The Chrgod Collection.

[chrgod]

I have been collecting replicas and genuines for about two years. This is the current inventory of my watchbox. Hopefully, I will update this post with better pictures later. Some of the reps are on their way out. I plan just too keep watches I wear, rotate a bit, upgrade and hopefully keep the count below 10-12 replicas..:

As you can see, I am mostly into not-to-big sportswatches. I like my three big PAMs as well, and they get their share of wristtime inbetween.

The white Heuer, top left, is quartz, but a good one. The digital Omega X-33 in the top row is actually a rather good replica of the Omega Speedmaster X-33. Else, it is a mixed bunch.. The dressy Patek on leather on the bottom row is an ultra thin watch bought from TTK... truly well made and one for those special occations..

My two favourites; The plain Omega Seamaster Professional, and the Rolex Air-King!

These are the core of my genuines. All these are keepers. :

The Mickey Mose watch is a gift from my Girlfriend and must of course be included here.

The ca 1963 gold faced Rado in top middle has a cool name; "Green Horse King Size". It has the desirable "rice bead band" and also the highest number of jewels in any of my watches; 30! It is an automatic A Schield movement, without hack-feature or quick-set date.

The Speedmaster Mark II was my first "expensive" watch.

Like the Rado and the Speedy, the big Seiko chronograph, center bottom, is from eBay. A nice big vintage automatic 12-hour chrono with day-date for the price of an cheap rep. Great value for the money. These watches was the pinnacle of mechanical watches before the quartz revolution.. The rotor movement is much quieter than any 7750. However, I miss the running seconds.

The Angelus Chronogaph is my fathers graduation gift, from the early fifties. Angelus is a rather unknown brand, but they actually made their own in-house movements. Their eight-day power reserve movement was used in Panerai. This is just back from an overhaul at my watchsmith.

Bottom left and right are both Vostok, Soviet mechanical watches, bought during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1991.. My first mechanical watches. The right one was my beater when I was 16-17 years.. It has some scars after a bicycle accident.

And... My first attempt on buying replicas. From a vacation in Malaysia in 2002.. The TAG in the middle was actually my daily beater for about a year! I did not buy any Rolex on the vacation. The Omega SMP is actually quite interesting, possibly the worst 007 anywhere. Keeping them just for sentimental value.

Seamaster 007 with the worlds biggest endlinks. Quite nice midsize TAG, with crappy bracelet, steel on brass. Awful Breitling fantasy with faux subdials..

Thanks for looking!

[gran]

You are a true replica collector chrgod and I love your genuines even more

Hilsen

Gunnar

[insane]

Very nice collection. A couple look familiar?

[chrgod]

Very nice collection. A couple look familiar?

Yes, that's right!

The Yacht-Master and the LV, right? Both feel like true quality pieces. But the Yacht-Master might be a bit too flashy for my taste. The LV was actually better than expected, the rust stain you mentioned is a bit embarrising but luckily it is not visible when wearing.

[insane]

Yes, that's right!

The Yacht-Master and the LV, right? Both feel like true quality pieces. But the Yacht-Master might be a bit too flashy for my taste. The LV was actually better than expected, the rust stain you mentioned is a bit embarrising but luckily it is not visible when wearing.

Yup, felt the same way about the YM, but it's not easy to know without trying it on.

Anyhow. Congrats on a very nice collection.

[Dani]

Very nice collection.

Not been biten by the panerai strap virus yet??That is one bad virus if you get it

Cheers,

Dani

[Slartibartfast]

That X-33 looks interesting. A change from the usual. Did that come from silix (from memory the only place I've seen one)? Do the hands function as well as the digital or are they just 'cosmetic'?

[chrgod]

That X-33 looks interesting. A change from the usual. Did that come from silix (from memory the only place I've seen one)? Do the hands function as well as the digital or are they just 'cosmetic'?

