The Watch Appreciation Thread (Reviews and Photos of Men's Timepieces by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Brei

[rnguy001]

Mimo - glad to see you're okay buddy. That's a helluva spill! I gotta say I've never been a fan of bronze. It's also crazy what some owners do to get that false patina on the bronze (pass the ketchup?)

Exhibit A - saw the new Mark at our Omega boutique in DC - nice but not my cup of tea.

lumalik - congrats. More pics please

DS - Can't wait to see the new grab

 

[Betelgeuse]

Mimo, glad to hear you are ok! About glasses, I second @Cleav's proposition: Persol. I love the vintage look and the 649 which I think Cleav pictured are amazing. I just bought the 2931S in 53mm (polarized) and looking forward to get the 649 in 54mm. And for my eyewear I got the 3053. I love them because when I take them off there are no marks on my nose.

 

[Bill Dlwgosh]

a 60s-70s De Ville perhaps?

I wish that there were 38mm De Villes out there somewhere (or are there?).

...and Mimo, hope you're OK.

 

[DerangedGoose]

I wish that there were 38mm De Villes out there somewhere (or are there?).

...and Mimo, hope you're OK.

Its really, really hard to find good vintage no-date dress watches above 36mm. I dont know if Omega made any, a lot of them I see have a date function (not a dress watch, in my eyes). Girard Perregaux and Longines did. I went with Longines.

 

[Hayward]

Gotta remember, folks were smaller back then. 36mm was like 38-40mm today. I'm thinking 34mm was the norm during the 40s and 50s and square watches wear even smaller.

 

[Dagon]

I can't vouch for the authenticity, but this seamaster should fit the bill

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1962-ATTRACT...27?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item3a9230c9ef&_uhb=1

Hayward said it, you're not likely to find any vintage watch above 35mm.

Shouldn't dress watches be small? I find some hockey puck sized watches look ridiculous.

 

[Bill Dlwgosh]

Gotta remember, folks were smaller back then. 36mm was like 38-40mm today. I'm thinking 34mm was the norm during the 40s and 50s and square watches wear even smaller.

I think I saw a post somewhere saying that if Omega re released the De Ville as a 38/40 mm that it would be extremely popular. It'd still be an especially expensive watch to me, but that aside, the 1963 Sea Master below in a 38 might be my favorite watch I'd have seen in months of looking at this thread, chrono24 and WatchUSeek threads. I like the simplicity and see at as elegantly refined where someone else might see it as boring. The Intramatic might have worked as a more easily attainable substitute if only it were 3 handed.



http://omegaforums.net/threads/1963...shell-stainless-steel-reference-165-020.8956/

Hayward said it, you're not likely to find any vintage watch above 35mm.

Shouldn't dress watches be smaller? I find some hockey puck sized watches look ridiculous.

42mm as a dress watch especially feels a little large to me. 34mm today, especially on a bit of a bigger guy and I'm afraid it would read as I were wearing a woman's watch, otherwise I'd go grab an $800 vintage Omega tomorrow.

 

[Bill Dlwgosh]

DP in the TWAT

 

[TheWraith]

I really dislike Ti watches. I had one once, a Citizen dive watch. It was ok, but it felt way too light on the wrist. I want my dive watches to feel like a dive watch. It's gotta have some heft to it. For those that are allergic to SS or have some other issues, that's fair enough, but for most others, I'd say forget it.

 

[Dachshund]

To me that bronze Panerai just tips over the line into 'novelty' territory - they've got diving history, looks a bit like it goes with an old diving suit, etc, yeah I get it, zzzzz. Just a bit catoonish imho.

 

[DerangedGoose]

I really dislike Ti watches. I had one once, a Citizen dive watch. It was ok, but it felt way too light on the wrist. I want my dive watches to feel like a dive watch. It's gotta have some heft to it. For those that are allergic to SS or have some other issues, that's fair enough, but for most others, I'd say forget it.

