Day 8 WRUW 2 X $aturday October 8 Wreck A Watch

[cd_god]

OK

It is October 8th (somewhere)

Day 8 of the October WRUW daily theme.

Today's theme is “Wear a watch that was new / mint when you got it but is now wabi’d up”

I wreck coins (and other shit)

I have a pocket full of silver coins that I "wear" with me daily.

Some are (or were at one point in time before I wrecked them) valuable.

I'll have to update the off topic coin thread with pics.

At least with watches you can enjoy wearing them daily carefully without detracting too much from it's value.

If you keep your watches as safe queens unless you are running your own museum (I use the "Museum" term at work all the time when talking about #1's hoarding at the store and the warehouse full of shit and say "Are we running a store or a museum?") you can't really enjoy them unless you're a fondler

So what watch was new, mint condition, you had restored, and so on that you against your better judgement or just said "phuk IT. I am going to get my moneys worth out of wearing it" and beat / wabi'd it up.

Before and after pics are encouraged if you have them

[Rod]

Blumo garage watch! There is a couple of good reasons why this is a Wreck A Watch...

1st Strike, I bought it new in Tokyo, I had looked at quite a few Seiko's with two lovely lady staff. All the watches were on the counter, I wanted the black dialled version SBDC001 (non X dialled) and had thought that they understood which one I wanted.....so I went with the one of the ladies to pay whilst the other wrapped the watch.
When I returned to my hotel I put the parcel with all the other bits and bobs to look at later, well three days later the night before flying out I opened the box only to discover I'd bought the (X Dialled) Blumo SBDC033!!

2nd strike, they (the staff) had cut off (and tossed out) all the hang tags and removed the protective plastic!

3rd strike, I decide to wear the watch on the flight home to get to know it and see if I could live with the blue, well getting into the Taxi I managed to scratch the crystal and bezel on an exposed concert bollard!

4th strike at the airport I scratched the clasp on a stainless trim at the check-in. 

That was the last straw, it's been a great and reliable watch ever since and one I'll keep.

[trilo]

Came to me NOS and has already minor scratches. Mind you it was missing another end link (lower one) and I had to install a used one, so I have  not ruined it. 

[leffemonster]

I’m out of the running for today’s theme, unless you class a couple of scratches on a bracelet as “wabi’d up” as that’s about the extent any of my new-to-me watches have suffered a wrecking. The one I was really pissed off about marking up is my SPB129J1 Crown Chronograph LE, and I’m still none the wiser how it could have happened.

So, I’m going with my own theme today instead - wear a watch with a sub-dial - and this Orient Bambino ‘small seconds’.

[pip]

Difficult theme today as like many here I tend to do the opposite; I buy shitters and try to make them look as good as I can.

Although this one, one of my crusty gang watches, is one where I learned that just like dogs die in hot cars, watches die on hot windowsills. That was a lesson learned the hard way and luckily none of my best pieces fell to the same fate, although I lost a flake of paint from my Pogue dial.

So yes, I wrecked the dial by leaving it exposed on a windowsill during a really hot couple of weeks. A rare combination of events as living in England we don’t get all that many really hot weeks. My best guess on the discolouration is that oil from the movement boiled and vaporised and deposited itself on the dial on an almost atomic level. I have tried, it won’t come off. But do you know what, I have come to love it.





And a before shot.

[rossr]

I bought my 5y23-6069 new from Byrnes Jewellers in Mudgee, NSW in 1990. It was quite expensive at the time I recall - around the $340 mark if I recall correctly. It has been my main watch when travelling/playing sport/whatever ever since I bought it. It has been extremely reliable, and is one of the few watches I wear swimming. Here it is - with a pic of what it would have looked like when new (as exhibited by the similarly aged but less-worn 5y23-6060).

[inboost]

It was 1992 and I was in college, and and Mum took my sister and I on a Caribbean cruise for her 50th birthday. While at port Jamaica we walked the shopping district and somehow we came upon someone selling watches. My Sister and I both bought ourselves fake Rolex watches, mostly as a joke. Funny enough this was my first ever analog hands watch and also my first mechanical watch. It was a brand new Chinese knock-off using a pretty decent Miyota 8200A when I got it, but I knew none of this. I ended up wearing it a lot, and eventually the crystal started popping out. Last try to re-seat it didn't go so well. If only I had the tools I have now back then!

