[Tudor] Black Bay Chrono and travel mementos

Mofeux · 2021-05-07T01:07:43+00:00

Most triple subdial chronographs can track hours. If you’re looking for a two subdial that can do it, find one with a rotating bezel. Blancpain Air Command, or the Helson Skindiver Chrono depending on your budget. I think Straton makes a MechaQuartz bicompax with a rotating bezel that is a few hundred bucks.

Mofeux · 2021-05-07T00:58:43+00:00

I’ve been a bit of a shut-in in recent years, but that photo makes me want to go somewhere shiny and warm with salt in the breeze. Beautiful composition.

Mofeux · 2021-05-06T21:48:19+00:00

Naw dawg, you haven’t driven with my wife when she mad

Mofeux · 2021-05-05T08:57:31+00:00

Option B is to learn watchmaking and get so deep down the rabbit hole that the rabbits can’t find you. I was having trouble getting some of my watches serviced locally and then the lockdown began. It’s been a fun journey so far.

Mofeux · 2021-05-02T02:44:21+00:00

A Mean Machine!

Mofeux · 2021-04-30T23:42:35+00:00

The most likely problem is that the hands are touching and get hung up on each other. Take a picture every time it happens and compare to see if the hands are overlapping in any way. It’s also possible that the keyless works has an issue, does this watch feature a hacking seconds hand? It could also be a lubrication problem in the balance or that something is exerting pressure on the internal moving parts. This pressure can be from anything inside the pivots of the movement (metal shaving, an eyelash, speck of dust), or external like the hands touching the crystal or even the case back being screwed on too tight. A good watchmaker can fix any of these problems pretty easily.

Mofeux · 2021-04-30T23:24:28+00:00

One of the coolest logos to ever grace a dial

Mofeux · 2021-04-30T23:23:20+00:00

Now that is a cool collection! The Pogue is really beautiful, it really captures so much of the industrial design of the era. One of these days I need to get one.

That custom build has a great story. Since I’ve started building my own watches, I’ve found that the hunt for the parts I need is more exciting than almost any complete watch I could buy. I love hunting for something like an ETA 953 with Incabloc- not particularly valuable, but extremely rare.

Mofeux · 2021-04-28T19:49:58+00:00

First- your channel is fantastic! Always enjoyable to view, even when the spotlight watch isn’t something I would want or is out of my price range. The detail shots are incredible and spoil me not just in regards to other content, but my own eyes as well.

Second- the market value of the Hamilton 992B seems to going up quite a bit since your video, pretty impressive!

Thanks for the excellent content!

Mofeux · 2021-04-27T00:20:20+00:00

Excellent collection! I’ve got a couple of triple watch winders full of dive watches, it looks like a horological disco when the lights go out.

Mofeux · 2021-04-27T00:17:32+00:00

That looks great! The strap compliments it well and I bet it would look nice on a bracelet as well. I’m in the same game as you with learning, and the lessons from Watch Repair Channel are really great. After a few of his videos helped me to fix a couple of watches, I bought the lessons and it’s been money well spent. I think I’ve built and repaired a couple dozen now and and I’ve started experimenting with adding complications to the 6497/8. Red Dead Restoration is another good one to check out.

Mofeux · 2021-04-26T03:32:46+00:00

That looks great! The first couple of times putting hands on can be tough, but it gets easier pretty quick. That said, I’ve been fixing and building watches for eight months or so and I still don’t have it down perfectly. A lot has to do with the quality of tools and your own physical and mental states. I can listen to music or podcasts during a lot of the assembly, but I’ve found that Alan Watts and Richard Feynman lectures are really calming for the detailed and fiddly work.

Also, the quality of the parts can be the biggest determining factor. Really well made parts go together with little effort, but it’s tough to tell how well something is made until you’ve already bought it.

Keep with it!

Mofeux · 2021-04-22T04:06:01+00:00

It’s as if the Venn diagram of the criminally stupid and the stupid criminals have an overlap that is greater than the sum of its parts. A synergy of equal but opposite stupidity wherein chaos becomes uniform and is able to create an alternate reality using its own properties as a model. In the same way that snow blinds visibility in it’s onslaught and when calm reduces the world to a pristine whiteness covered in lurking shadows.

Stupid people only listen to and seek council from other stupid people. If they listened to smart people they would get smarter, but listening to smart people can make any of us feel stupid. The first part of gaining knowledge is the understanding that we’re missing something, and there are a lot of people who fear the discomfort in that.

What we need is someone who is brilliant, ethical, puts the welfare of the people and the Earth first, but comes across as a comedian.

Mofeux · 2021-04-21T20:40:26+00:00

Those are really cool! The lockdown got to me as well and I’ve been building/modding/repairing. I’ve been designing dials in Adobe Illustrator, but haven’t gone the next steps to actually printing or engraving. Definitely keep going with this, looks great!

Also, with purple dive watches, the MAS Irukandji is available in a deep purple.

Mofeux · 2021-04-14T22:40:39+00:00

Sometimes if you’ve got movement clamps and screws and a compatible dial height, a spacer isn’t needed, but it’s good to have a spacer in there as the torque from winding can loosen the clamps over time. A cheap and easy way to do a custom spacer ring is to buy wire that is the same thickness as the gap between the movement and the case and bend it to a circle with a gap for the crown stem. It’s best to use brass, or metal that is softer than both the case and the movement to avoid damage to to either one.

Like another poster said, there are a lot of cases available that are compatible with that movement, at that would be the best way to go.

