No 266 - Korsbek Oceaneer

It sometimes happens that I buy watches located overseas, mainly from the United States, but when I do I rarely pick up anything expensive because of the risk that it might get lost or stolen on its way over here. I just don’t like taking that risk. But this Korsbek just never wanted to pop up locally, or even within the European Union, which gave me no other option than to look for it in the US. And one day in early October 2014 when this watch came out for sale on WUS I just couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I needed to cross it of my list. Now! Luckily I had a friend, who was working in NYC at the time, who I could use as the receiver of this watch. Perfect! Risk eliminated! Just one small catch. I had to wait almost five months until he was scheduled back for a trip to Europe. Goddamn, a five month wait is a long time when waiting for something this good.

It turned out I only had to wait two months and a half instead of five because I invited him over to celebrate New Year’s Eve with us in Stockholm (and no, it was not only because I wanted to get the watch quicker 😅). Finally I got to wear it on New Year’s Eve morning when we went for some winter fishing and it was awesome. The watch I mean. The fishing not so much...

#266 - The Korsbek Oceaneer. Here on top of its Pelican case.

The Oceaneer was a beast. Big watch! Thick and long. Unfortunately it was impossible for me to wear it on the bracelet. The lugs where just so long and straight. So instead of having the bracelet curving and hugging my wrist it was just hanging straight down from the sides leaving two big empty spaces between the bracelet and my wrist which looked ridiculous. On an Isofrane it worked and looked much better. What made me love the Oceaneer was its huge minute hand. Now that’s a sword alright! The combination of the bead-blasted case and the PVD bezel were also two details I loved about it. It actually came with an extra matching bead-blasted bezel if you wanted to switch but I never bothered to install it. The PVD one looked so much cooler and gave it more contrast.

Solid piece with the bracelet on!

Of course I knew this watch was going to be too big for me, I'm not stupid, but I just had to check it out and I’m so glad I did it at last. Dive watches from micro brands used to be my thing! I don’t know what happened to Korsbek but the brand seems to be pretty dead today. There doesn't seem to have been any activity from Korsbek in the last five years. Too bad I think, the Dane behind this brand really had some wicked watches going on. 

Taken during brunch on New Year's Day.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 228 - Seiko SBBN019

This badboy was already sold out long ago when I first discovered it. I don’t know what the thing is with the white shroud that makes it so attractive. I mean, it’s basically a SBBN013 but with a shroud that happens to be white, that’s it! Is that so special? OK, it had lume in the first twenty markings in the bezel insert but except for that it's the same watch. The nickname, Beluga or White Dolphin (I've also seen it mentioned as the Storm Trooper), might have been an equally large factor as the white shroud to boost the hype. It sure gives it an extra touch of being rare. But actually it is quite rare since only 300 pieces were made and with Seiko measures that’s quite few. Anyhow, it is mysterious and has good potential of becoming a legend.

Product picture of the SBBN019 together with a Beluga. (borrowed from Seiko)

I found mine back in June 2014. That it was being located in Germany was a nice surprise since you usually find these gems in either Japan or in the US and rarely within the European Union. It was far from being a bargain but I happily paid and just prayed that it would arrive fast and safe. It sure didn’t disappoint me when I unboxed it. It was just as good as I expected it to be and just like any other Tuna it was big but still wore amazingly well. I loved to wear this watch. It sure didn’t go anywhere unnoticed.

#228 - The Seiko SBBN019.

No 123/300.

Always nice to have a full set!

Just like so many times before I lost a lot of money when I tried to sell this watch within Sweden. But the in the spring of 2015, when I was selling a Sinn 856 UTC, I was offered to take it back as a trade which I gladly did and when I later sold it for the second time I managed to recover the lost I made the first time.

Take away breakfast from Petite France (my favorite) on an August morning.

Being a big fan of the Tuna-series this one qualifies as one of my favorites. It actually was my favorite until I got my hands on the SSBS018 but that's another story.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 192 - Certina DS-3 1000m reissue

Just like many others obsessed by dive watches I’m a huge fan of Certina’s old DS-3 1000m diver. The reissue Certina made a couple of years ago was a big fail though. Who approved the indexes, the hand set, the mint green luminova, the design of the steel bracelet? The list goes on and on. There are just so many errors with this reissue. I mean, it still has its fantastic case and bezel so it really is impossible to discard it completely but those features are pretty much the only good things about it. No wonder half of the people who bought them went on to make some kind of modification.

Product image of the Certina DS-3 reissue (borrowed picture). Note that the green luminova have been edited to white. No wonder why...

