Oris 65.
Despite having too many dive watches, I feel like I need another one. One that may or may not exist. I'm looking for something like my CWC "1983" quartz except not another CWC and not quartz. So automatic or maybe a vintage tuning fork. Things I want:
- Polished case. Possibly titanium like the Seiko Snowflake, but not sure if anyone other than GS does these. Definitely not matte Ti.
- Lightweight, reasonably slim and comfortable on the wrist.
- Around 39-42mm: not too big, not too small.
- Very clean & readable design.
- High standard of fit & finish.
- External bezel (rules out the LLD).
- No cyclops!
The closest thing I've found so far is this Glycine Combat Sub with Airman dial, but I don't think the level of quality is what I'm looking for. I want something a step up from the CWC, closer to MM300 levels of finish.
I would consider saving up a bit longer for a lightly used one of these, were it not for the fact that it's apparently quite chunky. Also it has odd-sized lugs, which is annoying (although not an absolute deal-breaker).
Last edited by robt; 24th May 2020 at 16:48. Reason: Added “no cyclops” to list
I’d pay a little bit more and get a Tudor BB58
Ah yes, keep forgetting about those. Not a fan of that particular dial, although I'd probably buy a Vostok like that. I do quite like this one. I don't think I'd pay what they cost though. Willing to be corrected, but it doesn't seem like a £1k+ watch.
Monta Oceanking - 40mm
https://montawatch.com/collections/oceanking
Tourby Lawless - 40mm
https://www.tourbywatches.com/watches/lawless-blue-40/
And Oris as already mentioned
Not a bad suggestion but I'm really looking for something ideally in the £800-1500 range and these are like gold dust so way out of budget. No chance of getting a cheap used one. Plus I'm not sure about the gilding. I like the original Black Bay but couldn't quite decide between the red or the blue (don't like the black as much as either). And on the wrist, it is very slab-sided. I haven't seen a BB58 in person and I understand it is thinner, but that's definitely something I'd want to be sure about. I'm really looking for something that's relatively thin in proportion to how wide it is, so it will tend to sit quite flat.
Also, the idea of the red ETA version is growing on me more over time (despite the gilding and the slab-sidedness) so I can see myself getting one of those at some point, but not right now.
L.L.D
Doxa Sub 200 on bracelet £950 at Jura watches.
https://www.jurawatches.co.uk/produc...f86b64a8&_ss=r
Stowa Prodiver. Various dial colours. Well within your budget.
https://www.stowa.de/en/Prodiver+Tit...al+Edition.htm
Sinn T2 ticks a lot of boxes.
Yeah, I know... it's a CW, but I rather like the look of the C60 Trident Ombre COSC 600m
https://www.christopherward.co.uk/wa...-edition-range
I guess the finish (probably) lets it down, but you'd get change from £1000 easily, and there are loads of vouchers for another £100 off floating around.
Thanks, but those aren't doing much for me. They both seem very Kickstarterish for want of a better word.
I quite like that. Not sure I could live with that crown though. I'd be interested in thoughts on how the build quality of this compares with the Oris 65, and now either of them compares to something like the MM300 or the LLD.
Not a fan of the case/bezel on these at all. Also it's a matte case. I specifically want something a bit shiny, as I have a bunch of other matte, toolish watches and I want something different to those, while still keeping a clean look and good legibility. So not going too blingy, although a bit of visual interest is good. The MM300 is a good example of what I'm aiming for, but I've already got one of those and it's quite top heavy, so despite being one of my favourite watches I find it gets a bit fatiguing to wear at times. I guess my ideal watch would be an MM300 made of zaratsu polished Ti with double-domed sapphire and half the thickness :)
I'd definitely consider a Sinn, Damasko or similar, including pilots watches with bezels rather than dive watches per se. It's just that I find the bezel too useful to go for something like a Sinn 556/856, although something like an 857 might be in the running were it not also matte. I would definitely be considering a Sinn 104 were it not for the fact I already own a 103 and don't want two watches so similar to each other. Also, the 103 is quite thick and although the 104 is thinner, I don't think it's thin enough.
How about the (wait for it)...
The Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba Auto?
Lots of colours to choose from and will give you a fair bit of change from the budget.
40mm diameter and 12mm thick.
Only 100m water resistant though.
Pic stolen from the web
Last edited by Sinnlover; 25th May 2020 at 12:16.
The fact you mention a tuning fork movement of interest and slim, the SMF300 would seem the obvious choice to me.
I sold this one recently(due to tough times)and have to be honest deeply miss it(the buyer did say they'd potentially sell it back to me in future and I really hope to take them up on that).
