Lee's Watch Thread for MM'ers of Impeccable Taste

[Apoc]

Oh wow Joey is going to lose his mind when he sees that

:lol:

[SlimKlim]

Oh wow Joey is going to lose his mind when he sees that

Eh it's just the colors, not the logo. :dunno: I also don't really like NATO straps in general which seems to be an unpopular opinion among watch nerds.

[Apoc]

No Gulf logo here? :dunno:

[JPolen01]

Oh wow Joey is going to lose his mind when he sees that

Eh it's just the colors, not the logo. :dunno:

I'm with you. The martini band and face look like one of those giant layered lollipops.

[SlimKlim]

No Gulf logo here? :dunno:

But it has a number on it like a racecar.

[WRXtranceformed]

About to nerd out here for a bit!

So the Tag showed up today and I'm overall really impressed! Was exactly as described and in better shape than I expected. Crystal is flawless, bezel is in great shape and the bracelet is surprisingly too. This watch is so LIGHT! It no joke feels like titanium even though it's SS. Could be partly because it's smaller (42mm including the crown, 37mm bezel), it's a quartz so it's thinner, and the links could also be hollow. It also could be because I was wearing my new Deep Blue around all day which is a fortress on your wrist :lol: It's a calculated risk when you buy used or new from an online source but all you can do is trust their past feedback threads and hope for the best. I am pleased so far. Some pics after the unboxing:


(just a small bit of dust near the 30 mark)


I did a little bit of research on the piece itself after it arrived, which shame on me I usually do before I buy something. But I was out with family exploring a little nearby small town and negotiating at the same time. I knew enough about it to be dangerous and at that price it was worth the risk.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.calibre11.com/tag-heuer-2000-series/">http://www.calibre11.com/tag-heuer-2000-series/</a><!-- m -->

The watch is the Tag 2000 Series, which is actually the predecessor to the Aquaracer. It appears mine is a Gen 3, which would put it somewhere between 1995 and early 2000s. I didn't realize it was that old! Very cool. The 2000 series apparently was hugely important because its popularity helped keep Tag afloat in the 80's and 90's and ultimately evolved into some of their most popular dive watch series. Swiss quartz, sapphire glass, distinctive "Mercedes" hour hand and they used Superluminova lume which is great stuff! Here's a bonus shot with it "charged up", next to my DB that doesn't need to be charged~



The only glaring flaw I could notice so far is that the seconds hand is pretty far off from the seconds marker each time it moves. It lands somewhere in between This is pretty common actually even on brand new watches; my Tissot is slightly off, maybe it's a Swiss quartz thing. I am setting up an appointment with a respected local watchmaker to have him address this if he can and give it a full service / battery change / pressure test since I don't know the service history. He can also restore / refinish cases and bands and I am debating whether to do it or not since this thing could get into "vintage" territory in a few years; vintage collectors prefer the patina and scratches it seems. I do need his help to have some links removed unfortunately, I don't have the right size screwdriver for these tiny link screws in my jewelers kit.

Anyway long boring read unless you want to nerd out with me, but this was unwittingly my first foray into what could become vintage watch territory (if you set aside the 1920's railroad grade pocket watch I bought a while back). With vintage becoming hotter and hotter, my slacking on research may actually pay off when I go to trade / sell this thing! Time will tell :thumbup:

[SlimKlim]

My Tissot does the second hand thing too, it syncs up with some of the second tick marks but others land at the halfway point.

Lauren got me a watch repair toolkit for Christmas, so I've got a $15 bid sitting on a pretty banged up old Seiko Sportmatic of unknown vintage. The dial says 17 jewels but the description says its a quartz so I'm not even sure what kind of movement it is, but it doesn't really matter for my purposes.

