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Thread: Memory dump

  1. #21
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    Name:  Box.jpg
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    A new watch box had appeared. The previous box had twelve slots, allowing for multiple G-Shocks, which were now reduced to a single 'champion' example. I don't know what happened to this box.


    And that was it for 2008. Fourteen watches, the same as in years one and two. The G-Shock percentage had gone from 86% and 57% to 14%. Seiko was at 36%, but I had become a generalist. Mechanical was established.
    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 7, 2018 at 12:12 AM.

  2. #22
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    Just three days into 2009 -


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    Seiko Spirit SARB033

    Required watch for aspirant watch fanciers. It's in the syllabus. I was (sporadically) doing all the right things, so this was almost inevitable. Discreet, refined and affordable. Sometimes described as a poor man's Grand Seiko, but that's looking at the market from the wrong end. The style is just 'classic Seiko'.

    Loved the needle seconds hand, not so keen on the stepped surface of the lugs (but that's being picky). The 6R15 movement was a freewheeling delight after basic ETAs. As with my previous Seiko Spirit, you could stop here in your quest for a good watch.



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    Certina DS Podium

    Here we go again - footloose and fancy-free in Kraków. Looks quite nice, but it was a metal brick and the strap hurt my wrist. It made me wary of square watches, which might have saved me some money down the years. Certina is omnipresent in Kraków, and a hazard.



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    Precista PRS-10

    I can't now understand why I bought this and not a CWC, but I did. I was easy prey for Precista for a while.
    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 7, 2018 at 12:14 AM.

  3. #23
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    Name:  G-7800.jpg
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    G-7800

    Bought out of curiosity with no expectation of keeping it. With its dot matrix display, the 7800 was customisable like no other G-Shock before it. You could adjust the contrast, change the font, and using the memo function you could turn it into a Rolex.

    I was in good-natured revolt against atomic-solar at the time, so I also wore it like this -


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    After a while, I sent it as an unannounced gift to Sjors. He would eventually find some clues scrolling through the memos.
    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 7, 2018 at 12:16 AM.

  4. #24
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    These two arrived within six weeks of each other and belong together. Only the dial and hands are different.


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    Precista PRS-53

    Maybe the the best homage to come out of Timefactors. It's a near-replica of the Omega 'Fat Arrow' of 1953, and in this context 'replica' is a very good thing. The Omega 1953 was an RAF navigator's watch and 5,900 were made. Originals are expensive.

    The PRS-53 is now a rare thing itself, and yes, I have sometimes regretted selling it. Why did I sell it? I went off fixed lugs and I wasn't fond of the 'Precista' script. I'm not sure either would bother me now.



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    Crusader MK1148

    So begins my love affair with the IWC Mk11. Well, not quite - my love affair began with an article in the British Horological Journal, published in 2004. There had been a couple of tributes to the Mk11, but they weren't quite right. My moderator colleague 'Crusader' thought the same, so had one made, using a PRS-53 case. Then he told me he had two - and I could have one. Oh... boy.

    The case isn't faithful to the Mk11 (and it shouldn't have a date), but the Crusader was my 'Mk11' for seven years until it was replaced by the MkII Hawkinge. It lives in a drawer.
    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 7, 2018 at 12:18 AM.

  5. #25
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    Name:  DW-6600.jpg
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    DW-6600

    Old-school basic G-Shock. I probably bought it because I hadn't yet bought it.



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    MkII Blackwater

    These were excellent. They were a tribute to the Benrus Type I/II watches that were issued to American troops in the 1970s. Bill Yao's attention to detail was legendary, which led to very high standards of fit and finish. Bill's Byzantine approach to business was also legendary, but that's another matter.

    There was a 2824 inside, adjusted in umpteen positions. Immaculate watches. The model name made some American customers uneasy, but on this side of the pond it just sounded like a gloomy lake in Argyllshire.



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    Dunhill DM7

    The British Cartier? Not really, but Dunhill has been making (read 'commissioning') fancy watches since the 1920s, many of them faceted. The old ones had Jaeger-LeCoultre movements, but these had the quartz movement used in the Breitling Aerospace. Not a user-friendly movement, but it didn't matter too much in the Dunhill.

    I think this was new old stock, and it was a genre-defying gem. Not a watch for the long haul, obviously, but it was entertaining.

    My photos were poor, so I've nicked a couple (from Gary Little) to reveal its full splendour.


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    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 9, 2018 at 01:27 PM.

  6. #26
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    Just before Christmas, it looks as though I was playing my game of 'How low can you go?' I'm guessing that I paid something like £15 and £20 for these two. I can't remember much about the first one. The second one still makes me grin.


    Name:  Casio HDA500.jpg
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    HDA-500

    'HD' stands for Heavy Duty. I don't think it was heavy duty, beyond having bull bars, and I don't think I liked it very much. I like basic, but it might have been sub-basic.



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    DW-290

    But this one... in a small world, in a small way, and with a few like-minded confederates, I helped to create a small cult following for this amorphous sci-fi blob - and that's half true.



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    Admittedly, it looked better in black and white.