In early October 2013 I was offered one, a full set, as a trade for my black Squale 50atm. I instinctively thought “hell no!” but then I started thinking. “What if…” A plan took form in my mind and I clicked home a new set of hands. That might not sound like a huge change but that was not the main modification. What I felt everyone had done as a mistake, when I browsed through all the modifications of the DS-3 that I could find, was that if they had kept the original dial they had completely forgot to match the luminova of the dial with the new hands they had installed. How can you overlook such an important  detail? I knew it was a hard task to accomplish considering they had such an odd shade of green and no aftermarket hands had the same color tone. No, what needed to be done was to modify the original dial and since I hadn't had any good luck with baking dials in the oven in the past, I figured it was time to bring out the old soy sauce.

Magnus in progress with applying soy sauce on the indexes of the dial.

#192 - The Certina DS-3 1000m reissue, ref. 633.7128.42.61.

Even after the soy sauce was applied it still had some luminous capacity left.

There was only one man fit for the job. Magnus of course! I explained to Magnus what I visualized and he did his best to try to recreate it. I wanted it to look old and rusty. The original hour and minute hand were to be replaced by sword hands while the original second hand got to stay. I had no regrets of ruining the original dial. I just felt I couldn’t look much worse than it already did. I must say I was very happy with the final result. It sure didn’t look like the original any longer. It looked how I wanted it - old and rusty!

Never wore it on the orignal bracelet or rubber. Mainly wore it on a classic black/gray nato.

I think I had it for about two months before I passed it on. It sold quite quickly. Last year I found it for sale when browsing through Watchrecon. It was impossible to miss. It was my old one. I wonder where it ended up. Hopefully someone is enjoying its new looks and appreciates it for what it is. 

Just before it was wrapped up and shipped off to its new owner.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 156 & 314 - Doxa SUB 1000T Professional

We’ve reached one of my most beloved watches I’ve ever owned. Ok, so what is it that makes this certain Doxa so special compared to the others, you might ask yourself? You know I talk a lot about proportions. To me proportions are extremely important and the 1000T is the one of all the SUB re-issues that I find to be the most well-proportioned of them all. But apart from that it was special to me because it had a rather unique appearance. It had been through some rough stuff. For one the rumors said it had been beadblasted back in the days and then someone had tried to restore it back to normal. The final result gave it an extremely used and worn look. I think it looked fantastic. 

#156 - The Doxa SUB 1000T Professional.

A very special finish on the case.

Magnus's vintage 300T to the left, my 1000T in the middle and Magnus's new 1200T to the right. Various Seiko's on the table.

It used to belong to my dear friend Magnus and I was nagging at him all the time trying to convince him to let it go. Then one day he said he might be interested in parting with it if he could find a newer 1200T. So what else could I do than to localize one and offer it to him as a trade? It took a long time for me to realize that the 1000T was finally mine. I loved it so much. This was in the end of 2012 and I had it for over six months. Then the one thing happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. I was asked if I wanted to sell it and the buyer told me to name my price. I really didn’t want to let it go so I returned to him with a quite a high proposal hoping he would reject it. He didn’t and I felt I couldn’t back out. I felt so bad about selling and I even felt worse towards Magnus so I let him have half of what I had earned in the deal. It then went off to switch owners a couple of times before I was offered to buy it back, which I did. But I was then on the hunt for a 600T and sold it again becuase I thought the 600T was going to be better. Now it seems to be stuck with a collector which it really does deserve. I’ve tried to retrieve it but without any luck.

Together with my Victorinox Rescue Tool in the background.

Taken during a fishing trip with my dad. Terrible focus on the watch though.

A better close-up.

This watch got to go on plenty of adventures. It really was my main watch for quite some time and even though many other watches came and went during this period they only got to stay on for a day or two. It was great and its rough finish made it very easy to wear without having to be worried about it getting scratched. In fact, new scuffs and marks just made it look better.

Relaxing at Sturebadet Spa in Stockholm just before my wife and I was about to leave for our wedding in June 2013.

Taken sitting in the same chair as in the picture above.

I didn’t know back then but now I know that the 1000T really was the best. I’ve since owned the 600T as well and even if that one also was really really good I still feel that the 1000T is the one I’ve been most happy with. I think I’m pretty done with Doxa now. The only one that I could still be interested in would be a 1000T Sharkhunter with all white hands and preferably it would be the COSC-version.

UPDATE - September 8th 2016.

