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

Birneybau

Ah, bless

oxocube

Just seen a couple Seiko's I couldn't say no to. This one from 1969 I picked up for €110 delivered.

I didn't check anything about this watch and for that price I was happy enough to take a risk

2shea

oxocube wrote: »

Just seen a couple Seiko's I couldn't say no to. This one from 1969 I picked up for €110 delivered.

I didn't check anything about this watch and for that price I was happy enough

Oh very very nice! Bargain price also well done.

Deep Thought

Wibbs wrote: »

TBH I tend to prefer Tudor stuff to Rolex. There, I've said it. :eek: And that Smink is a beauty. Well may you wear.

I do aswell.. I would love something along the lines of an explore II polar but have never seen a white Tudor

Wibbs

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

My little one loves wearing my watches in the evening before she heads to bed. Naturally I don't let her near the good ones and let her wear/throw about some crappy fashion ones that I had been given a while back from someone.

We were walking in the shopping centre this afternoon when she saw a huge display of watches in a jewelers. Her face lit up in pure joy. I asked her if she wanted her own watch. She isn't talking yet but indicated with excitement that she did. So we went into the shop and asked an assistant if they had a watch that would fit (she's a few weeks away from being two).

Naturally it won't be left on all the time owing to small parts and instead will be worn with supervision. Apologies for crappy pics... you can imagine it was difficult to get a photo. Hopefully it's the first of many.

I'm liking her style already. Large, quirky dial and a mad colour. All these watch companies that go on about a 1000 fathoms depth rating, 10000 G rating, cleared for space travel and all that stuff robust watches. The true test would be give an example to herself and if it survived five minutes with a two year old, then it's a truly robust watch.

Kintarō Hattori

Wibbs wrote: »

I'm liking her style already. Large, quirky dial and a mad colour. All these watch companies that go on about a 1000 fathoms depth rating, 10000 G rating, cleared for space travel and all that stuff robust watches. The true test would be give an example to herself and if it survived five minutes with a two year old, then it's a truly robust watch.

So true Wibbs, they are amazingly destructive in a way we just can't fathom!

SeaFields

Kintarō Hattori my small one has that exact watch. She wears it every day to crèche. And if you ask her it's always quarter to three!!

Lovely story - she's beaming with pride. Well done sir.

bodonnell

Took the plunge & bought this Steinhart Triton.
My first auto

micks_address

bodonnell wrote: »

Took the plunge & bought this Steinhart Triton.
My first auto

Very distinctive watch. Congratulations on purchase

bodonnell

bodonnell wrote: »

Took the plunge & bought this Steinhart Triton.
My first auto

photo update, bit clearer image

Wibbs

Am liking that. Not a "traditional" or "homage" to the past, but taking some cues from it. I love the different lume colours in the hands. The minute hand being the more important for diving and timing same, so made to stand out. A load of proper diver's watches in the past had the minute hand in orange for this reason.

Peatys

I've admired Squales from afar for years, my wife bought me this for our 10th wedding anniversary.



(Edit, don't know why the pic is sideways)sorted

emo72

Peatys wrote: »

I've admired Squales from afar for years, my wife bought me this for our 10th wedding anniversary.

(Edit, don't know why the pic is sideways)

SNIP

Tis a beauty mate!

Peatys

emo72 wrote: »

Tis a beauty mate!

Cheers, I love it. More than I thought I would. She then doubles down and gets me this three months later for my 40th..



I'm not into the rubber straps that come with them. I love the orange nato with the pvd, but the grey/orange zulu with the blue isn't doing it for me and will be replaced with a tan nato once I find the right one.

thelizardking1

TheRepentent

Peatys wrote: »

Cheers, I love it. More than I thought I would. She then doubles down and gets me this three months later for my 40th..

Well it gives you a few years till your 50th to start dropping hints about how much you love Rolex :)

Wibbs

Nice citizen TL. I'm liking the crown guard.

I always loved the oul Squale. I hear you on rubber straps P, could never get on with them myself. Always noticed them on my wrist.

Me. Earlier. Fiddling about with my WW2 German airforce issued watches with Glashutte Urofa movements. Long story. But mostly cos I'm weird.