No serious diver is wearing a giant steel bracelet under the water. I dove with a seiko monster on a bracelet once and it was the most useless, uncomfortable thing ever. If you think its hefty on land, wait till you get it under the water. It becomes lopsided ballast every time you move your arm.

A dive watch does not need to feel "heavy". This misconception is how ridiculous fashion brands get away with selling hockey pucks out of ****** generic steel at absurd premiums. Lighter, thinner, and stronger is always where the superior engineering will be.

I can't vouch for the authenticity, but this seamaster should fit the bill

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1962-ATTRACT...27?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item3a9230c9ef&_uhb=1

Hayward said it, you're not likely to find any vintage watch above 35mm.

Shouldn't dress watches be small? I find some hockey puck sized watches look ridiculous.

Thats almost certainly a redial, and not the best one (although not the worst one either). I personally dont really care if a watch is redialed as long as it is done properly, since after all I am looking for a dress watch and it does no good to show up dressed clean wearing a beat up watch.

Something to keep in mind is that vintage black faces are almost always going to be in poor condition if original, and almost certainly a redial if they look sharp (sometimes youll see hints of paint on the indices). The black dyes back then were not as strong or fast and faded much more quickly when exposed to UV and moisture.

Most of the big houses werent consistently making 37mm+ until the late 50s/early 60s. There were rarer models reaching back to the 30s and 40s, it seems trends for sizing have oscillated before beginning their gradual upward trend in the 70s. Omega was known to make some larger dress models using the 30T2 caliber, they can be found from 38-40mm, expect to pay between 500 and 1000, more for precious metal models. This is a 38mm model, search by the caliber on ebay and youll find some for sale:



Alternatively, if you are willing to go to more obscure brands, the russians have been making excellent watches for a long time now. The Ural are very rare, large for their time (40mm) and available dirt cheap (less than $100 easy) and have bulletproof workhorse movements. Invest some money in a service, and possibly a polish or replating and you can have a unique dress watch for cheap. There were several different models and dials made:



Again, black models will not have aged as well but there are many redial services out there that are not prohibitively expensive. They are very handsome watches and a full service, replate and redial should not run you more than 300 or 400 dollars:



I have seen 38mm Girard Perregaux models on ebay, Longines made a fair amount as well, as did Zenith. There were also some smaller, now defunct brands that made larger dress watches, such as this 38mm Election, which is selling for $300:



My personal preference is Longines. Their finishing standard is on par or above what you would see with similarly positioned brands of their era (at their time, easily surpassing Girard Perregaux) with gold chaton settings for the jewels and breguet hairsprings (features I got on my Longines for about $300) and their prices are still a bargain compared to Omega fever which has since driven prices way up for vintage Devilles and Seamasters.


I agree that a dress watch should be slim and reserved in size, and that other factors affect how a watch wears, like the thinness of the bezel, lug length, case chape, and dial color (black looks smaller). I have 7.25'' wrists that are on the flatter side, and 34mm is most definitely too small, and I couldnt really get used to 36mm either. 38mm is my sweet spot.

 

[Belligero]



As Belli noted, the SD4000 hits all the right, "balanced" notes. For people who complain about the chunky lugs of the new ceramic Subs, the SD4000's lugs are a teeny weeny bit (in the millimeters, really) more tapered, but is still chunkier than older models (which is a plus for me since I like the "heftier" look for sporty watches). Here's a pic of the SD4000 beside my SubC ND:

Note how the SD4000's crown guard shape also makes it look "more tapered" than the "more square" look for the SubC. Case sizes are both 40mm, although I haven't taken a Belli-style measuring instrument to them (which showed us here in TWAT that the "Daytona 40mm" is really 38.5mm)... so this claim is based on Rolex's official statements.[...]

Damn, this thread moves fast.

