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

[in stitches]



Exited for you, stitch!

ill just say, if this falls through, ima be one mad dude. i will cease discussions now until all my ducks are in a row.

 

[rnguy001]

SHIZNIT! Interest quotient is through the roof now!!

But I feel you my man. No jinxes and best of luck. I'm sure whatever you get is going to be awesome..

R

ill just say, if this falls through, ima be one mad dude. i will cease discussions now until all my ducks are in a row.

 

[Newcomer]

Some pictures of what I believe is the the most beautiful Reverso:

 

[wurger]

I feel like that does not really lower the potential choices by very much .
Hmmmm, is is more or less than 40mm. I am guessing, JUST GUESSING, a JLC MUT 38mm.

indeed it does not.

i wish it was a JLC MUT the one i love with a small seconds dub dial, in gold. sadly, it is not that intriguing. here is another hint, its something that i never would have thought of had i not been fortunate enough for it to come my way.

all should be revealed some time next week, for better or worse.

Can't wait till its reveal. And two years is way too long, isn't us all about impulse buys?

 

[wurger]



Some pictures of what I believe is the the most beautiful Reverso:

Indeed a very elegant watch, anyone care to explain how moon phases work??

 

[dopey]

Some miscellaneous watches I photographed badly:

My daily wear Constellation, bumper wind from the early 50s (completely overhauled by Omega about four-five years ago), with a cal.321 pre-moon Speedmaster-note the applied Omega symbol (runs well, but the chrono minute hand fell off and is floating around in the case)

Heuer Autavia - likely a post-Viceroy Viceroy variant but hard to tell

Breitling Transocean from the 70s

Two pie-pan Constellations

 

[Newcomer]



Indeed a very elegant watch, anyone care to explain how moon phases work??

One is a moonphase, whereas the other is a day-night indicator. In essence, the moonphase runs every 29.5 days or whatever, and the day-night indicator is kind of like a GMT wheel... except prettier, and not as useful.

 

[Devoti]

Here's my beater; I must admit I have not taken good care of it other than recently replacing the metal band with a leather one, it need s a good cleaning. It's much lighter and to me more comfortable with the strap.

 

[in stitches]

NewC - that is a beaut

Wurger - lol it better not be 2 years!

Dopey - great vintage pieces. Thanks for sharing!

Devoti - heck of a "beater" lol.

 

[wurger]

Indeed a very elegant watch, anyone care to explain how moon phases work??

One is a moonphase, whereas the other is a day-night indicator. In essence, the moonphase runs every 29.5 days or whatever, and the day-night indicator is kind of like a GMT wheel... except prettier, and not as useful.

I see, thanks, what do people use moon phases for?

 

[Newcomer]



I see, thanks, what do people use moon phases for?

Timing when they turn into a wolf primarily.

 

[in stitches]



Timing when they turn into a wolf primarily.

lol. this. or something pretty to look at.

 

[Dino944]

Except that the 3570.50 has also seen EVA time, and will likely continue to do so. It's still the only watch qualified for EVA by NASA.



That ain't Skylab or the Apollo Soyuz in the background. It's the ISS.

Even the X33 isn't qualified for EVA due to the alarm diaphragm. If the Daytona were a better choice, I'm sure Putin could've stolen some for his Cosmonauts.

Keep in mind of course, I never said the Daytona wasn't an exquisite piece of craftsmanship. It is. But it certainly doesn't match my aesthetic. I keep thinking of celebrities and gangsters when I see one.

As for using the chronograph function, most the time it is indeed a toy. Nevertheless I have used it for real events including fairly mundane ones.

There's also the whole value for money equation. If I'm going to pay for five figures for a chronograph, I'm going to want a fly back or split second.

The Speedy Pro is a great watch no doubt about it. However, its not the only watch to have gone into space...Seiko, Rolex, Breitling, Sinn, and Fortis to name a few have been in Space. I think its a great historic footnote and does make the Speedy a conversation piece. Still, you previously referred to it as more of a tool watch, and to me, as great as it is, today's Daytona is a bit more tool watch. Once the time has been set and its running, I can wear it and forget about it. I don't have to wind it, it has a 3 day power reserve, and I can wear it to go swimming or snorkeling. I don't know about you, but I'm not that friendly with Richard Branson, so its more likely I have a better chance of being at someone's beach front property or a house with a pool and going swimming than I do of being on someone's personal space shuttle.

The Speedy definitely beats it in the price department, I guess I was lucky to get in early well before they were anywhere near 5 figures. As for your desire to have a flyback or split second chrono if its a 5 figure watch... I don't think a flyback function or split second would add to my overall enjoyment. Could have bought a BP with Flyback several years ago for less than my Daytona...just never able to fall in love with their designs.

