Always wanted Rolex sub with broad arrowhead. Too rich for my taste.
Everlasting Seiko Five watches
- Thread starter Briar Lee
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Did the British Military issue Rolex Subs with Pheon’s? Special forces?
I have no idea. I just thought that James Bond was the only one who got blinged up with a Rolex! I know that aircrews got a watch that was about the size of a Tudor Oyster 3/4 size but these were all collected up at the wars end and destroyed by running a steam roller over them. One of my school friends 45 years ago had one given to him by an Uncle who was in a POW camp so he was not around when they were collected up. It had the WD and arrow on the face which was black if I remember correctly. It might have been made by Smiths but I am sure there is a watch expert on here who would know far more than myself.
Fr
From what I understand, divers and SBS get early ones. Then they used Tudor. But, I'm not really big into watch. Just like sub.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century watchmakers at Hamilton, Howard, Elgin, Waltham and others all made railroad service watches that would reliably keep time to within 30 seconds plus or minus a week, and would last a lifetime doing it.
Railroad chronometer - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_chronometer
The $100 automatic watches made by Seiko, Orient, and Parnis (Seagull) often will keep railroad time standards, although they aren’t advertised as that accurate. We don’t need that accuracy. So long as my watch is within two minutes of the atomic clock on my phone, it’s good.
This watch is accurate to within five or ten seconds a week, and looks like it cost a thousand dollars instead of a hundred.
Railroad chronometer - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_chronometer
The $100 automatic watches made by Seiko, Orient, and Parnis (Seagull) often will keep railroad time standards, although they aren’t advertised as that accurate. We don’t need that accuracy. So long as my watch is within two minutes of the atomic clock on my phone, it’s good.
This watch is accurate to within five or ten seconds a week, and looks like it cost a thousand dollars instead of a hundred.
I don’t know about the rest of these Seikos, but I bought this one fresh out of dive school in 1989, right before I hit the dive tank in Seoul.
It’s been through a couple desert excursions, and years of industrial construction.
I know everybody just fucking has to have an automatic because internet pictures, but this has been on my wrist 33 years, and will be for another 33.
It’s been through a couple desert excursions, and years of industrial construction.
I know everybody just fucking has to have an automatic because internet pictures, but this has been on my wrist 33 years, and will be for another 33.
I knew I liked you guys. Such killer watches. I've got tomorrow's Citizen on the bedside table right now.
I've got a Seiko black monster that uses the same 7S26 movement as the 5 series. Been a great watch with unbeatable lume. It's given me years of daily wear but now needs a new movement. It runs really really fast, gaining over 10 minutes a day. I'll probably swap a newer Seiko movement into the case.
Somebody that is a watchmaker can explain exactly why, but when a watch begins running about ten minutes a day fast a tiny spring has slipped over a post in the movement and the fix is easy, for a watchmaker.
But if a Seiko five has had any wear at all, a new movement is the way to go, if not an entire replacement watch.
Lots of miles but still has some life left.
And that great Seiko lume
There’s always the cheapest version of anything, and it’s hard to beat the Chinese price on one of their “standard movement” automatic watches, as low as $25 for ones like this. I have several of different grades and qualities, and even the rock bottom shelf models keep surprisingly good time.
Don’t expect the same quality as a Seiko, but they aren’t junk.
Don’t expect the same quality as a Seiko, but they aren’t junk.
I have a large watch collection, although nothing fancy. Mainly Soviet time pieces, a few Ali-Express items, several Casios and an Omega. I do have two Seikos. One is a Seiko 5 from 1981, and the other is a lovely 70's quartz
I don't know about the Sieko Five watches. I do have a Sieko Navigator Timer (introduced in 1968) identical to the one pictured below that I purchased new in 1976. Its movement is mechanical and automatic. I have had the crystal replaced once, and the watch serviced three or four times. It is still reliable and accurate:
I was recently in the market for a sporty automatic watch. After research, I could not justify paying more than the cost of a Seiko Prospex. Watch enthusiasts nickname this style "the turtle". PADI stands for Professional Association of Diving Instructors. This special issue design appealed to me.
Attachments
Mine is also a Frankenstein, called 007 not in homage to the famous secret agent, but because it has a bezel similar to the Seiko skx007.
Attachments
In the 20 or so months since I last posted in this thread, I've picked up a few more that our resident attorney would approve of:
2nd from the left you see the Vostok that I posted before. As you can see I've put it on a bund strap in the last year. It suits it.
On the far left is a Seagull on mesh, my only dress watch, for church. It houses the ST17 with seconds subdial.
The general consensus seems to be that Seagull movements (most of which are ETA clones) are solid when in Seagull watches, but often problematic when used by mushroom brands.
This piece is 10mm thick -- to get a 10mm automatic otherwise you're looking at $500 Swiss to start. It was under $100.
On the mustard and brown NATOs are a couple of mushroom brand NH35 watches. A Tandorio Flieger and a Steeldive sub hommage (SD1953) respectively.
I know that NH35s are boring to some, but there's a reason they're ubiquitous. For such an inexpensive Seiko movement, they wind with unusual ease, reach their full power reserve unusually quickly, and by all reports typically run for a decade of daily wear without servicing (not that you'd service a $30 movement). Rotating among several watches so that each is worn only once or twice a week, these may run for the rest of my life. Mine seem to be accurate within well under a minute a week -- I'd be happy if they were less accurate so that I could fiddle with them more frequently.
Both of these feature sapphire (which the Chinese are demonstrating need not be quite so exclusive as others would have us believe), and the Steeldive features a ceramic bezel (that clicks very satisfyingly!).
I removed the cyclops from the Steeldive. You should see the fellow on Youtube who compares the SD1953 to a real Submariner.
Finally and differently, on the far right hand is my grandfather's 1927 Elgin Grade 303 pocket watch. It was his father's before him. Underneath the caseback I found an old photo of my grandmother that nobody else in the family had seen.
This piece still ticks fine after a few taps to get it going!
2nd from the left you see the Vostok that I posted before. As you can see I've put it on a bund strap in the last year. It suits it.
On the far left is a Seagull on mesh, my only dress watch, for church. It houses the ST17 with seconds subdial.
The general consensus seems to be that Seagull movements (most of which are ETA clones) are solid when in Seagull watches, but often problematic when used by mushroom brands.
This piece is 10mm thick -- to get a 10mm automatic otherwise you're looking at $500 Swiss to start. It was under $100.
On the mustard and brown NATOs are a couple of mushroom brand NH35 watches. A Tandorio Flieger and a Steeldive sub hommage (SD1953) respectively.
I know that NH35s are boring to some, but there's a reason they're ubiquitous. For such an inexpensive Seiko movement, they wind with unusual ease, reach their full power reserve unusually quickly, and by all reports typically run for a decade of daily wear without servicing (not that you'd service a $30 movement). Rotating among several watches so that each is worn only once or twice a week, these may run for the rest of my life. Mine seem to be accurate within well under a minute a week -- I'd be happy if they were less accurate so that I could fiddle with them more frequently.
Both of these feature sapphire (which the Chinese are demonstrating need not be quite so exclusive as others would have us believe), and the Steeldive features a ceramic bezel (that clicks very satisfyingly!).
I removed the cyclops from the Steeldive. You should see the fellow on Youtube who compares the SD1953 to a real Submariner.
Finally and differently, on the far right hand is my grandfather's 1927 Elgin Grade 303 pocket watch. It was his father's before him. Underneath the caseback I found an old photo of my grandmother that nobody else in the family had seen.
This piece still ticks fine after a few taps to get it going!
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