Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122037787#Comment_122037787

Thanks @Iguarantee really appreciate it. I am hoping that this surgery closes a chapter for me and lets me start getting back to normal 👍

In watch related news, a Franken watch Newman Daytona sold at auction in Monaco for €671k (€871k including buyer premium) and did so despite being flagged by Paezescope. An insane amount of money to spend on something that has the issues flagged.

Unless it was being sold by Rolex themselves as a fundraiser for the Foundation? Its a high risk purchase and even then? I couldn't imagine having enough cash to be able to disregard the risk.

https://perezcope.com/2024/04/19/when-monaco-gives-you-lemons-make-lemonade-frankenstein-rolex-daytona-6241-paul-newman-lemon-and-other-beauties/

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122045524#Comment_122045524

perezscope calls out so much deception in the watch world. We really are in the land of make believe and bulsh*t . When I think of dubious watches , I always think of Chinese tat but it’s mad to see the amount of Frankenstein watches going for hundred of millions .Buyer beware at every level but what sellers can you really trust at any level ?

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122046603#Comment_122046603

At the vintage end of things you kinda always had to keep a suspicious eye in your head. In the Old Days™ not so much because of chancers and dealers, but more because old watches were, well, old and often got new parts, "dials cleaned" etc, so if you wanted originality you needed to have the knowledge.

Well since the mid 90's when the interwebs came along and so much info with it. Going full nerd deep into the lore and look of whatever model you were interested in. That takes a lot of time and effort mind you, which was fine for watch nerd collectors/obsessives, but normal folks rightfully couldn't be arsed and that's where a lot of the dealers and chancers live, especially as the once niche nerd world went much more mainstream.

That said even back in the 90's auctions and many of the pro dealers were often viewed with suspicion in the hobby and many frankens pointed out. EG for a time in the late 90's there was a bit of a frenzy for early Rolex Oysters and Bubblebacks and redials were a near given with most of them. "California" style dials and unusual colours(like pink…😁)were ALL redials, but were still going for good money. Genuine original dials from estate sales, or in family heirloom sources were nearly all very badly aged. US based Redial companies were even then quite open and advertising in the hobby. Another common enough thing to see were mashups of parts; dials and hands. That stuff was far easier to get back then. 70's Rolex Daytona dials NOS for 400 quid kinda thing

Now early Oysters and Bubblebacks are about as fashionable today as velour loon pants, but a lot of other vintage watches got the refresh treatment back then, particularly pre 60's chronographs, many of which seemed to have aged rapidly and badly(I've seen very few pre 50's Longines flyback chrono dials I'd trust). It has occurred to me that fast forward a quarter century and those once clearly new redials could look a lot more worn in and "authentic" today. I suspect a fair number of "original" dials out there are more like original to the 90's.

In the high end vintage world I'd trust NO vintage Panerai unless it was pulled from the skeleton of a long dead fascist diver in the bay of Naples last week. Ditto for early Rolex Daytona's unless it was a new to market heirloom and the family are still with us. Goes triple for the rarer dials on any vintage Rolex model, where the addition of a line of text can add five, even six figures to the value. Tiffany dials on anything another minefield.

banie01

Just saw the following over on TZUK, apparently Paul Thorpe has moved on from watches... and on to sharing a platform/bench/bin to racist twat Stephen Yaxley Lennon.

From 3:04 in the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKRiWmTZlSQ

A snip of the dynamic duo...

If ever there was an example of following the money and finding a new grift, surely it's going from watches to being a concerned citizen abetting a twat like SYL and hoovering a superlike or 3 to do it.

OmegaGene

Thorpe is a grifter and will do anything to make money, he moans the illegals are breaking the law but he was okay with his son selling fake Rolex making a fortune

893bet

If the glove fits. And it fits.

scwazrh

that’s a shame . He always seemed such a lovely honest guy ,A real cornerstone of the watch community..

scwazrh

1500 euro for these!!! At 35mm its perfect size for the hodinkee fan boys .The recent collectors video from them with "kith " was a bit of sneaky advertisement for these

Ian OB

Won't be easy to pick one up

https://www.wired.com/story/tag-heuer-kith-formula-1-watch-reborn-2024/

NIMAN

I owned one of these for a short time.

I had always loved the retro styling on them, so kept an eye out for a clean one and took the plunge.

