Reply With QuoteGreat to see a summary. This is a lovely watch and I'll be going in for one. What do we think on price? Guesses anyone?
I've been thinking quite a bit about the PRS-82, so here is my quick consolidation of the information posted to date (I'm tired of paging back and forth in the other thread :) ).
200 Units
Specifications
NOS ETA2783 (watch which was originally fitted with this movement in 1982)
40mm, 47mm lug to lug.
13.8 mm thick
7mm crown
3mm domed faceted crystal
Drilled lugs
200m water resistance
Same lume used on the PRS-20 California dial.
Price: £380
Buckle (watch head pictured is a Marathon SAR, not PRS-82)
Last edited by gonzomantis; 10th October 2013 at 23:44. Reason: Incorporated newest photos.
Great to see a summary. This is a lovely watch and I'll be going in for one. What do we think on price? Guesses anyone?
Yes, I was getting a little lost as well, flipping between the threads.
Price ? more than the PRS18A. A domed crystal can't be cheap, can it ?
Reckon it's more than the 18. The auto is a miyota movement and something tells me this eta movement was a bit more expensive. Could be wrong with it being sat somewhere not being used?
Originally Posted by oldandgrumpy
^ I think that the "extraordinarily expensive" in sapphire watch crystals you might be alluding to are the "double domed" types like the PRS-29B's which are shaped to closely recreate the aesthetic effect of vintage classic era domed plexiglass/acrylic crystals like the military specification "armoured" steel tension ring secured acrylic type MOD specified for the original Smiths W10/6B 4701 General Service Watch issued from 1967 to 1970.
Sinn apparently developed the technique of taking a thick blank of synthetically "grown" sapphire and machining this near diamond hard material in successive steps until the "hollowed out" or deeply "cupped" shape of a mil-spec "armoured" acrylic crystal is achieved. Sinn's specific stated motivation for doing this was to offer scratch resistant crystal material as an option for civilian mass market buyers wanting to purchase one of its "armoured" steel tension ring secured acrylic crystal equipped military specification congruent pilot's chronographs, like those in the 103 and the 356 series, but horrified by the otherwise excellent mil-spec acrylic's vulnerability to cosmetic scratches. Besides losing what I personally think are the mil-spec "armoured" acrylic crystal design's otherwise superior technological attributes, Sinn currently has to charge in the vicinity of 300 or so GBP extra for the sapphire 103 and 356 models over the otherwise near identical original standard mil-spec "armoured" acrylic crystal versions of the same watches. In other words, from what I understand, the entire amount of that circa 300 GBP extra cost is in the materially expensive and difficult to manufacture "double domed" sapphire crystal.
From looking at the above cross section technical diagrams of the new PRS-82 and comparing to the diagrams for the PRS-29B at the TF website, my own guess would be that the PRS-82 “single domed” [?] sapphire crystal as shaped will still give a very nice domed aesthetic effect from being curved both internally and externally as to the face of it, while being, due its simpler deep sidewall dispensing shape, much more cost effective than the full “double domed” types.
Roland will start assembling the PRS-82 next week. Allow a couple of weeks for assembling and testing.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Oh my. Something will definitely have to make way for one of these.
Gray
Best news I have heard in a while! I thought these were going to take much longer so was looking for something different. I think I will hold off buying anything until these are ready!
Could someone who knows about these things say a little about the similarities and differences of the ETA 2783 vs the 2824?
Eddie's diagrams definitely show a double domed crystal (curved on both faces), I think you're talking about the very high domes used on the 29B, which are expensive. I had an Oris diver with a single dome (curved outer only) and it actually caused some dial distortion.
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
That means it is a couple of years closer to becoming realised then I expected!
Great news.
Have to say I am more excited by this one Eddie than anything else you have done the past few years, its a genuine historical re-issue to my mind this watch which makes it that bit more special.
Eddie do you have a teaser photo in the same manner as you have with the Dreadnought Voyager?
Great news! Given that the movements are NOS, what work needs to be done to them to make them ready for sale?
Not being very expert in interpreting drawings, can someone say whether the channel underneath the bezel would usually house a toothed ring for clicks? Or is this bezel a friction fit, bi directional affair?
They needed cleaning, lubricating and regulating, which has already been done.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
LO-VE_LY!
Price?
The crystal is 3mm thick double-dome sapphire with bevelled edge: not high-dome but at least it's double-dome, which minimises distortion.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Exciting!
