lifeasdaddy

lifeasdaddy - A good watch dealer in Sydney

My favourite watch dealer in Sydney has now got an online presence.

Check out http://wristwatchpro.com/ here.   the guy there, Aron, there usually has some great deals on high end watches.

lifeasdaddy - The treasures of a 3-year old boy.

A few months ago Gabrielle made a Treasure Box for Edward. A box in which he could keep whichever precious things he likes.

It's made from a cardboard gift box wrapped in starred paper and strips of gold foil.

Edward likes taking the box of treasures with him to various places around the house. 

Let's have a look and see what's inside.

A Christmas star table place setting.  A painted macaroni and fish necklace which we made a play group.  A set of activity cards obtained as a giveaway on an air flight: This has a Nemo theme. A strapless wristwatch which is no longer working presented to Edward by Caroline from a jewellery shop in Roseville, an empty watch band case, likewise a gift from Caroline.

A Nemo pencil case, Nemo magic slate, a battery operated milk frother, a toy costume ring, a blue ribbon with gold foil writing.

Some Nemo coloured pencils, a set of IKEA coloured pencils, some coloured ribbon and a key.

lifeasdaddy - A good watchmaker in Sydney is hard to find.

As the owner of several watches it's essential to know the whereabouts of Sydney's best watchmakers and watch repairers.

For months I had walked past the intriguing stall in Belgrave St., Kogarah of watchmaker Mr. Vanh Le.  Intriguing because it is the smallest watchmaker's premises I've seen.  And I've probably visited about 50 watchmakers in Sydney, Melbourne and overseas.

A few months ago I was given a copy Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean watch.  It's a great looking watch, but had a disturbing rattle sound when worn or shaken to use the automatic winding mechanism. 

Any rattle sound in a wrist watch is disturbing.  When I had some money set aside to get the watch repaired, I thought I'd use Mr. Le.

When I try a watchmaker I haven't used before I always use a watch that is expendable.  Here that means one which is worth repairing, but not so expensive that I'll cry if the job gets botched.

When I took the watch to him he removed the caseback in my presence, and I could see that the rotor of the automatic movement was loose.  He quickly assessed the damage and advised me that he could repair the watch by taking a rotor from another watch.  He quoted AUD$55 including supply and fitting the part and removal of a couple of bracelet links so that the band would better fit my wrist.  That seemed a fair price to me.

I was pleased that he agreed to perform the repair, as some watchmakers turn up their noses when asked to repair a copy watch.

Today  I collected the watch and am very happy with the result.  Mr. Le also gave me a written  6-month guarantee for the repair.

Now I've left him another tricky repair job.

Thanks Mr. Le.

...

...Other watchmakers in Sydney I'm happy to recommend (with the jobs they have done for me in brackets) are:

Eugene Scarcella, 12 Norton Street, Leichardt.  (overhaul manual Orven, overhaul manual Waltham, Service Tag Heuer quartz, appraise the movement of a Rolex, replace special band and polish crystal of Omega Geneve Dynamic, replace batteries)

Thomas Czibula, Suite 306, level 3, 250 Pitt Street, Sydney. (overhaul, reseal, refurbish Alfex, replace mainspring Rolex, replace batteries)

Nicholas Hacko, Shop 18, Bridgepoint Shopping Centre, Mosman. (reseal vintage Heuer Carrera)

Tell them Bob sent you.

lifeasdaddy - The watch I'm wearing today is

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean with stainless steel bracelet.

This one happens to be a "genuine copy".

It's a very close facsimile to the Omega original here.

I retrieved it from the watchmaker this morning after a minor repair.  He said it looks externally identical to the real watch, and that it has a Japanese made movement inside.

I've noticed that the orange coloured band printed on the bezel scratches easily.  You can see a couple of minor scratches between "30" and "40" on the bezel.

The watchmaker also advised me not to screw the screw-down crown all the way in, as this could jame the watch mechanism due to incorrect tolerances.  Of course, he also advised me not to immerse it in water, as it is not waterproof (unlike an original).

lifeasdaddy - The watch I wore today was

the Girard-Perregaux Sea Hawk Pro 3000m.

Owned by a friend, he let me wear it for a short time today.  It's believed to be the only one of it's type in Australia.

A huge watch, the glass is thicker than the movement.

Technical notes:  Automatic.  Certified to resist pressure up to depth of 3000m.  Screw-down crown at 4 o-clock. Date between 1o'clock and 2 o'clock. Power Reserve, Rotating bezel, diameter = 44mm, thickness = 20.10mm,  2 side decompression valves.

lifeasdaddy - My new camera

Edward gave me a new camera recently. (Thanks Ed.  Thanks Gabrielle.)  It's a Casio Exilim Zoom EX-760.  Very easy to use.  I'm still testing it for various purposes, so you can expect to see plenty of photos coming up.

With my last camera, a Canon, I had trouble using it in macro mode especially when taking close-up pics of wristwatches.

Here's a photo with the old Canon.

The Canon had trouble deciding whether to focus on the surface of the watch glass, or on the surface of the watch face.  Usually it chose the watch glass, leaving the face out of focus - although this image is OK.

Here's the same subject (Omega Speedmaster Professional) taken with the new Casio camera.

That's the first photo I took, and the Casio worked pretty well in macro.  Perhaps it uses a greater depth of field than the Canon.  I'm not sure. 

More practice is in order.  I'll have to read the instruction manual too.

lifeasdaddy - The watch I'm wearing today is

The Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph.  Also known as the Moonwatch.  Here it's on a NATO style black band.  I've got the bracelet for the watch too, but wanted to see how it looked on something different.

   Here's Omega's current version.  Here's Omega's claim that this model was "the first watch (and the only watch since) to be worn on the moon."

It was certainly the first watch worn on the Moon (Buzz Aldrin's watch; Armstrong's watch was left in the lunar module orbiting the Moon) but serious doubt exists about it being the only watch worn on the Moon.  Here's some details about the possible location of the first watch worn on the Moon, long thought to be lost.

Added:  Chuck Maddox has written a well researched article about other watch models which have also been worn on the Moon.  Read it here.

lifeasdaddy - the watch I'm wearing today is

A Bulgari.  The  Rettangolo chronograph model with date.  Quartz movement, Swiss made.  Polished stainless steel case.

As an aside,reflections from the highly polished case on this watch makes it difficult to photograph.

The watch I'm wearing today

Today's watch is an Oris.

Here it's on an olive coloured NATO style strap.

Technical notes: Manual wind, waterproof, anti-shock, antimagnetic, Swiss made, base metal top (probably brass, with chromium plating), plexiglass crystal.

The watch I'm wearing today

Today's watch is an Orven De Luxe.  Here it's on a striped NATO style band. 

This watch was a present from my parents more than 30 years ago; the first watch I owned.

Technical notes:  manual wind, 17 Jewels, incabloc,antimagnetic, swiss made, tritium lumenescent markers and hands, stainless steel case possibly heavily chronium plated, stainless steel case back, water resistant (although not currently tested for water resistance), plexiglass crystal.