A tropic crystal comparison and gallery

[Nanuq]

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.

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Tropic 19 vs. tropic 39 again.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

[martijnp]

You showoff with those beautiful watches...

 

 

 

Just kidding, thanks for the comparison, very helpful  

[jelliottz]

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.

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Edited June 26, 2015 by jelliottz

[pam007]

Lovely Collection... my favorite being the little gonzo. 

[Dlf]

Thanks for this, I just ordered the t19 from CWP

[JoeyB]

This is a Clark's Tropic 19 that is modded to fit. 

 

 

 

[Nanuq]

Very nice!!

[Kime]

Nice post, some beautiful watches. I'm still confused as to who CWP is. !

[Nanuq]

CWP is Michael Young, who used to be known as Classic Watch Parts.  His new site is Classic Watch Repair here:

http://classicwatchrepair.com/page28.html

 

[Sogeha]

I really appreciate your taking the time to share this information. Thank you

[rower]

Thanks for the review! Michael Young now has some of my hard earned cash. I got a 19 and a 39.

[Nanuq]

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

 

 

[Champagnesky]

Thx, just got a little easier to sort out these ones...

[Ezio]

On 26. marts 2016 at 7:33 AM, Nanuq said:

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

 

 

Nastymariner haha 

 

tell me more about This one  

[Nanuq]

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.

[Ezio]

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  

[Nanuq]

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*

 

[gasebah]

And you still made a decision to live......

[DVNE]

Googling info for Tropic 16 crystals brought me here. lol. Not so much info out on the interwebs but of course, RWG has it

[Nanuq]

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.

 

[hologramet]

I found this baby hiding on eBay for several years without me reacting. Then I took the time and compared them to my service and superdomes..

Oh yes..

Two real ones. For pocket change.




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[Nanuq]

Oh my, that’s pretty.