Looking forward to this, could be my first Timefactors purchase
This is looking very exciting. Apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere but will this come on a bracelet or strap?
Andy
Dave and Eddie, thanks for clarifying the definitions as regards "single dome" and "double dome" sapphire crystals. I've heard the very popular and widely admired Smiths PRS-29B described by enthusiastic owners as having a "double domed" sapphire crystal so many times I've been assuming double dome meant the deeply cupped style crystal the 29B has (i.e. sapphire cut to look like vintage military "armoured" acrylic crystals of the past). Starting there, because the PRS-82's crystal dispenses with the deep sidewalling unnecessary to its design, I've been thinking that must be the "single dome" sapphire I've heard referred to as much less expensive than the double domed.
Now that you've both mentioned it and cleared up my mixing of terms, I think I actually have a "single dome" type, albeit of mineral glass, in the one non-acrylic crystal watch I currently personally own -- a fairly recently purchased Citizen ref.#BN0000-04H "Professional" 300m Eco-Drive Diver which is the same one trialed by MOD with limited issue to certain units (and apparently later dropped due logistic and functional problems with the light powered movement and other issues which I didn't yet know about when I bought it). I like the watch — so far — but have noticed that while the external face of the crystal is nicely curved or domed, it does not visually warp the flat dial into looking convexly curved or domed itself as do genuine vintage “armoured”, as well as “wedge-ledge” and other type domed acrylic crystals having internally/externally curved, or “double domed” as you clarify, faces.
Instead, more to the reverse, my Citizen diver’s apparently “single domed” crystal visually distorts the dial into looking more dished out or concave before suddenly falling away from the center and out of sight as if into a chasm as the angle at which it is viewed increases. It is an effect not without its own charm, but I do, as I always have, personally very much prefer how “double domed” crystal faces as you define them create the illusion of the dials themselves appearing to be domed or curved to the convex whether the crystal’s material is acrylic, mineral glass, or sapphire.
In other words, that is why I thought and still think and assume the new PRS-82's internally/externally curved face [“double domed”] crystal will have a very nice aesthetic effect and be more cost effective as well due its less complex shape than the 29B-like “high double domed”[?] sapphire crystal types . Thanks again though for kindly clarifying the applicable terms because I had them all mixed up. Rollon
Re [) versus ))
I'm not sure I own any watches with a [) crystal, although I own plenty of [] (often mineral glass) crystals. Does anyone have an example of a crystal that is only domed on one side? I *think* Yobokies used to offer a single-domed crystal, but can't seem to find any photos...
Of course, there was that Rolex prototype with the [ ) crystal....
I have a seiko 6309-7040 with yobokies single dome sapphire. The dome is on the inside like this )]and I really like the distortions and also the slightly greater angle of visibility when used under water. I will try and take some pics.
The '68 is similar, but with a faceted outer edge too - movement/dial )]
Gray
^^^ Broussard, in case you missed or lost it in the (perhaps too) long post just above yours, I wrote that I think or theorize that my #BN0000-04H Citizen diver has, as DaveE and Eddie have previously defined being curved only to one side, a "single domed" (mineral glass) crystal due the unusual way it visually distorts the dial. Assuming my guess is correct, the crystal on this Citizen Prof 300m Eco-Drive diver would be [) as you symbolize it with the curved side of it being the exterior surface.
As such, with my Citizen's crystal's curved side at the exterior, this would be opposite to both Holio's above customized 6309-7040 Seiko and also Eddie's PRS-68 Smiths Diver having the curved sides of their "single dome" sapphire crystals at the interior, which would be something like )] as you symbolize it and as Gray notes. I don't know if this difference of external versus internal single side surface curvature would make Holio's Seiko and the TF 68 visually distort the dial in a different manner than my Citizen, but maybe Holio or a PRS-68 owner might be able to comment to that.
As Gray mentions, though, I wonder if the well and nicely faceted outer edge of the 68's crystal might complicate comparisons as regards the different patterns of visual dial distortions the externally curved versus internally curved "single domed" crystals might exhibit.
BTW, anybody ever wonder at what a deep and profound lot we WIS actually are? To ask it another way, has anybody ever considered that we all might be the only sentient beings in this Universe thinking about things like this? Perhaps an even larger, more momentous question is not so much “why”[?], or “why in the hell ....”[?], but just WHY ..............................
I missed it. Sorry.
To your final question: I'm a #watchnerd. It's what I do.