Judging by the date on the backs of the dials of the ones I have(and I have two others not pictured. See above: Cos I'm weird). they were mostly made in 1943 and by the same dial printer, though slight there is some variability, same with the cases. Nice watches these and historic and all that. As Germany was running outa hard cash to pay off the Swiss they went local. Though I've always been surprised they didn't go local in the first place, what with the extreme nationalism going on at the time. And the serious wealth and depth of German watchmaking expertise and producers. Maybe a quid pro quo with the Swiss on other financial matters? Anyway local they went and used a square movement meant for "Tank" style watches adapted to a round case. This made them larger at 35mm than their other mainstream issued pieces like the various Swiss made DH watches for the army, navy and airforce(32-34mm).

Price wise at auction these run between 5-700 quid for working examples, 200 odd for non working. Dealers want more like a 1000. Outfits like Hodinkee likely double that. For the Navy/KM versions with the pale dials add 40% or so. They're more scarce than the DH watches which are easy to find.


Actually, that's one thing one can say about Rolex that for a change isn't a fan inflated myth, of which there are many: They made a decision to never supply watches or timing gear to the Axis forces in WW2 and did so very early on when the outcome wasn't nearly so clear. They also supplied watches through the Red Cross to POW's of the Allied powers. All of the other Swiss marques worked both sides until money ran out for the Germans or the tide of war was going against them. Some like Girard Perregaux in the form of their co brand Mimo destroyed what they could find of German issued watches after the war to distance themselves from it. The rest stayed quite. Others like IWC held their breath for decades, but were and remain happy to produce their "Big Pilot" which is designed around a German RLM design for navigator watches(B-Uhr). Don't tend to read about that connection in their glossy brochures mind you...

Deep Thought

Am looking for something from 1966, it’s hard to judge what’s the best from that time

oxocube

Deep Thought wrote: »

Am looking for something from 1966, it’s hard to judge what’s the best from that time

Picked up a Seiko for 1969 for €110. Can't go wrong with that.

Omega and Longines from the sixties are also reasonable. As always with vintage watches, Caveat emptor!

unkel

What did I get in the post this morning? :cool:



Had been looking for a proper turquoise Isofrane for a long time, but couldn't justify paying the full whack of USD178 they wanted for one. Got this one on eBay for €80 shipped

Great timing as with today's summery weather, the steel bracelet had just become too tight this morning

Jude13

Love the colour scheme. Being a sweaty man I just can't have a rubber strap.

Wibbs

Carrying on from my previous theme of German military issued watches, this time from the late 60's.



Heuer 1550 SG "Bundeswehr" flyback two register chronograph(on an 1960's Expandro bracelet).

Only this one is unusual as it's not an issued example. It has no BUND/NATO issue code on the caseback. It's unusual because officially these weren't available through the normal Heuer outlets and weren't in catalogues. You'd have to be "in the know" to source one. I read of a German aircrew chap who admired the pilot's watches and wangled a non BUND stamped one through a local jeweller. The Yugoslav Air Force got a few, as did the Norwegian Air Force. They were tested to high positive and negative G, shaking tests and magnetic fields. I've always been surprised they were never considered by NASA as they were tested way more than other chronographs of the time(and a few of the stopwatches they used were Heuer). Then again the "Moon watch" test was last minute and cobbled together and they tested less than eight watches that they bought over the counter from local jewellery shops.

They were originally a Leonidas product and when Heuer bought them out started production of their own. Interestingly in his autobiography Jack Heuer makes no mention of them. Odd given they are a well known, even "iconic" military issued chronograph, which you'd think they'd want to promote even today, even fire out a reissue. They would also have netted his company a steady flow of cash, when they were regularly in need of it. Nada on their website either last time I looked.

This example is unusual for another reason; it's a very early one. Serial number 616(I've only seen one lower). I've seen these with serials in the tens of thousands. I suspect many were cases swapped out as part of the BUND servicing dept for the watches(they also replaced hands, dials, bezels etc). Heuer's records were appallingly bad so serials give little clue. Sinn were one of the companies that serviced them and when the German government started to phase them out in the early 90's they sold them off through Sinn. Some come with Sinn marked dials, others with the tritium lume replaced by luminova.



The one in the above Sinn ad is one that has the non Tritium dial and larger Heuer logo. You'll notice mine has the smaller logo and a teeny tiny "T" above the 6 for "Tritium". Some come with a red encircled (3H) and they're sought after, but in my humble best avoided as there are too many and too many variances and are likely later additions, maybe even from last week...

