Hey guys. New to the forum. I’m looking for an admiralty case for a 135.015. My watch has a different case without the crown guards. Everything else seems original. Can someone point me in the right direction?

 

Hi All, apologies, bringing back this tread to life but thought might be helpful.
I have 42057ST crown incase any body requires, I noticed a few people were looking for it
@ChrisN Thank you for sharing this thread

 

I'm after one, @AJwala.

 

Hi all. I've been reading this thread with interest while I wait for one to arrive in the mail. However, it's possibly a dial variant not previously mentioned here.
This popped up on Gumtree in Australia last week and I quickly shot off a message and an offer. The seller had a lot of interest, but stuck with me as the first respondent. I had to almost double my first offer, but I got it.
It's obviously in need of a crown, and the crystal is wrong and the tension ring isn't wide enough to support the dial.
What's interesting is the dial colour. A deep chocolate brown.



The caseback is stamped QR 31. Unfortunately it's suffered from extended use with a perlon strap - they should be banned from all serious watch forums!

Now, there happens to be another chocolate dialled 135.015 for sale that also has the QR stamp on it.
https://www.thewatchgallery.com.au/...-issue-watch-in-stunning-condition-from-1970/
They suggest that it's a Queensland Rail issued watch (logo is consistent with the QR logo) and my watch also came out of Queensland (a state of Australia).
The serial number dates it to 1969. There are a series of service dates in the caseback - '74, '77, '80, '86, which might support the theory of regular servicing of a company issued railway watch.

And the movement is pretty clean and is running ok, albeit long overdue for a service.

QR has had a chocolate brown and orange livery in the past. I wonder, given two examples with the same dial colour, whether it was a special order to match their livery, or whether the two have just been exposed to similar hot and humid conditions and the dials have aged in a similar manner?

 

FIFY

 

And here is my chocolate Admiral.

https://omegaforums.net/threads/ever-seen-a-chocolate-admiral.37729/#post-435376

 

How did I miss that thread, Jim? So that's three choccy dials out of Aus. Yours doesn't also happen to be a QR stamped one does it?

 

Thank you.

 

And another QR stamped one with number 345 and chocolate dial sold on eBay in 2016 out of Queensland ( the same watch appears on a few other sites with photos still in place, although it was listed as being in New York).

 

No, just a plain back with no signs of being cleaned off.
I don't think it's a QR specific colour. Dials will age differently depending on what lot they are, who made them, which batch of paint was used and the environment they've been exposed to.

 

Couple of links in here of people who could help out with numbers on the back

http://www.underthelino.com.au/queensland-rail-part-1/

 

Closing the loop on my example.
I sourced a NOS 42057 crown via eBay out of Canada and a correct crystal and stem from Cousins and fitted them over the weekend, plus a new caseback gasket.
I regulated it and made a kangaroo leather strap to fit the 17mm lugs. I've been wearing it for a couple of days and really enjoying it. Its the smoothest winding watch movement I've come across yet. I can't get enough of winding that big crown.
Lovely dial aged to a deep chocolate colour.

 

Nice.

The crown does make this watch.

 

At the advice of a fellow member (@JRosenthal), I put my short-lug on a JB Champion mesh...
But I think it looks best on this beat up B&S strap (long story behind it...let's just say it wasn't originally a 17mm strap!):

 

This one sold on eBay the other day. I wonder if the new owner is an OF member?
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/183856151610

 

I was watching but decided not to bid, it has the wrong crown and the movement is a bit corroded indicating water ingress (maybe).

And I only really need one of that style.

 

Yeah, I noticed the crown too. I wonder if the seller was looking to take advantage of interest created by Hacko's newsletter write up on the Queensland Rail issued examples.

 

These are great daily wearers, but the 17mm lug width is a challenge to shop straps for.
But this 18mm Nato matches nicely....

 

At a glance, anyone want to offer opinions on these? I like the looks of these styles, these two are possibly available (listed as
166.054 & 135.042), but I personally have no experience with these.

I've only seen a few Admiralty examples in person, so if I'm missing anything visually that seems out of sorts feel free to point it out.

 

I’m no expert but imo the one on the left has the wrong crown and that dial does not go with that bezel (should be a blue dial?). The one on right has the wrong marker at 12 position on the bezel (the watch on the left is what it should look like). The dial on the right hand watch is appropriate for that bezel but the seconds hand should be orange instead of light blue (light blue seconds hand should go with a blue dial). Like i say, just my opinion and maybe some others here can give their views too.

There seems to be quite a lot of NOS cases for these Admiralty divers about. I bought a blue, burgundy and grey one from a seller who claimed they came from an Omega service centre that shut down. Also at the moment there appears to be some NOS dials for these admiralty divers on ebay but do your research before you buy as they are 27.5mm and that sounds slightly too small. Maybe someone here can check the sizes.