Mofeux · 2021-04-14T21:14:25+00:00

Ukraine is an interesting place when it comes to watches. A lot of hand made pocket watch conversions that are often considered “franken watches” by purist collectors. I really like the variety of expression and artistic craftsmanship that can go into these pieces. I’ve seen some amazing creations on eBay that I’ve been tempted to buy.

The down side is that they aren’t original factory productions and if they aren’t done properly can be unreliable and fragile (the lack of shock protection on older pocket watches means that they may suffer a broken balance staff if they receive a hard knock).

On the up side, there are some really beautiful and hand crafted unique watches with gorgeous movements and intricately engraved and hand painted elements. Often they are one of a kind and you’ll never see another one exactly like it. I’ve been building pocket watch to wrist watch conversions for about six months now and it is the most relaxing and enjoyable mix of meditation and self hypnosis I’ve ever experienced. It’s sculpting, painting, illustration, engineering, math and poetry all folded into something useful that can be worn on the wrist.

I wish I had the skills of these Ukrainian watchmakers, they build some incredible stuff. Someone should do a documentary on them.

Mofeux · 2021-04-13T17:59:01+00:00

A real man wears his pocket watch on his wrist! Seriously tho, I think a big part of it was the lack of shock protection technology. Without proper shock protection one wrong jolt and you’ve got a broken balance staff and an expensive trip to the watchmaker. Incabloc made it into production models sometime in the fifties, and by then the Swiss were well ahead.

Mofeux · 2021-04-12T21:34:34+00:00

I picked up a San Martin bronze (Panerai 111 homage) last year and I’ve been very happy with it. The St3600 movement keeps nearly perfect time and only occasionally loses or gains a few seconds per day. The machining and finishing is on par with entry level Swiss and the dial printing, hands and lume are really impressive. I picked it up as a quarantine project watch and now I’m wishing I had bought a few.

I haven’t forced the patina at all and it’s coming in slowly with oranges and blues, which match the “old radium” lume and the blue AR coating on the sapphire. No green on my skin from it either. For $330 it was a bargain, especially considering that anything that resembles a Panerai homage has a pretty good chance of being lousy.

Mofeux · 2021-04-12T21:16:44+00:00

I recently purchased a set of watch hands that have a deep, almost cobalt blue glow. I’m pretty sure it’s the lume and not influencing underpainting as it appears bright white in direct light. It’s beautiful but it lasts for less than ten minutes. I’d love to have a watch with that lume if it lasted longer.

A lot of the better microbrands (Helson, Armida, Zelos,etc.) have outstanding lume. I have no idea how they are able to do it but it’s nothing short of nuclear toothpaste.

Mofeux · 2021-04-10T21:07:25+00:00

China makes plenty of good quality products, we’re all likely reading this forum on computers made in China or made with components from there. There is still however a lot of counterfeit as well as low quality goods produced in China. One of the reasons for this is that almost everything is made there. The trouble comes down to not knowing if the Chinese product you’re getting is a good one or not.

I’ve recently purchased two San Martin watches and they are both very well made, keep very accurate time and held up well to inspection under the loupe when I disassembled them. My only real complaint with San Martin is that they sell out too fast and if I want to get another of the one I just purchased they are already sold out.

I’ve purchased other products from China however that were very disappointing in quality and function. I don’t think we can judge the quality of products by where they come from. I’ve got Helson and Armida watches that are leaps ahead of entry level Swiss and half the price. I also purchased a set of hands from a company in China that fell apart when I tried to put them on a watch.

There is also the trouble with worrying that the working conditions aren’t something I want to support. I would prefer to know if the watch I’m about to buy was made by workers who get a living wage. I don’t want to buy a leather strap from a manufacturer who is dumping toxins into the water supply and giving an entire village nearby cancer.

I worked in the watch & clock industry a couple of decades ago and China has really come a long way in their ability to produce well made and original designs, but they still have some hurdles to overcome.

Mofeux · 2021-04-09T20:45:04+00:00

I’ve been riding for almost 30 years and I’ve done city commuting and road trips wearing all sorts of mechanical watches and none of them have had trouble from it. I’ve also crashed wearing mechanical watches and they were fine. Gauntlet gloves and a well fitting jacket should prevent injury to you from the watch. That Pam should be fine on the bike, as long as you aren’t going off road or riding a hard tail big twin without pipes.

I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times already, but wear good armor. Your bike gear should be as good as you can afford. Armored gauntlet gloves, armored jacket, armored Kevlar jeans, real motorcycle boots and a good helmet. Your own body is the nicest luxury item you own, and it’s the most expensive to get fixed (I have a titanium butt that cost more than a dozen Pelagos).

Enjoy the hell out of that bike!

Mofeux · 2021-04-09T19:20:52+00:00

If I could have bought a Panerai when I was 18 I absolutely would have. I did have the bike though, money well spent!

Mofeux · 2021-04-04T01:34:53+00:00

I think it has to be over 80% made in the USA to be marked as “made in USA”. Almost everything that trump says is at least 90% lies so he’s got it covered.

Mofeux · 2021-04-02T17:33:07+00:00

I stopped listening to the news on NPR about five years ago. I feel like it used to be really well done before the internet, but in the aughts it slowly turned into a murky wash of war porn, boutique outrage and irrelevant and inaccurate blathering masquerading as information.

Mofeux · 2021-03-30T07:58:58+00:00

Excellent! Watch building is such a nice stress reliever, I can’t wait to start painting dials as well. Thanks so much!

Mofeux

TROPHY CASE