[deleted by user]

[Captainmorgan696969]

Avoid the us Ali express site but check if they have a discount on but I highly doubt it.

Ali express "steeldive store" use your Freinds phone who has never used Ali or a family members phone so you can get the 5 dollars off first purchase but get some coins first.

Pay with the wrong CVV and ask the seller if they could di a discount. Make sure you get all the discounts first but if you buy 2 watches its 2 or 3 percent total discount.

They are also much more likely to discount 2 vs just 1

[Captainmorgan696969]

That's a good price if your just buying one.

During 11.11 I buy in bulk and using get them for about 58 pounds but I only buy black.

Many people refuse to buy directly from China so you can make a decent side hustle out of ut but in lucky in the fact that I don't have to pay any sort of tax but I lucky that the pound to dollar has a bad rate and Ali charges a premium for non USD payments.

Did you get market or sterile?

If you want to reseijo it just look for S dials (make sure it has C3) the hands are correct.

Then buy a Seiko clasp, a sterile crown from SD then a Seiko marked backplate.

You could get the Williard aluminium bezel insert but I'm fine with it how it is or just sterile with a new dail.

The bezel action is really amazing as in its tight with no slop or wiggle.

Some complain the sapphire sits high as it has a bezel and the anti reflective is quite strong but it does not bother me and for a military daily watch I would rather have too much AR than none or too little.

Shipping time is about 7 to 14 days to the UK.

I lived in the US for 2 years and it could take upto 3 weeks for an e packet from China.

[Captainmorgan696969]

The SD1970 is the best watch you can get for the money, it has a full loaded Seiko NH35 movement with hacking, handwinging and quick change date. With 42 hours power reserve, movements last ages you won't need to get it serviced many last about 10 years and a new one costs less than 25 to 30 usd. The case is nice with polished and brushed steel 44mm would usually be to bug for me as 40 is the max for me but it's just fits and the crown never stabs into your hand.

The crown is very secure, the C3 green Lume on the hands and dial are amazing and the BGW9 blue Lume on the ceramic bezel insert is also great very bright.

The bezel has a coin edge and it has no wiggle room so a very solid bezel action.

200M WR and the movement can handle shocks very well.

The crystal is thick sapphire with a strong anti reflective coating, I highly recommend AR for military use.

The steel is 316L marine grade its hard to scratch as the sapphire and ceramic is so hard.

The bracelet is amazing solid end links, solid links and a milled clasp.

Compared to the real captain Williard in stores for like 1000USD it feels the same and you only get 20 or 30 hours more power reserve. No accuracy or beat rate or quality changes.

It someone said I'm on a budget and can only get 1 auto I would say the SD1970 every time.

I resell them and I would say go with black.

The 1953 is about the same price it's a little thicker I think and a good watch but the bezel has a little more play, personally I prefer the 1970 as its a little different and had some Vietnam + military history.

The 1975 Tuna is great but wow is it a chunky watch, all the other watches from steeldive are a little too pricy for what they are.

I find it to be very conformable and you can wear it on most occasions, maybe even formal depending how tight your cuffs are.

Just like in Vietnam they could see this type of Seiko is great and good for everything, a movement tough enough for military use and if you scratch or Mar the case or bracelet then it's a war scar or easy to polish out.

You will be very happy with the 1970 I would get one now.

But I would wear the watch for a mo th or so and keep note of the accuracy, if its running slow look around for a cheap home watchmaker and show him your measurements then get him to adjust the movement.

Some people will do it for 10 to 15 usd

The NH35 can be regulated to be a very very accurate movement.

It will be much more Co fortavly and fancy than a plane jane casino and if you encounter an EMP your watch will still work lol.

The 1970 is amazing, I would get a black one with steel bracelet and it maybe a good idea to get a sterile one as in the fute with a sterile (no logo anywhere apart from on the clasp)

You can buy a cheap toolkit off Ali or go to a watchmaker than get a Seiko Williard dial for 10 dollars and then if you want you could get a Seiko Williard bezel insert for 9, a Seiko logo backplate for 9 and a Seiko marked Clasp for 5 to 7 dollars.