If I win it I'll use my dremel to polish it and strip the rest of the gold plating off the case, I'll blunder my way through replacing the broken crown, and maybe drop a new crystal in it and stick a new band on it, particularly if it's a 22mm because I already have an extra leather stray in that size. If someone outbids me I'll go for something else but similar, the one I bid on has some non-polishable cosmetic damage on the lower left prong of the case I didn't notice before.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/252697910796?_trksid=p2060353.m1431.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT">http://www.ebay.com/itm/252697910796?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT</a><!-- m -->

[WRXtranceformed]

Looking forward to hearing your adventures with your new kit! The crystal replacement is the one I am most interested in...do you have a crystal press as part of your kit? I think that's one of the only things I don't have...the kit I bought is mostly just for removing casebacks / resizing & removing bracelets

[WRXtranceformed]

So my new to me Tag seems to be keeping perfect time, which is excellent. I had it sized today and it wears really comfortably. I also had the good fortune of selling both the Citizen AND the Gear S2 I had for sale, so I took it upon myself to build a spreadsheet to track my net gains / losses throughout the trading up process! Right now inclusive of my "starting point" (the original Citizen purchase) and all sales, fees (PP+shipping) and purchases, I am in the black $66.33 with a Tag on my wrist :lol: When I get this serviced I'll probably dip into the red a bit, but that's okay. I will want that service history and piece of mind for the next owner and hopefully it will help me get a higher trade value / sales price whenever I let this go!

I also set up a separate tab to serve as a Market Tracker, where I can peruse the forums and keep my eye on mid and upper tier pieces to log what they have been listed at, their condition, box/papers/etc, and what they sold for and when they sold, if available. That will kind of force me to learn the second hand market a little more and give me good reference points for the target pieces I want to go after

[WRXtranceformed]

Decided to host my tracking spreadsheets up on Google docs for anyone who is bored or wants to tap into my research for their own purchases! The model numbers are clickable to take you to the direct for sale link on the WUS forums so you can see the actual watch. This is definitely a work in progress; on the Sale and Trade Tracker tab I am going to have to figure out how to factor in trades or trades +/- cash, but for right now I think it works! Any critiques / thoughts on making it better are very welcomed, I am far from an expert with Excel (we employ people that are so I'm good!) and if there are any other variables you think would be helpful let me know! The plan is to start adding more "mid market" watches and also target some other high end stuff that I know sells well and that I see frequently. The light green highlighted ones are ones that I've targeted for my own interest as trade bait

Check it out: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vab6WhskfiRmQVKEi8kX2ZDx2_iqIgcqm1Z-hOZSUSE/edit?usp=sharing">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing</a><!-- m -->

[Apoc]

Last chance!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083183440/us175-customizable-retro-watch-challenge-by-undone">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... -by-undone</a><!-- m -->

[WRXtranceformed]

Last chance!

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2083183440/us175-customizable-retro-watch-challenge-by-undone">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/20 ... -by-undone</a><!-- m -->

Did anyone else get in on this? I am curious to see the final result! If WUS was advertising it I am sure they will turn out decent.

Joey helped me decide on a new italian rubber strap for my DB Daynight last night. DB's cyber sale is still going on so I figured why not. The Hydro 91 strap it came with was surprisingly comfortable, but it's really thick and not super versatile (ie I ain't wearing it business casual). I also think I can get close to break even if I can sell the Hydro 91 (ISOFRANE style straps are really popular)

What it looks like now:



Option 1 - Cutout logo, reversible OEM Italian rubber:


Reversed:


Option 2 - Carbon pattern, OEM Italian rubber:




I really liked option 1 but went with option 2 because carbon pattern and I saw a few other pics that made me like it more. We'll see how it looks when it gets here! I haven't actually seen my exact case with this strap.

[Apoc]

I stopped in a jewelry store today to check out a watch. I didn't take a pic of it, but Douche McDoucherton who was helping me had one redeeming quality - he insisted I try on this Monaco. I have the say, the watch is pretty sexy. I don't know if it's my style, but my wife actually picked it out of the case and pointed it out to me while I was doing something else. She agrees anyone wearing this would get mad tail.



We stopped in Nordstrom Rack a bit later and I took a quick look at the watches while the wife was checking out. Out of everything they had, this was really the only thing that piqued my interest. Fortunately, the case was scratched at 9 o'clock and I wasn't super happy with the fabric quality. I managed to come away spending no money, despite trying them on.

[WRXtranceformed]

I stopped in a jewelry store today to check out a watch. I didn't take a pic of it, but Douche McDoucherton who was helping me had one redeeming quality - he insisted I try on this Monaco. I have the say, the watch is pretty sexy. I don't know if it's my style, but my wife actually picked it out of the case and pointed it out to me while I was doing something else. She agrees anyone wearing this would get mad tail.



