u/E98X — reddlx

People will probably rag on this for being a fashion watch, but it's a high quality ETA 2824 movement in a very well executed case, what is there to complain about really? The price was right as well, in the range of other ETA 2824 powered options.

I really like the case as well, it's the perfect blend for me of the Nautilus & Royal Oak style, with a non-traditional case shape with screws on the front. The respect and nod is there for those designs without outright copying either one.

It sits on the wrist nicely and no one else has one, making it a very personal choice. It's also not so expensive that I really care about wearing it daily.

Thanks for letting me share!

u/E98X — 9 days ago

▲ 0 r/watchHotTakes

Was just thinking about this recently and it is funny how arguments in the natural/lab diamond argument apply to watches.

Real diamonds are a waste of money because diamonds aren't really rare, they are artificially scarce. Same applies to watches, which companies engineer artificial scarcity to keep prices high (especially companies like Patek & Rolex with their popular models like the Daytona & Nautilus). There is no reason Patek can't pump out a huge amount of stainless steel sports watches to meet demand, but they don't do so just to keep their prices artificially inflated in the market (just like natural diamonds).

No one can tell the difference between real and lab diamonds, so you might as well get a lab diamond. Same really applies for fake watches, no one really cares about your watch, and many fakes these days it requires taking the case back off and looking at the movement. In other words, with both lab diamonds & fake watches, you frequently need specialty equipment and a loupe and an expert to tell the difference.

Ultimately you should buy a watch because you want it. It's a trophy for yourself and usually you get that satisfaction by buying something genuine. And the same argument for that applies to buying a natural diamond too, if you are into that sort of thing.

Just struck me as humorous recently how well all these lines of thought line up between both diamonds & watches.

Of course there are a ton of other arguments out there for lab diamonds, most significantly conflict diamonds, but the flip side of that is there are lots of ethical diamond mines out there as well which contribute significantly to local economies as well, usually in poor places. Anyway, the post isn't meant to be 100% serious, it's just an interesting observation about the contrast between watches and diamonds in the luxury world and the stories we tell ourselves about why we buy what we buy.

reddit.com

u/E98X — 9 days ago

▲ 35 r/RussianWatches

As a follow up to last week's post with the 3017 strela, here is a chronograph which basically immediately preceded it in Soviet manufacturing. The Soviet watch making enterprise was always keen on trying to produce a chronograph movement, really starting in earnest in the 1930s with the Valjoux 61-based chronograph which was essentially a pocket watch movement fitted to a wrist watch case. After WW2, as Glashutte was in the eastern part of Germany, the Soviets took some equipment for producing the Urofa 59 movement back to Moscow and began producing their own watches based on the Tutima 59 flyback chronograph. These examples all looked almost exactly like the original Urofa 59 calibre with some minor modifications to the movement and the dial.

Towards the end of the production run, they attempted to make a more "civilian" oriented design, in a smaller svelte case, which is what you see here. They made a couple variations of this watch, including one with golden hands, but it was soon decided to pursue a cheaper/easier to manufacturer and service chronograph option and they moved on to the 3017 (based on the Venus 150).

It is thought these "civilian" based Urofa 59 examples were only really in production for about a year, and are relatively rare compared to the military style versions which copied the Tutima 59 more closely. They also experimented a bit with putting this movement in a pocket watch as well.

Enjoy, and as always, if you have a request for next Tuesday, let me know!

u/E98X — 16 days ago