As I've said before, both a great watches and each is iconic enough to justify having one of each in a collection.

[COLOR=FF00AA]Agree Agree Agree. Color me 'weird' but I love the ROO models. the Volcano, Bumblebee, Safari - check check check. Love the newer ceramic ROO as well. I understand it's a huge contrast versus the elegant and storied Jumbo, but I really like that AP can have models that are sportier as well as timeless. This is not a bad thing, and doesn't go against their tradition and DNA in this instance. I know some brands can really hurt themselves when they over-extend, but AP actually excels in this way.[/COLOR]

I think its fine that AP has a much sportier offshoot of the RO line, with the Offshores. I find them clunky, a bit silly with all the bright colors and funny names Bumble Bee, Volcano, Safari etc. I'm not sure I understand how AP collectors get so excited about buying essentially the same watch over and over again just with a different color set of hands and chapter ring around the dial? Also, I won't go into my pet peeve again (some of you have already read it), but they make a new limited edition basically anytime someone blows their nose. After a while if you do a lot of "limited" editions...how limited or special are they? The one Offshore that I do like a lot is their Scuba.

in other non AP news, i may have my next watch purchase coming up soon.

The suspense is killing me!!!

Thank you for not hating!

My Daytona started out as a regular white dialled steel Daytona, but I always liked the white gold dials, so had one installed. Most Rolex ADs frown upon this, and certainly Rolex SA. There are dials to be found on the second hand market, for crazy prices. And dirty back alley watchmakers to install it, I imagine. (Not that installing a dial is rocket science.) Or you can find a decent AD who acknowledges that you, and not Rolex, own your watch, and fixes everything.

The dial swap is a big pain here in the US. You can only get the dials on Ebay or some other source, Rolex USA won't sell them to you, and even if they would, they only sell parts here with the buyer exchaning the old part toward the new (not that you get a discount for the "traded in" part. And if your watch goes in to Rolex for service, you have to swap the dial out again. Rolex will not work on the watch until its "corrected." I've heard in Europe Rolex isn't quite as tough with parts as they are here.

Dino ... lovely pics ... what is the reference number on this "LV"? I am smitten with it. Thanks in advance!!

Hi, its 16610V. Everyone calls them LVs (lunette verde) for the green bezel, but the reference number only uses the V.

Some pictures of what I believe is the the most beautiful Reverso:

Excellent choice! Definitely my favorite version of the old manual wind sun/moon. I tried one on many years ago, but even with a healthy discount back then it was more than I could consider. Still one of my favorite Reverso designs.

 

[in stitches]

its killing me too, dino. believe you me.

 

[no frills]

there will be no hints so as not to jinx anything, but i assure you that my TWATy friends will be the first to know when its all locked down.

despite my lack of sharing, any interest on your end sharing what you have in mind for 2015?

please say its a grande complication tourb and please say it is a 7 figure watch.

I'll stop asking you about what's next on your hunt... at least in public.

Best of luck in making sure you land that next one!

For 2015 I'm looking at a two-word complication that has the initials "M" and "R." It will, ideally, be from a watchmaker whose initials are "P" and "P" and the "MR" complication won't be the only complication on the piece. Because I am still somewhat sane, I will not pay retail for something currently in production so unfortunately it will not be a 7 figure watch.

F*ck I hope it's not a 7 figure watch. Otherwise kill me now. It will be an excruciating death if my wife has to do it.

Indeed a very elegant watch, anyone care to explain how moon phases work??

They work by having you squint your eyes, check what % of the moon is showing at a given time of the month, and then gasp at how beautiful the display is. Here, have a look:



I just had a look and now I have to wipe my drool.

stitchy, I await your comment about that dot between "31" and "1"......

wurger, kidding aside the moonphase display basically does what its name implies: tracks the phases of the moon through each day of the month, and if it's a perpetual calendar, for example, it adjusts for different lengths of the Gregorian calendar month (28/30/31 days on regular years, 29 days in February during leap years, etc). You don't have to reset it for a hundred years or so or something to that effect, so basically it'll be my great grandchildren's problem once the adjustment needs to be made.

But practically speaking if you have the watch wind down and/or have it serviced every few years then it's not like the moonphase will really run for 100+ years uninterrupted... it's still an interesting concept in my mind. Now, whether that would justify the extra premium a watchmaker may want to charge for that "extra" complication is, as usual, in the eye (and pocket) of the collector/wearer.