    I thought this watch was kind of wonderful. If you thought it was kind of dreadful, I wouldn't disagree with you.


    I didn't often sell these cheap watches. Some were given away as prizes in competitions, some went to charity shops. Once, I had to speak to a junior colleague about his timekeeping. He said his watch had broken. Next day, I went into a team meeting and presented him with a watch.


    And that was it for 2009. Eleven watches, three fewer than in the previous three years, and some were less than serious. Casio had made a slight comeback, but in a light-hearted kind of way.

    The significant watches were the SARB033, the PRS-53 - and most of all, the Crusader.
    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 14, 2018 at 11:34 PM.

  7. #27
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    2010 got off to a good start. I bought the world's best G-Shock and then I went shopping here -


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    Name:  G-2000.jpg
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    G-2000

    The only G-Shock named after its year of production, and only produced for two years. It was like a round 5600, and because it was a special, millennium G-Shock, it came with a steel case and screw back. I bought it from a bloke in New York who kept it in a display cabinet.

    Naturally, I wore it. But then, while I was reading everything the world had to say about the G-2000, I found what seemed to be a factory-fresh example in Japan. I couldn't make any sense of the web page, but I knew a man in Tokyo who could. He bought it on my behalf.

    Even accounting for resin rot, I should be able to have a G-2000 for life. Over time, I sold one and then the other. The mint example stayed in a cupboard for years. And then, in the Cat And Fiddle pub, I was selling a vintage Rolex Air-King to a bloke who had always wanted to see a G-2000. After a couple of pints I sold it to him.



    Name:  Wempe 2.jpg
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    Wempe Zeitmeister

    Bond Street, a beefy security man on the door. Wempe coffee, Wempe chocolates, Wempe books, a German shop manager, all the way from Wempe-land. This was a new experience.

    Wempe might be a shop, but they had a long history of making watches. I had read a lot about Wempe - their renovation of the Glashütte Observatory, where they now made watches; their creation of a watchmaking school in Glashütte; their collaboration with Nomos.

    I was either going to buy the Zeitmeister or a Nomos. The Zeitmeister felt like more watch for the money, and it was more me. This was going to be my retirement watch, bought a year before I retired. I didn't envisage going any higher. Five years later, and within a few days, I sold the Wempe and replaced it with a Datejust.

    I've had three 'best' or 'top' watches over the last nine years - Oris BC3, Wempe Zeitmeister and Rolex Datejust - each replacing the other.

    Seriously now owns the Wempe. In fact, I'd say it was his best watch.


    And then I bought a clock. A Smiths clock of the sort that was in almost every school, office, factory and railway station in my youth.

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    Last edited by tribe125; Jan 15, 2018 at 10:53 AM.

  8. #28
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    Name:  4F5E284E-C77F-4AE9-A26F-940B4F197A05.jpg
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    G-2500

    Another old-school G-Shock. The G-2500 was under-appreciated because it was undersized for a (then) contemporary G-Shock. I liked it, especially in this unusual colour. Old-school G-Shocks gave you all the information you needed without distraction, and were uncompromised (as I saw it) by atomic sync and solar power.



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    Seiko SKA371

    Known as a BFK. The BFK puzzles me, especially as I later bought a yellow one as well. A passing enthusiasm doesn't surprise me, but this doesn't look like my kind of watch - now or then. I even bought an induction charger, which was repeating my error of the SKX and winder. Decent enough watches, but a mystery.


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    I like it better in this photo, but that's because of Betty.



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    Casio twin sensor

    I can't remember the model name, but it was like a Protrek with one less faculty. It did north and south, hot and cold, but not up and down. I think they were cheap, and I'm guessing that I went out one day and it followed me home.
    Last edited by tribe125; Apr 15, 2019 at 10:01 PM.

  9. #29
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    Name:  D2DB9BFB-A935-44B3-A842-62C2579EBF4E.jpg
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    GL-110

    I've looked this one up, hoping to find a clue... It was from 2000, and it had a steel case and screw back. It wasn't enough.



    Name:  09C3320D-0989-4751-B432-9F12B84E3D7C.jpg
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    Seiko Spirit Military SBCA001

    But this was brilliant. Not for the first time, I'm reminded that the Spirit line was packed with good things. I'd have a place for this today.


    Name:  49252049-DB17-46F9-8B5C-391D60F0BD15.jpeg
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    37mm x 8.5mm, soft contours, carefree quartz. Seiko should make this one again.



    Name:  6D775029-A601-46F9-AB46-866C72134930.jpg
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    The second BFK. Yellow. More of a mystery than the first. One substandard picture, which is telling.



    2010 is looking a bit bi-polar.
    Last edited by tribe125; Apr 15, 2019 at 10:19 PM.

  10. #30
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    A diversion.

    Occasionally, amongst the pictures of my watches, are pictures of dream watches. In April 2010, this was my dream watch -


    Name:  9035484B-2CBE-41AB-89EF-5D3D53E8FB6C.jpg
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    Last edited by tribe125; Apr 15, 2019 at 10:23 PM.

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