Price wise; these used to be quite "cheap" for a vintage Heuer chrono, especially for a military issued one. These days they're around the 4000 5-6000 quid mark. :eek: Though as I say in my humble avoid the red (3H) ones and the ones that look like new. They likely are, or mostly made from spare parts. Though the trade and collectors don't like to hear that...

Marcusm

Is that based on an Autavia? I was at the Heuer Haslinger auction a few years ago (principally NOS). Don’t recall seeing any military watches.

TheRepentent

Really like that watch Wibbs

TedR

second that
Thats a fab watch, is envy a sin, cos I have bad case of it :-)

Wibbs

Just copped I'm wearing my army surplus Bundeswehr shirt in that above shot.

Marcusm wrote: »

Is that based on an Autavia? I was at the Heuer Haslinger auction a few years ago (principally NOS). Don’t recall seeing any military watches.

No M, it was originally a Leonidas design(based on a general European design for pilots chronos going back to the 40's. Large, two register, rotating bezel, flyback. Hanharts, Type 20/21's etc).



They supplied them to helicopter pilots of the Italian Air Force as well as the Germans and a couple of others. Heuer are silent on the matter, but some have mused they bought out Leonidas specifically to get the steady cash from their military contracts. Cash they needed as they were regularly on the brink of going under. Especially as they were pretty niche and took ages to break the US market(and did so on the back of selling watches with tokens that came with cigarettes). Other than helping with the first automatic chronographs(though Seiko might debate that) and funny enough some innovation with digital chronographs, they were not an innovative company and relied on bought in movements for the vast majority of their stuff. TBH I never rated classic Heuer as a brand, except for their industrial design. Kudos there. They've innovated far more since TAG took them over. One thing's for sure, they didn't continue to produce any other Leonidas design of which there were many.

I'm not so surprised there were no military watches at the auction M. Like I say they have a decidedly odd blank spot with this model. It should be one they'd shout about with the history etc and mil watches being big sellers. Maybe they no longer have the rights to make it again? Or because it was never their design in the first place? Though that never stopped Breguet(IMHO overpriced tat with an invented history) or others. They will service them, though at a truly laughable cost. At one point their "service" would have bought one and a spares donor. Even today it's something daft like two thousand euro. Eh... g'way to feck you gougers.

Slightly better shot of it earlier today when I was out and about in the oul jalopy.



It's a large watch at 43 mm minus crown. Though wears smaller even on my call Bob Geldof, he's in trouble, skinny wrist. Mine's in need of TLC as there's an issue with the crown, but funds are tight at the moment so I very rarely wear it sadly. Plus knowing what it's now "worth" now would have me nervous. I dunno how you Rolex, Patek, Omega and the like guys do it TBH.

Zagato

Wibbs wrote: »

Just copped I'm wearing my army surplus Bundeswehr shirt in that above shot.

I think we need to hear more about the Momo steering wheel, wasn't expecting to see that, makes for nice pic!

Wibbs

NSX R wheel on an Integra R. Old watches and an old car.

Lorddrakul

Wibbs wrote: »

NSX R wheel on an Integra R. Old watches and an old car.

Integra Type R?

A thinking man's performance machine.

Very nice.

And as for that Heuer, just gorgeous. I had no idea there was the military connection there, but have always had a soft sport for the brand from its motorsport heritage.

Wibbs

Lorddrakul wrote: »

And as for that Heuer, just gorgeous. I had no idea there was the military connection there, but have always had a soft sport for the brand from its motorsport heritage.

From what I recall the only military issued/contract watches Heuer ever sold were the above chronos, which was an existing contract they bought into and of all things a digital Chronosplit in the late 70's again for the German forces. They're daftly rare though.

The BUND chrono is an odd one out for them and not built like any other Heuers. Very old case design(from the 30's IIRC), an attempt to improve water resistance in chronograph watch cases, whereby the entire movement, back case, dial, crystal and crown/pushers is held into the main case by four small screws. Here's what's left when the main body of the watch is removed.



I always admired Heuer's industrial design which was very good. The watches as watches, less so. Not near(IMHO) the quality of similar watches from Longines or Omega and the like. Quality definitely went up when TAG took over.

njburke

Two pics today.
The first is a BN0191, which was posted in the bargains thread. I was scuba diving this evening and it works a treat a 20 metres.



The second is a Seikomatic P from July '68 . It's a birth year and month watch for my brother. It handwinds,hacks and has a quickset date via a coaxial button in the crown. 5106A movement, marketed to the mid business tier between 67 and 69. It has an unusual sintered bezel.

