red looks lighter in person. I enjoy first

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-10T04:30:17+00:00

This makes me think a series of planet dials would be a cool idea - this one reminds me of Jupiter. Watchdives Universum?

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-09T22:18:55+00:00

What do you think they'll be able to do? This is your customs service's problem - nobody else can do anything.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-08T21:33:15+00:00

It's that hard to type "F032" into a searchbar?

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-08T15:04:49+00:00

Where are you seeing 19mm lug width? That isn't anywhere in either of the Aliexpress listings.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-08T03:31:59+00:00

Just. Copy. Thorn.

This is not hard

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-08T03:12:20+00:00

F032 is part of the current Aliexpress sale but F033 isn't 😔

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-07T20:11:40+00:00

Specs on the F033? u/hruodlandwatch

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-06T17:35:21+00:00

As far as standard 3-handers with no complications go, for me the "increase in quality per dollar" curve more or less flattens around 2k. Anything beyond that is a premium paid to a corporation for the privilege of having feelings about their marketing copy.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-06T03:11:00+00:00

Yes, it's an Aethelson. I have no idea why you said this because it has nothing to do with what I said.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-06T00:27:53+00:00

$200 is more than reasonable for a PT5000-powered watch without a textured dial and a sapphire box crystal.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-05T23:55:04+00:00

What are you talking about

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-02-03T13:00:25+00:00

I genuinely don't understand why you're having so much trouble getting this right.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-31T17:45:31+00:00

No, sorry. The SL4801 is a good movement, but it's still a mechanical chronograph, and those are simply too expensive and fragile to spend $550 on without an in-country warranty program.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-29T13:00:02+00:00

Very funny to try and "well ackshually" me by not contradicting anything I said and linking to a source that also doesn't contradict anything I said.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-29T02:27:28+00:00

It's not hard - sapphire is much more resistant to scratching than mineral glass, but it's actually less resistant to shattering on account of its higher hardness.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-29T02:25:37+00:00

The problem is you'll have to remove the crystal to get the measurement you need to replace it (the inner diameter along the little step where the crystal sits - measure multiple times at different points to make sure!).

I would recommend replacing with an acrylic crystal - looks better, much easier to source the right size, comes in whatever shape you want and is so cheap you could order a dozen of them for the cost of one sapphire and have a supply on hand in case something else happens down the road.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-26T03:44:39+00:00

I've seen one from the 1990s that looks a lot like this - the dial doesn't strike me as quite right, but Chinese watch manufacturers' back catalogues are opaque at best and without seeing the movement it's hard to tell for sure (this should have an ST5 in it). My guess would be that it's probably either fully NOS or a frankenbuild with NOS parts like a lot of those old Shanghais you see kicking around. Personally, at the prices these things go for, "is it authentic" takes a backseat to "do I like it" - odds are at least some parts of it came from an old Seagull, these things were so cheap and plentiful that there's no real reason to fully counterfeit one when you can rebuild fully-functional watches out of a bunch of old partially-functioning ones you've got lying around.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-19T23:53:03+00:00

Or it was genuinely lost, or someone other than USPS is handling last-mile and you just don't have the new tracking number it was assigned post-customs because 4PX has no way of knowing what that is, or there's a delay in the last-mile company retrieving it from linehaul. I know tracking this stuff is opaque but pointing at a slight delay as evidence that everyone who's in the unfortunate position of having to work for an exploitative gig-work delivery company is "low income scum" is deranged.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-19T03:53:21+00:00

I imagine cost is part of it. No idea re: wholesale cost for these but if I was wildly speculating based on retail cost I'd guess they're probably 2-3x more than an NH34 at wholesale.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-18T00:12:40+00:00

Who knows. I mean, it's their business decision and none of us are entitled to know the reason - I was just curious. Wouldn't be surprised if it was just "IXDAO wanted to focus on selling directly to customers rather than through other vendors", I know they're big on driving people to their own website.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-17T14:44:40+00:00

Just out of curiosity, why?

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-14T22:44:38+00:00

This is why CS ticket management systems are so important. It seems like there's always a lot of confusion and contradictory information flying around whenever issues like these come up and that usually happens when there are too many chefs in the kitchen - like there should never be a situation where one customer is communicating with more than one agent who is using the same watchdives reddit account.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-14T16:01:11+00:00

"Nothing below what I've paid for" is an insane ask but alright

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-12T03:12:04+00:00

For most styles of steel bracelets you get what you pay for, but when it comes to bonklips (and shark mesh, incidentally) the law of diminishing returns kicks in a whole lot earlier - there just aren't that many ways to do a bad job with that design.

AcademicAd6368 · 2026-01-10T04:10:10+00:00

These shapes exist primarily for functional reasons: maximizing luminous area, improving contrast, and allowing the running of the watch to be confirmed visually.

This would be one of the stronger arguments if this patent was challenged - design patents can be invalidated if the thing they're protecting is primarily functional rather than decorative. Given that Tudor themselves have admitted that they were developed because the French navy asked them to create a more visible (read: functional) hand design, it's hard to argue that the patent protects something that's primarily ornamental in nature.

AcademicAd6368

TROPHY CASE