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Dino944

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Another lazy, bullshit, overpriced design from the most has-been of has-been companies:

View attachment 1645998

In all seriousness, I didn’t really get this watch before. But learning more about the complexity of the case finishing and actually wearing it are instilling a far deeper appreciation.

I’ve been wearing my Daytona virtually daily for the past few months. It’s been an absolute joy in terms of comfort and tactility, but the experience also starkly contextualizes the greater refinement of the Aquanaut, which is substantially more comfortable due to being much thinner. It is almost surreal for a watch so sporty in character and wide in diameter to feel so flat on the wrist.

Woe unto me if I ever get a serious ding. This case is clearly a pain ********** to work with. As on my 5296, the bezel is a single piece with the mid case. Further, there are no straight lines—everything is at least slightly curved. Add to all that the mix of brushed versus polished surfaces and you have a case more difficult to finish than a Royal Oak’s. Plus, the polished areas are done by hand, as exemplified by the subtle roundness in the reflections.

From a purely aesthetic perspective, this watch absolutely needs to be handled and worn to be properly understood. In photos, I always thought it looked awkward and even a bit clunky. How wrong was I! In real life, the whole piece feels organic and pre-determined. Also, learning some added history didn’t hurt my appreciation for the looks. Rumor is that the Aquanaut was originally designed for use by officers in an unidentified Middle Eastern military, at the request of that country’s monarch. Patek will not confirm or deny.

The critical problem with the Aquanaut is that it is too preciously crafted for me to feel good about banging it around. It will take time to get comfortable treating this as a beater, even though that is the life it’s meant to have.

Congrats on your new watch! I never really understood the attraction to a rubber strap on a watch until I tried one on one of my watches. So I can definitely see it being a nice alternative and more comfortable than a steel bracelet in the summer. Plus one never has to worry about scratching a rubber strap and getting it polished. I've always favored the Nautilus, but I would find the rubber strap of the Aquanaut easier to wear as a beater or beach watch because I hate scratches. Congrats and enjoy it! :cheers:
 

TheFoo

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To illustrate the difference in profile and height between the Aquanaut and Daytona:

70BBB6DD-468E-45A9-BD5F-93B9EC4377CB.jpeg
 

kongmw

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Does anyone have recs for places to get case back engravings done in NYC? Since I'm nowhere close to the spending at my AD for sports steel Rolexes, I thought at least I could get the ones I have engraved. Thanks!
 

Strog

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Now here's a Patek with font choice (if you can call it a font choice) that I can get behind:

View attachment 1646065

Not my picture. But I want one.
This watch works for me. I agree that the weekly calendar is a quirky complication and the visual results are polarizing. I haven't encountered a lot of "fence straddlers" with the 5212A. In my experience, people either like it or they don't. Consequently, I'm not at all surprised that opinions here seem to be so strong. For those who favor the design, the 5212A is a very easy watch to live with if you can locate one.
 

Texasmade

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I'm on the busy and ugly AF side. I find myself generally not liking calendar watches now.
 

bourbonbasted

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The alligator band on my Mark XVI is on its last leg. While I think the gator makes for a nice juxtaposition with the classic pilot face/design, I'm wondering if anyone's seen a Mark with a band other than gator that looked good? The standard IWC metal band looks kinda off to my eye.

I'm flirting with a rubber band or maybe even a woven option (I wore a 214270 with a black woven nylon band for years) but I haven't seen an example that I'm thrilled with.

At any rate, any suggestions for alternative bands? The XVI design is pretty versatile, so open to any and all thoughts.
 

TheFoo

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The alligator band on my Mark XVI is on its last leg. While I think the gator makes for a nice juxtaposition with the classic pilot face/design, I'm wondering if anyone's seen a Mark with a band other than gator that looked good? The standard IWC metal band looks kinda off to my eye.

I'm flirting with a rubber band or maybe even a woven option (I wore a 214270 with a black woven nylon band for years) but I haven't seen an example that I'm thrilled with.

At any rate, any suggestions for alternative bands? The XVI design is pretty versatile, so open to any and all thoughts.

The most classic strap on an IWC pilot watch is buffalo. The original Mark XI was issued with a black buffalo strap and off-white stitching. Looks fantastic.

Alternatively, you could do a brown buffalo strap. Or a NATO.
 
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TheFoo

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Does anyone have recs for places to get case back engravings done in NYC? Since I'm nowhere close to the spending at my AD for sports steel Rolexes, I thought at least I could get the ones I have engraved. Thanks!

On a watch I care about, I’d send it out to the best person for engraving rather than be constrained by locale. Not to say there isn’t someone really good in NYC—I just don’t know and would be willing to go further afield.

