Been meaning to get around to writing a little bit about some new additions I got around Christmas time. For the rest of my collection see this previous post
First up, Roland Kemmner's "Bund / Bundeswehr" 1550 SG...
This one has been floating around my wish list for a while. While the original Heuer is obviously more desirable it's way out of my league and anyway I'm not sure I'd feel confident wearing such a vintage around and about. I'd decided I wanted a chrono of some sort and was curious to try a manual-wind (all my others are auto or quartz). Also I hadn't had a plexi before, only sapphire & mineral glass. Kept a lookout on Sales Corner but they always got snapped up quick. So when I learned that Roland had a couple new Bund watches left for sale, I jumped. The specs from Roland are:
"Diameter 43 mm, height 13,4 mm, the case is made from stainless-steel 316L, aviator bezel turnable in both directions, double domed Hesalith (plastic) crystal, 2 round pushers diameter 4 mm, crown diameter 6 mm. Handwinding chronograph Seagull TY1901, 23 jewels, 21.600 A/h. This movement is a copy from the famous Venus 175". Some helpful forum members also gave me the other dimensions - springbar-to-springbar it's 46mm, end-to-end it's 51mm.
I like this watch a lot - the size is good, it has a classy vintage military look to it especially on a NATO, and is great value for money in my opinion. It may be a modern implementation but it doesn't look it. Lume is excellent - markings are all white and the lume green. The sub-dials are very slightly recessed as per the original, something that doesn't show on pictures I'd seen on the net. Bezel is a friction type and seems smooth and doesn't turn accidentally. There aren't many WIS around where I live, but this is the only one to have ever attracted attention - a guy at a restaurant leaned over and said "My friend here has been looking at your watch for the last hour but is too shy to ask you what it is....". He thought it was an original Heuer.
This model sports the Seagull TY-1901 hand-wound chrono movement, supposedly a slightly higher and/or differing grade of the more common ST-19 - but I don't know the exact differences (If anyone does, please let me know!). EDIT: A seemingly knowledgeable member on WUS clarified this for me: ST-19 is the movement family, ST-1901 is the particular configuration with two subdials, and the TY- is simply the export code for an uncased movement. It's still possible there are differences vs a ST-1901 but no real evidence of this.
I know being a Chinese movement it will be written-off by some, but I am fine with that - I'm not buying this watch for it's pedigree/vintage/superlative movement but for it's styling and as a reasonably-priced modern homage. Supposedly it is made using the original tooling for the Venus 175, there's some interesting history of all that here.
I wish I could give a proper review of the mechanics but as I have no other chronos to compare this to I can't really comment much on that aspect, except to say that all the chrono functions seem to work nicely, the pushers have a nice very stiff feel to them, and the resetting of the chrono hands is very precise and very swift - practically instantaneous.
This is my first watch with a plexi crystal and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Wow! It looks great, but it sure is a scratch-magnet. Have only been using it a few weeks with very soft use and it's already picked up a fair few scratches. I guess this is normal, but it surprised me. Looks like I need to invest in some Polywatch.
I knew I wouldn't like the Bund strap that it comes with (no criticism, just not my style) so it's been on NATOs so far - first a Timefactors Speedbird and now an Admiralty Grey. Although I own other watches with 20mm lugs, I have to say I really prefer a 22mm strap and find 20mm a bit too narrow. With this in mind I have a GasGasBones BRV-3 on order in Tan which I'm hoping will really suit this watch. Will post pix when I get hold of it.
Next up... A Sekonda Tideranger quartz beater...
This one was bought from the forum - Thanks RichS :-). I missed it the first time it got sold but made it on the second. There's nothing amazing or particularly unique about this watch, but for some reason the simple design really clicked for me and I always have use of beaters that I can live with getting broken or stolen when I travel. Quality is pretty nice for a quartz Sekonda, the dial is very very readable, rotating +/- 6 hour bezel suprisingly useful, lume good, and it's a decent size although a bit thin for my liking after mostly wearing automatic divers. Basically it performs all the functions that a watch actually needs to while being relatively nice to the eye and not too flashy, which makes it a decent beater in my book.
And finally... Phoenix NATO straps from GasGasBones...
You may have gathered that I'm rather a fan of NATO straps. I have a whole lot of them and it's been an ongoing process finding out what goes best with each watch - see previous post "My brief watch journey... (Swiss Army, Tactico, Seiko, Speedbird content)"
My first ever watch was a Seiko RAF Gen. II which I subsequently and very stupidly misplaced. But I always remembered the grey NATO strap that came with it. I later came to learn that this was a special "Admiralty Grey" colour and was the MOD specification, and made my Phoenix. I don't really care about the history that much, but it IS a really classy shade of grey. There are loads of threads on this forum and others about this semi-mythical grey. But it wasn't just the colour that I remembered, it was also the material. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but somehow it felt different. There are a few places claiming to sell genuine Phoenix straps, but as I'd bought stuff from Carl at GasGasBones before, his Phoenix G10 NATO straps seemed the easiest for me.