Wibbs

The Citizen is cool and a great watch within, but I am so loving the Seikomatic. And I like that it's a Seiko auto of this vintage that you can handwind.

Zimmerframe

Deep Thought wrote: »

Am looking for something from 1966, it’s hard to judge what’s the best from that time

Wibbs

What ZF suggests. Good call in my humble. Very of the era and a real innovation in timekeeping, one of the biggest other than quartz in the 20th century. And they hum. And on ebay this chap from Bulgaria always has nice pieces and at sensible money and the lad services them too. He usually has a few 66's in stock.

njburke

As an aside, the chap I bought the watch from is an enthusiast. As we were exchanging emails he included a pic of what he was wearing as he headed to the post office with the parcel.

I like it, it's a Ralf tech WRV. Not my watch but I'll share here.

Wibbs

Wibbs wrote: »

OK ecoli I removed the space and made them URLs, they're links to pics rather than the pics themselves.

Wibbs wrote: »

Loving the Grand Seiko.

Thank you very much.

The Grand Seiko's are very special watches. I've found it impossible not to just wear the Snowflake Monday - Friday but I love the SBGX063 as well. The 9F Quartz movement is really special.

micks_address wrote: »

Is the first one a snowflake?

Yes. An SBGA211, differing visually from the first edition by the removal of 'Seiko' from the deal at 12 o'clock. It's a subjective preference but I prefer the cleaner dial. I had no problem with the Seiko branding on Grand Seiko's. I'm a big Seiko fan and I like that also have a Grand Seiko with the old-school Seiko branding.

OmegaGene wrote: »

Ecoli3136 - you have a lovely collection and welcome to the forum

Thank you very much.

scwazrh wrote: »

Ecoli3136 - How does the omega compare to the Snowflake ? I haven't got to hold both at the same time yet and wonder if the GS quality is as superior as Ive heard?

I think if you've handled the Snowflake and the AT 2500 you are probably well placed to form a view - they are very different watches in almost every way.

In my view the Snowflake is superior on every objective standard aside from the bracelet, which is excellent on the Aquaterra. It's tough to compare it objectively with the Snowflake because the Titanium construction means the Snowflake bracelet 'feels' less substantial. It's an incredibly light watch - it's really quite startling when you pick it up for the first time. But the Snowflake bracelet is still tight and well fitted, and while the clasp is nothing special it is not a weak point. I suppose you could feel a little let-down that there is no micro-adjustment on a modern bracelet at this price point.

The Aquaterra has a fabulous dial and there is nothing to complain about in terms of the indices/hands. However there are macro shots of the Grand Seiko finish to hands/indices versus Omega and Rolex which show that Grand Seiko have the clear advantage here.

In the third picture I posted, taken on my phone, I'm wearing a blue shirt with a twill pattern. If you look at the hands of the watch, you can see the patern of the shirt reflected along the edged bevel of the hour and minute hands. Pretty extraordinary finish.

Link to that pic with a space h ttps://imgur.com/a/vvFC8YK

The Aquaterra case is very nice - smaller and more slimline than the larger Snowflake. It has great finishes, combining brushed/polish. The Snowflake case is finished with what they call Zaratsu polishing and relies on the subtle curves/facets to really shine. It's very beautiful but different to the style of the Omega.

The movements are apples and oranges. The 2500 co-axial is great, and has some horological significance in terms of the escapament. The Spring Drive Calibre 9r65 is extraordinary in its own right.

But look, the Snowflake would obviously be more than twice the price of the Aquaterra so I'm not sure it's a fair comparison.

Cienciano wrote: »

But that is some collection Ecoli, thought I was on instagram for a minute

Thanks I was very happy to share it with fellow enthusiasts. These are what I have kept over the years, starting with the Omega AT about 12/13 years ago. I still have too many but I really like each of them and would struggle to let one go now. I'm not adding any more though, at least for the foreseeable future.

Although, I have always loved Reversos. Strange to say when I tried some on the day I bought the Snowflake they just didn't grab me. In fairness the Snowflake had been a long term objective and that's what I left with. I could see myself revisiting them, maybe for my 50th.

Eoin

This vintage Longines arrived today - it's from the late 60's. It's in pretty good condition, and wears large enough for a vintage.

I wasn't 100% sure about it when I opened it, but it's starting to click with me I think.

blue5000

Eoin wrote: »

This vintage Longines arrived today - it's from the late 60's. It's in pretty good condition, and wears large enough for a vintage.

