace in the restoration, or how much polishing you allowed?

Happy Birthday!

I can't wait to see pix of your new old Speedmaster. I came close to getting that one, but then I'd have to figure out what to do with my 1976 Speedy. Not sure I need two vintage Speedy's, but a pre-moon would be nice.

Thanks guys, We eally appreciate all of your support! It's definitely been a tough road and hard work, but it's paying off. I just feel bad that I'm a bit farther ahead than my daughter, who not only sustained multiple open fractures in both legs but ripped all the ligaments in both of her ankles. Once it was clear that the pickup truck was going to slide right into our path, and there was nothing that we could do about it, my daughter had put both feet on the brakes right up until impact. Cutting our speed in half, while the other driver was sliding towards us at 60-70mph and couldn't slow his speed, probably saved our lives. But in return she ended up in worse shape than me, with much more severe acute pain and more protracted lingering pain. Which is a crazy thing to say since I snapped my left femur in half, shattered the fibula, broke the end off my tibia, and broke my right kneecap into pieces, along with five broken ribs and a pulmonary contusion. This has caused a ton of pain and suffering, but she's been more miserable every step of the way. PS: My other big problem is that I am having trouble weaning off the long acting pain med (Oxycontin), as my body has become used to it and I suffer withdrawal symptoms. The meds don't make me high or anything, I just get sick if I stop them or go more than 24 hours without a dose. I've gone down from 60mg a day to 10mg a day but can't get off completely. I'm seeing the doctor today and will double check if I can use some short acting Roxy to wean off the long acting Oxycontin, because those I can cut up into smaller pieces as I go down. My Kaiser health insurance is a pain in the ass because they paid for 20mg 2x/day for 30 days, but after 15 days when we wanted to change to 20mg in PM and 10mg in AM (a 25% drop), they refused to pay for the 10mg until I'd used up all the 20mg after 30 days. It wasn't about preventing abuse, it was about their money. So, at the 30 day mark I was forced to cut my dose in half from 40mg a day to 20mg a day and I suffered the side effects. They didn't care, and I'd like to see them get punished for setting policy that hurts the patients.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Yep. Got the brace on the right leg unlocked after 4 weeks to 30 degrees flexing, then a little more each week until I got it to 90 degrees. Was using a walker until last week, and then the PT worked with me to use crutches, including getting up from a chair with my one weak leg. I've been discharged from home PT after that. So, I can now get to my car, get in, pull in my crutches, and use my right leg to drive. I drove the whole 400 mile round trip with my wife as passenger. But man did it kick my ass using crutches for anything more than a short trip from the car to the SmashBurger ordering counter and back out to the car. And I still can't bear weight on my left ankle until 3/20, according to my surgeon. But I'm in a much better position than my daughter who also can't bear weight on her right leg until 3/20, because she had a "bleed" in her ankle when she put weight on it last week as ordered by the doc. So, the right ankle is back in a cast after draining the hematoma, and she is only just now ready to start to try standing on her left leg with a fracture walking "boot". Her last surgery was Wednesday to remove her external rods and fixators. Today the wife and I went to dinner and a movie (American Sniper). The kids stayed home and had takeout sushi...

Drove to Kansas to pick up the firearm that was in our car at the time of our car crash in December. The EMS wouldn't transport it at the time, even if unloaded in the locked TSA approved case, so we had to go get it ourselves.

The second Titanium Seamaster Pro chronograph arrived today, and it's just right - I couldn't be happier with it. This seller spent $1,110 in Dec 2013 to have Omega fix it up and restore it, as it was in great need of repairs, and now it's like having a new watch. The dial is still original but looks great, and I have the remaining original parts to go with it. However, I can't see even a mad collector wanting to put the old hands, pushers, and crown back on. When exposed to the sunlight and then moved into the shadows, the luminous material on everything glows like it's electrified for a few minutes. The original dial's red triangular hour markers are only slightly faded to orange, but it looks good. Excuse the fingerprints in the photo.

Yeah, but I did sell off a ton of my lesser watches to get this last big one (Ti SMP chrono). So, other than upgrading my 1993 Explorer II to a model 16570 with working luminous, I am done for a while. Well, I recently thought I was going to continue to sell everything else except for my Omega's and Rolex's and the one Hamilton, and keep upgrading. But right now I still have more non-Omega/Rolex watches than I have of those three brands, and I'm attached to more than half of them.

Update on the Ti Seamaster Pro Chrono (circa 1993 - 2002) I did find another one of these watches and bought it last night, which should be here Friday (tomorrow). It has a serial number in the 80 million range and so instead of being one of the first of these to be made like the one I sent back, it was one of the latest ones (newest) to come off the production line. While the previous one's serial number dated it to 1986, this one dates it to 2006, both outside of the manufacturing window. It doesn't need a new bezel, clasp or service like the first one, and still has an Omega warranty until December 2015, due to a service in Dec 2013. I saw photos of the watch taken in the dark, and the original dial and bezel glow as brightly as the new hands from the service. The new crown and pushers perfectly match the color of the original case, and I get all the original parts with the watch. There's not a deep mark on it anywhere, and the seller is a highly reputable member of one of the Omega forums. Fixing up the one I returned would have put me $3,300 out of pocket before I even started to replace the over-buffed down clasp, so it turned out well and I saved possibly $1000 vs bringing the other watch up to this level.

I always end up adding about 25-40% back to that amount... My 1962 Gold capped Semaster DeVille Automatic with Date and genuine lether strap was listed at $1495 and I started at about $850. By email negotiations they were staying above $1300. I called the seller on the phone and had a nice chat, and we got it down to $1150 shipped via 2-day. My watchmaker tested it and it was in great original condition, but worth about $1000. My 1962 Stainless Omega Seamaster (no date manual wind) was listed at $299 with no service, and my watch maker looked at the posting and said buy it now. He serviced it for $95 and it works great and is worth over $500 now (worth more if the aged tritium lume hadn't turned to dust and fallen out of the hands).

Most sellers on eBay are way overpriced, and I had to make an offer two different times and negotiate by phone when I found what I wanted on eBay. Sometimes the private sellers on Omegaforums.net or Rolexforums.net or at forums.watchuseek.com are the most reliable and fair.

Here is one on the opposite end of the spectrum, asking $1495 or best offer. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-Vintage-OMEGA-Seamaster-Automatic-Gold-Plated-Day-Date-Watch-Leather-Strap-/161574890247?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item259e9d2b07

Not exactly the same, but similar - asking $799 obo http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-Vintage-Swiss-Omega-Seamaster-Gold-plated-Day-Date-Automatic-7046-/121557877553?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4d6a0331 This one they have a reprinted dial