Post pics of your watches Part II

Sla037 on Erika's NATO I picked up in the black Friday sale

they are stretchy elastic.. ive had to many of them at this stage... very comfortable - they are not the same as the marine nationale straps (which i think are made from parachute straps).. ive had one of them from ndc straps in the uk.. they are a heavier material than the erika orginals

I knew that would be like a rag red to a bull for ya!

Welcome to the internet.

You see, this is the issue.

IMHO, some watches have become icons in themselves, transcending the brand from which they grew.

The Submariner, the Cosmograph, the Speedmaster, the Pogue, the Astronaut, the Monaco - all, it could be argued, have gone beyond their makers to become design icons.

As such, all of these watches, to a greater or lesser extent, have become the subject of homage treatments, some successfully, some not.

If you think about the Submariner, when it came out, it was not a luxury item. Indeed, some of the best and most highly prized examples are the military or industrial ones, such as the Comex branded tool watches issued to actual divers. Or, the fact that Omegas and Rolex were made available to service people via surplus or base stores at heavily discounted prices, usually because they were robust and reliable.

While today's Subs are vastly superior to their forebears, they are not 10, 20 or 30k watches in their utility sense.

There are probably homages, such as the Steinharts, that are closer to the spirit of the original than a rose gold, or diamond encrusted version put out by the original maker.

I am not singling out Rolex here, all watch makers seem to have gone down this route, and I'm not condemning anyone for it.

My point is that to get the experience of a design icon, one doesn't necessarily need to have an original. When originals are far beyond the reach of most enthusiasts, a good homage can still deliver a large part of the experience at a fraction of the price.

However, the power of the brand cannot be underestimated.

For me, I have a TAG Heuer because as a child I was captivated by Formula 1, and that brand is irrevocably intertwined with it. TAG Heuer developed the basis for what is the modern timing system for all high performance motorsport.

The Speedmaster heritage needs no run out here, but the Mark II, for me is the best one because it was designed with the astronauts feedback and aim of going beyond the moon to living and working in space. The tragedy of never being flight qualified by NASA just adds to the mystique. The Accutron Astronaut being the only watch that would work in the A-12/SR-71 cockpit assures it a place in the horological firmament,

So then to Rolex, and brand is double edged sword.

Despite its current F1 sponsorship, Rolex, as a brand, for me perosnally, holds no value at all. By the time I was exposed to it, it had already become the watch of ****. And I mean that in the Harry Enfield, 'Loadsa Money' sense, not that any one who aspires to owning one is, well, one.

Despite early forays into aviation, exploration and certain types of motorsport, Rolex, for me, has never achieved what Heuer did in motorsport, Omega in space, or Breitling in aviation.

For me, personally, I have no desire to own a Rolex.

I fully acknowledge that this is my subjective, interpretive, experiential impression, and as such is one opinion among the multitude, but it is mine and has not changed after viewing and wearing Rolex watches. (A mate has a Hulk and another a gold Datejust).

I'm always delighted to read and engage with people who derive great pleasure from a brand, a marque or a specific example of any watch, of whatever brand. I have a modern Sekonda my wife gave me, with a Seiko movement that is of tremendous sentimental value, though I am fully aware that value doubles every time I change the battery.

I like the Elgin, because it looks and wears like a vintage Submariner. It also looks like a Rolex.

Long-winded and verbose, this is my thinking and my reasoning, if that isn't too strong a term, for why I wanted a Sub homage, but still don't want, nor have ever contemplated, having a Rolex.

“That and I am not stupid”.

Ironic given you criticise Archie types while simultaneously insulting every Rolex owner as being “stupid”……

I am not a Rolex owner but by your definition I am certainly stupid! 😀. I chase the very highest quality I can afford.

I apologise for insulting you. I should have been clearer, I would deem myself stupid if I paid what rolex are asking for a rolex these days as I consider them overinflated price wise. Much like tulipmania imo.

Thick AF !

A clever man would have bought a San Martin and a fake seiko

instead you went and bought a Patek and a Lange & Sohne....What where you thinking ???

Interesting comments, I had a couple of Steinhart to see how I like the look ( compared to Rolex). I just didn’t like it.

Likewise Seamaster.. just don’t like skeleton hands with a dot on top.

I have a cracking Seiko SZSC004 and a Steinhart GP LE, both of which I have had for a while and won’t get rid of.

I sold my IWC to meet other needs and now regret that.

A good Flieger is next and that’s me done. ( well that’s the intention)

I don’t own one so I am excluded.

so I am not not at all insulted and wouldn’t be if I did own one really. Just slightly amused at the reverse snobbery.

Snobbery is bad in your post. Reverse snobbery is ok. Lol

Stupid sexy Rolex Fans

What’s size is she? @micks_address

41mm Stowa

Flieger Klassik 6498

Beauty Mick - pm me a price?

Not like I need to buy more of your watches or anything 😂

Quick update on the Elgin.

Despite the robust, near agricultural nature of the Miyota 21-jewel 8215 movement, after I adjusted the beat error to 0, it now runs between +2 and +3 on the wrist over the last 4 days. So even though the amplitude suggests the mainspring might be fairly old, it is running pretty well.

And while it most definitely exhibits the flaw/charming feature of a noisy rotor, it hasn't displayed, as yet, the second hand stutter that it is also sometimes noted for.

That's a win all round, methinks.

There is one oddity, though, The lovely blue lume is still quite strong, except for one index, which is completely dead.

So, the Dutchman put the IWC in the post and it landed today. It's a IWC Mark XV (model: 3253), just serviced with a new IWC leather strap. The 38mm size is good on my 6.75" wrist and there seems to be some anti reflective coating on at least one side of the sapphire. This is the first watch I've had in many years with numbers; I'm usually much more fond of stick indices.

A dream come true! Spending the week in Biel / Bienne Switzerland training on the new movement line after starting a new position in Movement Assembly

Horage is what the new Bremont ENG movement is based on and where I am doing the training. Here's a link to their site

https://www.horage.com/

Some more from today, continuing on with the movement and part making

Some highlights of the town

My first Breitling. Very pleasantly surprised. I even like the rubber

That is a lovely Breitling, nice and simple. I'm not a fan of their flashy stuff at all, just too busy for me.

Pulled this out today as it will be 20 years old this year. Had a new power cell fitted last year but I'll need to chase that up. It could be 9 months or more and it wasn't really worn but it seemed to be stopped. Usually it would go into a pseudo sleep mode with the second hand jumping several seconds at a time and when you put it on it would kick into normal operation. It didn't do that this time but seems OK now after much manual rotating to power it up a bit. Will wear it all week and see if that sorts it out.

Anyway - not to everyone's taste but I like it.

Exactly yeah that's why I was never that attracted to Breitling although I liked the super ocean. Some of them are incredibly busy as if wanting to break the world record for most words on a dial 😁

Interesting that the likes of Breitling and Tudor have now moved into the entry level luxury watch segment. This used to be solely occupied by Omega, but their prices have gone to lalaland new and second hand. I bought a Seamaster pro 41 automatic back in 2017 for €975, those days are long gone