I remember the first night wearing it back on the top deck of the ship, patiently waiting for the date change. At midnight it was probably about to tick over on the date but the day wasn't even in the initial phases of moving. I had no idea what to expect, but as a young engineering student in training I figured this machine would just tick both day and date smartly over at precisely 12:00:00. A young girl I was flirting with on the trip was by my side and I remember her suggesting I wait until morning to see if it was really broken like I figured it was. Of course she was right. It has always been ready for the new day when I was, so I learned my first lesson about analog day/date changes and moved on.

So it's dinged and it's discolored, the dial is dusty, and the fake gold plate is thin in some areas. Yet it still looks good at arms length.

Maybe I owe it a new crystal and a spot in the watch box?

[Rod]

Oct 8, 2022 0:19:38 GMT -8 leffemonster said:

So, I’m going with my own theme today instead - wear a watch with a sub-dial - and this Orient Bambino ‘small seconds’.

That's one Orient that i covert, just beautiful 

[small]

Day 8 the Wabi’d or wrecked

Again about as easy as picking a favorite. I work in “Maintenance” and have for the last 30 years. It’s been MRO (Maintenance Repair and Operations) for the last 20+, since telling most people I work in “Maintenance” led people to believe I changed light bulbs (I do) cleaned the bathrooms (I have)…The facility I’m at, we could say we’re basically Mill Rights, as it’s another pretty general description, but multi-craft is more accurate. While I’m no rockstar at any of what I do, I am more than proficient. The older generation here, were ones that wanted you to know and therefore do everything. That way we didn’t need to call in anyone from the outside. Be it mobile equipment repair (Forklifts, end-loaders tractors, trailers, rail car movers etc.) Welders, Fabricators, Electricians (24v-460VAC, relay logic to PLC) Plumbers, Pipe fitters, Painter’s, Crane Operators, Concrete, Iron Work. There isn’t much we let out of our hands.

I came over to MRO from the Fab Shop (Hired out of college, another story) because I would rather work on equipment and do something more varied each day, versus sit at a bench and weld.

Thing was, coming from that department, I was given the plant welding tasks. Since I had no formal (School) training I had always thought that working in the field meant I was welding “in position”. Turns out, in welding jargon, “in” position means, flat on your table, and “out”, means wherever you happen to be. Now you know too.

Today’s watch was my first new Seiko, that I bought, also it was my first Automatic. I bought it from a guy at work, that was getting them at a Flea-Market. I saw he had one and thought wow, just by swinging your arm, it winds the watch? After I bought it, I took the watch to show my jeweler, who said it was a “Grey Market” watch. I asked could he get “Automatics” from Seiko and he grabbed his catalog and there wasn’t a one??? He did show the “New” Seiko Kinetic; which I did find very interesting, but not very appealing visually, and IIRC they weren’t cheap either. IIRC I paid about $40 this one could even been less.

I have searched of the original bracelet, but having a box of parts at home, and box at work, and who knows what all was lost in the fire, I couldn’t lay my hands on it. The bracelet was pretty buggered with weld splatter, with a ball landing on an end link. I had to grind that guy off. Heck even at the 1:03 side of the case I had one. It left a bit of a pit and actually shows a bit of Oxidation? I lost the 5 Shield at one point, and then the DD window frame. The crystal being flat glass can’t really be polished, by me, and def shows signs of (ab)use. This was my “at” work watch, for many years, before I got really into the hobby. A worker said I was like Mr. Rogers who would change in and out of his shoes, I would change in and out of my watch…

Being a 7S26 with a solid caseback and my earliest memory of this, I would say was made in April 1987, 1997 seems to late. The reference number ending in Zero also has me agreeing with my Jeweler that it was grey market. US market should have been a 9.

I tossed it for the first time on the timer to see its health. Granted it’s no longer a regular wear watch but still sees action from time to time. Other than having a wide BE and falling rate the Amps and lines look very good for a 35-year watch, that’s never been serviced! I do think I’ll try and nudge it to being a bit better today…

[russtmurray]

I bought this St.Moritz (now Momentum) new at a dive shop in Vancouver, BC back in the early 90's. It's been my beater watch ever since and aside from a hands & battery change, it's just been used and abused but has weathered the storm quite well..



