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poopie boy

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i used to browse timezone all the time icon11.gif

i like the stowa and the dornbleuth, but i'd like to try one of these watches on in person

curious - what are the two dials on the sinn 756?

you probably won't get to - Dornbluth is like Sinn and only sold through watchbuys. I guess that means you can figure on sending it back to Germany everytime for fixing as well, and it'd probably cost at least 400 Euro for servicing, that's what Sinn charges.

I guess for that style, Stowa is most authentic? They originated that Marine Chronometer style with their nazi pocket watches.

on the low end there's

-Stowa

-Steinhart

Dornbluth sits in the middle pricewise, but is the one I want.

spend way more and there's an IWC portuguese in the marine chronometer style

lotto-winning level and there's the VC patrimony and Lange Saxonia. :o

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$350 is better than 400Euro, but... wouldn't the Sinn x56 series on the 7750's be able to be serviced by a lot of shops? I kind of bought mine with that glimmer of hope.

Ye you def can. my watch is a little different due to the humidity capsule and the sinn's special oil. As long as I keep my watch take care of, I don't see why i would need to replace the humidity capsule and i could care less about Sinn's oil, so i will service mine locally.

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my 756 died. here's what it cost me to repair :

Overhaul maintenance movement EUR 142.85

Gas Kit Set EUR 77.31

Refill dehumidifying capsule EUR 46.22

Shipping EUR 120

Add another USD 50 shipping TO Sinn, and yes, it ain't cheap.

i posted this pic about a year ago when I had the servicing done... here's what i got back :

756SUTC-03.jpg

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120 EUR for them to ship the watch back?!

What is the gas kit?

Yep. Ridiculous shipping charge but they insisted on DHL fully insured. I guess German shipping costs a helluva lot more than elsewhere.

Sinn uses some special gas in their cases that works in conjunction with the dehumidifying capsule to keep the innards working smoothly.

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Yep. Ridiculous shipping charge but they insisted on DHL fully insured. I guess German shipping costs a helluva lot more than elsewhere.

Sinn uses some special gas in their cases that works in conjunction with the dehumidifying capsule to keep the innards working smoothly.

Man that is insane.

Was not aware that the 756 uses that gas. I thought all models that had that feature had the Ar symbol somewhere on the dial.

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Yes. Sinn uses Argon (Ar is its chemical symbol). But the copper sulfate they're talking about is a material designed to absorb moisture (like sodium silicate or those "silica gel" packets they put in clothing and shit).

I think the Argon is used in conjunction with the sulfate to remove oxygen and basically keep the watch parts in an atmosphere that's free of contaminants.

What sucks is that you should ever have to send it back. Seems like with all of those precautionary measures the watch should be bulletproof.

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the sodium sulfate is designed to absorb water which could cause corrosion/discoloration on some parts. none of the parts in the watch are designed to remove oxygen from the watch. using materials that would break/damage if they came in contact with oxygen would be pretty foolish since you would effectively destroy your watch by just opening it

the water free sodium sulfate is a white powder that absorbs water from the atmosphere (hygroscopy) kinda like salt, rice, sugar. when the sodium sulfate starts absorbing the water it turns blue and you can see that it is doing it's job so to speak. the blue comes from the Kopper ions that when dissolved in water have a rich blue color

the argon doesn't really have any kind of special purpose in the watch, they could have used nitrogen to the same effect. but using a gas with a fancy name makes it easier to ask more money for repairs

botch chemicals are really cheap on an industrial scale. 1kg of the sulfate goes for about 90€ and i can't imagine that your watch has room for more than 1g. the argon comes in high pressure bottles at 11 bar and 11 L for about 46€

in the end you're just paying for some dude work hours

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I developed an interest in watches about 15 yrs ago. I bought and sold quite a bit over the years and I now own just two mechanical watches.

The first decent watch I bought was the Omega Seamaster 2254.50. I still have it and it handles everything with equal apomb from sea kayaking to days at the beach (we live on the water) to business travel.

It spends most of its time on the bracelet but for any water activity, I wear it on a NATO style Zulu strap for the added security. If a spring bar breaks, the watch stays on the wrist.

Omega Seamaster ca. 2001 (shown here on NATO style strap)

picture.JPG

Rolex GMT Master II Ceramic ca. 2008

picture.JPG

The new generation GMTII was the last watch I bought in Feb 2008. IIRC, the SS model was introduced the year before and it was very tough to find in those days.

