Hmm, what are you wearing? (watch related topic)

I'm really digging the Martini Timex.

In reply to Javelin :

Where did you get the strap?

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Thanks! I'm unreasonably happy with it but sometimes it's the simple things. Way cheaper than a Martini Porsche Design watch!!

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) said:

My dad passed away a few weeks ago and I took over his watch that my mom bought him in 1958. I grew up watching him wind it every morning.  I took it in for a tune up and the guy told me it should be accurate to around 5 seconds a day. 

I've become a huge fan of vintage Longines. I plan on buying more. 

In reply to yupididit :

Blipshift sells them in their accessories:

https://www.blipshift.com/collections/accessories

This particular strap is sold out, but they have a Martini pin strap still. A white face watch with the Rothman's strap would be cool, too.

Got this Ultraseven one last year , based on the second show in the Ultraman franchise. The plastic disc ticks the seconds.

There's so much Ultraman junk overseas, but very few retailers ship to North America.

My DeTomaso shipped!!!!

Since I couldn't find my high school Swatch and my college one was so tagged, I bought a fresh one for Radwood. I like the watch but, to be honest, not the ticking. So it sits in a drawer when at my desk. 

Speaking of Swatch...

So the Omega Speedmaster was famously the watch NASA provided to the astronauts including the moon missions. The mechanical Omega Speedmaster Moonwatches are $4000-$6000 new. Swatch and Omega just released a quartz version for all of $260 and they did the planets too! I can't decide which one to get...

https://www.swatch.com/en-us/bioceramic-moonswatch.html

I'm leaving towards Saturn right now. 

I picked up a Timex Giorgio Galli S1 automatic 38mm with a lovely dark grey (Iceland Stone) dial recently.   A great size for dressing up and smaller than my typical tool watches/divers.  I like the design of the metal injection molded case in 316L stainless with its neat details like cut out lugs and ringed case side walls.   I swapped the band for a couple different Hirsch leather and suede straps in grey and have been wearing it a TON recently.  
 

In reply to Javelin :

So far they've only released them in Swatch stores, which had people lining up like a new iPhone was coming out. No doubt quite a few were flippers since there are a lot on ebay now for over $1000.

If they decide to sell them online I'd go for the red (Mars) or blue (Neptune) one.

In reply to Javelin :

They targeted me well with the ad on Instagram. They look amazing. 

In reply to j_tso :

They'll be coming soon. Swatch has made it clear that they are not a limited production and that they will continue to crank them out. I like Saturn, Pluto, and Neptune. The moon is a bit too much of a homage to the real thing.

It's here! My Detomaso Sorpasso Chrono in Giallo!

First impressions, the box is nice and presented very well, especially when you consider that this is a ~$150 watch.

The color is rich and vibrant and maybe a touch warmer than depicted online. 

The case is just right for me. Designed well, not too thick, and pretty light. Of note it's not squared, it's a smaller diameter on the wrist side than the face side, which is cool and comfy.

So how does it wear? Well the strap felt nice at first but is a bit squeaky. It does have quick release pins and a standard width though, so it will change easily. The chronograph is neat because the big second hand, not the little face, is it! It wears super comfortably. I'm very happy with it. I feel like I have an actual collection now!

I have two old Timex watches that were my dad's.  They date from the late 1950s or early 1960s, I'm not sure exactly.  They're the same model except one has a silver tone case and the other is gold tone.  I have a friend who does watch repair as a hobby, and he cleaned them up for me and got them running again.  They were pretty cheap watches, but I like 'em.  These days since I have a cell phone I hardly ever wear a watch, but when I do it's one of these two.

In reply to stuart in mn :

That's pretty cool to have an original. Not too long ago Timex released a new version of that style.

j_tso said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

That's pretty cool to have an original. Not too long ago Timex released a new version of that style.

Wow, I didn't know that.  Neat.

In reply to stuart in mn :

Those are so cool. A watch with family history/meaning is a million times better than anything new.

In reply to Javelin :

Oh, yes, totally. The story means so much. 

I have the watch that was given to my grandfather when he retired from teaching in 1970. I don't wear it much, but I'll never let it go. 

