quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
I sold off nearly a dozen of micro brand divers, three Seiko watches and a two Hamilton watches to fund the Sinn. It was 100% worth the massive hit to my watch collection.

The only reason I haven't worn this strap monster at any given time since I got it from you is because I put my Casioak on for beater or water occasions. 'Tis a fine watch. I've got probably two dozen different NATO straps and I rotate through them all on this one. Very glad I finally picked up a quality field watch. I knew for you to part with it, something epic was in the works, either the Sinn Arktis II or an Omega. Decided not to ask and risk jinxing it.

I am glad to see my gorgeous modded Hamilton went to a loving owner and is now being enjoyed. That thing is truly a strap monster.

I think it is strap code who sells a black leather strap with two steel rivets near the end of the straps/watch lugs that looks stunning on that watch. It’s also of course at home on any number of NATO straps as well.

Man last year I had a chance to get a Zimbe #4 (top row far right) used from a U.S. seller in Jersey for around $800. Foolishly I thought the prices were beginning to drop.

Wrong. I haven’t seen another one priced like that since! I knew it was a good deal and it had been worn and acquired a few scuffs (not bad) but it would have been fun to mod without the guilt of tearing into a brand new Seiko that’s selling for about $1200-1400+. By the time I came to my senses it was gone.

Seiko Zimbe watches are interesting. Super low production numbers, individual serial numbers listing its spot in the run and extremely unique often one off dials and case-back engravings makes for some watches with serious collection potential years down the road in the Seiko collector circles.

Think of them as the Seiko equivalent to the German made Master Shop X line back in the day. Super creative, unique and likely to continue their increase in value.


I got in a bidding war last night on what I thought was going to be a $270 Hamilton Khaki King Scuba. One of my personal favorite go anywhere do anything watches to wear. To my shock I came out the high bidder for the completely reasonable price of $319. The way the bids were climbing I was sure I would be outbid with 45 seconds left but I wasn’t. Full kit too. These generally sell a bit closer to the 500-700 range.

Elegant field style dial with a super cool day/date layout. Its dial reminds me a little of the stealthy and very neat Jack Ryan Chronograph which also has a bigger “9” than the other numbers.

Stylistically this is the best diver style watch Hamilton has ever done. I have a few variations of this “beach watch” that while it isn’t exactly a diver the 100m/330ft WR is more than enough for boating and beach vacations.

Breitling makes a very similar model but considering what it brings compared to what it costs the Hamilton wins in my eyes.





Jack Ryan Chronograph

One of the nice things about Sinn is they don't try to make everything look like some rendition of Rolex. Same with some other brands many of you have posted here, great pieces all.

I get that Rolex is the most recognizable brand for a WIS as well as "normal" folks, and brands style for what sell. But just look at that selection of Seikos on earlier page. Cues, strong cues, from Sub, Explorer, GMT, even Yacht-Master. They'd probably do a Sky Dweller if anyone knew what that was.

As nice as some are and I could see myself working one into rotation, I'm not. Not because they aren't good, but because they look like I'm trying to look like I'm wearing a Rolex. IMHO of course.

I get it, don't care what others think, and I don't generally. This is just distasteful to me for some reason. Actually that's the wrong word. Uncomfortable and unnecessary probably better.

Looked up Sky Dweller, do not like the sub dial

Yeah, after taking a deep dive (pun intended) into dive watches over the past month or so, everywhere you turn there's yet another company cranking out yet another Rolex clone.

And frankly, I think most Rolexes just don't look that good. The oft-copied Submariner/GMT/Yachtmaster/etc. style especially, with their bulbous date magnifiers and goofy Mercedes hour hands, and the same half-dozen color options. Damn near every watch company offers a ripoff of those.

The various Seiko mods and clones might be ripoffs too, but they at least usually have some slightly more interesting color combos and hand sets. Same with the ones inspired by the Omega Seamaster.

So I've grabbed some pilot watches with the Flieger-B dial, and I've grabbed some dive watches. There are parts that I like about each one. But now my current quest is to find a "Goldilocks" watch that combines the two. I prefer the overall look of dive watches, but I love being able to easily tell at a glance the exact time from the Fliger-B's number-dial-within-a-number-dial.


