Watches and Denim

[Nei.Nor]

2 minutes ago, JohnM said:

^ Nomos is great, not only with their unique designs, but since they make their own movements and offer a level of fit & finish that rivals watches two or three times the price.  The Orion 38 Datum is another beauty:

 

I generally think the in-house movement thing is a little overblown/sold - but with this, they definitely provide extra value through providing their own movement.

[goodrain]

nomos homage

[aho]

9 hours ago, louisbosco said:

and now you've reminded me of FP Journe. Those watches are beautiful. sadly i haven't come across one in person yet

for 2018, hopefully a 6694 rolex ideally or the apple watch (don't laugh!) celluar has been on my mind of late..

@louisbosco, the local Grand Seiko AD here is also our city's FP dealer so I've lucked out on that end that I can see them (behind the glass at least) quite regularly. Never had the gall to ask to handle one, and wouldn't expect them to let me LOL. One of the few watches I've seen in real life that really make you question your decisions in life  All too rich for my blood though, I think the max I could spend on a watch is $10k USD, and that'd only be when I retire or really make it big (aka win the lottery). GS satisfies my needs for now!

@rodeo bill, lovely collection you have, can't wait to see what else is up your sleeves!

RE: Nomos, also a huge fan though I don't own any personally. Would love a Zurich world time in midnight blue, that has to be among the coolest timezone change complications ever

 

[Nei.Nor]

I really like the Zurich as well - but when I tried it on, it’s just a bit too big. Nomos always does a narrow bezel and in this case it makes the watch look and feel a bit too big for me. Having said that, I have a smallish wrist (6.75”).

On Nomos, here’s a side by side comparison of my 50s Stowa and the Nomos Tangente (35mm). The Bauhaus elements definitely there.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Nei.Nor

[garden gnomes in space]

1 hour ago, Nei.Nor said:

I generally think the in-house movement thing is a little overblown/sold - but with this, they definitely provide extra value through providing their own movement.

I agree.  I have been out of the watch game for close to 10 years but before my current job I actually worked as a watchmaker.  i have a WOSTEP degree.  That said, in the years that I was involved, an in house movement offered no benefit aside from owners pride in terms of time keeping.  its a bit like a selvage coin pocket, 100% cotton thread or iron buttons. It generally only is important to the wearer or the handful of nerds who are really into things like that.  When I would service a Rolex movement and then an Eta movement, at the end of service both performed close enough.    There were a couple advantages to a Rolex movement but at the end of the day I realized aesthetics were more important to me than in-house vs non movements.  Thats my personal opinion.  

 

Funny thing, I would take my watch off when i would service movements because I didnt want anything on my wrists when i worked (either at the bench or when refinishing cases) and the habit of not wearing a watch stuck with me to this day.  

Edited January 3, 2018 by garden gnomes in space

[aho]

^very cool @garden gnomes in space; Maybe too personal so you don't have to answer, but why did you get out of watchmaking? Were there ever any watches/brands/movements you particularly respected? (JLC and Omega would be my guess?)

[unionmade]

On 30.12.2017 at 5:17 PM, Smallrod said:

A couple more...Rolex Sea Dweller and Panerai PAM005. 

Dang, that is G O O D taste smallrod!!

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, garden gnomes in space said:

I agree.  I have been out of the watch game for close to 10 years but before my current job I actually worked as a watchmaker.  i have a WOSTEP degree.  That said, in the years that I was involved, an in house movement offered no benefit aside from owners pride in terms of time keeping.  its a bit like a selvage coin pocket, 100% cotton thread or iron buttons. It generally only is important to the wearer or the handful of nerds who are really into things like that.  When I would service a Rolex movement and then an Eta movement, at the end of service both performed close enough.    There were a couple advantages to a Rolex movement but at the end of the day I realized aesthetics were more important to me than in-house vs non movements.  Thats my personal opinion.  

