The Under £200ish Watch and occasional Opera Thread! Vol2

[Pebbles167]

Also, I'll have a Trafford Crossroads up for sale soon if anyone is interested? They're a bugger to get hold of so prob won't spend long on eBay!

[Andy888]

Pebbles167 said:

Andy888 said:

Rocking my owned from new ALT6000 today at my desk. Looks like it'll rain soon.

Do love a wee retro Casio.

Love seeing a Casio I've not come across before. I've got a decent collection though they're all modern, a few reissues though.

This has a cool vibe for sure.

Thanks. It felt very chunky back in the day but is actually quite comparable in size to a modern slim G-Shock. It was actually bought and used when I was lad to stick into our radio controlled gliders and record how high we were flying! Back in the early 90s when stuff like that was more difficult! Hence it's still like new as it's basically never been worn/used. I picked up a new strap which is lovely.

[wombleh]

nckr55 said:

No experience of Steinhart, but the Chinese generally at least as good as Seikos in the < £1k range in my experience. Particularly clasps - which are 10x better..

The bracelet on my Steinhart Ocean 500 is very well made, as good as the ones I've seen on watches costing far more. Unfortunately, the titanium colour is slightly different to the body of the watch which makes that good engineering redundant as it still makes me twitch, so swapped for a strap.

Ahh was tempted by one of those yellow tinted gshocks last weekend, managed to resist but getting my interest up again now!

Edited by wombleh on Wednesday 21st January 15:58

[Andy888]

@nckr55 I'm a fan of yellow, but being honest the details on the face of that model of G are so small they are very hard to read. I think I've worn that maybe 3 times in as many years <shrug> Actually only discovered playing with it today it has world time functionality!

[Palmela]

Andy888 said:

Rocking my owned from new ALT6000 today at my desk. Looks like it'll rain soon.

Do love a wee retro Casio.

Edited by Andy888 on Wednesday 21st January 10:57

Blimey, that's a reminder! I've got one of those somewhere. Need to find it.

[Palmela]

Pebbles167 said:

Also, I'll have a Trafford Crossroads up for sale soon if anyone is interested? They're a bugger to get hold of so prob won't spend long on eBay!

Nice looking watch that.

[300sl-24]

Llentil the llama said:

Fab, please PM me your details and I will send it off. I like things to be used so great that this will be again. It is a good everyday watch!

A big thank you to Llentil the Liama for the watch which arrived today, I'm chuffed with it many thanks

[g4ry13]

nckr55 said:

g4ry13 said:

I did see people mention using a San Martin bracelet on it. Not sure I fancy punting £60 to find out whether it works and end up with the huge San Martin branding on the clasp.

I might just see how I get on with the standard strap. Can always try rubber / silicone if I want to change it up. I had sent a message to Watchdives, don't think I will be getting any reply from them!

I've had success with a San Martin SN0111 bracelet on the WD7922 before. Although (having had a couple of SN0111) I would note the end-links changed at some point (which suggests perhaps the case on the SN0111 did, too). say this as I'd previously fitted the SN0111 bracelet to a 39mm Cronos Explorer but then a new iteration of the San Martin bracelet didn't quite fit. Just FYI.

Thanks for the information on this. I don't think i'll risk it as i'm not very technical with watches.

Part of me regrets not buying the Cronos as I could have got the strap I wanted. Although I prefer the convenience of a quartz movement. Perhaps Tudor will eventually make the spec I want, or Rolex will go back to original Sub size.

[g4ry13]

Pebbles167 said:

If that was recently then it might because they're a bit down in the dumps with customer complaints, at least from what I can see.

I've spoke to them a couple of times regarding one of their ice crack models and they were able to answer my questions to the point where I did buy one. Decent watch, best I've bought from there other than San Martin.

I finally got a reply on Reddit. I guess that's that.

watchdivescom said:

hello mate. we don't have jubliee

sorry

[Bobberoo]

300sl-24 said:

Llentil the llama said:

Fab, please PM me your details and I will send it off. I like things to be used so great that this will be again. It is a good everyday watch!

A big thank you to Llentil the Liama for the watch which arrived today, I'm chuffed with it many thanks

[Llentil the llama]

I am really pleased that a thread poster has enjoyment from the watch (as a bit of fun I put the original tag back on the watch to give that new watch unboxing feel). I have had two first world problems this week but I was lifted to know someone was chuffed by my actions. Thank you Bobberoo for your post.

