This wasn't intentional -- which seems to be the tagline for my life -- but I seem to have a few pairs of originals and re-issues in my collection. Thought it would be fun to see what everyone else has. Smiths 1969 and 2014 Seiko 6159-7000 from 1969 and SBDX0012 from 2012 Rolex GMT 1 from 1972 and Batman from 2013 Jaeger Geophysics from 2014 and 1958
When SEIKO came out with the SRP777 this year, I had to purchase one since it's basically a re-issue of their venerable 6309-704X which ceased production in 1988. Pictured below is my 6309-7049 which I purchased new in 1987 at the NAS Whiting Field NEX during U.S. NAVY pilot training and my SRP777K1 which I purchased new this year from a local SEIKO AD.
As a vintage watch collector I'm skeptical about most contemporary re-issues. However, as I saw first images of the Oris Divers Sixty-Five I was flashed by the expressive dial with the inverted luminous digits and the balance between vintage look and modern appearance. I was even more attracted by the limited Topper edition which pushed the balance a bit to the vintage side by removing the date display and modifying the design of the bezel. The stainless steel case houses an Oris cal. 733 movement, Oris' variant of the ETA cal. 2824 clone Sellita cal. 200-1. I had to research the 1965 originals, of course. These are rather small divers' watches in chrome plated brass cases driven by Oris' own pin lever movements, often without shock protecting device. At that time Oris was not allowed to utilize the Swiss lever escapement. Nowadays the original Sixty-Fives are quite rare but you can get them for little money. This is the extremely rare no-date version of the 1965 original, driven by the Oris cal. 712 movement. I'm not sure whether the hands are correct. Here I show the Sixty-Five Topper edition 2016 re-issue close to the no-date 1965 original. Note the resemblance of the dials: indices and digits, fonts, minutes tracks, proportions. Even the new Oris rubber strap tries to imitate the look of the vintage Tropic strap. I was able to gather a pair of the date versions, too. On the left side : the first version of the Oris Sixty-Five re-issue, on the right side: the 1965 original with an Oris cal. 654 KIF movement. I even found a gorgeous Gold plated no-date version: Now I need the bronze variant of the re-issue, the Carl Brashear Limited Edition, in order to complete the third pair . Kudos to Oris for this courageous re-issue, which got so successful that it was expanded into a whole line of watches with different sizes and dials. Cheers, Mick
I only own the originals, not the reissues. But the pairing is interesting to look at anyway: (thanks and thanks) (thanks and thanks)
Nice pairs guys. I should really get a pair. The only reissue I've ever had was a European JLC DSA and it was too slick for me. Doubt I'd ever get the original anyhow they're always chewed up and nice ones are at mortgage levels. This is stretching a little but there was a big gap between production years.