 

Funny thing, I would take my watch off when i would service movements because I didnt want anything on my wrists when i worked (either at the bench or when refinishing cases) and the habit of not wearing a watch stuck with me to this day.  

Wow garden gnomes, thanks for letting us know.  Can you reset the hands on my Panerai 249 -- they're off by four minutes!  Just kidding, I think ;-)

[garden gnomes in space]

2 hours ago, aho said:

^very cool @garden gnomes in space; Maybe too personal so you don't have to answer, but why did you get out of watchmaking? Were there ever any watches/brands/movements you particularly respected? (JLC and Omega would be my guess?)

When I did my final WOSTEP exam, the testers took a Zenith El Primero movement and dropped it into saw dust and oil.  We had to service it.  That movement, while being overly complicated for a chronograph is pretty impressive.  That said, I valued robustness, simplicity and durability over fancy burnishing. I really liked  the Omega 1861 in the Speedmaster and whatever movement was in the Rolex Submariner where the balance cock was changed to a balance bridge.  I cant remember movement numbers.  Honorable mention was the ugly Seiko 7S26.  It was unpolished, pretty rough but I ran that thing in all kinds of conditions to test it out and it only failed when i introduced excessive debris (metal lathe shavings) into the gear train.  I ran it without oil, with Kendall 20/50 motor oil and olive oil and the results, while far from perfect, it still ran and kept decent time all things considered.  

 

i got out because it was close to impossible to live in the bay area and make a decent living servicing watches.  it takes huge investments to get tooling etc and while I had a lot of the hand tools required, I didnt have they heavier machinery for manufacturing and just couldn't justify the investment to return ratio.  Also the recession really highlighted the fact that mechanical watches were a luxury item, an accessory in today's world vs a necessity.  I couldn't survive the uncertainty.  

Edited January 3, 2018 by garden gnomes in space

[CAL415]

Another German watch, the Sinn 556. I have an Obbi strap on at the moment.

[aho]

Thanks @garden gnomes in space! An unfortunate situation with the economy but perhaps life leads us in new directions for the better. Off topic, but I graduated university in 2009 and the job market was barren leading me to take a different path as well (liberal arts millennial, took a random sales job, ended up in programming)

I do appreciate the anecdotes as well, especially on the 7S26; Just wish it could wind/hack but perhaps its rugged simplicity is what makes it so reliable. 

[wolfofthesea]

Had a better chance to take a few more pictures of my seagull 1963, and a few of my cheap throw around Casio  AE1200WH-1A. At $20 Canadian, this watch is a great option for a cheap vintage looking digital watch.

[JohnM]

My Seiko Orange Monster was a fun watch but its 7s26 lost 21 seconds per day in one position and gained a few seconds in all other positions. On the wrist, it balanced out but that’s a lot of positional variation — one of the indicators of quality, if I understand correctly garden gnomes. 

[aho]

^Possibly just needed the right touch of regulation by a certain Bay Area based gnome (in space)! My SKX behaves the same way but I've never tweaked it personally. I leave the accuracy to my 9F quartz in all honesty, though I'm sure that may irk a few people

[garden gnomes in space]

The 7s26 are kind of hard to get running correctly in COSC definitions but you can get them close. It just takes a lot of work and one might say its not worth the trouble considering how inexpensive they are. That said there were some details that clearly showed that it was not a “Fine” movement rather a workhorse movement and some of these played a role in how it timed out. 

[rodeo bill]

All this talk of Seiko led me to pick this out today:

6601-9990 Seahorse automatic, from ~1965. I really like how clean it is, with the applied batons and no date. 

[JDelage]

What can people tell me about Halios? Yeah or nay?

[louisbosco]

@aho yeah 10k is a far stretch, even for me right now. but it's good having a goal to work to. 6694 (oysterdate) rolexes come in about USD1.5k and the apple watch 3 ceremic cellular would be about AUD1.8k (not sure of US pricing) right now. i was impressed with ben clymer's review on it but am not too sure about anything over 1k for a digital watch with a lifespan of 1 or so years..

my cousin is the overall brand manager for the hour glass in singapore for hublot. i think they carry FP as well. maybe i should ask her if i could have a look some day. hahaha. 

