ubiquitous

Kinda funny... Watchmeister and I were just talking about watch values in general offline, and how most usually tank on depreciation. Markets overall are kinda of soft; a great time to be buying for personal use, but I wouldn't bank money on a watch being an investment, especially a modern, high volume production piece from any of the large commercial brands where 'mass production' is more of the norm (with few exceptions to the rule; e.g. Patek). If you purchase watches with intrinsic value based on commodities such as gold or platinum, you will always have, at the very least, the melt value/weight of those precious metals (as jewelry, the value of gold is not 1:1 with bullion or uncirculated coins, I think?), but chief makes an excellent point; one may as well just buy bullion and stash that in the safe as well. whether a watch or a lump of metal, if it's sitting in the safe, it's doing the same thing (and a bar of precious metal is easier to liquidate than selling a watch). Or, if you are familiar with vintage pieces within certain brands or niche, one could always buy with a fair amount of confidence that those pieces are likely to at least retain their value, but speculating on value increase/decrease should be the least of your concerns as there is never a guarantee with fickle collectors driving the market force (one correlation I can point to on this was the once hot Bubbleback Rolex as a good example as to why these things are never forever). Also, the immediate downside to the vintage angle is that most of the examples to have further potential increase in value have already achieved and realized a significant portion of their gains, so you'd be buying high (or slightly under depending). One segment that I have observed some decent value retention is with the Independents. Seems to me that Philippe Dufour, Vianney Halter, F.P. Journe, etc. all at least hold their value instead of plummeting in depreciation. Then again, in this league, there is a small market for such limited pieces. However, with the wait times that most collectors were willing to wait for, say a Simplicity, I have to suspect that many of those individuals would be willing to pay a premium to get theirs sooner than later. Bottom line; buy a watch to wear and enjoy. If you are looking for an investment vehicle, there are plenty of other options to choose from.

The nice thing about the Constellation is that it's a very subtle watch. Even with gold accents, it's not too ostentatious. BTW, I really like that black dialed gen; that bezel really adds a nice touch that sets it apart from others of it's kind. Seems to be a rather seldom seen color combo?

One of the typical HK dials out there... Not great by any means, though it looks as though they've at least improved the handset that comes with it. I'd probably advise to skip; from a distance, this is easily discernable as a reproduction dial. The size of the markers, shield and 'TUDOR' really make it easy to identify as such.

I agree. Probably an easy target to make an example out of as well for the authorities...

Yeah, I'd let this one age naturally with wear. The big trend right now is to have completely unpolished examples when it comes to vintage. Scratches, scuffs, scars are all okay if not excessive or egregious, but the key characteristics to strive toward are the chamfered edges, as-original condition case sides and meaty lugs. The dial that was installed has the most interesting patina... Difficult to capture in pics, but if the light hits at just the right angle, it looks very nice and age appropriate. And the insert, though difficult to capture in pics, turned out a bit darker than my prior attempts. FxrAndy has one of my inserts on his watch as well; his is even darker (I'm getting a feel for varying up the tones)... Ronin's insert on top; FxrAndy's on bottom: And a stack of inserts with a couple of vintage gen fat fonts and a gen lumi mixed in as well... Had a lot of fun with this one! Thanks for letting me be a part of it... //ubi

In order to convert the modern 16610 style rep to a plexi crystal, you'd need a pretty big crystal as the diameters are completely different.

Pre-A 002 for today...

The 3717 is looking great! It's amazing how just a few subtle modifications can have such a large impact, especially considering how great this watch is out of the box...

Great pics! The Constellation is an interesting piece, though being a Genta design I suppose that's a given I've only had one... My old TW Best modified rep; a unique and different interpretation with a skeletonized 2892-2... In a time where bigger, thicker, clunkier watches are the norm, the Constellation goes against the grain with a smaller case and thin profile. It's a very comfortable watch.

These are great compartment trays for storing things like springbars and misc. other whirlymagigs that seem to otherwise clutter my work space. J sent me a few and they've come in handy

Great collection! And fantastic pics!

Yes indeed...

3717 franken to start the week...

No idea why people convert these into wrist watches; they'd be worth so much more if they were just left as pocket watches...

Good stuff, chief! The 3717 V1 is definitely one of those pieces that deserves a dial like this! I'm glad you were able to secure one; seems they ae getting hard to find these days... Cheers! //ubi

Right you are! Waiting for the dial (along with some other parts) to arrive before pulling everything apart...

Sat: Sun:

Complete bezel, or just an insert?

I have also had good luck with most of my watches, however I would think twice before subjecting any reps to submersion without getting them tested first. It's usually a quick and inexpensive process to ensure that your new watch is kept in good working order

Ahhh... The hands from this watch were actually used to make this guy:

Thanks all for the help! In the end, my friend decided she wanted a 44mm Luminor after seeing Mrs. Ubi wearing my Pre-A build! So, we're going with that!

Very fitting indeed! Great design!

ryaku, Thanks for the kind words, sir The vintage Tudor Chronographs have always been an object of interest to me since first seeing discussion on them a few years back. My intrigue was especially piqued as there's not much written about them; a model somewhat shrouded in mystery There are a very limited number of gens out there due to not being strong sellers in their time and they tend to command high prices as a result of their rare nature. I felt that getting the watch you see here would be the next best choice for a vintage style, plexi crystal piece and since I was at a point of waiting with another project, I figured it would be a good opportunity to start another This particular watch was delivered by NDT. I've since been in the process of procuring some genuine parts and am having a custom dial painted, so I'm now at a point where I'm at a wait period with this project as well. Funny how that works... BTW, there are a couple of other sources for picking up a vintage MC; Phong has one for sale (currently offered at $1950) and I believe DW will be releasing one shortly as well... Hope this helps //ubi

Out of the box, don't count on any rep watches to be waterproof as-is. Some may be and some may not (there's no consistency). It is always a good idea to check the critical points that could be prone to leaking (crown, caseback) to ensure all are properly tightened and then have a pressure test performed; at this point, you'll know if it's good to go or if additional work is needed (greasing gaskets, etc).

Sorry to be asking questions?! Man... That's why we're here! To help one another...