What I'm looking for is:
-Automatic movement
-Dive bezel with minute markings
-Field/pilot-style dial with hour numerals
-Date window, or even day/date
-Preferably 42mm-44mm, as I have an 8" wrist, so anything smaller than 40mm is too small, and even 40 is borderline
-Sub-$500, and preferably sub-$300

Anyone have suggestions on manufacturers or models that would fit the bill?

There seem to be several companies that hit some, but not all, of those points. Sinn offers a multi-thousand-dollar version in their 857. And some companies offer at least 12/3/6/9 numerals, but not all twelve. (I know, a minor difference, but hey... I'm being picky here.)


Glycine might currently be the leading contender with their 42mm Combat Sub, which is offered in a few different colors. But the dial is a bit busy; I could do without the 24 hour markings and the millisecond hash marks.



I'm also considering the Addiesdive Pilot-Diver H9 as the "budget option" at just ~$100, although it's on the smaller side at just 40mm and I'm not enamored with the rose gold hands.

You would think a company like Hamilton with a VERY popular field watch line with a flieger style dial would have an employee that thinks like RogueJSK. You would think someone there would eventually come to the same conclusion RogueJSK & I came to when considering the Goldilocks diver. Well they did…sort of.

The now sadly discontinued and not incredibly common Khaki King Scuba with the field style dial and 330ft water resistance was close to being perfect. I just got one from Japan for $319! They have a few automatic chronographs similar to the Amazon series Jack Ryan watch which is similar to the King Scuba. Unfortunately Hamilton’s newest divers seem to be moving away from the funky King Scuba looks towards a more traditional and boring diver aesthetic that has gotten too big (43mm) and looks a hell of a lot like Tissot’s new Seastar and every other diver out there.

Hamilton has some interesting older diver models with internally rotating bezels and 3 screw down crowns in some cases. They are very different but are not going to be as affordable as options like Glycine unless you’re patient and hunt one down.

Marathon and Sinn are the best at building military/tool watches with a flieger style dial placed into a robust, extremely water resistance case.

Sinn & Marathon are the pioneers/masters in this category or niche if you will and they make an exquisite product so it of course comes with a higher price tag than many other options.

In your price range Glycine is a great choice. They get hell from the watch enthusiasts because they were purchased years ago by Invicta (GASP). I own a bunch of Glycine watches both pre Invicta and current and have found them to be exquisite watches.

I gifted my father one just like this and kept another spare minty in its box. My father is absolute hell on his watches. After two years his Glycine now looks like the absolutely beaten to hell “Vintage” Seiko divers from the 80’s on eBay. BUT it is still keeping great time at +5-7 seconds a day.

I’ll have to get a current pic of his combat sub next to my unworn example.




with tons of field/flieger style dial variations. The sandy blue dial “3,6,9,” Vintage Combat Sub is my personal favorite though the “Red Radar” Combat Sub is also one of my favorites.

Yeah, that Hamilton Khaki King Sub seems like a good option. Too bad about it being discontinued. And it has the same ultra-busy dial as the Glycine. (Even more so, in fact, with the day wheel.)

I came across the simpler dialed Prometheus Sailfish, which is pretty much exactly what I'm after, but that was also discontinued about a decade ago:




Maybe that's telling... Perhaps companies have tried these "Pilot-Divers" in years past, and they just didn't sell, so the earlier ones were discontinued and now not many companies are willing to take a chance on a newer one?

I guess all the money is in cranking out yet another Rolex Sub clone.

Oh wow! You and I do have similar taste. You don’t see the Prometheus Sailfish come up much in conversion even among watch enthusiasts.

That’s a rare one for sure. I have it set up on my eBay account to notify when one is listed. Those don’t pop up for sale all that often.


The Khaki King Scuba with the black dial isn’t too hard to find at good prices. The silver dial variants are much harder to find.

Watch companies do make diver flieger watches but the best examples such as Sinn, Marathon, Breitling etc are $$$.

If they had just lumed the numbers instead of a a numeral and an index, this would fit the bill.



https://www.deepbluewatches.com/dadipctrauwa6.html

I know Seiko mods are popular, so how hard is it to swap out hands on a NH35A movement? Is it something that a novice could do without much skill or tool investment?

I found a Youtube video of a guy who took the Addiesdive Pilot-Diver H9 and installed silver hands with vintage lume, along with swapping the date wheel to black as well, and I think it looks a whole lot better:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Yeah, that Hamilton Khaki King Sub seems like a good option. Too bad about it being discontinued. And it has the same ultra-busy dial as the Glycine. (Even more so, in fact, with the day wheel.)

