Watches

[Hopstretch]

Semi-relevant, I got these cuff links made from old watch movements for Christmas and think they are quite cool.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I saw those online the other day on someone else's wrist.  Looked cool.

[HeadphoneAddict]

8 hours ago, EdipisReks said:

If any Omega owners here are interested in a discount on a lightly used Omega 1380/237 mesh bracelet (with two extensions), I have one up on eBay.  If somebody here wants it before it's bought/bid on, I'll cut $25 off the buy it now price for a head-caser.

It's too bad I already have two of those bracelets. But I could use one extension if you have a way to sell it to me and edit the auction. 

[HeadphoneAddict]

5 hours ago, EdipisReks said:

Just placed my order.  The store I bought it from won't have it in stock until mid-late January, but that wait time is in exchange for an excellent price. Not as fancy as Stretch's Saxonia, but the case and dial work is supposed to be excellent, it's less than 6mm thick, and the movement (a Montblanc decorated Peseux 7001) is a workhorse that formed the basis for the Nomos Alpha movement.  I'm looking forward to getting it. 

Yep, nice watch - my NOMOS ORION will have the Alpha modified with the new sing system escapement, built in-house.

[luvdunhill]

[Hopstretch]

Very nice gents!

Montblanc (along with Longines) have been doing things right recently, in my opinion. 

[Torpedo]

This?

This?

This?

These?

 

or all of them?

I think they're all very nice. If forced I think I'd get the black dial one.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Torpedo
pic link not working

[grawk]

that second one does it for me

[HeadphoneAddict]

I want a Jubilee for my GMT II BLNR - seen pics on Rolex Forums and love the look.  No idea where to find one. 

[Hopstretch]

I am also a member of the "Jubilee on GMT" school of thinking. Would love to own an original 1675 Pepsi someday but the bracelets tend to be stretched to hell.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Very cool watch.  As you may recall, I almost bought one on Massdrop a couple of months ago.  I too really enjoy my less costly watches from Seiko, Orient, Citizen, Victorinox and Luminox.  Sometimes they just make a nice solid affordable watch that you can touch, look at, lick, or wear for fun.

Today I picked up a new old stock opaline dial 39mm Omega Aqua terra 231.10.39.61.02.001 from the AD for 46% off MSRP (same model I returned last summer due to indecision).  This is the previous model which is nicer than the current model because of the raised hour markers, 2x longer power reserve, and jumping hour hand for changing times zones.  I guess that they dumbed down and ugli-fied the new AT quartz so people would spend 2x more on the co-axial version.

On the used market this previous model has been going up in value by almost 30% over the past 6 months, for being more desirable than the new model, and the grey market seems to have run out of these sometime in the past 6 months.  I could flip it for a $500 profit, but I wont. 

I also wanted the quartz model so I'd not have to worry about setting the time and date if left untouched for a while, or worry about getting a full watch service done every 5-6 years.  I have 20 mechanical watches, and 5 of those are Omega co-axial watches that must be serviced by Omega, where 2 of the co-axials are chronographs that cost 50% more to service.  In 4-6 years almost all of my watches are due for their next service again, since I didn't time things to spread out the services better.  It's easy to forget about the costs of maintaining a good mechanical watch.

My Seiko, Orient, and Egard watches would be cheaper to replace the movement with my local watchmaker than to service them.  Several of the others have ETA, Valjoux, or Lemania based movements that would be easy for my local watchmaker to service at a fair price.  And my local Rolex certified watchmaker can charge half as much as the RSC to service those, if my local watchmaker can't get the proper Rolex parts anymore.  But my 5 co-axial Omega watches will cost me as much to maintain as the other 15 watches combined.  I have no idea how much my incoming NOMOS Orion manual wind will cost to service yet...

[n_maher]

Not your typical fare for this thread but my wife surprised me with this today. It's pretty cool.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MexicanDragon]

Love it, Nate.

**BRENT**

[HeadphoneAddict]

3 hours ago, n_maher said:

Not your typical fare for this thread but my wife surprised me with this today. It's pretty cool.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which one is that, and is it water resistant?  My wife doesn't like the Misfit I gave her because it doesn't do heart rate, but I liked it because it's water resistant and tracks swimming and sleeping too.

[n_maher]

It's the Surge and yes, is water resistant but they don't recommend swimming with it.  Otherwise it'll track just about everything including constant HR, sleep, and this one in particular has GPS built in too.  It's not small though so I'd recommend checking it out at a store before buying if your wife's wrists are on the smaller side.  I have an average wrist so it's good for me.

[HeadphoneAddict]

9 hours ago, n_maher said:

It's the Surge and yes, is water resistant but they don't recommend swimming with it.  Otherwise it'll track just about everything including constant HR, sleep, and this one in particular has GPS built in too.  It's not small though so I'd recommend checking it out at a store before buying if your wife's wrists are on the smaller side.  I have an average wrist so it's good for me.

I'll check it out.  How is battery life?

My Withings Pulse O2 isn't the least bit water resistant, and with an exposed micro-USB it can be killed by washing your hands.  And to check pulse rate and O2 sats you have to remove it from your wrist and place it on a finger tip.  So while small it wasn't optimal for her, and I gave her the Misfit since I had one and liked it. 

I'd previously bought myself a Misfit just for the automatic sleep tracking, since I'd forget to turn on sleep tracking manually with the Withings, and then when I switched to Apple Watch I couldn't track sleep with the Apple either.  I pretty much stopped using the Withings except to check O2 levels when I need my oxygen.

