Interesting vintage Rolex - ish homage

[watchguy51]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/544218876/the-golden-age-dive-watch-a-new-era-for-affordable

 

[508-Fanatic]

Kudos to:

 

- 904L Steel

- double barrel movement

- double domed 2x A/R sapphire

- helium release valve

- nice gaskets

 

Boo for ugly ugly face, bezel and case. The whole execution is just way off and screams cheap looking.

[508-Fanatic]

Also, these are not the first guys to do the whole "Swiss Made by way of China" routine, for mega profit. For $600 you can find a way better looking watch, for example any of the Rolex rep's from a TD or if you wanted to go name-brand get a Steinhart Ocean One Vintage

[dbane883]

I can appreciate the lumed sapphire bezel insert.   Sadly, I do not like the design of the dial/case/bracelet.  Would much rather have an MKII Kingston/Nassau

[jigelow]

Also, these are not the first guys to do the whole "Swiss Made by way of China" routine, for mega profit. For $600 you can find a way better looking watch, for example any of the Rolex rep's from a TD or if you wanted to go name-brand get a Steinhart Ocean One Vintage

I have an O1V. Love it on NATO. In fairness, the bracelet is solid, too. I just like being able to change out natos quickly.

FYI, it was $600 shipped tithe states with bracelet and vintage leather strap with deployment. A lot for the money, if you ask me.

[kbh]

Made me think: Wonder what Luthier's up to lately?

[pam007]

Over saturated market...

 

I'd rather save a bit more and grab an Omega Seamaster Pro for 1k. 

[lionsandtigers]

hideous POS

[danielv2000]

The Canadian dude is not wearing a watch!

[Aero_Dave]

The Canadian dude is not wearing a watch!

Yeah, I noticed that right away too. "a natural wristwatch handyman, and has been a licensed diver since 2007"

OK so he fixes watches and is a diver, but doesn't wear a watch.

 

Dave...

[kbh]

Divers where I live aren't "licensed", they're certified.

[cambridgerwg]

Butt ugly. Cool specs but damn that design is shitty.

[mrbobdobalina]

The dial ruins it for me.

[508-Fanatic]

It really is horribly ugly... that's why they are like $170,000+ or whatever away from their goal, with less than 2 months remaining...

[panerai153]

I'm afraid this is another project that's doomed to failure. Poor design, terrible aesthetics, trying to get into production  and run not on a shoestring, but a thread!! This sounds like something that came to fruition not in a bank meeting room, but between some guys in a bar designing a watch on cocktail napkins.

 

Huge problem, the market is flooded with watches in the 500-1000 USD range. Some of them are pretty nice, but some are really ugly. What they almost all have in common is a struggle for funding and market share. Let's face it guys, the younger generation is not a watch wearing generation. If they need to know the time, they have it to within a millisecond accuracy on their smart phones, which they are looking at all the time anyway!! I would bet that within the next 10 years, 50-75 percent of the younger, start up "boutique" brands will be a historic antidote.  Like the Swiss watch industry was brought to it's knees in the 70's with the introduction of cheap quartz, this generation of manufacturers will be brought to it's knees by the Smart phone and smart watch. If the watch industry wasn't worried about the impact smart watches are going to have on their sales, why would Tag Heuer be spending millions of dollars gearing up to produce a Tag Smart watch? The Swiss can see the handwriting on the wall, and I'm sure they don't want it to be written in their blood like it was in the 70's. They scoffed at quartz, and it almost killed their industry, they aren't going to make the same mistake twice.

 

   If I were those guys, Instead of developing a Butt ugly Dive watch that competes with multiple dozens of other ugly cheap Rolex Sub "wannabes", I would be trying to develop a smart watch, or apps to use on existing smart watches.   

[lhooq]

Very, very bland--at best.  I'd rather buy something from the Orange Watch Company, and be entertained by Dan's rambling email updates.