I didn't keep it for long, simply due to the dimensions of it. I have a small wrist, but even for me it wore tiny. Just couldn't grow to like its size.

Ryath

Jebus I thought the Swatch X's were over priced.

Originals were £85 which adjusted for inflation is £312

NIMAN

I didn't realise they were new releases.

Thought they were the old originals.

scwazrh

Yep , special edition with “Kith “ .I had no idea who that was but he must be popular if Tag have partnered with him.

jefferson73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088544#Comment_122088544

The "Tag" in Tag Heuer was not great many years back, but to brand these "Kith Heuer" on the watch logo is unforgivable

OmegaGene

Kith is a clothing lifestyle brand according to google, the video on the watches if very good in this link

https://kith.com/

Lorddrakul

Hmm.

Conflicted with this.

Kith means absolutely nothing to me but my first good watch, bought new in 2001 was this:

Still have it as my go-to tough wear watch. I also use it when on my motorbike as it has such a small, slim profile as to be easy to go under the gear.

Also, I grew up as a kid in the 80s watching F1, and a TAG Heuer chrono was just iconic to me.

This one has a superb ETA 251.262 7-hand movement with a 1/10 s function. I've used it in anger, timing laps driving around Mondello Park in, of all things, an Audi R8 V10+! Got two PADI licences with it too.

I'm all for reviving famous marques, but dubious tie ups with transitory, passing consumer brands seems a little dubious.

OmegaGene

those older tags are great and so easy to restore to new with a new bezel and they don’t have the plastic crown guards like the later models which crumble like a digestive over time

the original f1 was my first purchase as a young lad, I queued up in Liverpool st and picked one up along with two of my mates, I wasn’t even into watches at the time but someone working in Hatton garden advised me to grab one and it’s still in its box in a draw

jefferson73

I found this part at 4.40 mins aligned with my thoughts

https://youtu.be/SaiRW6trsGg?si=_6qSDSva1_dF5foQ

Wibbs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122091341#Comment_122091341

To be fair to TAG they saved Heuer from the dustbin and turned the company around. Not an easy task as Heuer as a company while utterly fantastic as a watch design house seemed to have a great knack for losing money and long before the Quartz Crisis© came along too. Quality went up too. I've had a few vintage Heuer in my day and imho TAGs were far better built.

In the 90's and well into the noughties TAG were the "Good Watch"™ for normal people. Pretty much universally known as a brand. You'd wonder how it could go so downhill in the last 15 odd years. Could say the same for IWC.

But yeah this who da fuk are Kith being attached to the name is cringe central. Though as Scwazrh notes the Hodwinkie man bun bumbag crowd will likely buy them out quickly. Especially given how few they're putting out.

jefferson73

Good points made. I believe they have huge potential, suspect these new releases have disappointed me as a wasted opportunity so maybe a tad harsh on my behalf. On a positive note some of their recent releases have been very good..namely

furiousox

As an F1 and Senna fan I have to say I'd be tempted by this if it was a bit bigger.....and I had a spare 3k lying around.

https://www.recwatches.com/timepieces/98t-4/

https://www.motor1.com/news/717657/rec-watch-aryton-senna-f1-car/

micks_address

Hi folks,

Might be stupid question. I was wondering if it's possible to get a display back for the hesalite crystal speedmaster?

Cheers,

Mick

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122100471#Comment_122100471

https://www.spiralwinderwatchparts.com/product-page/sapphire-exhibition-caseback-for-the-3861-omega-speedmaster

Assume it’s for your recent 3861?

micks_address

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101185#Comment_122101185

Yes thanks..is it a DIY fit ?

scwazrh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122101875#Comment_122101875

Yeah , it’s a complete case back .Unscrew old and fit new .

scwazrh

just to add and I’m not sure if this is the same with your model as mine is the previous model but the 1861 movement comes in the solid case back and has a plastic break .The sapphire model comes with the exhibition case back and 1863 which has a metal break .The plastic one stands out and ruins the look of the movement hence why I didnt put an exhibition back on it.

Like I say maybe not the same with the newer models but worth checking first as a lump of plastic in the middle of the movement isn’t the most attractive thing to see through the case back.

Homer

eh €6600 for a quartz F1 Tag????

OmegaGene

that’s a mistake because it’s a carrera not a red bull

Wibbs

Well when you read "investment watches" you know you're dealing with utter chancers so…

OmegaGene

anyone fancy a kith f1 ?