Spotted in the wild..

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I work in production at a Japanese auto manufacturer in the USA. We have to wear a watch protector to protect the vehicles from scratches. I noticed a Japanese advisor was wearing a dive watch , I only saw a little of the black bezel through the plastic window on his watch protector. I had observed him wearing a Seiko diver before and was going to show him mine. Me : Seiko? He: no Rolex GMT . Epic watch ident failure. 😬
 
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Thought I'd share with you...

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Great thread. Can someone enlighten me as to what bracelet that is on the OP Speedy.
 
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Update: My daughter had her 13th birthday party on Saturday and I saw her friend's grandfather again when he picked her up after the party. I asked about his watch and he said it was 'broken' and he needs to find a watchmaker to repair it. I gently suggested he find someone good because the watch could be somewhat valuable and if he took it to the wrong person they might ruin the value. He didn't seem to want to get into it so I let it go. Hope it works out well and that whoever he finds takes care of him.

On a sad side-note, his granddaughter now lives with them as her father passed from cancer last summer. She's such a sweet little girl and it's heartbreaking to think of the hardship some people go through. Certainly makes the watch seem of little importance in the grand scheme of things...
 
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Great thread. Can someone enlighten me as to what bracelet that is on the OP Speedy.
looks like a Holzer?
 
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Today is our last day enjoying the sunny Hawaiian Islands. Last night we went for dinner at a place called Red Water on the Big Island. I noticed our waiter was wearing a vintage diver and when I asked about it he showed me this Tudor:


I asked him about the story behind it and he explained that his father was a watchmaker (now deceased) and that he also studied and was a watchmaker after returning from the war (Vietnam I assume). He wanted a diver and at that time the Tudor was cheaper as a daily wear and so he went with it. He said he recently sold several old Rolex’s (DJ and GMT...) as well as some pocket watches. I love hearing people talk fondly of their watches, especially when they obviously wear them daily and appreciate them for their ruggedness.
 
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I was in Europe this past week for business. Saw 2 Speedies “in the wild”.

First was a gentleman wearing an Apollo 11 35th Anniversary Speedy while waiting to board a flight from AMS to MAN. He said he bought it in Hong Kong for £1200 and is considering selling as he thinks they’re going for around £10,000 now. It was nice to see someone who’d bought and wears such an LE (even though it will have negatively impacted the value).




Second was a gentleman connecting in YYZ wearing a Speedy reduced, that he said he’s had and worn for 25 years now. It had a nice patina look to the dial and he seemed quite happy that I recognized and mentioned it.

 
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I was in Europe this past week for business. Saw 2 Speedies “in the wild”.

First was a gentleman wearing an Apollo 11 35th Anniversary Speedy while waiting to board a flight from AMS to MAN. He said he bought it in Hong Kong for £1200 and is considering selling as he thinks they’re going for around £10,000 now. It was nice to see someone who’d bought and wears such an LE (even though it will have negatively impacted the value).



QUOTE]
Oh blimey, I wear my 35th a few days a week. I wore it today to put up the Christmas tree. Never worry about the value.
 
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Always cool to spot a killer vintage piece in the wild. Rare occurrence (at least for me).
 
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The CEO of a company we subcontract a lot of work to wears a Sub. Every, and I mean every time I see him he has his shirt (usually with a sweater over it) pulled up over it so as to expose it "casually". I'm pretty sure he thinks if anyone spots it and notices its a Sub, they will think the shirt was pulled up accidentally. I think this because when I acquire a new watch, I do the same thing when I wear it around my buddies (who know of my penchant for watches) for the first time. It spins them up, which is just what I hope for 😀

If you look at some of the new Bond LE pics on Craig, one of them has exactly the same look (which is why I remembered this story).
 
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i wear my vintage speedy most days, but mix it up with others from my humble collection... one day last month a coworker commented on it and said he was starting to collect automatics. he said his prized possession was a rollie he inherited from his dad. didn't know much about it, other than the crown fell off. when he mentioned it was a red sub... that peaked my attention.

as his dad passed when he was young, he treasures it.

he since has had the crown fixed/replaced and knows it is worth a pretty penny. it's sorta a mystery for him as his dad worked several jobs and never had that kind of extra money. said best guess was that it was a top salesman award one year from his company, late 60's early 70's.

i suggested he not have them replace the dial or polish it at all.