We stopped in Nordstrom Rack a bit later and I took a quick look at the watches while the wife was checking out. Out of everything they had, this was really the only thing that piqued my interest. Fortunately, the case was scratched at 9 o'clock and I wasn't super happy with the fabric quality. I managed to come away spending no money, despite trying them on.

Love that Monaco man! That is a truly timeless watch that really has better presence in person than pics do it justice. I like the Shinola too but that sucks that ding is already there. That's what has always made me nervous about black coated watches. You can get away with small scratches and dings on a stainless / titanium case and even buff them out...black shows everything and is real tough to fix :|
Which reminds me, I put my first dinger on the Tag on a grocery cart tonight I would be a lot saltier about it if I wasn't already planning on taking it in this week to get fully buffed and polished. :thumbup:

Chris, what watch were you originally going to the jewellers to check out?

[Apoc]

Chris, what watch were you originally going to the jewellers to check out?

I am not at liberty to say. 8)

[SlimKlim]

Well I won a 1960s 'JDM' 21-Jewel Seiko Sportmatic for $30 on eBay last night, which is good. Then I blew through the eBay checkout process and realized afterwards I had shipped it to my old house, which is bad.

So, assuming it does eventually end up in my possession, I'm looking forward to tinkering with my first "project" watch. It needs a good polish, a crystal replacement and a new band.

[WRXtranceformed]

I am not at liberty to say. 8)

Sneakaayyyy!! :lol: :lol: :?: :?: :?:

Well I won a 1960s 'JDM' 21-Jewel Seiko Sportmatic for $30 on eBay last night, which is good. Then I blew through the eBay checkout process and realized afterwards I had shipped it to my old house, which is bad.

So, assuming it does eventually end up in my possession, I'm looking forward to tinkering with my first "project" watch. It needs a good polish, a crystal replacement and a new band.

Hopefully you can track down the post office and get them to send it your way! Or stake out your old house for the package if all else fails :lol: Curious to hear how your tinkering goes! I finally got a hold of the local jeweler here and going to drop off a few watches this afternoon to have him address. Will try to get some before / after pics!

[WRXtranceformed]

New rubber strap came today, easy swap:



Swapping spring bars:

Done:

No lug scratches!






First impressions: Visually it's as expected. Awesome, sleek look. Even has a vanilla scent :lol: It does cause the watch to sit more "upright" on my wrist because the rubber itself is much stiffer than the natural rubber from the old strap. There is also less adjustment than the Hydro 91. The jury is still out whether I will keep it on this case or sell both rubber straps and figure out something else (NATO or a stainless strap). I wrapped it around the hard rubber "pillow" in my winder at the exact strap hole that it sits on my wrist and will leave it there for a day or so to see if it "curves" out a little and fits the wrist a little better.

A few bonus lume shots I took last night (I'm obsessed now with lume I don't have to charge in the light):



I should have my TAG back from the jeweler's service / polishing tomorrow as well as another bonus surprise. Will have some befores / afters of the polishing to post!

[SlimKlim]

Well I won a 1960s 'JDM' 21-Jewel Seiko Sportmatic for $30 on eBay last night, which is good. Then I blew through the eBay checkout process and realized afterwards I had shipped it to my old house, which is bad.

So, assuming it does eventually end up in my possession, I'm looking forward to tinkering with my first "project" watch. It needs a good polish, a crystal replacement and a new band.

I submitted a "Package Intercept Request" at a cost of $19 (yes, for a $30 item) to make sure that this would make it to the correct address. I got an update last night that it was at the Dulles post office, which is where it should've stayed until it went out for delivery. But this morning it went to the Sterling post office, which is the distribution center for the old address. I called them and got parked on hold for 10 minutes to be told that they can't find the package, and suggested I call the Dulles location to see if it got kicked back over there. 90 minutes later and upwards of 20 calls to Dulles later, they still will not pick up the fucking phone.

I can actually feel my blood pressure rising.

[davej]

maybe you should go to the DMV to cool down for a bit?