Anyways watches, a swap around of bracelets. The beads of rice was too shiny, IMO, on the fully polished Watchdives Polerouter and I have never found the perfect bracelet or strap for my San Martin Aqua Terra.

A few minutes last night and the very shiny watch is on a brushed bracelet so that you can actually concentrate on the watch AND the mostly brushed more tool orientated watch is made more dressy. Very, very happy with both watches now, they are both perfect for me and how I use my watches.

[toastyhamster]

Curious as to why my Dad might have chosen a Bulova Accutron in 1968, they don't seem massively popular in the UK. Also, I remember him leaving it downstairs when he went to bed. I concur, silent they are not. Found while clearing his house, new battery and a few links removals has sorted it. Suspect it might be on original strap.

[Llentil the llama]

Toasty hamster that is fabulous. I suspect your father could have chosen the Bulova as he might have had some appreciation of engineering and design, a great watch with a interesting movement.

Brokenskunk is your man about this watch, his thoughts regarding a 1968 tuning fork logoed watch will be very knowledgeable and informative.

[Barchettaman]

Llentil the llama said:

Brokenskunk is your man about this watch, his thoughts regarding a 1968 tuning fork logoed watch will be very knowledgeable and informative.

I was just thinking the same. We are all very fortunate to have Skunk and his reservoir of weird early quartz watch knowledge on the forum.

(by the way, I’ve had the good fortune to see some of his watch collection and it’s as spectacular as it is unique)

[BrokenSkunk]

Barchettaman said:

I was just thinking the same. We are all very fortunate to have Skunk and his reservoir of weird early quartz watch knowledge on the forum.

That's a definition of "fortunate" that I'm not familiar with!

toastyhamster said:

Curious as to why my Dad might have chosen a Bulova Accutron in 1968, they don't seem massively popular in the UK. Also, I remember him leaving it downstairs when he went to bed. I concur, silent they are not. Found while clearing his house, new battery and a few links removals has sorted it. Suspect it might be on original strap.

What yo have there is an Accutron 218.
https://www.accutronwatchpage.com/acctech218.htm
The first quartz watch (Seiko Astron) didn't hit the market until December 25th 1969. It's very unlikely you dad would have been able to afford it even if he could get his hands on one. They only made a couple of hundred. Adjusted for inflation it was £10,944. And back then people didn't have as much disposable income at their disposal.

The Bulova Accutrons were about the second most accurate watch you could buy. It was possible to go one better, the ESA916x movement is based on the Accutron, it's a 300Hz hummer just like your one. The Bulovas suffered from positional errors that could lead to a few seconds of inaccuracy per day. The ESA916x had a counter weighted tuning fork that cancelled the error out.

The ESA movement is fitted to Omega, Tissot, Longines, Certina etc.

So in answer to the question "Why choose an Accutron", in 1968 we're pre-quartz. This would have been very accurate compared to a mechanical watch. Although not quite as accurate as some of the higher end, more expensive brands. But unless you left the watch in the worst case position all day, you'd probably never notice the difference.

It's also very cool with the super smooth sweeping second hand and above all, maybe your dad just liked the look of it!

Edited by BrokenSkunk on Friday 23 January 15:11

[toastyhamster]

Great info thanks very much. My Dad was very much more into the clock side of things rather than watches. this is the only watch I can remember him wearing, although he did have half a dozen pocket watches (just for fun, never wore them that I can remember).

Yes, the smooth second hand is super cool!

[732NM]

It's easy to forget just how much quartz did to move the game on with regards to accuracy and how most mechanical watches had lousy accuracy.

I watched a few old war movies over the Christmas period, as you do, and one of the things that popped out that I just never previously thought about, but now do as I'm more into the vintage watches, is how at the start of any major event, the order went out "synchronise your watches chaps"

[Andy888]

I'm really liking a lot of Timex watches at the minute. To me they are really hitting the mark with nice design, lots of retro goodness and cracking value.

Was always a Casio person in my youth but definitely feeling Timex will be getting some of my money now.

Picked this up before Christmas for £84 delivered. Face is actually a nice solid silver and there is some very nice side detail too. Strap is even perfectly acceptable.

Edited by Andy888 on Saturday 24th January 13:32

[Pebbles167]

I'd agree that Timex have some great models. I've had a few basic ones for under £50, a few of their Expedition North models too which were nice. I'm intrigued by their recent premium range called the Atelier. They look awesome.

[Palmela]

I know that Timex watches aren't made in the US but as an American brand they're currently on my 'won't buy' list. Bit odd really, as I have no qualms buying Chinese watches!