I travel a lot so had the benefit of checking auth dealers (AD's) all over the country trying to find one. I'd just about given up after coming up empty handed in SF, San Diego, Chicago, NYC and my hometown, Boston. Surprisingly I found one at an AD in Syracuse, NY while I was stuck there in a blizzard. He said it had been in the case for 8 mos. I would have gladly paid more than MSRP but tried to conceal my excitement. He started off by offering me 10% off list, which is unheard of for SS Rolex models, especially a newly introduced model that was in such high demand in big cities nationwide.

picture.JPG

There are several that I sold over the years that I miss. This Sea Dweller was the last year the model had the very utilitarian lug holes. Wish I kept this one:

picture.JPG

The other regret was an IWC FliegerChrono (Pilot's Chronograph). I sold that to partially fund the GMTIIC. In its place, I kept the Sinn FliegerChrono, which I also later sold.

Once we had kids and became a single income family, the idea of collecting watches became much less important to my wife...I mean...much less important to me :)

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the sodium sulfate is designed to absorb water which could cause corrosion/discoloration on some parts. none of the parts in the watch are designed to remove oxygen from the watch. using materials that would break/damage if they came in contact with oxygen would be pretty foolish since you would effectively destroy your watch by just opening it

the water free sodium sulfate is a white powder that absorbs water from the atmosphere (hygroscopy) kinda like salt, rice, sugar. when the sodium sulfate starts absorbing the water it turns blue and you can see that it is doing it's job so to speak. the blue comes from the Kopper ions that when dissolved in water have a rich blue color

the argon doesn't really have any kind of special purpose in the watch, they could have used nitrogen to the same effect. but using a gas with a fancy name makes it easier to ask more money for repairs

botch chemicals are really cheap on an industrial scale. 1kg of the sulfate goes for about 90€ and i can't imagine that your watch has room for more than 1g. the argon comes in high pressure bottles at 11 bar and 11 L for about 46€

in the end you're just paying for some dude work hours

No no, I know the purpose of those specs, I just wasn't aware the 75X series filled the watch with any sort of gas. It is not written on the specs nor is it indicated on the dial.

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the sodium sulfate is designed to absorb water which could cause corrosion/discoloration on some parts. none of the parts in the watch are designed to remove oxygen from the watch. using materials that would break/damage if they came in contact with oxygen would be pretty foolish since you would effectively destroy your watch by just opening it

the water free sodium sulfate is a white powder that absorbs water from the atmosphere (hygroscopy) kinda like salt, rice, sugar. when the sodium sulfate starts absorbing the water it turns blue and you can see that it is doing it's job so to speak. the blue comes from the Kopper ions that when dissolved in water have a rich blue color

the argon doesn't really have any kind of special purpose in the watch, they could have used nitrogen to the same effect. but using a gas with a fancy name makes it easier to ask more money for repairs

botch chemicals are really cheap on an industrial scale. 1kg of the sulfate goes for about 90€ and i can't imagine that your watch has room for more than 1g. the argon comes in high pressure bottles at 11 bar and 11 L for about 46€

in the end you're just paying for some dude work hours

You've pretty much said exactly what I said only with more technical terms.

As far as removing oxygen from the watch: yes, the Argon gas is used so that the watch is oxygen free. Oxygen causes things, particularly metals, to corrode. Removing the oxygen from the case keeps the moving parts in a corrosion free environment. Your watch isn't going to "break" immediately if exposed to oxygen.

I didn't say that the gas is designed to remove the oxygen. Oxygen is removed from the case by filling it with Argon gas.

And yes, you could use Nitrogen. Sinn just uses Argon.

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Is that in reference to me?

nah, most likely me...

unfortunately i didn't have much choice. the Sinn died on me after about 5 years of pretty much daily wear.

there's no local Sinn service center, and when i contacted Sinn, they couldn't even give me a ball park estimate of what it would cost to repair until I sent it over to them for inspection.

after spending like USD 100 to ship it to Germany, then getting the quote for a full rebuild, well, not much sense in not repairing it, as there weren't many alternatives at hand...

I'm happy I got a working watch back, and it was damn pricey, but that's the price you pay for buying something not too... common.

just hope others can learn from my experience.

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You've pretty much said exactly what I said only with more technical terms.

As far as removing oxygen from the watch: yes, the Argon gas is used so that the watch is oxygen free. Oxygen causes things, particularly metals, to corrode. Removing the oxygen from the case keeps the moving parts in a corrosion free environment. Your watch isn't going to "break" immediately if exposed to oxygen.

I didn't say that the gas is designed to remove the oxygen. Oxygen is removed from the case by filling it with Argon gas.

And yes, you could use Nitrogen. Sinn just uses Argon.

having oxygen in your watch will in no way shape or form damage your watch. it's scientifically impossible. now if you add water to the equation you start to have corrosion/discoloration

and yeah i agree with what you said, i just thought i'd elaborate more because i was interested myself in the prices of the chemicals in relation to what was paid for the repairs.

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