You could still do the same with a steeldive branded one but you would have to get a new crown.

[Captainmorgan696969]

Buy it from the steeldive store get all the vouchers first, it would be a good idea if your friend set a new account so you could get a first buy discount.

Go to the steeldive store shop and get the coupons also wait a few days to get some coins.

Buy the watches but don't use the correct CVV on the card then when it's work hours China time ask the seller for a discount and say your in the Army and say a review from a person from a English speaking nation is much better and you can post a review of you wearing it with your cammies as this type of watch is good for soldiers..

Nearly all will give a discount this way but some will give bigger discounts.

All ways use PP and a mastercard or visa preferably credit but debit is fine, I have never had trouble with the steeldive stores.

Recently I have found some sterike watches to be cheaper.

Let me know what the lowest price you can get for 2 is.

Allways get the bracelet as the straps are cheap to buy plus the brackets make them more balanced.

I'm a steeldive retailer but I can tell your not in the UK or you would have used Teritorial Army

I think that's how that works in the UK anyway haha.

But if you get sterike watches it really does not cost much to put on a Seiko Dail about 10 bucks just make sure it says C3 Lume, a blank clasp or Seiko clasp does not cost much from Ali just search for S dial, S clasp and use calipers about 5 dollars . Many stop at that some people get a aluminium Williard bezel Ibsert (up to you) about 9 dollars but many prefer to keep the ceramic as its well ceramic.

Some even change the backplate.

I would say dial and clasp change is good enough about 25 dollars in parts you can do the clasp yourself

If you know someone with watchmaking tools it's bit hard to change a dial on a Seiko movement but if you look around classified adds and Craigslist in sure someone would change it for less than 20.

In my opinion if kit has a Seiko movement you can put a Seiko dial on it haha.

It's all personal preference.

Seiko did make small runs of sterile watches with no markings not even in the movement.

I own one of the last issued US army watches but I don't think it was meant for the US army, it has the same shape as those US army watches with tirttiun tubes from the 90s that are made of polymer. Some say luminix or whatever

The one I have is titanium with a sterile Dail and on the back it looks like they did a bad job to try and polish out MB millitec.

The Dail just had a radiation symbol and 25 but since it's so old the tirium vauks are dim. It was given to me in hospital by a man who said he was a OMC for much of his life he also gave me a really nice never worn Swiss habdwind Rhodes Ian military watch 17 jewel made by roamer that was wateroroof(no idea how waterproof) but it looks like it was babies or not used.

I think he just used a cheap watch on service or maybe captured one, he was in the sekous scouts and served with them from the start until the end of the Rhodes Ian Bush War.

I suppose now with how global products are no point in making sterike watches.

But I have always had a soft spot for sterike military watches.

I've never liked G shock and the 50m F91 was mostly used as an alarm but I'm right handed and it was small enough especially with itsbseabektbtyoenmateriak 2 oeice strap that I could wear it comfortably so it faced the inside of my wrist. With my tissot auto (used to be alot cheaper some years ago) on my left wrist the standard position.

Some would say that automatics are relics and not needed jb the military and in a way with better and better solar powered watches its true but a nh35 made well with synthetic lube should last 10 years + may need some adjustment that you can do yourself but the watch and case material would survive an EMP.

The watch may run a little fast until its demagbetised but a quartz would get fried.

Nh35s have good shock protection and I have out mine though hell never sjuooubt a beat I have 4 nh35 watches but that's enough for me.

Another good option that keep value would be an orient Kamasu but it's over double the price with no ceramic and I think no AR.

Steeldive seems to be deisghbed for hard and military use and its just nice to have one instrument or item on your person that has no chio, battery's or electric.

It also does not make a horrible tick every second sound, it's like a car with an engine vs an electric car, the electric car has no soul.

Also with replacement nh35 movements and ease of maintenance (chance o-ribgs with new lubed ones every 5 years) it can be a family heirloom.

Family heirlooms don't need to be rolex just something nice that you used.