Yes, the X-33 is from Silix. I have only seen this version of the X-33 by TTK and Silix. The hands are fully functional as well as the digital part. This is a replica of the first version of the X-33, as it has the polished bezel and pushers, and the old crown.

It has:

- Rather strong, nice backlight.

- Choice of 24 or AM/PM timezone

- Chronograph

- 2nd timezone

- Alarm

- Cheap bracelet, old type. The genuine is made of titanium, but the astronauts use it with a kevlar strap.

One thing that buggers me a minor bit is that it has indication of day @ 5 o clock. The genuine does not have this. But except from the use of steel instead of titan, this is the only "major" flaw. Also the caseback is engraved with "The first watch worn on the moon. Flight qualified by Nasa.. etc".

And I also have a problem with figuring out how to operate the alarm. I can set it, but when it rings I always activate a five minute snooze function, instead of just turning it off. Frankly, I have not discovered how to turn it off in a simple way.

But all in all, definently something different and a keeper. The girls like it!

[Slartibartfast]

Thanks for the info on the X-33. For the price that silix is asking it could be worth a go!

[pannylovernr1]

Cool collection! Great! Did you get the box in Norway?

[chrgod]

Hej Kalle Anka!

No, I bought the box from www.acetimer.com and got it shipped the hotel when I was Houston this summer. Shipping these big boxes to Norway is quite expensive (20-40 USD).

Nice box, but the leatherette (skai) pillows feels a bit cheap.

By the way, I have a five watch box of the same type if you are interested? I bought it at the same time, but have not used it.

[chrgod]

It is time for a little update on my collection. DateJust, Yacht-Master and white Navitimer are sold.

Black Navitimer, Daytona 6263 and genuine LeCoultre Master Mariner has joined the crowd.

First out, a group shot of mechanical replica Chronographs!

Favourites are the 6263 and Navitimer. Perhaps because they are the latest.. The SMP Chrono is nice, but very thick and a bit "busy". A slight disappointment. The Titanium Chrono Avenger was also a dissappointment, it feels cheap... The Link is bought as a Christmas gift for a friend. In this picture, you can also see the different strap/bracelet styles for the popular Chronographs. The Link bracelet stands out from the crowd and is by far the most comfortable of the bracelets!

Personal favourites, Navitimer and vintage 6263 Daytona. During Christmas, the six o clock subdial on the 6263 will be frozen. This picture also shows that the 6263 is much thinner than the Navitimer.

The Titans!

Replica Quartz Chronos:

Breitling fantasy, one of my first replicas and one that gets lots of positive comments. Heuer Monza, an old reliable favourite . Omega Speedmaster X-33, an unusual replica quite close to the gen.

My genuine mechanical Chronos:

Speedmaster Mark II, 1974 Seiko 6831 and Angelus. The Speedie and Seikos are on leather straps for the moments, the vintage steel bracelets from the 70ties are very flimsy.

Speedmaster Mark II. The well known Moon watch calibre 861 in a more modern case.

The big Seiko Chronographs from the mid-1970ties are great value for money.

Classic Angelus manual wind chronograph from 1950ties. For a vintage watch, this has a quite big size, 40mm. This watch was given to my dad by his parents.

[chrgod]

Genuine Le Coultre Master Mariner from the early 1960ties. It has a dedication on the caseback, given to FR. James J. Barry in 1963 from officers and members of E 314, upoon 20 years service.

Thanks to Pugwash, some of the history behind the strange caseback engraving are probably decoded in this thread.

The Master Mariner is a nice classy wristwatch with a quality movement. The Master Marine series was introduced to Jaeger-leCoultres 150 anniversary in 1958. It is a small size, 34mm and was made "For Men who command"

[MAHLER]

Impressive collection but you still have to reach 666 replicas !!!!

[jonas]

OMG, an impressive collection, Chr . I suspect we will see one or two additions of Breitling here in the near future? Is that a Bob-strap hanging on the Navitimer?

[KB]

I knew it, when I saw chrgod collection i said to myself "This will be good as he has been around forever" and you didn't disappoint.

