Watches - another OCD problem

[Giles]

I am pretty hard on stuff. I use a diving watch to dive with, and my 50 Fathoms pretty much lives on my wrist whatever I do. Added to that, I am a hamfisted, accident-prone (induced) twat.

I noticed that parts of the black bezel were going grey, upon close inspection I realised I had cracked the sapphire in a couple of places and water was getting under it.

So off to Blancpain it has gone for a full service, repair and refresh.

I await the quote with considerable trepidation

(I think they will have a heart attack when they see I have it on a cheap Chinese rubber strap - which has lasted ages and is brilliant)....

[Danimal506]

@Giles Do you have any pictures of the damaged bezel? I would love to see a before and after. For us nerds

[Giles]

I tried to take a pic, but it was crap. It was the sort of thing you could feel rather than see. I bit like if you damage a ceramic fishing rod guide, you can feel it by passing over it with your fingernail or sharp knife, but cant actually see it.

[ddtrash]

While ceramic bezels look nice and shiny you cant help feeling that the "old school" aluminium bezels are a more suitable material for a tool watch bezel.

Yes Aluminium bezels can be scratched and dented but they are relatively cheap and super easy to replace. I really like the look and feel of the older 5 digit Rolex Sub and GMT Master aluminium bezels.

Some perceived upgrades are not as functional as the versions they are superceeding.

[JDelage]

So, Otsuka has a lottery for one of their amazing watches but unfortunately it's only for people with a Japanese address & CC... Boohoo...

Anyone in Japan wants to be my proxy?

https://otsukalotec.base.shop/items/91991626?utm_source=base&utm_medium=shop_mail&utm_campaign=mail_magazine&utm_content=mail_magazine

[Giles]

I'm there in 7 weeks

[JDelage]

Thank you Giles! That was kinda in jest. The lottery is on Oct 3 and requires a Japanese issued CC. Oh well, plenty of watch fish in the watch sea.

[Giles]

[mclaincausey]

While I mostly agree wirh @ddtrash , a defense of ceramic bezels would be being able to have lume in the bezel beyond a pip at the top.

[Molle]

I have a thing for SEIKO divers and especially Marine Master type ones. The design is coming from their 6215-7000 (1967) and 6159-7000 (1968).

[nickname]

I was drooling over a MM for years.
When I finally put it on my wrist, that was not it. Sits too tall, wears small for my big wrist. I was so sad.

Until I got a GS diver, that made things better.
Still, my Sumo Gen1 is my most worn watch.

Great collection btw.

[Graeme]

Omega has re-released the First Omega in Space, with a nifty sapphire crystal that replicates the original Hesalite, and the 3861 Master Chronometer movement. It looks nice.

Monochrome and Fratello have write-ups.

[mclaincausey]

One of my favorite musicians, Billy Strings, had an excellent feature in GQ recently. I knew he was into horology (even tinkering with watch movements) but they mentioned he has this guy which he got using John Mayer’s watch broker. Excellent taste and I’m sure @JDelage would approve.

[JDelage]

That First Omega in Space Speedmaster looks lovely. I like the alpha hands and the dial color.

@mclaincausey Yes, that small second Streamliner is a beauty. I also like the mini rotor movement a lot. Oh well... I do like the green better than the blue.

[mclaincausey]

@JDelage yeah I love that simple green center hands model myself

[Graeme]

I'm not sure exactly what's been happening with Hodinkee over the last few years. I think that Ben Clymer sold out to investors, who tried to steer it to be more of an e-commerce than editorial platform. That didn't work out.

To be fair, I haven't really followed the site for a few years, as it felt more like sales copy for whatever they were trying to shift that week.

Anyway, the site has been sold again, this time to Watches of Switzerland. There's a story about it on Hodinkee.

I'm not sure if this is a great move. Being an in-house magazine for a major retailer doesn't exactly allow for editorial independence. It's the same issue they had when they tried to do retail. I wouldn't be surprised if it's sold on again in a few years.

Incidentally, I've noticed that Hodinkee has been pushing Ben Clymer heavily over the last few months. He seems to be active on the site again for the first time in a few years.

[Nocturama]

My daughter bought herself a Mission on Earth - Desert. Not sure about the colour myself…

[Danimal506]

@Graeme I used to love Hodinkee back in 2015-2018. But yea the stories really fell off with only a couple good ones per year.

I too see that they’re pushing Ben Clymer. Maybe they want to have a face to the company and seem more grass roots? I’ll still cherry pick articles by writers whom I’m a fan of. James Stacey is maybe the only one left…But I don’t trust the integrity of Hodinkee like I used to.

Anybody ever seen Perezcope on Instagram? He seems to debunk A LOT of the vintage watch market’s hype and doesn’t seem to be much a fan of Ben Clymer and Hodinkee himself. It’s interesting to read his articles. And to see that ex-Hodinkee writers follow his account and like his posts.

Dean Delray just put out a podcast with Dan Spitz who is a watchmaker. Great episode and lots of good insight into a master watchmakers opinion on the watch industry.

[PJ]

Cousteau & IHSH-397-IND

[Danimal506]

@PJ That blue is fantastic!