My latest 'must have' is a moonphase, triple would be nice, preferably auto but quartz would be acceptable.
Problem is that, unfortunately, an Omega is out of range, budget wise, and I don't have the knowledge on other brands.
I'm wondering if it is possible to buy something 'decent' for £500 or less?
Any advice gratefully received.

 

If vintage from 40s/50s:

Pierce Moonphase

https://watchpatrol.net/?query=Pierce+moonphase

 

Might also look at Zodiac 50s/60s.

 

What’s your budget?

 

"I'm wondering if it is possible to buy something 'decent' for £500 or less?"

 

Buying a vintage triple date/moonphase at a bargain price is a recipe for an expensive and frustrating experience trying to get it all sorted out.

 

Obviously, bargains pop up now and then, but I have the feeling that the budget is probably a bit too low to get a decent mechanical TDM. I'm really not familiar with quartz.

 

I was actually playing with one of mine today. I thought it was a Venus 203. When I got a case from eBay it did not fit and the corrector push pieces did not fit. So I returned it.

Further research indicates my movement may be a Venus 206. I used the laser cutter to cut out a ring for it to see if I had a case that would fit. (I can drill my own corrector holes.) I do have a potential case, but there is no real room for the crystal as the dial is significantly larger than the movement. Mine as I recall also has sweep seconds rather than sub seconds.

Ranfft does not list the 206. Is in Bestfit. The base caliber is marked 180. Which is how I came up with 203. The plate layout though seems to align with one of the crono calibers which as I recall is 200. In short this thing is so rare that most of the documentation is sketchy. I would even go as far as saying some of it is plain outright wrong. This sort of info gets out on the net and gurgked back, so it becomes impossible to do a search without winding up in a circumlocution loop.

Eventually I plan to write all this up.


Then there are listings like this one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354597938250Purchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

Triple date Yes Moon phase NO Or else the dial was replaced. Note that the movement is stamped with what should be a moon phase movement. I am sure there is a new moon pun in there somewhere.

On the quartz side I have seen dials with what looks like the moon simply painted on.

 

I'm also bitten my the triple date moonphase bug and have looked at a lot of listings. I agree with everyone that £500 is too low and a starting point of £750 is more reasonable. Prices have really gone up on these in the past year (as with everything).

@X350 XJR has a good recommendation of looking at vintage Zodiacs. There's more of them available. I picked up my Zodiac ref 905 for $700 on watchuseek and spent another $400 on service (also replaced crystal, crown, seconds hand and date hand). There's not a whole lot of information on these models and even less information on brands that no longer exist so I'm not too hung up on originality. It just looks damn good to me.

I got my Movado from a fellow OFer for $1,300 this year.

Pics below.

 

With vintage triples, you are going to need a good watchmaker at your back and when buying: condition, condition condition. Not a recipe for a low budget acquisition or ownership experience.

 

Vintage triple dates / moonphases comes in very different forms and layouts which makes them all very interesting. If your budget allows I would rather spend 1000-1500GBP and get a really nice one instead of spending 500 and only affording the low tier ones in bad condition.

Sharing my rather uncommon F.A in a square shape, these also was manufactured by Sinn and Chronoswiss.
Like many triple dates the movements and design layouts was shared by various different brands!

 

maybe you can find some additional inspirations on ebay:

moonphase vintage online kaufen | eBayPurchases made through these links may earn this site a commission from the eBay Partner Network

and Chrono:
Armbanduhr suchen (chrono24.de)

 

I love how a lot of vintage watches put faces on the moon.

 

Thanks. Been having a look. Attractive, but almost all overseas, and with the 25%+ vat, etc, and aforementioned costs to get sorted!!
Seems I'll need to up the budget.

 

To be honest, would prefer a mechanical. As before, probably need to up the budget. Mind you, if I end up going above £1K, might be better waiting for a bargain Omega to come along. And then I woke up.

 

You can't go wrong with a Carnot Riviera. Good value and good aesthetics. It has a beautiful guilloché dial as well as a Swiss Ronda quartz movement. I don't know if the brand still exists or not, but ebay would be a good place to start looking for an example that suits your budget.



Alternatively, I would go vintage all the way! Here's my Record Datofix from the 1950s.

 

That is absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations @hejsam.
Best, Stefan.

 

Absolutely beautiful!
Apart from being gorgeous, would tick all my boxes, vintage, triple, moonphase and 'the look'.
Need to appeal to 'she who must be obeyed' for a big raise in my pocket money.

 

I do not think this will stay this low long ...