Morning all. I’d love a Rolex Explorer II one day, when the kids are grown up perhaps! Currently am putting money aside for a BB Pro, while waiting for them to become a bit more readily available.
We’re off doing some traveling round the US in the summer and I quite fancy a rugged GMT to take as a traveling watch, was thinking of getting a Steinhart 39mm vintage GMT which is essentially a direct homage of the original Exp II (I’m terrible with references). Any owners out there that can give a little feedback? They’re about 600 quid which is upper end for Steinhart, and the 39 is only available via Gnomon who I’ve never used (pictured below so you know what watch I mean)
There’s also an Olko version (below) that has crisp white, instead of faux patina, indices
These are harder to come by but there’s a couple on eBay at the moment. Can’t decide which I prefer!
So I guess the question would be are these a decent short term alternative to a BB Pro and are they worth it? I’ve had a couple of Steinharts a while back and they were decent quality, although I did have an issue with the movement in one of them.
Cheers.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Had mine for a couple of years. Aside from the legibility issues inherent in the original 70s explorer chapter ring, it's a lovely thing. V comfy, well built, accurate and £20k cheaper than an original explorer 2? I have the white indices.
Sent from my Redmi Note 9S using TZ-UK mobile app
Tried one years ago, purchased from Chronomaster but as mentioned above, couldn’t get the hang of easily reading the thing and it went off to the bay. I think it’d suit your purpose very nicely, my choice of the two would be the white indices, looks a cleaner dial and slightly easier to read at a glance. I love GMT’s and eventually bought an Expl.II polar dial in 2014, wearing it right now, a definite keeper! Update if you decide to go ahead with it.
Very fond of Steinhart and have a couple, but not this example, A Titanium 500 and a Vintage Military. Excellent watches and 3 friends have purchased them since seeing mine. Neil at Chronomaster should be able to help.
Ok, so this is probably the quickest turnaround I’ve had following a “what do you guys think” article, but I just watched a couple of vids on YouTube and made a bit of an impulse purchase of the Olko version.
Figured it wouldn’t lose any value due to the scarcity should it not be for me, and panicked a bit that I might miss out!
On balance I prefer the white indices to the patina, and it’s also thinner due to the flat sapphire (patina version has domed). I’d probably rather not have the cyclops given the choice, but watches are always about compromise or so it seems for every watch I ever buy!
As someone below has said, it will certainly do for my purposes - 300m WR, very rugged, date & GMT capability and the 39mm size is spot on. Should make a decent traveling companion and maybe a good precursor to the BB Pro - should I ever get that far.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For those that were interested the Olko edition arrived today and first impressions are good; great size and proportions, feels solid in the hand and the crown movement etc and is nice to look at. Hopefully it’ll scratch the itch for a while!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have one and it is good bang for buck, really is good quality.
I would probably have put the money towards a well priced BB Pro. I could have bought one on eBay at a little over £2k (but it was on the strap - I already had one on bracelet bought new, and I was considering having the option for a day or so before coming to my senses and buying a BB 925 lol) but that’s still 3 to 4 times the price of the Steinhart, and an Explorer II a lot more than that.
But, as you say you’d lose little if any from a well bought one, and it might well serve the purpose in the mean time.
Enjoy :)
It's just a matter of time...
It’s a very interesting conundrum. The Black Bay Pro is the only Tudor to appeal to me to date. Thanks for your views and pictures.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