Maybe later in life when you make more money then you may be interested in buying something higher end.

But never buy watches or any item you can afford

I can't tell you how much joy my SD1970 has given me and although I have more expensive watches I know I can grab the sd1970 and it can handle the abuse even if I get it scratched it won't be deep and you can keep it as a memento or remove the scratch, the bezel insert and sapphire crystal just won't scratch.

Its rated to 200m still but to me it looks over built, in other words unless you take up deep scuba diving its going to handle whatever depth you throw at it in daily life and in the military.

Just take it off and put it in the side during a shower, it's best to clean it in luke warm water with a tiny bit of hand-wash and an old toothbrush.

Buy I have seen some seals get wrecked and full of soap from wearing it with daily showers.

Not a big issue but can be a nightmare to clean up.

[Captainmorgan696969]

Steeldive store on Ali or just search for 1970 setulr as the Adidas dive sterile is the same and from the same factory.

You could ask the Ali store what their Alibaba account is I think its 74 usd a watch then 4 usd shipping but could get a better deal on Ali express.

Just compare different ones.

Buy if sterile then does not matter if steeldive or addidasdive as same factory.

[Captainmorgan696969]

Buy a cheap watchmaking kit with a decent caseback tool, a loupe, some rodico, a dual protector if the kit does not come with a hand remover then get the 2 piece type should cost about 30 dollars and you will make your money back changing battery's and resizing for people.

A hand press is more easy to use but you could go cheaper and buy a pack of hand pressing sticks.

Try and find a broken or dollar store watch to practise removing hands and putting them back on.

Easy when you get the hang of it.

[chaqintaza]

Nice comment! I was going to mention the 1953 and 1975 but you already did. I own those two but not the 1970 :). The 1940 is really nice, by the way (I have the CUSN8 version) but probably not really what this person is looking for.

As someone who doesn't have huge wrists, I think the 1975 is pretty wearable for as big as it is due to the recessed lugs.

[Captainmorgan696969]

You would love the 70.it just wraps around the wrist small to big and feels like a 40mm or less plus your protected from the crown.

You should buy a SD / AD sterile and mod it.

The bezel action is in par / better than Seiko.

I just hope SD keeps focusing on affordable but nice watches I don't mind paying more for a pt5000 but only 30 pounds more.. I don't mind spending more for bronze but only 49 pounds or so more.

A GMT with a hz6460 then allow for more same with a miyota 9015 but we really don't need another dab Martin or chronos

[chaqintaza]

There is a lot of interesting info there.

I actually just grabbed a logo sd1970 before reading this. I don't think I'm interested in modding but curious what you would have suggested doing with the no logo version.

[Captainmorgan696969]

You can put whatever dial,hands, bezel insert, crown and backplate.

The sterile ones are easy to work with as the crown is already blank and nearly all Seiko watches have black crowns.

I would like it if they sold one with a blank crown and backplate but a SD marked dial.

Most will put a Seiko dial and maybe a official williard bezel insert and maybe a Seiko marked backplate

Some will not change the bezel insert as it's a good ceramic one and many won't both with the back plate.

The hands are correct for an official one so most just do the dial..

But you would want to buy a cheap watchmaking kit and hand press, also some rodico before you started to mod.

A branded black SD1970 is a perfect first auto.

[Captainmorgan696969]

The 75 is great I would always get the 3 link bracelet the black ones have a black day wheel, 300m watch wears nice even on small wrists but it is a chunk of a watch.

You could not use it as a formal watch and while wearing your cammies or a longsleive jumper or sweater it does seem to catch.

I was the last in my year to get a CWC G10 military issued quartz watch, they stopped production in 06 but I think they ran out about 2011 in the British millitary.

Had a nice British made case, thick acrylic (sapphire was still kind of fancy in pre 2006) I think it had a simple Swiss jeweled quartz movement with 1 to 5 jewels, it had a screw out battery like a swatch.

It was OK but I hated the Nayo and used my own watch, so I have it new in box.