Please, pretty please. Would be good to see a previewEddie do you have a teaser photo in the same manner as you have with the Dreadnought Voyager?
I can't see the phrase "pretty please" cutting much ice with Eddie; just saying...Please, pretty please. Would be good to see a preview
You're probably right but I thought if I sounded desparate enough...I can't see the phrase "pretty please" cutting much ice with Eddie; just saying...
Somebody's got to do it (they say that on TV a lot over here).
I've been thinking quite a bit about the PRS-82 .................
I hadn't personally thought of it before but the PRS-22 Speedbirds III and GMT both have "double domed" sapphire crystals very similiar in kind to the PRS-82's, though from their respective cross section diagrams ('82 in Gonzomantis' opening post above, SBIII in EwanW's great review linked to below), the PRS-82's appears to have the more pronounced degree of both lens curvature as well as faceting to the crystal's outer edge
http://watcharoo.co.uk/speedbird3.htm
Looking forward to this!
Now this one is a cracker. Yet another superb watch Eddie. What a year this is for new release`s. Loving this one and it brings back a few memories. Really like to get my hands on one of these maybe more so than the infamous dreadnought voyager!!!!!!!. Good idea to consolidate the specs and pics of the watch many thanks.I've been thinking quite a bit about the PRS-82, so here is my quick consolidation of the information posted to date (I'm tired of paging back and forth in the other thread :) ).
200 Units
Specifications
NOS ETA2783 (watch which was originally fitted with this movement in 1982)
40mm, 47mm lug to lug.
13.8 mm thick
7mm crown
3mm domed faceted crystal
Drilled lugs
200m water resistance
Same lume used on the PRS-20 California dial.
Thanks for pulling this together, were you able to deduce if a bracelet will be fitted?
I've not seen it mentioned anywhere. Did the original have a bracelet?
Custom rubber strap.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Me too. Love the utilitarian case design.
Thanks Eddie.
Excellent i can live with that, now just the waiting and anticipation to deal with.....
Andy
I love rubber!
That'll do nicely :-)
I will take some pics of the seiko tonight. The distortions are obvious but subtle if that makes sense. I have had a watch with a single dome the other way [) and that gave more of a magnifying effect toward the centre of the dial. With the Yobokies single dome )] the effect is not quite the same. From some angles, the dome of the glass gives the impression of being on the outside of the glass, and all the dial distortion is toward the edge. pics will tell a better story.
The response "custom rubber strap" was to the question "what did the original have?" not "what will the reissue have?"
Just sayin' like
Gray
Surely, being military issue, the original would have been on a NATO? Either way, rubber suits me fine, and if that IS what the original came with, then it seems likely the prs82 will follow suit. After all, it's pretty faithful in most other respects visually...The response "custom rubber strap" was to the question "what did the original have?" not "what will the reissue have?"
Just sayin' like
Love the crown design on this one! Definitely on my radar...
a video would show the distortions better! but this will have to do. Hope it works!
Last edited by holio cornolio; 20th September 2013 at 16:26.
Absolutely lovely.
And also perfect dimensions!
What about slimming it down to 11mm?
You'd save 2mm with a hand winded caliber.
Maybe something else using the inner domed crystal.
This would really be a slim diver!!!
Hi Holio --- great picture and thanks. Your )] single inner dome sapphire(?) Yobokies custom crystalled Seiko in the shot appears nearly identical at that angle to the type of visual dial distortion I get from the [high] )) double dome mil-spec "armoured" acrylic crystalled watches I'm most familiar with. Perhaps that means that the inner curved surface is the determinate one for a watch to display that "dial doming" visual effect?
I think there is as one would expect more inherent edge refraction with the higher standing domes of the acrylic types, but the visual effect of making a flat dial look domed itself seems the same in kind between these two otherwise dissimilar crystal designs but for their having the same inner curve to the crystal face in common.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, my own #BN0000-04H Citizen diver having what I think is a [) single externally domed mineral glass crystal gives a very different kind of dial distortion with the image of the dial falling away from the center and disappearing as if into a chasm as the angle at which it is viewed increases. No matter which angle I view the dial of this particular watch, I just don't see what I think of as the "dial doming" effect your pictured Yobokies custom crystalled Seiko very well displays.
Last edited by Rollon; 22nd September 2013 at 09:41.
It's not perfect if you're looking to make changes. Also, I think you're a little late - see further up the thread...
Why would you want a slim diver ?
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