Recommended Good Value / Vintage - New Deals On EBAY & other Auctions

JwRosenthal

My 32mm of total bad-ass worn today in honor of our shit-show of an electoral process:
Gruen Pan -American

JwRosenthal

Link?

Ohmeguh

Similar to the Benrus Patina wet dream. Much higher price. Maybe negotiable if it checks out?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184338298618

JwRosenthal

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The Gruen is 9.5mm with the high dome crystal, it came with a ratty low dome which wasn’t correct for it so I replaced it with a GS high dome- back to bezel it’s only 6.4 so with a lower crystal it would be fairly slim. I have it on a leather RAF style pull-through right now so it does make it sit a bit higher, but the down-turned lugs make it sit flush with a 2-piece strap

My slimmest vintage pieces are my Bulova Surf King at 7.5mm with medium dome

and Longines Admiral 1200 (pre dial branded as Admiral) at 8.6mm with medium dome

but that one has a bit of a bubble to the back which adds to the thickness but the lugs hang lower than the back so it sits perfectly on the wrist.

Before I understood about how a watch should “fit” I just bought whatever big watches I liked and wore them. But there was always a subconscious reasons why I didn’t grab them at 4:30am when I got up for work (pre-covid). I liken it to a closet full of dress/sport shirts. Some we wear all the time, some we rarely wear- despite liking them- it’s about the little things- how they fit your body, do they untuck easily when you reach, does the collar slightly rub you the wrong way, is the second from top button just a little too low or a little too high, is the cuff 1/4” too long or too short on one arm (our arms don’t match- this is why I have my shirts tailored)...these aren’t things we consciously think about because we justify that the shirt is attractive or it was expensive from a great brand- but your unconscious mind remembers this in the post-wake haze as we are getting ready to wear said uncomfortable garment for 14 hours.
Some watches would catch on my sleeve or look like a tumor under a sweater. Some rub the bone on the back of my wrist depending on where the lugs sit because the watch is too large for my wrist - these are all things my unconscious mind knows, but I use to disregard because I liked the way the watch looked.
Here is the above Bulova Surf King- this thing sits low and comfortably on the wrist- just like it should- the strap wraps the wrist without gap and it’s completely unnoticeable when wearing it- lugs parallel the wrist and don’t dig into it, case wrests on the wrist, not sitting high on a bulky case back

Here is one of my worst offenders at 42mm

I love this watch and have owned it for almost 20 years, but I have honestly only worn it about 20 times- it sits high off the wrist on it’s case back (note I didn’t say “on” the wrist),

it’s bulky and long lugged so it rubs the bone on the back of my wrist- and it catches on every shirt sleeve I own...I love it, i hate it, I never wear it.

Here is example of decent fit- although the bulky case back sits on the wrist rather than the case hugging the wrist, the lug to lug is short enough that the bracelet wraps the wrist and follows the shape. This watch is bulky in terms of height but it’s comfortable at 34mm

This one is also a decent fit specifically because it is so slim for the form-factor. The lugs have a slight downward curve which allow for the bracelet to form around the wrist - albeit the longer lugs sit them off the curvature of my wrist so I have a slight gap. At 39mm, this is about as big as I like to go these days.

And now the one I hate the most- my Speedmaster.

I have owned this watch for almost 20 years, I have worn the shit out of it- it was my daily for almost a decade- it is a horrible fit for my wrist and I never understood why. It’s saving grace is it’s low profile (could you imagine how huge this thing would have been if they tried to cram an an automatic in there) but it’s lug-to-lug is just to long for the shape of my wrist. You can see how the strait case shape literally hangs over my wrist like a cantilever, watch is resting on it case back- no contouring whatsoever, the bracelet is hanging off with huge gaps.
I love this watch- it’s a horrible fit for me- but I still wear it despite the irrationality of it.
I find smaller vintage pieces fit the wrist better than the new era of watches-there seems to have been much more thought about fit back then that we have today. Back then you could go into a shoe store and ask for an 11.5 A/D or 10 EEE and they usually had it in stock, not like the one size fits all that we have today. I know many like to say “buy what you like”, but I think that does a disservice- understand what fits, and that may guide what you like.

Sorry for the long post- just felt chatty this morning.

Syzygy

The Solow..."40mm", has to be case + lugs, right? I'm loving all these deals, but finding nearly all are less than 35mm, which is, like a few other members tracking this thread, a convenient way to ensure I don't have 30+ incoming watches per week (and a wife that thinks I've lost all my marbles)!