...but for most pf the day, I'll be wearing this guy

[59yukon01]

[cd_god]

Today's Seiko golf of the day: when your putting stroke misses the sweet spot the put immediately starts rolling off your target line.

2 X $aturday

Hotty Toddy

The game starts in 5 hours

I purchased this watch brand new last fall to wear on Game Day

On more than one occasion I noticed large scratches and even paint transfer from a door frame or where ever.

Luckily it has a plastic crystal that can be buffed out.

How does that saying go?

"I have been thrown out of better places than this" when you get kicked out of a bar.

I've wrecked more expensive watches than this one.

I'll have to find one to put on after work.

[saldog]

small nice write up. 7S26 came out in 1996, so yours must be a 1997.

[suntzu]

[small]

Oct 8, 2022 7:11:46 GMT -8 saldog said:

small nice write up. 7S26 came out in 1996, so yours must be a 1997.

I guess I should have know that by now. Old age is setting in.

[dapellegrini]

So here it is, my Speedmaster Professional (caliber 1863), "Sapphire Sandwich". NOTE: I know I cannot go to the moon in this one with the Sapphire crystal that could shatter in space, and the retro curve of the hesalite version is… never mind. I wanted this version, end of story.





This watch needs no introduction, spec sheet or additional explanation. I will add from a personal perspective, I was not sure I would like this watch when I bought it. I was worried it would wear too large, that the manual wind would get old, and perhaps it was overhyped. I was wrong on all accounts.

I bought this NIB with full kit (photos at bottom of this post). At some point in the first week I completely fell in love with this watch, and it was (almost) the only watch I wore for more than 3 years - with an occasional exception - exercise was with an Apple Watch, and my Nomos did get worn on special occasions. I ended up with this on my wrist while doing everything from desk diving, to home projects, to yard work. I worn it swimming, in the shower and really just about everywhere - and it has developped a nice patina. One of my worst memories was having a door hinge fly off at me and ricochet off the bezel…. Right here in fact:



The case and lugs are muffed, the whole thing is worn in, but it still wears, works and looks great to me. I believe some day this will be the watch that my kids will want from me. It’s been lived in, and we’ve bonded. I can’t say it is always my favorite, but it is my most loved watch.







A personal note: I bought this watch (and my Nomos) out of frustration. Having no concept of what was going on in the luxury watch world in 2018, I had originally set out to buy a Rolex - because that’s "the watch” to get, or so I was told (by mostly non-watch people). Trouble was, I struggled to find a model in their catalog that spoke to me. After a lot of consideration, I had settled on the black dial Daytona - with its racing heritage, wearable 40mm size and chronograph - I talked myself into dropping the thick stack of cash that it would cost at retail w/ sales tax. It wasn’t until after I had made the decision, and was nearly laughed out of every Rolex AD in my area, that I broadened my search. My Nomos and this Speedmaster were essentially my "Daytona money" spent in a different way - and all for the better.

The "kit" with this watch is pretty substantial. I have the original Omega shipping box, outer box, inner box and all the goodies... here:

[SteveX]

Beach watch/Fishing watch for the past couple years. Still good shape.

Long weekend, back down to the Gulf for some sun and fishing. Fishing on the rocks this morning...





Bull Reds are running!

[saldog]

This one is tough for me because all of the watches that I got new are in fairly good condition. The only thrashed ones were bought second hand. I’ve always had office jobs and most scratches are on clasps from my desk. Crystal scratches happen from walking by something rough and catching on it.

My wife and I were teenagers when we got married and we had no money. In our 3rd year of marriage. She bought me this watch for Christmas, in 1984. I was blown away with such a nice gift and upset with her that she spent so much money on me because I think I didn’t on her. I later, I think maybe for her birthday a few months later, bought her the same watch in a ladies version to match.

This was my daily watch for many years, but these days sits in a drawer for all but a couple days per year.

[raz]

This one still looks fine (keeping her away from claws…) but the first 017 I got as mint had some battle scars as it was often worn and did not have as many watches as I have now….

[dapellegrini]

Uhm, not only did I make Page 1 today, but so far there isn't even a page 2!