Fourtane in California had this done for Eric Ku on a Rolex Submariner:

210F7EC8-D88F-4CA7-B9C3-1EDB623AF8BA.jpeg


Maybe if you call and ask nicely, they’ll direct you to the engraver who did the work.
 

TheFoo

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More photos of my restored 5296:

D11D60CF-04CC-4891-88CB-586CAC2CFBF2.jpeg

53D6A1EC-E0C7-4B74-9ABF-9405C40647DB.jpeg


They touched up the whole case, since the repaired bezel stood out as too new looking and there were some tiny nicks here and there (which they fixed with laser welds).

I should have the watch in hand tomorrow and will inspect in person, but the photos already show exceptional work.

The trick is mimicking exactly how Patek does it. Lapping machines are first used to re-cut the profile and keep or restore crisp edges, which is how any expert case specialist would work on virtually any watch case. This is different from putting the watch to a buffing wheel (how your local jeweler would likely do it). However because of the 5296’s curves and integrated bezel, lapping is a particularly tough job since the lapping discs are big, flat, rotating metal surfaces that you have to grind the case against without damaging adjacent areas.

Moreover, Patek always does an intensive hand polish on each watch after it’s been cut. Hence, when you handle a Patek compared to most other watches (including peers), you might notice a somewhat softer glow, rounder reflections, and a shape that is not 100% sharp/crisp. In contrast, machine finishing (such as Zaratsu) leaves near perfectly square reflective surfaces.

These guys in California did a proper hand polish to finish-off the watch. Looks just like factory to me, at least from the pics. Amazing. Almost nobody will do this. Patek will when they service your watch, but they won’t do the re-cutting step.

Now I feel like I can wear my watches with impunity.
 
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chocomallo

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More photos of my restored 5296:

View attachment 1646188
View attachment 1646189

They touched up the whole case, since the repaired bezel stood out as too new looking and there were some tiny nicks here and there (which they fixed with laser welds).

I should have the watch in hand tomorrow and will inspect in person, but the photos already show exceptional work.

The trick is mimicking exactly how Patek does it. Lapping machines are first used to re-cut the profile and keep or restore crisp edges, which is how any expert case specialist would work on virtually any watch case. This is different from putting the watch to a buffing wheel (how your local jeweler would likely do it). However because of the 5296’s curves and integrated bezel, lapping is a particularly tough job since the lapping discs are big, flat, rotating metal surfaces that you have to grind the case against without damaging adjacent areas.

Moreover, Patek always does an intensive hand polish on each watch after it’s been cut. Hence, when you handle a Patek compared to most other watches (including peers), you might notice a somewhat softer glow, rounder reflections, and a shape that is not 100% sharp/crisp. In contrast, machine finishing (such as Zaratsu) leaves near perfectly square reflective surfaces.

These guys in California did a proper hand polish to finish-off the watch. Looks just like factory to me, at least from the pics. Amazing. Almost nobody will do this. Patek will when they service your watch, but they won’t do the re-cutting step.

Now I feel like I can wear my watches with impunity.

That looks really good. Glad that you got the result you wanted for such a personal piece. I think you mentioned before that they melted down a Patek buckle to match the alloy. Did they then turn that into the filament for the laser welding on the bezel or was it a different technique? I am fascinated by the repair process especially given the complexity of the Patek cases that you have described.
 

TheFoo

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That looks really good. Glad that you got the result you wanted for such a personal piece. I think you mentioned before that they melted down a Patek buckle to match the alloy. Did they then turn that into the filament for the laser welding on the bezel or was it a different technique? I am fascinated by the repair process especially given the complexity of the Patek cases that you have described.

Yes, they melted a Patek white gold buckle to use for the laser welding. It’s the only way to get an exact match, as Patek’s precise white gold alloy composition is a secret.

I will see tomorrow when I get the watch in person, but photos imply far better work than a regular polish from Patek. My hope is that it looks indistinguishable from factory, in fact.
 

chocomallo

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Yes, they melted a Patek white gold buckle to use for the laser welding. It’s the only way to get an exact match, as Patek’s precise white gold alloy composition is a secret.

I will see tomorrow when I get the watch in person, but photos imply far better work than a regular polish from Patek. My hope is that it looks indistinguishable from factory, in fact.

Nice. Looking forward to some before and after pics. Just throw away those polishing pads before it areives

Do you feel a little disappointed that Patek as a brand wouldn’t undertake the restoration in the end? You own four Patek watches now I think. And Patek claims to be able to restore any watch ever made. But they wouldn’t do what this California outfit did. Just curious about the end result of the roller coaster ride you’ve been through in get it back to factory.

Speaking of the thinness of the Aquanaut, have you tried the Octo Finissimo? I agree about the thinness of the Aquanaut. Although I far prefer the 5065. Nice kop though.
 

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