What watch do you wear?

jbmonkey said:
MolokaiRider MolokaiRider y'all have barracudas there? I've never had one mess with me diving but yeah polished stainless watch does seem to get their attention. sharks I've never had pay much attention to me other than flee if I got to close. now tarpons I've had bump into me and try to get me to follow them downwards deeper.
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Yes, the barracudas are especially aggressive to flashing stuff, and I've been chased by them, among other creatures.

I have experienced several close calls with sharks, especially when hunting octopus. Eels and seals too.

I had a tiger going for an octopus that was on my Tee (metal stainless rod to hold game), which coincidently was about six inches from my leg.

Had a mother seal try to attack my oldest daughter when she was about 9 years old, swimming with me. The momma had a pup and was determined to kill mine. That was scary. I kept stabbing her with my spear but they are so fast underwater that it was pretty futile. Shark eyes and a mouth full of teeth.

A five foot long barracuda that had honed in on my earring. Shadowed me for about a mile at a distance of ten feet away on my left side.

My son had a pack of white tips mob him while diving, and chased him all the way to shore. He got lucky, as they were frenzied.

Heres a funny one; I have a friend who was kayaking. He tied the boat to him, and pulled it behind him while he swam. A full size male seal mounted his back, trying to breed him. Funny, but he almost drown fighting that thing.

Had a male humpback try to sink a boat I was on. It would breech and cavitate the water repeatedly. Boats don't float on bubbly water, and that whale was determined. Those things will look you dead in the eye.

I have got a ton of stories.
 
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MolokaiRider said:
Yes, the barracudas are especially aggressive to flashing stuff, and I've been chased by them, among other creatures.

I have experienced several close calls with sharks, especially when hunting octopus. Eels and seals too.

I had a tiger going for an octopus that was on my Tee (metal stainless rod to hold game), which coincidently was about six inches from my leg.

Had a mother seal try to attack my oldest daughter when she was about 9 years old, swimming with me. The momma had a pup and was determined to kill mine. That was scary. I kept stabbing her with my spear but they are so fast underwater that it was pretty futile. Shark eyes and a mouth full of teeth.

A five foot long barracuda that had honed in on my earring. Shadowed me for about a mile at a distance of ten feet away on my left side.

My son had a pack of white tips mob him while diving, and chased him all the way to shore. He got lucky, as they were frenzied.

Heres a funny one; I have a friend who was kayaking. He tied the boat to him, and pulled it amazing while he swam. A full size male seal mounted his back, trying to breed him. Funny, but he almost drown fighting that thing.

Had a male humpback try to sink a boat I was on. It would breech and cavitate the water repeatedly. Boats don't float on bubbly water, and that whale was determined. Those things will look you dead in the eye.

I have got a ton of stories.
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great stories, glad everyone survived. we need a MolokaiRider stories thread.....never boring to read about island life.....
 
There are some really dedicated Citizen collectors on this thread, and this post is for them. Let's go back to the turn of the present century, when Citizen and Seiko sold competing lines of low-end mechanical watches, mostly intended for their South Asian and Southeast Asian markets.

Citizen 7 NH8250-53Y

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This was part of the last series of Citizen 7 watches, which competed with Seiko 5. They put some good creative work into that iridescent dial. If you examine it with a magnifier, you'll see a gold fish scale pattern which makes the red enamel dial sparkle. There were five watches in this series: red, blue, green, black and white dials. The black and white dials were nothing special, but red, blue and green were iridescent and I wish I had bought all three. The strap is Hirsch Duke, these watches came with the usual crappy folded link steel bracelet.

The movement is Miyota 82XX series, I assume 8205 but I haven't opened the case to look. It hand winds but it doesn't hack. These old-fashioned entry level movements have peculiarities related to the second sweep hand, which is indirectly driven. Miyota 82XX movements "stutter": if you bang the watch or shake it, the second sweep may freeze for one second and then jump ahead two seconds. Entry level Swiss movements of that generation had indirect drive and similar problems.