I bought 20mm + 22mm Admiralty Greys, and an Olive Green 22mm. I have to say the quality is really nice, although they are a bit different from most NATOs. The material is thinner than some NATOs but the weave is very dense and they are a bit stiff, plus are a decent length and not too short like some for folding the extra back under both retainers, all of which I like. The Admiralty grey really is significantly different from other greys I've seen, darker and it has a very slight greenish-blue hue to it and looks very tasteful in my opinion. From what I remember of the strap that came with my Seiko RAF, this seems identical. I think it would be very hard indeed to find a watch that did not look good on this colour of NATO, it is very versatile.
The Admiralty Grey one can be seen in the photos of the Kemmner Bund at the top of this thread, and the Olive Green one on my Tactico TC2 below, which I think is a great combo.
Well, that's all for now, I hope someone found this useful and if you have any questions am happy to try and answer... I'll post pix of the Kemmner Bund on the GasGasBones strap when I receive it. Have a great weekend!
Last edited by occamsrazor; 28th January 2014 at 11:49. Reason: Added more photos
Love the Tactico. Looks great on the Admiralty NATO. I've got to try a hand wind chrono at some point. It's a toss-up between a bund, the PRS-5 and a Poljot.
The Tideranger is a daft watch. Despite your great photos and those of chrisrennie, it is still even better in the flesh.
Enjoy them all.
Loving the bund. Please tip us the wink if you ever get to the point of wanting to move it on.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
The Kemmer looks like a really nice homage to the Heuer Bund.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
All of these are very nice.
Tactico look great.
Enjoy in your cellection.
Very nice
Love the Kemmner
Thanks for all the nice comments, have added some more photos of the Kemmner to the first post.
I have a Phoenix admiralty grey NATO on my sub at the moment. Whilst I love the colour, I don't think the quality is up there with Eddies to be honest.
I guess it depends what you like, personally I prefer the Phoenix material and one problem I have found with some of Eddies NATOs are the strap is a little short for my liking, but I guess each wrist is different and each to their own. Subs look great on Admiralty Grey straps I think. Now, I would love to see Eddie make a true Admiralty Grey NATO with the new hardware he's mentioned.Originally Posted by Joppers
Really liking the look of the Kemmner, could be interested in ine myself, do you know if he has any more available and if you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for it?
Pm'd you...
These are a cracking little watch. I have owned an original, and have one of these already, and its really close to the original, in fact i like it so much I have just ordered and paid for my second, so hopefully it will land next week............I know two watches the same, but one on a Nato and one on a chronissimo, which sorts out the strap width problem mentioned by the OP.
That would indeed be very interesting!
Thanks for the PM
Can I ask how long you waited after sending Roland your home address details- I sent mine on Christmas Day (sad, I know) and now only radio silence.....?
And thanks to OccamsRazor for Mr K's details too! Ps- you should be on commission!
Last edited by humphriespaul; 13th January 2014 at 17:01.
From my dealings Mr. K was very responsive in emails. I think you answered your own question re: the Christmas Day bit :-) Suggest you email again if you haven't heard back.
I should! But I'm not... just trying to help out other interested people as for a long time I was also confused as to how to order his stuff - no website, no published prices, etc etc. But really, email is the best way.
Well id like to report a swift response, but honestly its taken a long time, I already have one Kemmner Bund as mentioned which is in need of a new crystal and seal, i asked Roland for these back in June. I got no response { i've bought around 10 watches from him over the years so he knows me}, i then found out he had some more bunds so i send a reminder about the parts and possible supply of another complete watch, without boring you with all the details, I have phoned him, emailed him, phoned him and emailed him, and even had other email him on my behave, he just went AWOL for ages. He said he was having trouble with supply of parts and had email issues, and eventually after christmas he responded to an email of mine and the watch was purchased and is enroute as we speak, I have yet however to secure the parts i need.
As stated i have dealt with Roland over the years and service has been completely faultless in the past, and I know he was not well at all last year so i guess its just a combination of things that has added to his service falling below the standard i was used too.
Christmas day email..........yes as stated, send it again. Roland is a good guy, i think he is just swamped with supply issues and if course.....all of use asking for watches !
Well I finally managed to get my hands on the tan GasGasBones BRV-3, so thought I would post some pictures in case anyone's interested. Having a couple of watches on 20mm NATOs and others on 22mm, I have to say I really prefer the wider strap and that was my main motivation to get this GGB, as it basically gives you a 25mm strap on 20mm lugs. I'm pretty pleased with it...
When I got my Speedbird III GMT a while ago I couldn't find a single picture online of it with a GGB strap, so just for the hell of it I put it on this and took a couple of pictures. The lug-to-lug (or to be precise the springbar-to-springbar) of the SBIII is slightly shorter than for the Bund, so this particular strap (as it was custom-made for the Bund) doesn't quite fit perfectly and the SBIII will be going back on a NATO for now, but the overall combo works well I think.
Last edited by occamsrazor; 7th February 2014 at 07:22. Reason: Added more photos
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