Remember my MiG AChS-1 desk clock (АЧС-1 in Cyrillic)? I decided to pick up one of the older АЧX models, as used in WWII and the decade after. Originally would have had radium numbers but I think mine has been redone with modern lume.  It's from the 50s and was sourced out of Kyiv. Amazingly, the mail is working. 

It's a totally different movement from the АЧС-1. It's rated for 5 days run time (originally 8, but apparently the accuracy suffers after 5 days) instead of 2. The chronometer minute dial runs CCW, and the second hand belongs to the chrono instead of the time of day clock. It's also not hackable like the newer movement. More important for a desk clock, the АЧX is almost silent whilst the АЧС-1 is quite vocal. Silent enough that I didn't realize it was running when I first wound it.

Comparison. These would make a great dash clock for a hot rod. The mounts are mine, I had to do a different design for the АЧС-1 because I didn't get the mounting brackets for it. I was also experimenting with how to put down shellac on the АЧС-1 wood, I learned what not to do :)

I have another very interesting Russian (post Soviet, I think) clock coming as well, more on that after the Ukrainian post office comes through yet again.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Are you interested in selling one of those all completed? I would be a customer if you ever decided to make some more.

On a more watch related topic...I shall pick up a Mercury Moonswatch when they become widely available. Almost but not quite the real thing :)

Here's a rabbit hole a friend (?) sent me down. There's a high dollar watch called a Royal Oak with a distinctive octagonal case. Prices range from new C8 to new Ferrari.

Casio makes a G-Shock variant with a distinctive octagonal case and has for some time. Casio being Casio, they come in a dizzying array of styles and usually (always?) have a plastic case.

Casio also made the core of their watch modular, if you undo four screws the compleat watch comes out of the housing without even disturbing the waterproofing. Which means there is now an industry making aluminum cases for Casios, giving rise to the "Casioak". You can also get new hands and indices if you feel like cracking the case.

These can be quite fancy. As you can imagine with watch nerds and interchangeable parts, there is an enormous range of possibilities.

On to my own story. I liked the idea and decided to give it a go. After a false start with a watch that looked great in studio shots but was muddy and hard to read in person, I picked up a limited edition "90's throwback" Casio from Japan and put it into a black aluminum case. It's immediately become my daily watch because it's amazingly comfortable, shows UTC on the secondary dial, highly legible, is tough like a G Shock and the colors almost make it glow from within. It's not pretending to be a $100k watch but it's unique.

Javelin said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Are you interested in selling one of those all completed? I would be a customer if you ever decided to make some more.

The mounts? They're ridiculously easy and cheap. I zap them out on the laser out of stock that costs $10 for a 4x8 sheet and then slap some shellac on them (apparently literally in the case of the first one). On the two-piece mount, I also have some 3D printed spacers. Installing the clock is a matter of two thumbscrews on the simpler design or two thumbscrews and two bolts on the more complex.

In other words, I won't sell them but I'll happily give you one :) You just have to buy your own clock from eBay and tell me if you want the one-piece or two-piece mount, and if you want any custom lettering. 

Here are three of the older ones online now for a pretty good price - searching the Cyrillic version finds some that get missed with the westernized spelling. I'd grab one of these: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ачx

For the newer, more common, more complex and noisier one, you have your choice of dozens.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=AChs-1

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Awesome! I threw an offer out on one of the A4X's. Do you know what MiG's they were used in? I want to put this together as a gift for my dad the pilot and aviation buff to have on his desk at NASA.

LOVE the Casioak you built! I loathe expensive watches for the sake of expense, but I also love modifying them and originality. Yours is way cool.

It can be a little difficult to piece together some of the history, but this is a good thread. Basically, an АЧX was probably used in anything from WWII to the late 60s. If it's labeled as a 5 day, it's post-war. They were likely used up to the early MiG-25, but it can be hard to tell because the АЧC-1 slots right in its place so a lot of the fleet was probably updated. 

This is clearly an АЧX in this MiG-15, right below the Mach indicator - you can tell by the large font on the numbers that it's the earlier design.

Here's another one in a MiG-19.

Playing "spot the clock" is a fun game with cockpit shots. There's an  АЧC-1 in the back seat of this -31, underneath the window on the right. Funnily, a lot of them have been removed and you can see the distinctive three-lobed cutout in the panel.