Can one of you guys take a look at that Sliceoftime watch 4 me if you have time and tell me what you think? PM me if you think it is more appropriate. Thanks!
The intention of most people who post in threads like this are to '
teach a man to fish, so he can feed himself for a lifetime' vs giving him a single fish. In my experience, it has born the fruit of a lovely collection (starting from not knowing how to look and 'see' watches, and in my experience is applicable to all watches, not just particular ones, like Speedmasters). On that note, the last contribution I will make is regarding crowns and bezels and authenticity : originality here is not that important with crowns and bezels. In all likelihood due to servicing and maintaining water resistence, crowns (and pushers) were replaced. Crowns can easily be 'fixed' with period correct crowns for a small fee...pushers...depends...but they are a minor part of the aesthetic. Bezel may too have been swapped, and can also be 'fixed' for a much larger fee (they are expensive, but readily available). In all honestly, I don't think most people care about the originality of these parts,
as long as they are period correct, and match the overall condition of the watch (a beat up watch with a shagged dial and hands still looks like a turd even with a pristine bezel). What cannot be fixed (and what in my opinion is most important with respect to attraction and value) is the dial and the lume on the dial, and how the hands condition match (not necessarily the lume as typically the hand lume does not match the dial lume, but rather the aged appearance of the lume on the hands for example)...and the case! Unmolested period correct cases are not to be found.
As I mentioned on the second post ...
a dial is encapsulated inside a metallic case and a plastic crystal in an environmentally protected space
... the dial and hands, in this space which forms its own environment (over decades), unless water got in, or someone messed around with it, should be pretty much aged in the same way if they spent their lives together in this same protected space. It is near impossible to rectify or mimic this. And they should not have scuffs and blemishes and marks (this hints at all sorts of things from people not taking care at service, unskilled people working on them to dials spending lots of time outside the watch, for example). And the trick is to figure out how to see this (and that is what I have attempted to illustrate with my questions and example pic. No, it wont take a minute or a day to sink in, but it might take a few days/weeks with a lot more looking/comparing aka due dilligence on your end (and I beleive I gave you a great example to compare to the watch you posted, to do just this). But there are more watches to be seen...as highlighted in the links in this thread. Good luck with your quest, and take your time, there will always be another watch.
Edit : PS: there is also nothing wrong with 'wabisabi' watches (I have a few that I love dearly) ... the trick to appreciating these is first having an eye to be able to distinguish the good from the bad, and what its worth, and then finding attraction in the imperfect...and being happy with the price. This takes a while...
