Is it sunburst ?![]()
The problem with that daydream is that it will require the one I want becoming available in a condition I want at the same moment that I have the money sitting waiting to be spent....When I've the money in the new year, while looking for one I'll be looking at other vintage manuals....and we all know what happens to watch money: it doesn't just sit there, does it?
Here's the one I want:
A dial like that so deserves a second hand shimmering round at 36,000.....
Today is the first anniversary of my receiving this watch.
As soon as I started delving into watches I knew that I wanted something German (hence my strange looking username, which used to be much longer) I had been alerted to Nivrel by one of Seriously's new arrivals earlier in the autumn, and when I saw the Coeur de la Sarre it was love at first sight. I had been wanting something 40mm or under, and manual, so I kept trying to find something with those specs which could rival this, opening threads on f71 and f8, but finding nothing. And in any case I began to realise that getting a new ETA 2824 movement wasn't going to get any cheaper or easier....
By chance I was having a nice chat with the woman behind the counter in the Swatch stall in Victoria Station and she had let me try on a 41mm watch and I realised that I could just about stretch to 42mm....and then I got a PM from Seriously telling me of a Nivrel AD who would give me a nice worthwhile discount.
Unceasingly since the moment I got it I have been totally smitten with it, which I put down to a combination of its thorough-going quality and its versatility. During the day it has a good clear solid appearance, to go with its size, but as the light fades, all kinds of subtleties appear. When I first got it I knew that the case was good - it simply feels good - and as I've learnt since then more about case manufacture I've been able to understand why the case feels good. (Owning and handling some rather iffy cases was educational ....)
Being German-made, its on a different scale of value for money than my Chinese-made watches, but I never never been in doubt as to where the money went. The watch doesn't have the refined feel of a Swiss watch of the same price, and yet it feels full of quality. Looking at that written down, that seems paradoxical at best, but there you go.Something to do with it being warmer?
Anyway, that's probably a sign that I've written quite enough....
More pictures here
Great thread, DA. I have to say that your championing of Swatch was a big factor in me starting to think about getting one.
I'm not actually wearing this one today, as it needs servicing. And polishing. And a new perlon strap.
I got this as a christmas present when I was a student, and it was my daily wearer throughout university. Considering that its from 1922 and that's a silver case, this was a deliciously inappropriate choice for someone who was misspending their youth as vigorously as possible. I know I got through at least two crystals and it needed mending after I wore it clubbing sometime in the mid 90s. I think its time-keeping didn't recover and I must have tired of the inaccuracy and stopped wearing it. When I finally came across it recently I was surprised to find it still runs. I think its about +90s/d.
Something else I've noticed: when I wore it regularly, it never occurred to me that this was a Small Watch. Now I find it almost unbearably so - hence the perlon nato to give it some wrist presence.
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I did a thread on this watch on f11 and discovered that both case and movement were of a good quality and very common in their day.