Far too long ago, I took a gamble on a Tudor. There were very good reasons not to buy it. The seller's feedback was a trainwreck, the watch was clearly a mess and I really had better things to do. As some may remember, it didn't go well.

This thread details just how far down the rabbit hole things went:

https://www.intlwatchleague.com/show...bay-experience

Eventually, I sorted everything out so that everyone got what they should have had, and then sat on the watch for a while to see if there was a scam and how it would play out.

Apparently there wasn't and I've had a few messages from the seller asking how things are going. Whatever else he is, he's a bloody strange puppy and I'm not playing, but eventually I relaxed and sent the watch, balance and a spare movement off to be fixed. This morning I finally got a phone call.

And here it is:



There's a number of reasons why I'm delighted. First and foremost there's few things as delightful as a well aged vintage watch. However, this is no ordinary vintage watch, it's one of the very few two piece Rolex cases, it's also one of the very few Ovettone (Big Egg) cases.



So it's a thick chunk of metal, 35mm across and exactly 10mm deep.

However, it keeps getting better:

https://www.qpmagazine.com/long-read...enland-arctic/

Because it's the handwind version, identical in all but movement and a line of text on the dial, to the watch used in the North Greenland Expedition or '52 - '54.

Which, I'm pretty sure, means that it's the same case as the Rolex 6098 worn on Everest and, apart from the logo, it's one of the dial variations worn on Everest in 52 and 53.

So it's been a long journey, but finally, It's over and, on balance, with the watch positively glowing on my wrist, it was worth it.

Just.