I decided recently that – as much as I like the DB10 I ordered for my Autavia GMT – I’d also like something a little more substantial. I’d tried one on with a Stach strap but they’re not cheap and seem like a bit of a palava to order, so I set about looking for something similar but “off the peg” and not too costly. In the end I had a gander at the Crown & Buckle straps from the US, and ordered the one in the photo below together with a couple of others.

I really like the result, and at around £30 per strap delivered I reckon they’re great value if you want the chunky vintage look without paying an arm and a leg to achieve it.

Well, I’ve been mulling over strap choices for the Bundeswehr, which when I bought it was on a Sinn bund strap (with the pad) and looking pretty authentic as a consequence. I found the pad to be a little too much to carry off, though, and tried it on the strap alone for a while. It still wasn’t singing to me, and after a couple of suggestions were made on TZ-UK I ended up buying an olive green Zulu (style) from Crown & Buckle. I’ve never had an olive Zulu/NATO although I’ve wanted to try one for a while, and the moment I put it on the watch I knew that it was the perfect match. I like nylon straps at the best of times, but I absolutely LOVE this combination.

Well, it’s five days now since I picked up the Bundeswehr so I thought an update might be in order (it’s been this and my old Speedy, both of which are giving me a lot of enjoyment at the moment). Anyway, I took the bund pad off the strap a day or so ago, and I think I prefer the look and feel of the watch as it is now (removing the pad makes a remarkable difference, in fact). The Valjoux 230 movement seems to be accurate to within a couple of seconds per day and it really is amazingly smooth to wind, springing into life after a half-turn of the crown. As a tool watch, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for; in other words, a solid and reliable workhorse of a watch, and one that I don’t instinctively feel needs to be babied when it’s on my wrist. (This has proved harder to achieve than it should have done, actually, but there you go.)

So, all things considered this one’s something of a success 🙂

A little while ago, I bought Sinn’s reissue of the classic Heuer Bundeswehr 1550SG military chronograph, the 155. Sinn had produced a run of these watches as a consequence of having some left over cases from their contract with Heuer to refurbish the originals (and, subsequently, to produce their own Sinn-branded version). Now, the Sinn 155 is a great watch in it’s own right, but my brief period of ownership simply fuelled a desire to find the real thing, not for the first time. Having moved it on as a consequence I prepared to play my usual waiting game, but before very long a rather lovely example of the 1550 appeared on TZ-UK. It was in original used condition, and I hummed an hawed for a while as I considered whether or not I really wanted to buy yet another watch. I should have known that snoozing would mean losing, though, and sure enough it was gone before I had a chance to talk myself into it.

I thought that would be it for a while, and actually breathed a metaphorical sigh of relief in some ways. However, what I didn’t expect was that a complete minter would pop up a day later on another forum, and this time I wasn’t prepared to let it slip through my fingers. This morning I popped out for a quick F2F and right now it’s on my wrist.

The Heuer Bundeswehr 1550SG (latterly to become known simply as the Heuer Bund) was a military watch, issued from 1968 until the end of the 70’s; “Bundeswehr” is actually German for Federal Defence, and the watch was issued to those forces. All were built around a Valjoux flyback chronograph movement of one description or another, and I thought it might be useful to explain what that term means first as it’s bandied about quite a lot but I’m sure not everyone understands it. The following quote and image is actually courtesy of Rich Askham:

“In a regular chronograph calibre the chronograph mechanism must be stopped before it can be reset. In a flyback chronograph, the mechanism can be reset while it is still running, making it particularly useful for timing consecutive short interval events. This is achieved by the addition of a additional lever in the chronograph mechanism. When the reset button is pressed the flyback lever lifts the coupling clutch from the chronograph centre wheel allowing the mechanism to reset.”

So, there you go. In fact, the original specification from the Bundeswehr was based upon the Valjoux 230; this movement was not chronometer-rated, but was known for being easily regulated to within +/- 1 second per day. Even without such fine-tuning it was a very accurate calibre, as can be seen by the specification sheet that I unearthed whilst having a mooch around the net for this write-up:

Anyway, back to the watch itself. There were quite a number of variations, even ignoring the Sinn-branded models arising from the contract I mentioned earlier. Because of this one has to be quite careful in order to ensure that all is genuine and above-board (and there are some fakes/frankens about to fool the unwary) but the numerous dial differences are summarised in the lists below – this time, courtesy of Walter Manning and the research he carried out for MWR:

There are 5 configurations of Heuer-branded dials:

· The “classic 3H/T” – a red 3H-symbol appears just below the dial centre, and a tiny “T” appears just above “6”.
· The “3H-only” – a red 3H-symbol appears just below the centre.
· The “T-only” – a tiny “T” appears just above “6”.
· The “clean” – no markings beyond the “Heuer” logo.
· The “sternzeit” – STERNZEIT REGULIERT markings just below the dial centre.