So, after all this I wanted to buy my wife an Apple Watch but she doesn't want anything that big or that needs nightly charging, and she wants to keep wearing her TAG Aquaracer for her main watch.  Buying her the misfit was the smallest I'd found that she could wear as an accessory to her watch, plus she can attach it to her shoes, socks, ankle, wrist, or a necklace.  All it's missing for her needs is HR.

[n_maher]

You should probably check the Charge HR then if she doesn't want a smart watch.  It's much more bracelet sized (my wife wears one as a watch) and should do everything your wife seems to be looking for.

[HeadphoneAddict]

46 minutes ago, n_maher said:

You should probably check the Charge HR then if she doesn't want a smart watch.  It's much more bracelet sized (my wife wears one as a watch) and should do everything your wife seems to be looking for.

Maybe we'll look at this at Costco tomorrow - we noticed it there the other day but she was averse to the price.

[MexicanDragon]

I love my Charge HR, and they've recently come out with some new colors for normal sizes. The automatic sleep tracking is great, as I'd forget with my flex often enough. I don't even shower with mine, though. It's supposedly safe enough to do it in practice, even if they say not to. I do it just to give my wrist a rest from having it on 23.75 hours/day.

They often go on sale for low 100$, and every now and then sub-100$. Only pay full price if you're wanting a Fitbit.com exclusive color.

**BRENT**

[Hopstretch]

For the pure porn of it and to cleanse the palate after the fucking fitness trackers ... 

Movement from the new Lange Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon. Hnnnnnngh.

[Hopstretch]

Never's looking good for me.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I snagged a less elegant watch that I've been wanting for a while, an Omega 2503.33 white dial with blue hands.  It arrives Friday.

I had one reserved a year and a half ago, but it managed to get sold out from under me the day that I went to pick up it.  That was the last of the NOS supply and the experience soured my taste for one, until this one popped up today and I jumped on it at a very good price. (photos attached of the one I bought on the seller's wrist, and of the one that got away on my arm).

 

1 hour ago, EdipisReks said:

I really like the new Cartier Cartier Drive.

Nice.

[HeadphoneAddict]

1 hour ago, EdipisReks said:

I do like those blue hands.

Me too. And, the blue hands/white dial looks much better in person.  As a plus, these Aqua Terra 2500 co-ax watches are noticeably thinner than the newer models with the 8500 movement.  They only recently brought back this color scheme but in a thicker package, and now costing 5 figures due to being made from high-grade Titanium.

Now the question is, what do I do with my Aqua Terra quartz model now?  It's kinda nice to have as a grab and go dress-sport watch, but I still have the Seamaster Pro quartz to fall back on.  And I'll have the NOMOS Orion Midnight Limited Ed here in the next month or two (expecting #15/75) which I can pick up and set real quickly due to no date and manual wind.

[HeadphoneAddict]

25 minutes ago, EdipisReks said:

Want, really want.  Maybe even more than a Nautilus.  Might be a good time to get the older model, though.  Vacheron really hit out of the park with this years's SIHH.

Keep it, for exactly the reasons you state, or sell it because you do't need it anymore.  I'd personally live with both before deciding.  I don't plan on having more automatics than I have watch winder space (I could do 14 automatics, if I had them, though it's currently 10), but I can certainly understand the appeal of a quartz watch like that, if you don't like keeping watches on winders.

The VC does look really nice.

I have winders for up 13 automatic watches, and one empty spot.  Since I don't keep my 1962 De Ville, Seiko, Orient or Egard watches on a winder, I have just enough room for all of my Omega, Tudor, and Rolex automatic watches.  With the incoming Aqua Terra, I'll have to always wear one of the automatic watches or let one of them run down if I don't want to manually wind it a few times a week.   

But, I had planned to stop keeping all my quick set watches on winders soon, including those with ETA based and Omega 2500 movements. With those I can re-set the date very quickly with a single twirl of the crown in the 1st click position.  Same with my Hamilton and Seamaster Pro ceramic chronograph where I can change the date quickly with a pusher, or the Tudor with no date.  I'd just wear those once a month to keep the oils distributed & from drying out, and then maybe they'll last longer than when running 24/7.  

So, I'd have simplified things down to using just my Wolf winders with only the watches that use jumping hour hands to change the date, which is a slower process (TI Planet Ocean 8500, Grey Side of the Moon, and my 4 Rolexes with GMT hands).  Then I could stop using my cheap Amazon and Egard dual-winders, and free up some shelf space.

[HeadphoneAddict]

5 hours ago, EdipisReks said:

If anybody wants it, I have an Omega Kevlar X-33 strap for sale.  This is the long version, but its suitable for those with standard sized wrists.  Bought from O Frei.  It fits a 145.022-69 Speedmaster (and presumably other Speedies), but did not fit my SMP 300m.  This strap is rubber backed, thick and the lug and thin at the ends.  This has no buckle or spring bars, takes standard 20mm spring bars and a standard 18mm pin buckle.  Other than the bend on the long side, which happens the first time you buckle the strap, it's in like new condition. $200 shipped.

Why are you selling it?  

I'm mildly interested for my 145.022 Moonwatch which is on a non-Omega black leather with a genuine Omega deployant clasp.  I'm going to move the Omega deployant clasp to a medium-brown Omega leather strap that I have for my Aqua Terra 2503.33 (white dial blue hands), and put the aftermarket clasp back on it. 

But I'm worried this will look too thick for a 145.022 while perfect for the X-33, or too long for my 7.25" wrists. Plus I don't have a suitable spare buckle laying around.