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A tropic crystal comparison and gallery


Nanuq

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There has been a lot of interest lately in domed Tropic crystals, so I thought I'd do a quick photo comparison.  I attempted to show what they look like from low oblique angles and then slightly higher, so you can see how the distortions change with viewing angle. 

 

All of these are genuine vintage tropic crystals except the CWP tropic 19 on the Frosty Flake.  The 1665 Sea Dweller wears a tropic 39 "Superdome", the 6538 Big Gonzo wears a tropic 17 "Superdome", and the 6536/1 Mini-Gonzo wears a tropic 16 "Dome". 

 

 

To start off, here's a group shot with the Frosty Flake down front, then left to right, the Mini-Gonzo, the Big Gonzo and the SD.  At this point the only crystal that looks fake is the genuine 39 on the SD.

 

Crystals%20002.jpg

 

 

 

Next up is the tropic 19 vs. tropic 39, from a low angle and then higher.

 

1665a.jpg

 

1665b.jpg

 

 

 

Next is the tropic 19 high dome vs. the tropic 16 low dome.

 

6536a.jpg

 

6536b.jpg

 

 

 

Now lets look at the tropic 19 vs. the tropic 17.

 

6538a.jpg

 

6538b.jpg

 

 

 

Tropic 19 vs. tropic 39 again.

 

t39_vs_19a.jpg

 

t39_vs_19b.jpg

 

 

 

And now in one smooth sweep from low to high, all four together.  Compare the distortions at different angles.

 

Crystals%20016.jpg

 

Crystals%20017.jpg

 

Crystals%20018.jpg

 

Crystals%20019.jpg

 

Crystals%20020.jpg

 

 

Et voila'.  I hope this will help you decide which tropic to choose for your build, and will show the optical properties of each.

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Could you run through that one more time but without pictures? I had a lot of troubles focusing on the words you wrote. Something about beautiful, beautiful watches, and the rest is fuzzy.

Thanks for the write up. Great comparison and amazing collection.

Sent from my Z30 using Tapatalk

Edited by jelliottz
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  • 8 months later...
On 26. marts 2016 at 7:33 AM, Nanuq said:

And I just ordered another one of his tropic 127s for the Nastymariner.  :tu:

 

2.jpg

 

Nastymariner haha 

 

tell me more about This one :p 

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Ah, it's just another well loved member of the stable.  I don't even remember what year it's from, it was about the time when they transitioned to Quickset dates.  Purty, huh?

Edit:  just checked, it's from 1977.

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2 hours ago, Nanuq said:

Ah, it's just another well loved member of the stable.  I don't even remember what year it's from, it was about the time when they transitioned to Quickset dates.  Purty, huh?

Edit:  just checked, it's from 1977.

Looks great 

 

didnt know you had one of these too in your to die for collection :o 

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Yeah, you know what I really kick myself over?  I had a Jean Claude Killy about 20 years ago and got rid of it because the dial was stained underneath where the hours hand had sat for a couple decades.

*kick*  *kick*  *kick*

 

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

Yes indeed, RWG is about far more than simple replica watches.  You'd be astounded to see the genuine pieces owned by our members.  It seems a certain piece catches our eye and before you know it, we just have to have the genuine original.  I know of a certain model made by Doxa, the Black Lung from the mid sixties.  They made, from what Vargas's records show, maybe 13 of them.  Probably 15.  Of that worldwide total, FIVE of them live here at good old RWG.  

 

I found my Tropic 16 in the parts collection of a friend of a friend of a friend ... the original was so beat up I had to lick it to read the time.  But that guy was good enough to sell it to me for crazy money, and now my Little Gonzo is restored to about what she looked like new.

 

wrist.jpg

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