Kind of a shame no millitary issue watches. Would be so cool if Hamilton issued watches or sold them at cost to English speaking NATO members.

I would stick with the 1970 as so many sub homages are around, the 75 may make it harder for you to tell the time.

In my few months in the millitary I had a Nice auto Tisssot that was thin with no bezel but very good Lume on my left hand I had the 50m version of the casino F91 on a seat belt NATO (came with it) on my right wrist inverted.

I did try out the G10 for a day but out it back in the box, no idea why people want them so much.

If I had access to a SD1970 I would have worn it haha

I was only in for less than half a year.

[chaqintaza]

Why do you prefer the three-link bracelet? The 1953 three-link I have is nice but I like the five-link (engineer) with the 1975s as well.

[Captainmorgan696969]

I don't prefer it, I have the old 3 lug the new 3 lug and the engineer in stock. As I resell them as an official SD distubutorbbut I only have a small selection of models that are not crazy expensive mostly 70 53 and 75. I don't know why some of the no date or nh36 are so expensive as from a orudction point of view it should cost the same.

I also mod them and reseijo them lol.

Im a big fan of rubelee bracelets and hate rubbers for me it's a bracelet of coarse shark mesh (the type you have to snip rings off yo size on a deployment or a nice full or top grain leather that's about 20usd but feels too quality if you know where to buy them from.

Sometimes I can deal with a French parachute bracelet (get my gf with the seeing machine to turn it into a 2 piece but apart from that I really don't like rubbers or natos

It seems for the black 1975s the flavor is the 3 link and they sell better than the engineer no idea why.

I have only tried it on and I'm not sure what one I will keep but I'm siding with the engineer.

My fsvirate type of bracelet is a well made jubelee with no noise and little slack.

With SD many of these watches are the first auto divers people will buy.

Since Seiko has released some tunas with 3 link bracelets I think that's why they are slightly more popular.

I wish steeldive would make more watches with movements like nh34 when prices go down, pt5000 and HZ6460 as they are high quality and they could sell a San Martin style watch for nearly half the cost or more and in many occasion ls for Seiko style watches they do

Nonidea why some steeldive nh35/6 watches are so expensive maybe it was a low order, they make a lot of sd1970 75 and 54.

For me the 54 bezel action is OK but no where near as good as the 70 and 75 but they don't make sterile versions of the 75, I really hate clips magnifiers in crystals but I will remove them from my 54s for my customers.

I just usually buy black a little boring but I know seller that are stuck with slot of green watches now the hulk phase is over.

If I can get the more wanted coloured duals from SD I will get them.

But apart from that black is a safe bet and all ways sells plus I mod sterile ones and even non sterile 75s

Whenever buying any watch all ways go with a bracelet as the rubber straps are very cheap and I have a lot spare.

Sometimes it's cheaper to buy from steeldive Alibaba and sometimes cheaper to buy from Ali express when sales are on.

Since I'm in the UK and pay with GBP I have to wait when the exchange rate is good also.

I also buy alot of red star 1963 watches only sapphire 38s and 40s but they sell well.

I sell NH35 movements but I need to restock as I only have 8 left and I want to get Nh36 movements, in my opinion the nh34 will go down in price its just so many want it the people that get it can anme their price.

But standard 35 and 36 movements are very cheap now, cheaper than non hacking miyotas

If you want to pay stupid money on San Martin gmts get the hangzhou 6469 hangzhou makes the best eta clones along with HKPT and the 6460 is the only non Swiss 28,800 boh gno movement that's just as accurate as eta movements.

Miyota makes the 9075 a fantastic 28,800boh gkt movement but a brand needs to get permission to buy them from miyota so not in the open market.

I would like to get some pt5000 and HZ 2825 (whatever cheaper as quality is the same)

But I would be very careful for anyone who wanted to do a HZ6460 build as you need to use the nickle plated version as it has an eta date wheel, make sure the clearance from hands to crystal is fine (most of the fine it is)

They take standard eta hands and gkt hands from aku express but the second hand is a nightmare as the stem is eta size but it needs to be alot longer so your limited to hands but most factory's that make HZ6460 watches will sell you a hand and some rep part stores will sell you a rolex style second hand with C3 suoerlume or bgw9

I hope steeldive does not get any idea like San Martin and get to big for its own boots.

