Newbie cheap chronograph question

[adamthekiwi]

Hi All,

First posting here (after a fair bit of browsing...).

I own a Precista Commander (which I love and wear every day), but I'd like another watch. I have a long list of watches that I can't afford, so I'd like to get your suggestions for a cheap chronograph, ideally black (or dark) faced and on a bracelet. Ideally it would be around £200 but I'd probably go to £400. If they weren't sold out, a PRS-17-C (on a bracelet) would be pretty much my ideal - also considering the PRS-5, although I'm not sure about a manual. Happy to look at second-hand, particularly if you could recommend somewhere to find a good second-hand watch. I guess it will be a quartz movement although I'd also like an automatic.

One day I might be able to afford a Fortis B-42 MarineMaster!

Thanks in advance for the advice - Adam...

[RickChard]

How about a Tissot PRC 200 - I've seen them around the £200 ish mark, I have the blue faced version and love it:

http://www.watchshop.com/mens-tissot-pr ... 17187.html

[adamthekiwi]

How about a Tissot PRC 200

Yes, that looks great - I'll have a bit of a look at the Tissot range.

I should have mentioned that another "would like" would be a perpetual calendar, but I've no idea if this is even an option in this price range.

Thanks again - Adam...

[Robertf]

My default recommendation, a nice Strela, available on a bracelet for under £300 GBP new. Its a manual wind though.

[wads]

For me it would be a Seiko 7a28/7a38, most probably a 7a28-7040 or 7a38-7070.

Well made for the money & despite being around thirty years old pretty accurate.

Depending on condition you should be able to pick one up for between £100-200.

[andamanen]

For me it would be a Seiko 7a28/7a38, most probably a 7a28-7040 or 7a38-7070.

Well made for the money & despite being around thirty years old pretty accurate.

Depending on condition you should be able to pick one up for between £100-200.

I love the old 7a chronographs, but I think you would be better off with a 7t32 or 7t62 nowadays. Maybe something like these:




(SNAD89, SNAC07 and SNAC05)

[RickChard]

I can't quite tell on the pictures, the bracelets on those Seiko's , are they polished or brushed? The only thing that lets my PRC200 down is that its very polished, bordering on blingy!

[adamthekiwi]

My default recommendation, a nice Strela, available on a bracelet for under £300 GBP new. Its a manual wind though.

Oooh, that's rather handsome - thanks Robertf. I'm off to do some more digging!

[Billyloves2boogie]

Seiko, seiko, seiko, nothing else comes close at this price IMHO.

[ringnut]

I love my edifice £250 ish
sorry bad photo

[Robertf]

If you are keen on the Strela, one on ebay right now, on a bracelet and from (IMO) a good seller (its Juri Levenberg who wrote the book on Russian watches)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/US-STRELA-rus ... 4cf7a39b7f

Lovely watch - I love my Strela, and it stands comparison with some very nice watches. Good history too (the original strela was the first watch worn on a spacewalk).

Having said all that there are some lovely seiko chronos around too...

[HappyJack]

If you like the PRS-17C, you'll love the Revue Thommen Airspeed Quartz Chrono. It's got the same superb ETA 251.262 movement with quick-set hour hand (great for travel) and the "regatta" feature - which allows you to set the chrono minute and hour hands to any starting point, effectively giving you a count-down timer. The centre sweep chrono minute hand makes for the most legible and usable chrono display possible. The only way you'd get a better quartz chrono, IMO, is by spending 3 times as much on a Breitling M1, which adds greater WR and the ability to use the pushers whilst submerged.

The case and bracelet are titanium, and very well built; the double sided ARC is so good that the crystal is almost invisible; it's light, low profile, not flashy, and very comfortable. You can buy them used for about £300 upwards, or new for around £600. Different colour dials are available, including black, blue, yellow and red. I've had both blue and black, and am now on my fourth - I keep buying them, flipping them, then regretting it and buying another. I've also had a Fortis B-42 Pilot Pro GMT Chrono, with the 7750 auto movement, but prefer the centre sweep chrono displays for usability, so I sold the Fortis GMT Chrono and replaced it with a rare Fortis Cosmonaut LE in titanium with the Lemania 5100; effectively the big cousin to the RT.


BTW - RT also built essentially the same chrono in a Lemania 5100 version, with count-down bezel - very nice, not easy to find, and it'll cost you about £650 (auto on the left, blue dial quartz on the right):


I did a review on the quartz model a few years ago - here:http://horologyclub.com/forum/viewto...53fa3f#p724585

[adamthekiwi]

Seiko, seiko, seiko, nothing else comes close at this price IMHO.

I've seen, somewhere on these fora, someone say that Citizen use the same movements and are better built. I quite like the look of the Citizen BL5350-59L - any thoughts on that one?

[adamthekiwi]

I love my edifice £250 ish
sorry bad photo

I must admit, I like it too - and the radio time sync would definitely satisfy the OCD side of my nature!

Cheers - Adam...

[adamthekiwi]

If you are keen on the Strela, one on ebay right now, on a bracelet and from (IMO) a good seller (its Juri Levenberg who wrote the book on Russian watches)

That is a gorgeous watch. I haven't firmly decided if I prefer the chunkiness of, say, some of the Seikos or the beautiful lines of this Strela for the watch I'm looking to buy now - either way, if I don't get one of these now, it's definitely going on my wish-list.

Out of interest, if you've ordered from Juri Levenberg, can you tell me if you get charged extortionate import duty (and/or VAT) on a watch ordered from him?

Thanks - Adam...

[adamthekiwi]

Thanks for all the replies - lots to ponder.

If you like the PRS-17C, you'll love the Revue Thommen Airspeed Quartz Chrono.

You're right, HappyJack, I do. I'll have to have a bit of a dig around to see if I can find some second hand ones...

Something else has caught my eye - well, two watches have:
Hamilton Khaki Scuba Chrono Quartz
Hamilton Khaki ETO

Anyone have any thoughts on these?

Cheers - Adam...

[Windandwave]

+1 for the Tissot, but the Revue Thommen is very tempting also.

[GlennO]

Thanks for all the replies - lots to ponder.

If you like the PRS-17C, you'll love the Revue Thommen Airspeed Quartz Chrono.

You're right, HappyJack, I do. I'll have to have a bit of a dig around to see if I can find some second hand ones...

Something else has caught my eye - well, two watches have:
Hamilton Khaki Scuba Chrono Quartz
Hamilton Khaki ETO

Anyone have any thoughts on these?

Cheers - Adam...

I've never had those models, but have had a couple other Hamiltons and, while great value for money I ended up flipping them because they didn't appear to have any anti-reflective coating and legibility was an issue for me. This would not be a problem with the Revue Thommens which appear to have amazingly clear crystals. I assume they have double sided AR coating.

[Dan83bz]

Few suggestions, some close to 200 GBP some well under:

A more complicated looking face model: Seiko SNAD05


Military look: Swiss Army 241337

A rather classy looking Eco-Drive from Citizen, AT1180-05E

A Casio Edifice "Ninja" warrior: EF527bk-1a

A Tissot T0394171105700 :shock: (Where do they come up w/ these numbers ?!? I bet I'll get someone on the line if I start dialing...)

And one last one that I just HAD to add to the list : G-Shock GW3000BB-1A

[MzM]

Hey, guys!

What about a citizen calibre 2100?

The av0030-xx models come with ss steel case and sapphire.
Look very nice.
Cost, if you're lucky on ebay around 300$ new with shipping

BR

Max