Unpredictable and unplanned

[CFR]

Today I had lunch with a friend. He is interested on a Laco Memminglen Blaue Stunde (a 42mm case, blue dial Type A handwinding – ETA2801.2 – pilot watch) but, undecided about the size – pilot watches tend to look overpowering - he ordered the less expensive and smaller Augsburg (340€ plus shipping) to try on.



He kept the stickers on the watch, tried it on for a few minutes and found it to wear too small for his taste. The 39mm Augsburg is all dial, but perhaps the 18mm lugs make it wear much smaller than expected.



Unworn, the Augsburg was supposed to go back to Laco and be replaced by the Memminglen.

- I wish I could avoid the trouble to send this thing back. I have a lot of work to do…unless…do you think 250€ would be an attractive price for this watch?

Easy answer for me:

- Yes, definitely.
- Good. It's yours!
- What? Say again?!

He knows me too well: it was a trap! Obviously,I came back with a watch from a brand I was not supposed to buy again –technically, I didn't buy from them, though.



So, what do we have here?



A 39mm sandblasted case, blue (with a sunray pattern) Type A dial, 18mm lugs and sapphire crystal (front and back).



The movement is the Miyota 821A, but since around July last year, Miyota has been quietly improving their 8X series movements to allow hacking and this watch already has the upgraded movement.



I prefer my Aachen Taupe – let's put that right out of the way; the taupe B dial and the brushed case work together really well. That said, I have to admit this Augsburg has a very attractive dial, going from the most exuberant blue to a most discrete (almost) black. Apart from my Seiko Turtle, I didn't have a watch with a blue dial. Besides, the Turtle has a very discrete blue, only fully evident under direct sunlight; most of the time it looks black.



The lume is the greenish Superlumiova C3 instead of the blueish C1 used on the Aachen Taupe, but there's plenty of it.



I don't dislike the sandblasted case, because it helps to tone down the whole package. The original NATO strap has the right colour match, but the wrong quality. It only helps a relatively thick watch to float a bit more above the wrist and it's not comfortable: easy to fix.



As always, I include the Timegrapher measurements, and they're ok. These cheap movements are not horrible, but can be widely unstable. For that reason, each measurement represents the average of a group of readings taken during a 30s period.

Position	Rate (s/d)	Amplitude (49º lift angle)	Beat error (ms)
Dial up	+1	288	0.0
Dial down	+5	272	0.0
Crown up	-6	252	0.0
Crown down	+2	256	0.0
Crown left	-2	241	0.1
Crown right	+2	257	0.1
Delta	11
Average (s/d)	+2

[uchinanchu]

Wow that really looks nice, love the blue dial and no date, . . . if it was a hand wind it would be perfect (for me), congrats on a very nice watch!!!!

[CFR]

Wow that really looks nice, love the blue dial and no date, . . . if it was a hand wind it would be perfect (for me), congrats on a very nice watch!!!!

Thank you!

They do have a hand wind but with a 42mm case. That's the one my friend has just ordered.

[happyscrappyheropup]

I didn't have a watch with a blue dial.

I used this justification when buying the latest Zodiac Topper Rally.

Great looking watch, I always prefer arabics and I'm a big fan of both A and B dial fliegers.

[skywatch]

Nice package, excellent size, beautiful dial, and a great value from a friend. That's easy to like!

[rodia77]

- I wish I could avoid the trouble to send this thing back. I have a lot of work to do…unless…do you think 250€ would be an attractive price for this watch?

Easy answer for me:

- Yes, definitely.
- Good. It's yours!
- What? Say again?!

He knows me too well: it was a trap! Obviously,I came back with a watch from a brand I was not supposed to buy again –technically, I didn't buy from them, though.

You got tricked like a kiddo!
Congrats!

[gnuyork]

Fantastic! Always love a good bargain too. It's essentially how I got my Khaki Field (with stickers still on). Previous buyer immediately thought it was too small for his wrist.

I think I'd like one of these in the 39mm size one day. A or B dial, I like both.

[litlmn]

Very cool, and at a friends & family discount too.

[mlcor]

I thought I’d never seen that in the WRUW threads before today...

You know how much I dislike blue dials , so there you go. Looks great, 39mm is a nice size. Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tribe125]

In terms of ‘no choice but to buy’, this one was off the scale.

Congratulations!