It's been far too nice out lately to mess around with measuring-caliper-level watch nerdery, but here's a quick 'n' dirty (literally, as the SD still has evidence of yesterday's North Sea activities on it) comparison shot à la No Frills between the the 38.65 and the 40.5-ish millimetre cases:

The extra thickness isn't so evident here, but case-shape differences between pre- and post-ceramic designs and the glossy vs. satin dial characteristics are rather obvious in this head-on view. For me, they both have the right proportions for their respective genres of slim sporty chronograph and function-first diver's watch.

It'll be interesting to see how Rolex does the next iteration of the steel Daytona; keeping the new Sea-Dweller at the proper 40 mm-ish size and going smaller on the lugs compared to their first round of ceramic diver's watches was a very positive sign for future design direction.

Making a watch bigger for its own sake — instead of for a functional purpose such as increased pressure resistance in the case of your DSSD, even if it's about 8X the all-time depth record — is traditionally un-Rolex. Bloating the new Sea-Dweller up to 42 mm simply to appease the bigger-is-better crowd would have been a poor long-term decision.

By the way, I'm surprised you haven't picked up a black-dialed Daytona yet, considering your habit of kopping in pairs...

 

[BostonHedonist]

My personal preference is Longines. Their finishing standard is on par or above what you would see with similarly positioned brands of their era (at their time, easily surpassing Girard Perregaux) with gold chaton settings for the jewels and breguet hairsprings (features I got on my Longines for about $300) and their prices are still a bargain compared to Omega fever which has since driven prices way up for vintage Devilles and Seamasters.

So you have indeed noticed a marked uptick in interest in Omega recently? I'd been under the impression that they've always been quite popular. Perhaps their major sponsorship role in the Winter Olympics has increased their "top-of-mind" presence to people.

 

[Dillardiv]

You all chimed in when I was asking for some advice between a Pelagos, Sub, and GMT BLNR. I ended up with the GMT and I'm really glad I went that way. Feels more differentiated than a sub and looks great in a lot of environments, especially my business casual office. Thanks for those that encouraged me to get what I really wanted and not settle for a substitute.

 

[mimo]

Thanks chaps! Viz. vintage Omegas, I like the alternative suggestions from BH. But also, @RogerP has one of those featured if I remember rightly - 38mm Omega, small seconds - and it's a peach.

I think id lose my **** if my doctor was that unprofessional. I guess thats the kind of care you get across the pond.

This is actually a panerai i've never owned!
He had a custom gator strap made for it with bronze stitching that was just secksay.

Yeah, it wasn't exactly the most exclusive clinic in Oman - just the closest to my house when I decided the bleeding wouldn't stop by itself...it wasn't quite up to UK standards. I hate gum chewing in general, and stinking of cigarettes, looking like he hadn't slept in a week, four and a half grey teeth...my Iragi refugee doctor was a nice enough guy, but could definitely work on his presentation. Anyway, he can sew, I suppose. And I didn't want to say anything while he was still poking around inside my head.

As for bronze, I think this is an interesting one: maybe because it patinates so quickly, it's rarely found on luxury watches - I guess not many people want to pay thousands for something that looks old, fast. I see a few diver type watches at the economy end, and so maybe it's "cheap" in my mind too. But I love the idea of it - obviously for Panerai there's an association with old-fashioned diving equipment, but I think in general it's a fascinating alloy aesthetically, and the idea of the natural oxidisation changing the colour is actually quite appealing to me.

By the way, I'm surprised you haven't picked up a black-dialed Daytona yet, considering your habit of kopping in pairs...

He doesn't always do pairs of the same - I think the Daytona is paired with the Explorer under "other Rolex". Maybe a white dial ExII and BLNR would make a nice addition? Then a white gold Pimpepsi and a platinum Daytona? Guess we'll have to wait for next year's frillyvolity season to find out.

Edit: @Dillardiv , that looks great, congratulations! I know I said go for the Sub because I'm a conservative old fart, but having seen that in the flesh myself, it's a stunner. "Wear in good health", as the TWAT motto goes.