Absolutely brilliant watches, although you need patience to find a good one(the bezels especially tend to be damaged most of the time and unobtainable to replace)
Has to be Rado captain Cook
I picked one up on the Ernest jones sale on a nato for £340! I ended up returning it though
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I actually used to have the silver-dial version of that & tended not to wear it that much, possibly because I have a number of other silver dialed watches, but also partly out of fear of damaging it because it was in unusually good condition (including the bezel).
I have considered getting the black dial version, but where it falls down is that I'd most likely want to put it on an MN or a NATO, which doesn't really work. I can't even remember if the NATO fit at all, but it would definitely be too bulky. To be fair, I didn't know about MN straps until after I sold mine, so I don't know if it would work on that. The other thing is that it's not actually a proportionately thin watch, so much as it's just quite small compared to most divers. So it doesn't really "wear flat" but rather is a bit more "floaty" on the wrist because the balance of weight is more in the strap than usual.
I do like tuning fork watches and would definitely consider a different tuning fork diver, if there are any that are proportionately a bit "flatter" (i.e., same thickness but wider) than these. I'm not sure if there are any though.
I'm curious about how the smaller Captain Cook wears. I've only seen the larger version and that was just through a shop window. It looked fairly bulky. Also, the concave bezel didn't look as cool in person as it sounded on paper. Maybe it works better on the smaller version but it seemed to make the watch seem a lot bigger than it needed to be.
Have a look at the Epos 3438 sports range, a Swiss brand within your budget.
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I have the Grey Ghost which is one of the smaller ones - came with three nice straps as well...
https://imgur.com/a/a5eRRYY
I bought a 2002 seamaster quartz GoldenEye ref recently for about 1200 pounds on chrono24.. absolutely mint condition. Might be option?
I do like the look of these - in photos at least. Looks like it would still wear relatively tall (in relation to overall size) though. Is that bezel concave or are the smaller ones flat? Maybe the bigger ones are just a bit more aggressive, or it's just that photos don't capture it well.
It was quite thick for a 40mm watch and i did not like where the date was either. I think I bought because it was cheap and a nice colour combo!
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Laco Himalaya?
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Black bay used seems a good option
Might be a good option especially as I haven't had one yet and probably should at some point. I understand they are relatively thin so would probably wear well and the fit & finish is exactly what I'd be looking for. The only trouble with Seamasters is finding one that doesn't have some niggly thing that bothers me. I don't like the wavy dials much, for instance. As I mentioned earlier, I really, really like the SM300 Master Co-Axial, but I believe it's a bit chunkier than the 2254.
The SM300 is on my definitely want at some point list, so for that reason I'd slightly prefer something that isn't a Seamaster. Even though they are quite different watches, I tend to find if I have more than one watch in the same category from the same brand, I develop a preference for one don't wear the other(s). To compound matters, I'm really bad at selling on watches I don't wear much, if I still like them.
Definitely worthy of consideration though and if one comes up on SC at a good price, I might give it a try.
As much as I quite like the look of the Oris 65, with those criteria, it would be no contest for me....
https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...54-00-FULL-SET
Far superior and such a bargain compared to anything previously mentioned. The watch sits quite flat and is much more comfortable than any of the new subs or full size black bays.
I think it fits everything...
- Polished case
- Lightweight, reasonably slim and comfortable on the wrist.
- Around 39-42mm: not too big, not too small.
- Very clean & readable design.
- High standard of fit & finish.
- External bezel (rules out the LLD).
- No cyclops!
Last edited by Christian; 25th May 2020 at 17:18.
Thanks, and Christian already posted the link to it above. Unfortunately if I'm going to spend that much it won't be for a couple of months. Plus that one has the wavy dial, which is a nope for me.
Not sure why I dislike the wavy dial. Maybe it reminds me of the Vostok Europe K3 I've got sitting in a drawer and never really got on with. Not sure why, it's actually quite a nice watch (and a bit of a Seamaster knock-off in general). In fact come to think of it, that one actually meets many of my criteria (although it's black with an olive dial). I should probably get it out and see if I've changed my mind about it. I suspect the main reason is that it has odd-sized lugs, so there's an annoying gap (or scrunching) on a NATO. Maybe a Perlon or MN would fit it better. Hmm.....
Tutima DI300 fits fairly well your criteria.
I've one indeed. Very, very comfortably, not chunky at all (l don't enjoy such watches, with the exception of the MM300). No idea about wearing it in a Nato. But with such a great bracelet, I wouldn't consider this option.
Not many Titanium watches have much polishing because it scratches too easily...
Mühle Glashütte Lunova Tag/Datum - not a typical diver, but 100m WR and fulfills all the other criteria
Pretty much the same comments apply to Ball's Trainmaster Titanium: