Nanuq

I'll go $200 if you pay shipping.

"Nanuq" is the Yup'iq word for Polar Bear, or Great White Bear. So I chose Fred Machetanz' painting "Face to Face" for mine.

Roger that! Why is it, that as soon as we get old enough to afford, and appreciate, these really nice watches, our eyesight goes bad enough that we can't SEE them anymore?!

Whoooooaaaaaa what a watch! JLC goodness all over the place. Congratulations!

Not a gen, as far as I can tell (me and my posse) it's a Vietnam case. Extremely close to gen. O/S, the crown screws down nicely and I can feel the outer tube gasket compressing but I don't feel the big squeeze when the crown gasket gets compressed. So my next move is to change that o-ring and see if it does the trick. You're exactly right, it's important to release the pressure slooooooowly. This build has God's Own Retaining Ring holding the bezel and crystal on, and it's tight as heck. So I dumped the 100psi in a big rush and no explosion. Which would have actually been kind of cool. Jkay, I've done the "soak it in blazing hot water" trick twice to try and coax bubbles out. I didn't see any leaks but afterward when shoveling snow I saw a small amount of fog in the middle of the crystal. That makes me think it had a micro-weep somewhere. Since then I've had it open to dry completely out and no more fog. The crown bubbles were a minor trickle, not a torrent. Hmmmmmmmm. I think I'll run the test again!

Boy that's a great request. I admire your perseverance! The best advice is to find an MBW. A vintage MBW 1665 (the old SD) will come up for sale sometimes and that's a great starting point. But it will have the domed plexi crystal. To me, that is THE classic diving tool watch. I know there were some very good newer SDs with flat crystals, but I don't like that look so I know nothing about them. My advice is to go vintage. Good luck!

In related news, I built a pressure vessel last night to test my new Snowflake, pumped that sucker up to 110psi, and dunked 'er in water. Released the pressure, and DRAT! Two small bubbles from the ring/crystal interface and a small stream from the crown. New crown gaskets are ordered, and testing shall continue. Southcoast68, if an explosion can't be conjured up, there's all kinds of other ways to have fun with your watch.

Wouldn't that be cool?! The DRSD has actually been to rated depth for weeks on end in chambers. Its previous owner told me some pretty amazing stories of weeks spent outgassing and seeing crystals blow off cases. Wish I'd been there to see that!

Right you are! Thanks for the correction. 60ATM is 2000 feet.

Boy it sounds like you guys need to move to Alaska. We get our water from a well, we eat what we can shoot or catch on a hook, and what we can grow. That, and PLENTY of exercise... yep I expect to live nearly forever. Barring more bad decisions, that is... you just can't fix stupid.

I couldn't agree more with Panerai153. That is a highly collectible and very valuable piece. It deserves to be restored, but be prepared for some big expenses in doing so. Most of all, the movement needs to be torn down and inspected for wear. If all is well, count your lucky stars and get it cleaned and oiled. Next you want to have the dial and bezel insert looked at. If the dial was "refinished" there are people that can undo most of that. It's important to have a dial as close to original as possible. I have a 6536 Sub from the same era that had a trashed dial. I can recommend the gentleman that undid that damage without reservation. Next, you need to get that metal bezel insert out of there and put the original broken bakelite insert back in. That will take a surgeon's touch, and again I can recommend a true artist that will put his whole heart and soul into refitting it right. Then... you will have pulled this beauty back from the brink and it will be a good, solid, dependable watch for another generation. Please PM if you need details.

Nope, that's the MBW! The one in back and to the left is the gen.

Bingo! The Stealthflake 9411 wearing a gen T-19 instead of its original T-125.

No kidding. Now what do I do? One of mine needs testing to 141 atmospheres. I guess there's no more wearing it in the shower!

Ah, much more pedestrian than that. Unfortunately.

And, you don't know just how close an MBW is to the real thing, either. Pretty impressive.

Okay I'll toss a bone... it IS a Tudor. Now which one?

I'm on Firefox 3.5 and it's working perfectly. I wonder if the newest forum software add-on requires a feature set that older browsers don't support?

The man smells blood in the water. Perhaps this watch is masquerading as something it's not?

Of course he's looking for a dive watch. Isn't everyone? Allow me to introduce you to the lovely world of vintage divers. Let names like "Doxa", "Certina", "Yema", "Eterna", "Enicar", "Roamer", etc. just rooollllll off your tongue. Here's a LeJour (Yema) Superman, $150 on Ebay.

Well, you could try that, or you could try shutting down the browser, clearing cache and bringing the browser back up. Whatever floats your boat.

Close... close... But not quite!

Wow... like the man said, this is RWG Royalty. It's sure great to see you two enjoying good times together. Mahalo for sharing your meal with us.

To be honest, I'd be real surprised if a caseback from another watch fit. And even then, I'd bet dimes to donuts it wouldn't be remotely waterproof. Remember this is the entry-level 1665 you've got here. I'd recommend you just enjoy it for awhile. If you really get the bug to go big with a 1665, your best bet is to pick up a good MBW and scavenge parts from this watch to build up the MBW (datewheel, movement, insert). Then you can start with the gonzo upgrades. But like Pannie153 said, it's easy to go waaaaaaaay too far. Enjoy what you have for awhile. A hint learned the hard way: if you decide to go big with an MBW, let this be a lesson. Don't settle for something that's "almost good enough" when you really have the bug. In the end you'll buy the one that really IS good enough, and all the money spent in the interim is wasted. Save for the big kahuna, then jump in with both feet.