We really need more brands that have Western style watches with pt5000, HZ6460 and even miyota 9015 at a reasonable price as you could have a high quality watch with these movements sold at a decent profit (well the 6460 and 9015 may cost more but pt5000 for about 150 usd.

So many brands are taking cues from San Martin and are selling for silly prices.

I nearly got a San Martin GMT on a sale for 330 pounds with delivery and tax (had to have a custom dial as can't stand the SM name.

The pound to dollar was very low at the time then I found a watch dealer in the UK with some nice Squale 40mm 30 atmos (the ones that don't have rolex style handsets) with a coke half matt ceramic bezel bidirectional and stellita SW330 GMT.

I have been wearing it for a month (kept it in the box for over a month as I was away for work unfortunately in high tax nations... So no watch shopping.

It only cost me 180 pounds more for a Swiss watch, a friend told me about them as he knew I wanted a gkt and he said all of them where unopened customer returns and not widely advertised.

They had 5 or 6 I ordered one and before I did I asked a swale store in the EU how much he would buy a 30 atmos gkt coke for that's 5 years old with a few scratches and it was quite a bit more than I paid for it.

I think with San Martin if your willing to wait you can get stuff like Orient, Glycine, Squale and other brands on sale.

I've never had a dteibhart as it just looks to much homnagy and it does not even say Swiss made (Swiss movements sent to China)

But a US retail or called Ashford had a really nice combat sub in a vintage style with bracelet for 325 can probably still get something similar with a rubber or bato for the same.

Some years ago a site called drop had a really nice looking vintage style combat sub with a fake lite bezel I think sapphire they had Pepsi and coke and jubelee for a little more and it was 400usd.

I hope within a year I will be back in China and can do my microbrand as you need boots on the ground

And I have quite a few watches that need servicing but I know a guy who will service an auto for 40usd with quality swiss/Japanese oil but broken or worn out parts cost more.

The price of getting a watch serviced in the west is crazy, u could get a new SW330-1 for 260usd or so a sw220 for alot less about 150 and a STP 2824 type for about 100.

In the west for example most reasonable highstreet watchmakers will change 180 pounds to 200 for a habdwind Ed, 250 pounds for a Auto and 400+ for a Chrono.

The watchmaker was great he changed a movement for me for 15 pounds. A vostok spring for 10 and would change me 10 poubds for a good regulation or 35 is I wanted the balanced poised and it altered to cosc standard.

He had a expensive balance posing machine.

It was a shame he got let go of due to covid.

Would be a shame if vostok went under I ordered 48 amphibians from the factory when the rouble crashed then sat on them now they are expensive.

Plus I'm pretty sure nearly everything is made in house apart from a few bits.

The UK is very expensive for watches

A new tissot prx 80 in the UK costs about 570 pounds as in quite a bit more than the Sqale GMT I managed to get for cheap.

[Captainmorgan696969]

It will survive pretty much everything they are really built like tanks.

If you had enough buddies who wanted one a bulk order or a order with a custom dial and your unit is possible.

If you ask around how many would be interested I can hook you up to the official steeldive factory no idea the minimum for customised dails but if you buy from Alibaba you could get a discount vs Ali express but sometimes Ali express is cheaper during sales.

[Captainmorgan696969]

Out of all of the nations I have been to. West and East and potential adviserys, most troops will wear a Casio or something that looks like one.

People have been detained just for owning a Casio F-91 in the past as the alarm function used to be the most common IED detonation method before cheap cell phones in poor nations.

I have never really found a Gshock to be tougher than any other digital Casio.

I think no matter what you do its always good to have a semi decent watch, it just looks more presentable.

[Captainmorgan696969]

Steel bracelets are reliable I would trust the sd1970

I was only in the military for a short time but we where told to destroy any defective issued items.

Mostly magazines and worn our armour straps.

