Prototype under construction.
Eddie
Prototype under construction.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Looks good.Glad you went for manual wind.
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That looks great! I’ll definitely have a black one (at least).
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I’m liking this a lot, definitely a black dial for me. 2020 is going to be an expensive year!
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That'll save me from buying the IWC Tribute. I like the look of this!
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Fantastic. Hope the design doesn't change too much. The one thing I'd change would be for the minute hand to extend a bit further toward the edge of the dial before starting to taper to a point, but that's just personal preference.
Agreed. The minute needs to be a bit longer before the taper. I also wonder whether a brushed bezel might be more practical than polished. It looks better to my eyes and lessens worries about inevitable scratches that come with actual wear!Originally Posted by monogroover
M
I think something to make it easier to distinguish between the two hands when reading from the glow of the lume is a good idea.
I had the SW210 in my Christopher Ward and it is an excellent movement. Great pick Eddie.
Eddie
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I had the SW210 in my Christopher Ward and it is an excellent movement. Great pick Eddie.
Eddie
You have my attention.
Eddie
Not sure about the handset, may look better if they were both syringe or both the other style...just looks a bit of a mismatch as is to me, maybe just me.
Excellent work Eddie.
That was my first thought as well.
My second thought was that this watch is very similar (too similar?) to the PRS-29A
^This^
As I already own the marvellous PRS-29A, this new watch is just too similar to warant a purchase but I'm also fairly sure that quite a few would like both. I would also prefer the Air Ministry watch over the cream dial version despite the latter having lume but kudos for going with heat blued hands rather than painted. I do appreciate the prototype is looking towards the IWC for inspiration but it's just not distinctive enough for me to take the plunge. However, if I didn't already own the 29A, I would be very tempted as it is a classy and smart design regardless of dial option.
Graeme
Looking good!
The IWC Mk XI we’re all hoping to find - but in a usable modern execution that would be more practical for everyday wear.
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That's rather lovely, handwinding is great and still a decent WR as well.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
Wow. When you announced a Speedbird in 36mm I was hoping it was going to look like this. Well done! Only thing that I would like to be changed is the minute hand. If the luminous part would be slightly longer (that should just touch the hour index markers) before it tapers to a point, it would be perfect.
What will be the anti-magnetic rating?
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
With the greatest respect Eddie the taper of the lume on that minute hand ends pretty much on the short minute markers.
Eddie
The taper of the one in your sketch is over before it reaches the longer hour markers.
Yeah, IWC f'd up the matching of the hands. Maybe THEY can somehow get away with it, but to duplicate their error on an homage to an obscure timepiece may not be the path to superior sales.
Eddie
BTW, Eddie, it would appear you have outwitted the Grim Reaper and are on your way to recovery.
I wish you a full and speedy return to "normal."
What you say couldn't be further from the truth. The truncated hour hand was made so it couldn't at any circumstances get confused with the minute hand... as was the previous case of the double syringe hands.
For myself, I prefer the previous double syringe hands as on the JLCs, but that is another story.
The hands on an IWC Mark XI are iconic. They define the marque. Legend has it that an RAF pilot had difficulty differentiating between the minute & hour hand on the prototype mark xi in the poor lighting conditions of the cockpit and asked for the hour hand to be truncated. It was literally cut short. The new design stuck...Yeah, IWC f'd up the matching of the hands. Maybe THEY can somehow get away with it, but to duplicate their error on an homage to an obscure timepiece may not be the path to superior sales.
Last edited by trident-7; 5th December 2019 at 21:47. Reason: image added
Agree, that minute hand don't look right.How do iwc do them?
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Looks great, may have to treat myself to one of those !
The original Speedbird handset always looks good to me; clear, easily read and somehow matched.
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Will it have the soft iron Faraday Cage for protection?
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What's everybody's preference dial colour wise? Fancy white for a change myself.
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I prefer the black dial myself.
I like it however...
One that I would really like to see is the fat cased 6b...
I can but dream!
(Photo from MWR and likely Rev-O)
Spot on! Black dial for me please.
Any votes for aged lume on this?
This looks pretty extraordinary--I love the dial, the case and the choice of movement.
But I think I was expecting more of a 36mm version of the PRS-22 package--i.e. with a metal bracelet (of course 18mm). Is that definitively not on the cards? That would help distinguish it from the PRS-29a. Like the IWC-inspired bracelet (Mk XV and after). Or even the Mk XII's beads of rice...
That said, this will look just fantastic on a mesh.
Yes! Just like...
Crap now I have to buy 18mm straps...
Are those spring bars fixed??
Last edited by redhed18; 3rd December 2019 at 02:30.
Eddie,Prototype under construction.