Excellent collection

Thanks for sharing.

Ken

[chrgod]

Some new watches have joined the collection. Most important is probably this 1977 Heuer Carrera with all black PVD case. Reference 110.571

I have always been fascinated by these early automatic chronographs with lefty crown. The development of this microrotor movement was a joint venture between Heuer, Breitling and Dubois-Depraz ( which developed the chronograph module). The first movement was called "Calibre 11", it was quickly improved with faster beat as Calibre 12. The later version calibre 14 added a GMT-function, while the calibre 15 dismissed the chronograph-hour counter in place of a running secounds counter. The Breitling Chrono-Matics which use this movement are expensive, the Heuer Autavias and Carreras are a little cheaper. I have also seen some Hamilton use this movement.

Here is mine. A watch which there never will be made an accurate replica of. There are reps of the Breitling Chrono-matic, which uses the manual Lemania movement, without date.

The Wristshot. Not a big watch, comfortable size.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed about the watch at first. Some scratches on the crystal, but that does not really bother me. I like white/black, easy readable watches. But this one looks very plain. And the lack of running seconds are actually a bit annoying. The biggest drawback was that is uses 18mm straps, too narrow for such a big watch. So far, it will stay in my collection.

[jfreeman420]

I love the Mickey watch. When was it made?

[Pugwash]

Genuine Le Coultre Master Mariner from the early 1960ties. It has a dedication on the caseback, given to FR. James J. Barry in 1963 from officers and members of E 314, upoon 20 years service.

Thanks to Pugwash, some of the history behind the strange caseback engraving are probably decoded in this thread.

Damn, I'd forgotten about that. It was fun research.

[chrgod]

I love the Mickey watch. When was it made?

Thanks for someone finally mentions the Mickey watch! My girlfriend was slightly confused that nobody had mentioned Mickey, which she thinks is the coolest of my watches. It is a new watch, only quartz but has a nice retro-style. Quite different. I still would like to have one of the original 1920-30 ties Ingersoll Mickey Mouse-watches...

Damn, I'd forgotten about that. It was fun research.

Yes.. I am still impressed about how you did that!

I sent an email to the fire station in Bonkers, but never got any reply. It is a long time ago, and I guess they can't keep track of all former employees.

[Pugwash]

Yes.. I am still impressed about how you did that!

You guys visit the internet. I live here

[jfreeman420]

Thanks for someone finally mentions the Mickey watch! My girlfriend was slighly confused that nobody had mentioned Mickey, which she thinks is the coolest of my watches. It is a new watch, only quartz but has a nice retro-style. Quite different. I still would like to have one of the original 1920-30 ties Ingersoll Mickey Mouse-watches...

I love Disney and have a small collection of Disney memorabilia. I still have my first watch, a handwind mickey with a yellow strap from the 1970's. That is definatley a keeper!!!

[chrgod]

Some more watches have joined the crowd. I have got my first genuine Breitling. It is the no-so-legendary- Navitimer Quartz 3100, from 1991. Still, it is a true toolwatch and the father of todays Airwolf and Aerospace.. Its functions are true early 1990ties, a concept I remember well from my schooldays. The movement in this watch was shared with some high-end Pulsars. I bought the watch with a damaged display, managed to find the right Pulsar and swapped movement, and Breitling Bridge as well.

Here it is next to my Chronomat Evolution:

My two vintage mechanical chronograps are still running strong. The Heuer Carrera has not caught on as I had expected. It is somewhat dull, despite a cool movement, great brand name and design... Originally, it supports a 18mm strap which is too thin by todays standard, so I have squeezed on a 20mm peforated strap. It looks better... The Speedmaster Mark II is still one of my favourites! They are of similar vintage, and as you can see they share the "pllow" casedesign. An interesting note is that the Heuer has date, but no running seconds.. The Speedy has running seconds, but no date! When they were new they cost about the same. On the used market, the Heuer Carrera is a little bit more expensive.