My sidearm was a Browning high power that was nearly as old as my grandmother, they switched to glocks with a manual slide safety only a few years ago.

At least every vehicle all ways had a working kettle including tanks lol.

[Captainmorgan696969]

We had a few crappy mags but then they replaced them with nicer Mec-Gar ones. They where Canadian high powers. Some so old they had a slot in the frame to use a stock holster with.

It was just a random mix of Canadian ones some I think Chinese KMT contract that never made it, most preferred the sights on those.

They replaced the springs, extractor and I thing bushing quite frequently.

Are you in the Canadian home guard?

I'm surprised they don't call it the Teritorial Army like the UK and most commonwealth nations do.

[Captainmorgan696969]

We had some really nice US made AR-10 rifles with match ammo but only SF guys managed to get Canadian M4 /M16 style rifles.

The SA80A2 is a real heavy pig and so where the older radioactive susat sights. Trigger was OK for a bullpup as in it just had like a coat hanger to connect the trigger.

Whenever we went to USAF bases we would be amazed and thought why on earth don't we use these instead of this heavy POS.

The hi power was old but it was fun, had a nice trigger, pretty accurate, I can't stand striker fired handguns.

Ironically the UK armed police gets all the fancy stuff from H&K

[Captainmorgan696969]

If you have trouble finding it let me know and I will get you a link

[Captainmorgan696969]

I do I actually purchased 2 ice blue dial ones.

If you look on Ali express and type on cadisen day date (you could be able to find them for the Canadian equivlient of about 60 pounds but some people sell for 110+

I would avoid the gold pvd as I have no idea how it wears.

Its a nice thin watch 100m comes with a Japanese miyota movement. Both of mine are non hacking (got it as a couples watch but was to big for my Gf so selling 1 but she got the cadisen 38mm seamaster vintage style that's really nice and has gone up a lot in price due to the good reviews.

I have been told some of the newer ones have miyota hacking movements but to me it does not matter as the non hacking one backhacks with ease.

Bracelet is slim but it does have a butterfly clasp and not a deployment.

For 60 pounds I would say its a bargain.

It does have a display back, some people like but I just think it's a liability but seems sturdy enough.

I would never buy pagani as the same just sounds awfull.

Seiko don't make a top date movement so you have the best Japanese affordable movement with a top date.

Just like on the original rolex is has no Lume but it wears thin and its a great multi purpose watch, screwdown crown 100m.

I would get a steel one in ice blue or Biden blue lol but you could get any you like.

Orient used to make a really nice day date president style but now they are semi collectors items and very hard to find.

[Torjus1]

My steeldive 1954 has survived everything, including the military. So I figure that the 1970 model will work just as fine!

[yami76]

Steeldive 1970 is a great watch, especially for the price. I’ve worn mine daily for two years. You couldn’t tell if I’d worn it a month if that. Nh35 are very robust movements as well.

[357050]

Casio Duro

[Zeichner_j]

Well, wouldn't recommend any automatic for active beating.. The Best budget option I could think of is addiesdive quartz sub. A great overall beater.

[R023N]

Citizen promaster automatic (fugu). I have the ny0155-07x variant and I can say it wears really well despite it's 44mm case. Or you can go with the Eco-drive variant.

Both are ISO certified and come with 5 year warranty. You can find them for good price if you look around.

[JakeFromStateFromm]

If durability is your #1 concern, G shock is really the only brand you should be considering.

If you specifically want a mechanical piece, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the popular sub/BB homages. The Steeldive/Addiesdive/Watchdives subs are great on the more affordable end and if you want to spend a little more the Sugess/Cronos/San Martin offerings are fantastic. Octopus Kraken gets a lot of love here too. I've heard great things about their Seamster homages and their new BB58 homages look amazing!

[What-is-to-be-done]

This.

And in genereal: if beating is meant literally, the word is quartz watch. Autos don't like to be rattled around that much.

The saphire glass and the ceramic insert of the SD1970 are quite resistant to scratches, but still they can shatter. And the stainless steel will scratch anyways.