I wasn't 100% sure about it when I opened it, but it's starting to click with me I think.

Is it a cal 431? Looks good.

Eoin

blue5000 wrote: »

Is it a cal 431? Looks good.

Had to google, but yes it is!

Wibbs

That's a very nice Longines E. Have been very tempted by those before. Very solidly made and a nice in high beat house movement too. With tweaking easily capable of chronometer accuracy. IMHO if the vintage values continue to go north late 60's/early 70's Longines divers are very much undervalued. They're on a par with Rolex of the period(and have better movements) and ahead of Omega.

KildareMan

My Marloe with self made strap

Peatys

KildareMan wrote: »

My Marloe with self made strap

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=480524&stc=1&d=1558112758

Excellent

fulladapipes

This weekend, I shall be mostly wearing the OP 39 on a grey Nato strap.

On a related note, the idea of looking for a birth year watch (1971) has peaked my interest - seems to offer lots of opportunity for some serious nerdy research. Both my current watches have black dials (this one and a SKX007) so something champagne or silver might be good. Suggestions welcome.

Rootsblower

Very elegant fulla

TheW1zard

Very nice!

Rootsblower

Today am wearing my Breitling Superocean Steelfish. I have taken off the factory bracelet and have put on a factory leather strap and clasp. I think it makes the watch far more dressy

unkel

fulladapipes wrote: »

This weekend, I shall be mostly wearing the OP 39 on a grey Nato strap.

Pure class.

hitemfrank

My trench watch arrived back from having some maintenance done on it.

The hairspring was repaired, it had poise adjustment of the balance wheel and the hands re-lumed.

The lume is a lovely match to the numbers on the dial.



Now I just need to work out how to get the bonklip bracelet off without damaging it or the watch.

Wibbs

That's a bloody beauty HeF. With lots of history. It would be my humble that if you're into wristwatches it would be a good plan to at least once get and wear an original of the species. They're very cool.

Oh man he did a nice job on that and included balance poising work? Sweet. It should run very strong and accurately. Contrary to ebay sellers and many on forums these watches when fitted with quality 15 jewel movements can run very accurately. And movements fitted in Borgel cases like yours with their extra dust and damp protection tend to be in better nick than those in clip back type cases. Now they don't have shock protection which is their Achilles heel. Back in the day watchmakers were well practiced at replacing balance staffs and jewels because pre shock protection it was an issue, but in my experience over a couple of decades wearing trench watches(and other early non shock protected watches), some as daily drivers, they're pretty bloody robust IMHO. Recently on another forum a watchmaker chap who I would very much respect in general claimed that they required a service every six months if they were to be worn daily, which IMHO is a load of bollocks. If like yours they're in a good state to start with. Rough and rusty examples of which there are many are pretty delicate to be fair.

Personally I like the Bonklip. That said you should recoup some of your costs if you put it up on ebay and/or you want to put a different strap on it. I've installed and removed them before. Actually threw a couple away in the bad old days. :eek: I found - and your mileage may differ - that by levering the clamps where they connect to the lugs did the trick. Something wide like a knife blade as a lever is the way to go. Major caveat though. In my examples they were all steel fixed lugs. Your beauty is silver and that's a much softer metal. They were designed to be fitted once and left that way, so great care etc.. I suspect you will be faced with the choice to leave it, or bugger up the bracelet instead of your watch lugs.

Wibbs

And speaking of the above Trench wristlets and my daily for many a year and wearing of late much more... Earlier today. Same year as yours IIRC? 1916? Great minds think alike and that. Sadly not nearly as cool as a black dialled Borgel.



Including "lume" I sourced in a arts and crafts shop back in the nineties and very inexpertly globbed on, cos I knew even less back then. One of these days I'm gonna redo it right. On the reliability front: that old yoke is one of my longest owned old watches, got it in the early 90's. It's been all over with me, in all sorts of places and situations and it suffered a fair few clatters in its time. I avoided water, so left it at home the I went fishing, but otherwise was my constant companion for many years. The last time it was serviced was in 2006. These days it runs around ten seconds fast per day wound and dial up left on my bedside locker. On the wrist I would only really think of resetting it for winter/summer time changes. It's had a few crystals in its day and before the internet it suffered through lady's watch straps which were the only ones that would fit and it got a new mainspring in the late 90's, but that's about it. TBH I love this oul thing.