I miss my PRS-53, wish I still had it. Lovely looking thing.
I miss my PRS-53, wish I still had it. Lovely looking thing.
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
The 53 was just such a pretty watch.
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Nice one, OP. Still have my mint PRS-53 - bought in January 2009. Joined TZ the same month. Good grief tempus fugit and all that. I also have the Air Ministry - bought exactly ten years later. While I love the '53, the AM has not been off my wrist since I received it (other than at night obvs). It's the only watch I've owned where I wouldn't change a thing.
Anybody I've ever asked (I hope it was not more like pestered) over the years to sell me one of Eddie's original 300 TF Precista PRS-53s, the watch that first drew me to Timefactors and TZ-UK, very likely knows how much I like these particular watches.
As for Eddie's significantly later TF Smiths branded PRS-29 "Air Ministry", I've, from the moment of seeing the initial presentation pictures of the finished product, thought this watch one of the most aesthetically beautiful (or perhaps better and more accurately said, neatest looking) watches I've ever come across. If it would have had the original 1967-70 MOD issue Smiths .4701 W10's full on vintage military specification domed and "armoured" steel tension-ring secured plexiglass/acrylic crystal set into a case crystal seat specifically cut for it, I would have wanted one probably as much or more than anyone else here on the forum.
Unfortunately for me, and I guess the few others around who feel the same way as I do, the world's wider watch market overwhelmingly demands scratch-free sapphire at the expense of the specific technological advantages of "armoured" acrylic that drew the military to the latter type crystal in the first place. However, if there were ever perceptible market appeal for a truer to vintage "armoured a." version of the Air Ministry such that would warrant Eddie making a special run of these someday, I'd certainly love to have one or five or so ...........
What has me curious, though, OP, given your quote at the top that "....I am very pleased to own 4 manual wind watches,coincidently all timefactors. ......", is what the other two of your hand-wind TF watch models are?
And thanks for the pictures of these two --- I think they're an aesthetically perfect pair
The AM is sapphire?
Acrylic is perfect for the 53 though it wouldn’t worry me either way.
I also have the B-uhr and 29B
IMHO 4 stunning and practical watches.
Thanks on that as I was curious about it. Each of the four very nice, but what first struck me was the very wide range in the sizes of these TFs --- from 36mm across X about 47mm on the lugs with an 18mm strap width for the Smiths 29 Air Ministry to 44mm across (51mm across with the crown!) X almost 56mm on the lugs with a 24mm strap width for the relatively huge (but very well and precisely done and very rare in itself) Precista B-Uhr PRS-42 WWII Luftwaffe Observer's Watch.
In that I guess you could call these a very nicely eclectic group of homaged vintage aviation (or, IIRC, for the PRS-29B it might be better said as "dual purpose field/aviation substitute") focused military watches all using excellent high quality mechanical hand-wind movements just like each of the original issue watches did