There are 2 configurations of Sinn-branded dials:

· The “3H-only” – a red 3H-symbol appears just below the centre.
· The “clean” dial – no markings beyond the “Heuer” logo.

Then, there are 4 variations of the “3H” symbol:

· The “standard” 3H.
· The “big-letter” 3H – circle is same size as standard, but the letters are larger and fill the circle more completely.
· The “small-letter” 3H – circle is same size as standard, but the letters are smaller and there is a small dot in the centre.
· The “small-circle” 3H – the circle is noticeably smaller.

There are also 3 variations of the manufacturer logo:

· The “standard” Heuer logo – fits inside :58 and :02.
· The “big” Heuer logo – fits even with :58 and :02.
· The Sinn logo.

And (finally!) there are 2 variations of the font used for the hour-markers:

· The “standard” font – most noticeable because none of the numbers are cut-off.
· The “cut-off” font – the 10:00, 8:00, and 2:00 are cut-off by the subdials.

Confused? You should be. But to the watch in hand (or on wrist), then, which from the serial number seems to date back to 1977 or thereabouts, and which houses the classic manual wind Valjoux 230 flyback movement. The case (as I believe with all the variants) measures 43mm x 50mm, and has a height of 12mm including the very slightly domed plexi.

Now, whilst the provenance of this particular watch can be traced back to the original (military) owner in Germany, the case back doesn’t indicate that it was issued. It may have been, and the back subsequently replaced by Sinn at service. Alternatively, and by all accounts not unusually, the back may have been deliberately replaced in an attempt to avoid handing it back to the BW on leaving the service. In any event, this is a truly outstanding and original example of the classic 3H/T dial, with an absolutely gorgeous and matching patina to both the dial and the hands; and a condition all round that can accurately be described as close to mint.

You could look for a very, very long time to find an example like this, which is why I didn’t hang around when I spotted it. It’s destined to be with me for the long term, I think, so here are a few photos to demonstrate why I’m so pleased with it.

I’m really delighted to have receive a custom strap today, made by a lovely guy called Giuliano over in Italy (anyone who frequents the Chronocentric Heuer forums will probably be familiar with the name, and that’s where he can be found). I had the strap made in a slightly darker shade of brown than Giuliano normally uses, and also opted for grey contrasting stitching as i thought this would blend in the dial very well. That aside, it’s a Corfam-style made with a similar simulated leather to the originals.

I think it looks great!

Unlike it’s new owner.

Well, having been enjoying the GMT and Montreal for a while now, the final piece of my Heuer jigsaw fell into place when a package arrived all the way from Belgium, courtesy of the one and only Abel Court. (Actually, what I said isn’t strictly true because there are one or two other models that have been tickling my fancy for a while, and anything’s possible. If I were to act like a normal person, though, this would definitely be it.)

Anyway, the Silverstone first appeared in a Heuer catalogue on 1974, was named after the famous racetrack and was effectively the successor to the Monaco. Coming with three dial variants – fume/smoke (a brown starburst finish), red and blue – all housed the same calibre 12 movement, although there was a Lemania 5100 version that was released about ten years after the original. Also common to every variant was the case – a classic 70’s style TV shape and mineral crystal, although the good news is that sapphire replacement crystals are now available if you know where to look. Here’s a catalogue shot, showing it adjacent to the 18kt Carrera that was available at the same time…

This one – a Fume, reference 110.313F – has had a full movement service from Abel and is in pretty much mint condition. It’s on a Corfam-style strap and although I know I’m going to be told to put it on a bracelet I actually have a replica Corfam in light brown being made for me right now. It really does look fantastic and I’m itching to get my hands on the bloody thing, which won’t now be with me for the best part of two weeks.

The other thing worth mentioning is the dial of the Fume, which has a really noticeable starburst pattern but which also reacts to light on a variety of ways. It can look dark brown, light brown and even a greyish shade at any given time, and to me that just adds to an already very beautiful watch. I have to say that I’m really pleased with this one.

The Ribbon Series 🙂

Well, it looks Christmasy!

It’s back to the Montreal today. Yes, it’s a large watch but it certainly isn’t overpowering on the wrist, and it’s very comfortable.

Without meaning to sound like a heretic, I’m having serious thoughts about trying a shark mesh on this; they’re prompted by the fact that it looks so good on the Mk II Speedy, and the case shapes aren’t that dissimilar…

I’ve just had a couple of vintage rally straps made by the guys at DB10 – you can find a link to their Tumblr site in the sidebar. Fantastically soft and supple, I’m delighted with both.

A newly downloaded iPad app that I haven’t used before, but it seems to be pretty nifty… scroll down a couple of posts for the original.