[chrgod]

Two more cheap genuines.. I try to convince myself that there are many good vintage genuines out there, which can be bought for the price of a decent rep. I have had mixed success with that strategy:

This vintage Tissot Seastar T12 looks very good in pictures. It has a big 44mm case, minimalistic design which reminds a bit of a Panerai. It has a rotatable inner bezel and a 21 jewels Swiss movement. Quite weird way to quickset the date.. Nice watch, but in real life the print on the dial was poor.. And the relume of the triangle was porly done. I ended up selling it, for a little more than I bought it for.

This Girard-Perregaux is a keeper! It has the 17 jewels "Gyromatic" movement, cool metallic brown and blue dial and a well made integrated bracelet. The caseback is screwed in with a waterproofing ring and the whole watch has a quality feel to it.

[chrgod]

It has been a year and a half since last update on my collection. Time to take some new group shots!

Here is my current collection of replicas and gens.

I have an aim to keep the collection below 20 watches, I still have a way to go..

At left, we have the Rolex corner. Vintage Daytona, movement service and freezed subdial by The Zigmeister. GMT-Master "Retro", Air-King, SSD, vintage Sub from Silix and Noobmariner. Rolexes are great watches, I like all of them but the GMT-Master and the SSD get the most wrist time. Also, sometimes I get in "Air-King" mood, and can wear only it for a week. The Silix sub will go through some basic vintagization, my first serious project.

The gen collection is a mixed bunch. My only genuine Rolex is a 1961 Speedking. A small watch, 30mm, but in very good condition with great patina. The Speedmaster Reduced is a nice watch, but a tad too small for a chrono. The Girard-Perregaux was an impulse buy. Cool seventies watch with integrated bracelet. In-house movement, cool dial and feels solid. The Eterna Air-Force is a "hidden gem". Well-built, with great AR, compass bezel and crisp dial. The Movado Chrono on the top was bought mainly for the movement and datewheels.. It will be cannibalized in case I pick up a 3717 one day.

Universial Geneve Polarouter is an interesting piece of watch history. Special in-house movement and cost about the same as a Rolex Datejust at the time. It was advertised in cooperation with SAS, the Scandinavian Airline at the time they started regular flights across the North Pole. Thereby the name "Polerouter". ( Check out the page "polerouter.com). A good watch, but my example needs a service.

The project Rado and the vintage Soviet military watches in the back are "out of rotation".. The big golden Soviet "Sub" with the light blue dial was my very first mechanical watch, bought of a street vendor in St Petersburg in spring 1992.

The Sthurmanskie Chronograph is maybe my favorite gen. A true Soviet military Airforce Chronograph. Poljot caliber 3133. The Soviet bought rights to fabricate the Valjoux 7734 and modified it by themselves. The Sthurmanskie exists in several versions and also modern remakes. These versions with internal

rotational bezel are the coolest in my mind.

Tag Heuers

I was actually a bit surprised that I only had two Tag Heuers... The Carrera is one of the watches I enjoy wearing most, and the Link Chrono is one I always think " I should wear it more often..". The Carrera has had service and datewheel swap, and the Link has a genuine TH 7750 movement, picked up on eBay before the prices went up. Very nice chronos both of them. The classic style of the Carrera makes it my favorite. Sorry about the smudge on the Carrera dial, it was my daily wearer the day of the photoshot.

Breitling.

I am down to three Breitlings.. I sold my beloved Chronomat Evo, and the Steelfishes.. I actually never really fell for the famous SFSO replica. Great watch, but I found the pearl and pattern on the dial much crisper on the gen. The Evo is a great watch, but I sold it to buy the Blackbird. The Blackbird might be my most impressive watch. The size and all the ornate details is impressive.

The Skyland is well known. Fancy piece, shiny and all that. I like it, even though it is hard to get it to sit right on the wrist. The Chrono-Matic was bought from a forum member. Suits rubber very well and feels like a solid piece.

Thats all for now. Will update with the rest tomorrow.