@garden gnomes in space so the SF area is pretty cut throat aye? i'm not sure if bay area means SF but i took a shot and guess. anyway, i was watching a video about the quality of living in SF itself and they were saying the costs were way above the average compared to other major cities. housing/rent, food, childcare and such costs more than others. something about rent in itself for a family of 4 would be somewhere about 2,500 per forthnight? which i guessing the national average was only about 1.3/4 or so??

Edited January 4, 2018 by louisbosco

[garden gnomes in space]

Yea Bay Area generally means San Francisco/Oakland and the surrounding area's give or take some miles.  I dont want to start a rant but everything here seems to cost like 4x what it does elsewhere.  In San Francisco itself rents are outrageous to the point of being laughable and disrespectful.    You don't get much relief leaving the city either.  Unfortunately the transit systems were not built to support the amount of people using them on a daily basis so its always crowded and basically running off borrowed time so there is little incentive to live further outside of the city to commute in.  Obviously Im painting this picture with a wide brush but thats the general situation.  

[Wei Wen]

On 2017/12/30 at 9:39 AM, edmond said:

This is nice, is that a 1680? Never seen one in person yet.

[Wei Wen]

Here is my daily.

[aho]

Ya'll too fancy for me 

Considering picking up an "entry level" old dial GS if I can get a good deal from the AD, that'll change up my post-Basel plans considerably (Old dial version of this: https://shop.hodinkee.com/products/grand-seiko-sbgr253g)

[JDelage]

Royal Oak... Now we're talking. Love the timed screws...

[Wei Wen]

1 hour ago, JDelage said:

Royal Oak... Now we're talking. Love the timed screws...

thx man

[Wei Wen]

2 hours ago, aho said:

Ya'll too fancy for me 

Considering picking up an "entry level" old dial GS if I can get a good deal from the AD, that'll change up my post-Basel plans considerably (Old dial version of this: https://shop.hodinkee.com/products/grand-seiko-sbgr253g)

I have been checking out that site too, they have some very nice pieces.

[itsbenhere]

My grail grand seiko is the SBGM021

 

[Spiraltoy]

On the topic of 7s26 and Sinn (beautiful watch btw), here’s my daily beater: A Seiko SNK809 modded with a face from yobokies. Keeps time pretty well (+4sec/day).

[Flash]

No denim in this pic but here is my watches ( with the exception of the gold day date that belonged to my father in law and is now my brother in laws but i was told to keep it for him .... because he is a dumbass ) 

 

 

From left to right 

Omega railmaster , Tudor black bay , Rolex day date , Rolex datejust 

[rodeo bill]

Great stuff chaps! Beautiful RO. If I had the cash I've always fancied an Genta era Ingenieur,  maybe one day...

For the meantime, 1942 Longines, with a hat tip to Nei's Nomos and Stowa:

 

[louisbosco]

23 hours ago, garden gnomes in space said:

Yea Bay Area generally means San Francisco/Oakland and the surrounding area's give or take some miles.  I dont want to start a rant but everything here seems to cost like 4x what it does elsewhere.  In San Francisco itself rents are outrageous to the point of being laughable and disrespectful.    You don't get much relief leaving the city either.  Unfortunately the transit systems were not built to support the amount of people using them on a daily basis so its always crowded and basically running off borrowed time so there is little incentive to live further outside of the city to commute in.  Obviously Im painting this picture with a wide brush but thats the general situation.  

 

oh what a shame.. i've got good memories of SF from when i visited back in 2008. back then, the vibe i got from the city was that it was really artsy, vibrant and such freedom in exploring the arts and what not, kinda like freedom to express yourself. but of course, visiting is very different from living there. would love a trip there again some day.