Been thinking about what my next watch should be.  I saw a nice Bulova hand wind in an antique store, for only $45!  It was decent looking, but the bracelet was awful (twist-o-flex), also known as a hair grabber.  It was a little small, but very thin.  It was a hand wind, only, with no claim of jewel count on the face.  Small seconds dial, which is pretty neat.  I still can’t find a picture of one.  Personally, I kinda of like automatics, you don’t have to really think about winding them.  With that in mind, I think I found a vintage one I like:

It is a Seiko 6139 based chronograph, ‘white helmet’ design.

It meets several criteria I really want in my next watch:

• White or cream faced.
• It’s a Seiko.
• It is a vintage, but not too old, late 70’s.
• It has day and date.
• It is an automatic.
• It is a chronograph WITH a Tachymeter scale.  (I really like Tachymeters)
• It is not too big, about 40mm diameter.
• I think it looks cool.
• Prices are reasonable, but really good examples are not the easiest to find.  Price seems to be in the $100 to $150 range for clean examples.

This would be my first foray into a vintage watch, but considering a NEW Seiko mechanical chronograph is upwards of $2000, this is a steal.  The cheapest Swiss chronos are usually over $1,000.  The other alternative is Russian (Poljot) chronographs as well.  Not sure which way to go, but I think I like the thought of a vintage watch.

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Finally got to see some Panerai watches.  As you may know, they were the official watches of the Italian navy, including their divers.  They are huge, almost ugly, but very popular, with many homages out there.  I was able to try some on at C.D. Peacock.

The first one I tried on was the Luminor Marina:

A nice looking watch, not too big, at 40mm.  Ugly ass cyclops magnifier over the date.  There is a 44mm available as well.  Neat, but pointless crown guard at 3 O’clock.  Way overpriced, over $4,000.

The next was the Radiomir:

A beast at 46mm or so.  I have to say, it didn’t hang over my wrist like I thought it would.  Unless you are legally blind, you will be able to read this watch.  I liked the look of it, then I looked at the back.

Jesus, the movement filled the case.  I looked it up later, 44mm diameter movement.  They basically took a hand wind pocket watch and attached to your wrist!  As a comparison, the Seiko 7S26 is 27mm across, the Seiko 4206 is less than 23mm.   I am sure it is solid engineering, but BIG movements are cheap to make.  At $4,800, I was not impressed.  A pretty face with a cheap movement don’t work for me.  They even have temperature compensating weights on the balance.  A feature not needed in 100 years.   It adds cost and does nothing for accuracy.  Much like a tourbillon. which does nothing as well.  (More on these points on a longer post I am writing.)

Overall, they were very nice looking, but very expensive watches.  They are very desireable now, but what about 10 to 20 years down the road?  You can get watches that look very similar, with probably better movements for about 1/50th the price.

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We got a new goldfish, and I noticed it looked pretty similar in color to my Orange Seiko Diver, so I tried a few quick shots.  A diver in its natural element!

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We were at the Fossil outlet store in Wisconsin a week ago and I picked up a nice distressed leather band for my military Seiko. Take a look:

I think it suits my little military watch well and will be keeping it on there a while.  The quality of the Fossil leather is excellent.  It is thick and solid feeling.  The spring bars included were of very good quality.  The only thing I would change is the buckle is polished stainless, the watch is bead blasted stainless.  However, there is a bead blaster at my work…hmmm.   The price was very comparable to Timex and Spiedel  replacement bands, but with a little better workmanship.  So I have a new look to my watch with a fraction of the expense of a new watch.

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For our son Glenn’s second birthday, we got him his first watch!  He is only two, but he has a fascination with Daddy’s watches.  We showed him some more kid like watches, but he wanted a more grown up looking watch, so he picked this one:

It is a nice, clean looking Timex.  The body is base metal. 50M water resistance. The face is simple, with comic style font with Indiglo.   The hour and minute hands are painted matte black and the seconds hand is silver.  It is on a nylon “Fast Wrap” strap.  It adjusts all the way down to his tiny 3 1/2″ wrist.  The bezel does not turn.

Case: 25mm diameter, base metal, 50m water resistance.
Back: Stainless Steel, snap on.
Crystal: Mineral Glass, flat.
Movement: Quartz, Timex calibre currently unknown.
Complications: None
Other: Indiglo, press in crown activated.

Overall, I think this watch will serve Glenn well, once he knows how to tell time.  He already wears it often, and it does not bother him.

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Spotted this interesting watch on eBay:

It’s a Russian made mechanical, hand wound chronograph, a Poljot 23 jewel.  KA-50.  I like the fact it is white faced, mechanical, with a Tachymeter AND a compass.  It even has a cool image of an attack helicopter as well :-).

About $155 on eBay, but only one up of this model right now.  I like the looks of other Poljots as well.  I will have to read up about their reliability.

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Got an early Father’s Day gift, a new Italian made rubber strap for my Orange Bullet.

It has a really cool tire tread look to it and really compliments the watch. The original “Presidential” style bracelet is very nice, but the simple black gives the watch a sportier look. The original band is so nice, I put it on my Pepsi Seiko (I’ll post photos of that later.)

Another thing I really like about this band is the clasp. It is a deployment style with pushbuttons and a safety clasp. It also has three micro adjustment positions, a nice touch. Most rubber straps use a simple buckle design, which is easy to use, but the holes tend to oval out over the years. The brushed stainless finish is almost a perfect match for the head of the watch.

Overall, you can see it really works with the watch. A big plus is that it stays in place on the wrist as well. The original bracelet allowed it slide down and the crown guards tended to dig into my hand. Now, I put it on and it doesn’t wander all over the place. The rubber is very flexible and breathes surprisingly well.

So, if you are in the market for new watch band, try out some Italian rubber.

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It has been over six months now since I received an Automatic Seiko watch. I am pleased to say I am very happy with that watch, and all of my Automatics so far. They all keep better time than I expected, better than +/- 5 seconds a day, generally speaking. My first, the military style watch continues to get worn a lot. The super light weight and easy readability make it a “go to” watch. The crystal and case look perfect. The nylon band has some wear, but I think it actually adds to the practical look of the watch. This is a working man’s watch.

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