Eddie
Ever since first getting into watches years ago, I've always held the original JLC/IWC Mark XI Navigator Grade Pilot's Watch as the ideal, and this one is aesthetically absolutely beautiful to my eyes with the previously-voiced-by-others caveat about the minute hand I have to respectfully agree is too fat and too short. For myself, I think a closer replication of the original IWC MkXI's minute hand as you've shown below would be a perfect fix.
Most of all though, the true reason I've always held the original MkXIs the ideal is the purpose-built case construction these watches utilized to aggressively and comprehensively confront and negate all the issues and factors inherent to post-WWII military aviation that might prove detrimental to the reliably accurate timing of a mechanical Navigator grade pilot's watch. Given that, I very respectfully hope that this one will be far beyond just another Mark XI look-a-like and fully incorporate both the original's flanged crystal design secured against any level of negative pressure with an internally threaded 90/10 cupro-nickel lock ring and also the movement shielding internal antimagnetic full coverage soft iron "Faraday Cage".
These were the things that made military and commercial pilots and aircrew of the Cold War era seek these genuinely iconic watches out, not just for their "look" or superficial aesthetics, and both of the above technical features still remain useful in aviation and aerospace (as well as hyperbaric medicine and research, medical imaging, and other professional endeavours) even now with the high level of protection from magnetic fields an especially great feature to have for many or most us in our high tech permeated everyday lives from work to home.
While the true original Jenny Caribbean front-loaded/screw-down flanged crystal monocoque case design is vastly superior for diving use, a true-to-the-original Mk XI's rear-loaded screw-down crystal equipped two-piece case design TF Mk XI "homage" or "recreation" (hopefully with good upgrades like a water resistance rating of 100m, or so, and also something like the simple but apparently quite effective Certina DS type shock buffering to better protect the mechanical movement) could theoretically even be something a classic military pilot's watch admiring professional saturation diver might want to wear waiting it out "in storage" inside the shipboard pressure chamber between dives.
Eddie
Adj,The original Speedbird handset always looks good to me; clear, easily read and somehow matched.
..........
Though I'd personally much rather have the lume fill in the intentionally disparately tipped "sword point" of the minute hand like the original Mk XIs for a new "Mk XI" from TF, I think the TF Speedbird PRS-1 from the early years one of Eddie's very best aesthetically and I've always admired it that way.
Abraxas,
The 36mm Smiths De Luxe GS Military. I am all up for that as I also find the Mk II above to be too close to the PRS29-A (W10).
Whether concurrently or for a future variation, I think a true-to-the-original's case design TF Smiths 6B Deluxe would be great too as the original military issue Smiths 6B Deluxe Navigators from the 1960s apparently had the exact same internal case design as the earlier JLC/IWC Mk XIs.
I'm also not aware of anybody else having ever specifically "homaged" the original Smiths 6B Deluxe before
Last edited by Rollon; 5th December 2019 at 04:54.
I'd agree about the minute hand.
I'd prefer brushed to polished, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker.
And a deeper black dial than the Speedbird would be perfect!
With a revised minute hand, didn’t spot that on my phone earlier....
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I quite like the oddness of the hour hand.
I know there's been homages to the Mk XI before but in my opinion the only thing any of them got right was the dial, they never got the case right.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
There is one thing I know Eddie, you will get it right. So looking forward to this model and especially with the Smith's name on it.
Just what I was thinking. It'd be a buy for me with the aged lume like IWC :0)
I like it however...
One that I would really like to see is the fat cased 6b...
I can but dream!
(Photo from MWR and likely Rev-O)
The 36mm Smiths De Luxe GS Military. I am all up for that as I also find the Mk II above to be too close to the PRS29-A (W10).
Last edited by abraxas; 2nd December 2019 at 23:47.
I've mentioned recreating this model before.
The 36mm Smiths De Luxe GS Military. I am all up for that as I also find the Mk II above to be too close to the PRS29-A (W10).
I'd be all over it if it was.
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The shortened hour hand works well and gives it even more of the Mk 11 look.
I’d buy that in a heartbeat,too!
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If I am not mistaken its going to be called the Navigator PRS-48, anyhow I am looking forward to the arrival and photos of the prototype.
So, has this one got a name yet 🙂
I think it might be Mk11.
Yep, it’s one of mine! I think the chunky Dennison case on the De Luxe GS/6B would be v hard to reproduce but also not really popular either. As with some other Smiths (eg the Mk X) it’s a rather home-made and ever-so-slightly awkward and amateurish attempt at doing with the Swiss did effortlessly. (Smiths did get it right with the W10, though: everything about that is perfect including the mil spec cal 60466E movement with hacking seconds and blue h/s.)I like it however...
One that I would really like to see is the fat cased 6b...
I can but dream!
(Photo from MWR and likely Rev-O)
The Mk XI is much more in keeping with modern tastes and a timeless classic.
I too think the hands need revising.
If viewed at night it would be very difficult to tell which hand is which. Both are too similar in length.
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