I came across the simpler dialed Prometheus Sailfish, which is pretty much exactly what I'm after, but that was also discontinued about a decade ago:




Maybe that's telling... Perhaps companies have tried these "Pilot-Divers" in years past, and they just didn't sell, so the earlier ones were discontinued and now not many companies are willing to take a chance on a newer one?

I guess all the money is in cranking out yet another Rolex Sub clone.

RogueJSK: You might want to check out the latest offerings from Victorinox. They've got some nice mechanicals that seem to check off your boxes. I bought one of their quartz divers about 15 years ago and it's still running strong.

https://www.victorinox.com/us/...n=1795&maxResults=30

Rogue, I have the exact Combat Sub you posted a picture of. The dial is a little busy, but I got used to it quickly. If it had not kept losing thirty seconds a day no matter what I did, I'd recommend it in a heartbeat. It even went back to Invicta's service center here and they said that was in spec for the movement and wanted to charge me a hundred bucks to regulate it. I told them to send it back to me, and bought a timegrapher and adjusted it myself. It ran within a second a day for months and then went back to thirty seconds slow. It fell off the bathroom counter last summer and now it loses about an hour every twelve, so it's been sitting in the watchbox while I decided what I want to do with it.

IF it ran great, I'd say it's a slim, comfortable field/diver and would be a no-brainer. Mars says the movements are made in China, so I guess do with that information what you will. If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't buy it, I'd save the money and buy a Sinn 104 instead.

My number for the Helm Komod waitlist as of yesterday is 9, so I expect I'll be getting the email any day now. Time to quit screwing around and actually decide which colorway. That white and aqua looks great, but I'm actually leaning towards the black dial and white lume dots for the sheer "wear it with anything" capability. I think that's going to end up being my one and only diver. Got an Orient, a Lum-Tec, and a Phoibos I'm going to try to sell off and make a Sinn happen. Spread too thin with too many sub- $500 watches and I want to move up a tier.

Komodo Black with White:

quote:

Originally posted by pulicords:
RogueJSK: You might want to check out the latest offerings from Victorinox. They've got some nice mechanicals that seem to check off your boxes.
https://www.victorinox.com/us/...n=1795&maxResults=30

Thanks for the suggestion. Those are lovely pilot watches, but none of those appear to have dive bezels.

It appears the closest thing Victornox offers to the "platypus watch" I'm wanting is their Journey 1884 line of dive watches. But I'm not a fan of the dial or the ultra-subdued dive bezel. Plus it's outside of my price range at $1k+ for the automatic version. (Even the cheaper quartz version is still ~$600+.)

Ooh... It appears that at some point, Glycine offered that same Combat Sub without the 24 hour markings. If I could locate one of those, that would be pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.

This green-on-black is perfect too.

Thanks Yellow Jacket, thanks a lot...

https://www.deepbluewatches.com/1saaukadiwa.html

Ya'll gonna get me in trouble!

Hehe.

For some reason, the microbrand watch world is awash with Great Wave of Kanagawa dials currently. I've seen like eleventeen manufacturers offering them lately. There must have been a fire sale on those dials from some Chinese factory.

https://longislandwatch.com/is...c-dive-watch-isl-62/

https://www.sanmartin.watch/pr...luxury-watches-20bar

https://www.heimdallrr.com/pro...riant=37417189179580

https://www.steeldives.com/pro..._sid=8c0b436c9&_ss=r

https://www.steeldives.com/pro..._sid=8c0b436c9&_ss=r

Etc.

If you could stretch your budget a bit, a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms or Glashutte SeaQ Panorama Date.






The Fifty Fathoms predates the Rolex Submariner, so the Submariner could be considered a ripoff of the Fifty Fathoms.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
If you could stretch your budget a bit...

A bit?

A bit?!

Hmm... Do I want to buy a car, or do I want to buy a Blancpain/Glashuette?

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
Thanks Yellow Jacket, thanks a lot...

https://www.deepbluewatches.com/1saaukadiwa.html

Ya'll gonna get me in trouble!

LOL... you're welcome. I got a Deep Blue Master 1000 when I sent my Seamaster off for service and they told me it'd be 6 months. It is a ton of watch for the money. It's my beach/lake watch.