Poor man's watch thread

[AmicusCuriae]

my Orient Mako:

 

[Northants bloke]

My fancy Seiko diver today…

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A really attractive watch. Thanks for sharing it but poor man's?

 

[Purplelabel]

Daily driver.

 

[Michigan Planner]

A really attractive watch. Thanks for sharing it but poor man's?

I think this thread can be more than just the sub $1k price point. There is a lot that is overlooked in the other watch thread while everybody over there is busy talking about Rolex Daytona inventories in Kuala Lumpur or why they really need 14 different versions of the RO.

All that aside…

I’m going with the vintage Zodiac today.

 

[javyn]

My fancy Seiko diver today…

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Had no idea there was such thing as a GS diver

 

[Michigan Planner]

Had no idea there was such thing as a GS diver

They have a few different divers and I was originally looking at the spring drive version but I liked the dimensions on this one a little better. The spring drive is titanium and lighter weight but this one has a slightly smaller diameter and smaller thickness and fits on the wrist and slides under a shirt cuff a bit better.

I've been wearing an MM300 for years and my big complaint with that one is that it's so top heavy (a common complaint with that watch). This one looks very similar at a quick glance but is not as thick and is much more well balanced weight-wise. I already sold off one of my limited edition MarineMasters after getting this one and will probably sell off another one soon as I just don't wear them anymore.

 

[Michigan Planner]

Vintage Heuer today:

 

[Thin White Duke]

Vintage Heuer today:

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I like that one - any idea of the year?
My first name brand watch was a Tag Heuer which looks very similar to that. Crown at number 3. It’s a quartz and cost me $450 in 1991 and came with a free black plastic F-1 watch, both still ticking away in the drawer.

 

[Michigan Planner]

I like that one - any idea of the year?
My first name brand watch was a Tag Heuer which looks very similar to that. Crown at number 3. It’s a quartz and cost me $450 in 1991 and came with a free black plastic F-1 watch, both still ticking away in the drawer.

I've never opened it up to look for a serial number to try and get an exact date but I think mine is from '84 or '85. They made this model from about '81 up to the early '90s. IIRC, '85 is when Heuer became TAG Heuer and these 1000m watches quickly adopted the TAG branding. Mine has the Heuer branding but has a TAG Heuer branded bracelet, which I'm told was original to the watch and the first couple years of this reference had an "N" in the reference number instead of an "L" and a slightly thicker case so, if all that is correct, mine was probably manufactured sometime around that change over.

Yours with the crown at 3:00 is probably the slightly newer Ref 982. Those were a little thinner case and only had 200m WR. I actually had the lumed dial "Night Diver" version of one of those that I acquired in a trade for my blue titanium Seiko Samurai. It was a great watch and fit more comfortably than this one but I missed my Samurai and when the guy I traded with asked if I wanted to trade back a few years later, I jumped on it. Zodiac also produced their green/red/blue dot "Professional" series using the same case and movement as the TAG Heuer 982. The 982 was made concurrently with the 980 for a few years so I don't know if I'd say that one is a replacement to this one.

When I tried to do some research on these years ago, it seemed that there was a ton of overlapping and co-branding and contract manufacturing between TAG Heuer, Heuer, Squale, Sinn, Zodiac, and a bunch of tiny French brands (not to mention Spirotechnique), all of which were using ETA movements and Monnin cases.

 

[Thin White Duke]

Interesting stuff.
I knew a lad who had that similar one to mine but the version with the luminous dual and black lettering. Seemed like a great idea but I don’t think that Tritium kept its lume for very long. It was also available in navy. Mine has a similar looking jubilee style bracelet with a fold over link near the clasp to expand it to go over a wetsuit. I even had it diving a few times and it held up fine. Now I use a Seiko PADI solar Prospex when I’m diving so I don’t risk losing my nicer watches to a broken spring bar.

I wrote about my old and new Tags on the blog a couple of years ago:

 

[Jazzmenco]

A little over budget but well worth it

 

[WilYa]

Latest addtion to my UG family
Quite a steal at $500
Did a bit of google and confirms the model is Polerouter Geneve Date from 1960

 

[ThePetros]

Sorry to turn the topic but I’m looking to put together a watch. Does anyone have any experience with Raffles Dials? I read some positive stuff online, but has an odd way of processing orders and I’m apprehensive about it.

 

[SonnyUte]

Picked this up from a fellow SF member. This is my first post here. Is the $1000 a hard limit? I have a couple vintage Omega’s that I picked up for just a bit north of that.

Latest addtion to my UG family
Quite a steal at $500
Did a bit of google and confirms the model is Polerouter Geneve Date from 1960

That really is a steal at that price. Where did you pick it up?

 

[Jazzmenco]

$1000 is not a hard limit but if the price approaches the cost of a small house or car then it probably belongs on the "other thread"