Show us your watch Collection.

[LardAbove]

Well.... To continue 🙄

The bracelet is a teencie bit tight on my wrist = not wearing watch 😕....
However, never ever throwing anything away give us all 'rummage room' in these affairs 😁.

My old band, off a broken 'sphere', is infinitely adjustable and standing in, whilst I await a fitting new strap 👍

Keeping excellent time (... now I'm wearing it again) so we will see how the autowind behaves over the coming week.

*I've ordered a green NATO webbing strap, matching the face. 😎

LardAbove 🚴

 

[Reynard]

Fingers crossed it keeps ticking nicely @LardAbove

I think I've finally managed to work out how to remove the bracelet from a 1977 Citizen I bought way back. I love the watch but hate the bracelet as a) even on its smallest setting it's still too big for my wrist and the links aren't removable, and b) the links pinch my skin. Will get the bracelet off and replace it with a nice leather strap.

The watch only cost me £4.50 including postage so not ruined by trying.

 

[LardAbove]

NATO style strap arrived ... typical, for me, mod required 🙄
Too tight, so extra hole required = needed a 'fabricated' tail loop. Quality 15mm plumbing pipe to the rescue 😎

I can now relax and just wear it........ 👍

LardAbove 🚴

 

[Drago]

Drago - Twinned with Action Man.

Tudor GMT,
Full size Bulova Devil Diver,
Rolex Sub,
1967 pattern Vostok Amphibia,
Traser Code Blue.

 

[Reynard]

Drago - Twinned with Action Man.

View attachment 731105

Tudor GMT,
Full size Bulova Devil Diver,
Rolex Sub,
1967 pattern Vostok Amphibia,
Traser Code Blue.

If the Vostok were smaller, I'd pinch it! I don't think they've ever done a ladies' version. Shame, as I just love the aesthetics of mid 60s to mid 70s watches. Having said that, the case has a good bit of similarity to the Tissot Seastar "Lobster" - which I do have.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Bezelman!

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

My "Dr Strange" drawer

 

[Drago]

If the Vostok were smaller, I'd pinch it! I don't think they've ever done a ladies' version. Shame, as I just love the aesthetics of mid 60s to mid 70s watches. Having said that, the case has a good bit of similarity to the Tissot Seastar "Lobster" - which I do have.

The Vostok is a big old thing. I like it.

It has an interesting backstory. In the sixties the soviet military wanted a watch for divers and special forces, so they gave the job to some government engineers.

Not wanting to infringe any Rolex patents they developed a different caseback whereby the back rests in place and then a lock ring screws down atop it. This is different to the Rolex design, and arguably superior as it doesn't put shear forces through the seal.

Quartz glass was pricy and there were again Rolex patents to avoid, so they used a plexiglass design. As depth increases the plexiglass deforms and actually increases the contact with the seal. Clever stuff.

Of course today they'd just copy Rolex and sod the consequences, but back then their efforts brought about some clever solutions.

 

[Reynard]

The Vostok is a big old thing. I like it.

It has an interesting backstory. In the sixties the soviet military wanted a watch for divers and special forces, so they gave the job to some government engineers.

Not wanting to infringe any Rolex patents they developed a different caseback whereby the back rests in place and then a lock ring screws down atop it. This is different to the Rolex design, and arguably superior as it doesn't put shear forces through the seal.

Quartz glass was pricy and there were again Rolex patents to avoid, so they used a plexiglass design. As depth increases the plexiglass deforms and actually increases the contact with the seal. Clever stuff.

Of course today they'd just copy Rolex and sod the consequences, but back then their efforts brought about some clever solutions.

As an engineer, that kind of thing tickles my fancy.

 

[Drago]

Aye, that's partly what appealed to the latent engineer and factoid nerd in me.

The movement is an evolution of quite an old US design. During WWII the yanks gave the Soviets a watch factory, packed it up and sent it over with all the designs and tooling. The pinkos put it into production and the design evolved over the years, one evolution powering the Vostok Amphibia.

It's a decent time keeper, doesn't lose or gain much on my wrist and was my daily for a while. Sadly anything Russian is in poor taste at the present time so it's been consigned to occasional wear duties.

The Devil diver is a reissue of an early 70s Bulova Oceanographer Snorkel, probably my joint favourite with the Tudor GMT. I bought to cheer myself up when I retired so I have quite an emotional attachment to it. One of the lesser Citizen movements I believe and it can be a bit cantankerous, refusing to work then merrily springing to life 4 months later when I put it on before repeating the cycle, but I love the style. I paid £250 in a sale and 7 years on the original pattern reissues like this version are sometimes selling for £800+ so it may yet prove to be a minor investment.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Drago - Twinned with Action Man.

View attachment 731105

Tudor GMT,
Full size Bulova Devil Diver,
Rolex Sub,
1967 pattern Vostok Amphibia,
Traser Code Blue.

I like the legibility of divers and the Submariner and Traser are very clear in that pic. The Vostok less so. I regret my Seiko Snoopy because white hands on a grey background just don't work. I rarely wear it.

 

[Drago]

To he fair to the Vostok it usually comes with a dark face. I chose the light one because it looked pretty even though, as you say, it might undermune the utility slightly.

 

[Reynard]

A lot of late 1960s watches tend to be silver hands on silver dial. Or gold hands on gold dial. But I'm more into dress and sports watches as opposed to divers, so different kettle of fish in a way.

A lot of Soviet watch movements are based on old swiss / french ones, because a lot of obsolete machinery was shipped over when ebauche makers updated what they were making. And of course stuff got modified over the years too. Soviet watches are agricultural but mostly reliable, even with the somewhat dodgy quality control in the manufacturing process. Seeing shims and weird screws to keep things in place is surprisingly common. But that's what you get when you have official production targets and workers paid by piecework.

 

[Gunk]

Bought this new back in 1997, after a long period of not wearing it, it’s my daily watch again.

 

[Drago]

My Rollocks was a pressie from my eldest daughter. I paid her college course fees for her to trains as a hairdresser. She's just opened her third salon, so thought she'd repay the "debt".

Mrs D gave me a bollarding for wearing it to do the gardening the other day.

Ps, is that a Mini?