Most of these watches were intended for South Asia and Southeast Asia. In those bygone days, there were customers who had to take a boat ride or hike over mountains to a market town where they could buy watch batteries and cheap digital watches. So there was still demand for very cheap mechanical watches that would run for 10+ years without servicing. Seiko 5, Citizen 7, and Orient TriStar were trusted brands. Seiko didn't distribute most Seiko 5 watches in Japan, and Japanese collectors had to order them from dealers in Hong Kong or Singapore. Seiko made a few 5s as Japan domestic models, and those they built a little bit better with 50M water resistance instead of 30M.
 
Citizen NH740-52E

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This was Citizen's model competing with Seiko 5 Sports. Solid bracelet with hollow end links, signed clasp, 23 mm tapering to 18 mm; mostly brushed finish with polished decoration. 40mm square case, mineral glass crystal, 100M water resistance and the crown doesn't screw down. Better lume than the Citizen 7 but not a lot of it. Two tone lume! Oh yes, and a Miyota 8205 movement. Another Southeast Asian model rarely seen here, I bought one as a closeout for $84.95. People said it would look better without the bracelet and indeed it does. The only problem was finding a good match in Citizen's favorite oddball lug width.

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Citizen CA0530-41E strap on eBay.
 
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Citizen NH8335 52SE

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Citizen's model competing with Seiko Superior. Nice chunky watch and bracelet with solid end links, weighing 5 oz (142 grams). Sapphire crystals front and back. Fancy butterfly clasp.

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I got lucky, it actually fits me. Butterfly clasps don't micro-adjust, you take out a link at a time and either they fit or they don't. No one will notice there's no big adjustable clasp on the inside of your wrist. So what is the point?

Another Miyota 8205 movement! But they used a gold plated one to make it look more interesting. Those were the days.

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Not a lotta lume, but you don't expect any lume in a dress watch. I think this would work. When you raise your hands to applaud at the opera, you won't look like you're directing traffic.

This was another Southeast Asian model, but a little pricey for them and it looks like a few dealers still have one in stock. If you're in Ho Chi Minh City and you'd like a cheaper Grand Seiko, by all means take a look. Don't pay more than $130.
 
Horology, as it applies to watches, is often referred to as "the art of making mechanical watches". On the other hand, coming from "horology" dictionary definition, it is the science of measuring the time and the result of this is an instrument for measuring the time.

There should be no doubt that Citizen 0100 movement being the most accurate self-contained watch in the World with +/- 1 sec per year is truly an instrument developed with the science of measuring the time. And if you set up a goal of +/- 1 SPY accuracy you'd dismiss mechanical movements from the get go, as simply no mechanical movement can possibly touch this precision. This is not to say that developing a quartz watch which would be that accurate was an easy task. There are many enemies to the watch precision of even the best of the best quartz movements like temperature changes, gravity, mechanical shocks etc. to name a few. And this Citizen movement design targeted them all with AT-cut crystal which vibrates at 8.4 MHz frequency and smart position management and shock reaction control. That means that if you set the watch accurately today it will still be within a minute accurate in 59 years from now.

The watch uses an in-house movement that is INDIVIDUALLY calibrated to meet the accuracy specifications for every particular watch and tested to deliver. Mechanically the movement uses backlash suppression mechanism and high-precision LIGA process for all gearing. The electronics is no less amazing and provides smart algorithms to keep the watch precision as committed by specs while utilizing solar panel and the battery which is not required to be replaced.

Citizen AQ60xx design is extraordinary with it's simplicity and artistic features to communicate what this watch truly is.

Beyond design, the execution of the watch mechanism, the case and the bracelet is as good as any other watch on the market even in 10X of this Citizen price bracket.

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This one hardly leaves my hand.
Citizen AQ6020-53X
1s/year accuracy proven to be better than that in it's almost 3 years with me.
 
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