I recently managed to get a hold of a beautiful specimen of the 1000T Professional. I'm not kidding when I say it wasn't far from being NOS. I actually took it as a part trade for a Sharkhunter 1000T COSC (Yes I know! I finally got one! But that's another story). Even though the Sharkie was awesome I figured that if I'm only going to have one Doxa, what should it look like? It should be orange. No doubt about that. But then all of a sudden all these pictures of the new 50th anniversary SUB 300T started to pop up everywhere and I just couldn't think straight. The new 300T truly does look fantastic and I'm pretty much 100% sure I will buy one. But will it be better than the 1000T? Well, I guess I just have to find out the hard way.

#314 - The second one resting on top of a Aqualung patch for a little vintage vibe.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 144 - Seiko SBBN013

Being a Seiko-fan it’s a wonder I haven’t been more active on forums like The Seiko and Citizen Watch Forum (SCWF). I’ve only used it as a source of knowledge but haven’t participated in any discussions. But in August 2012 I came across this SBBN013 to a very reasonable price in their for sale section. It was complete with box and papers and located in the UK. I figured I was already too late to grab it and even if I wasn’t the seller probably would prefer to sell it to some well know SCWF-member instead of me with an almost none existing post count. But I was lucky this time and I got to buy the SBBN013, also referred to as the Darth Tuna.

#144 - The Seiko SBBN013.

Glowing lume in daylight. Impressive!

I just love the quartz Tuna’s. They are amazing watches for diving! This one was the biggest Tuna I’d had so far but it was still very wearable. I particularly loved the large gray hands and the lume was of course marvelous. But then I got scared. I don’t remember who it was but someone told me to be careful about not hitting the ceramic shroud into anything hard or it might crack straight through. I found a couple of pictures of cracked shrouds and it didn’t look too funny. So my new favorite tool watch turned out to be less toolier than I thought it was. What could I do? That didn’t work for me. I later discovered that I could have switched the ceramic shroud to a plastic one but I wonder how good it would have looked.

Having pancakes for breakfast at Café Foam in Stockholm.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

Watches #51-100

Time’s moving fast when you’re having fun and after I decided to pick up  the pace a little another fifty posts have already been published. But it’s extra fun when you suddenly receive some recognition. One morning two weeks ago I noticed that the incoming traffic had increased tenfold over night. It was so fun to receive some sort of approval that there are readers out there who seem to appreciate my short reviews.
 
I’ve since then received a lot of questions and the most common have been how much money I make out of flipping watches. I can tell you that I’m the total opposite of being a professional dealer and my goal is absolutely not to make any profit out of this. I’m just trying to lose as little as possible. I’m only in it for the thrill. That’s it! Adding it all up I’ve lost hundreds of dollars over the years but the average loss per year is probably in comparison to what other material hobbies such as golf, fishing or Hi-Fi tend to consume spending-wise. To be able to afford more expensive watches I’ve simply pitched in more money into the hobby over time.

Also, some seem to misunderstand the purpose of my hobby and are asking me how I can afford all those watches? Well, just as much as I’m not a professional dealer neither am I a collector. I have four or five watches tops at the same time. Everything else is sold and spent on another watch. I can’t stand the thought of owning something that doesn’t come to any good use and can’t therefore collect anything. 

Some of you also seem to be concerned about my “poor wife” :-) That’s sweet of you but totally unnecessary. While my money is invested in something that quickly can be sold the next day (most of the times) my wife’s money is happily spent on clothing and other accessories which she has no intention of parting with and I’m totally fine with that. She is actually very encouraging and I must give her a lot of credit for being as supportive as she has been during the years and still is. Of course she has to put up with me spending a lot time glued to the iPad which is something I’m constantly having a bad conscience for but I try to make up for it.

#287 - The Heuer Professional 1000m, ref. 980.023L.

I recently acquired something I’ve considered being a little of a grail. I finally got my hands on a Heuer Professional 1000m, ref. 980.023L, in excellent condition and complete with box and papers. Ever since I owned its successor back in 2011, the Tag Heuer-version, I’ve been looking for one of these. Several of my latest purchases haven’t amazed me the way I thought they would. I’ve learned during the years that what I like most about this hobby is the intense hunt followed by the excruciating wait. As soon as the watch has arrived and been placed on my wrist a sensation of relief washes over me in an awesome wave and the butterflies, which just seconds ago were flooding my stomach with anticipation and excitement, are completely gone and I’m standing there alone left in an empty void. But receiving the Heuer was different. It had the hunt and the wait, which I love, but when it was placed on the wrist it gave me another dimension of satisfaction. It was definitely worth waiting for. I guess my new goal is to focus on quality instead of quantity. I’m sure it’ll make me happier to buy what I really want instead of random junk just to always have incoming items. 

Anyhow, since I started to write in December 2014 I’ve now approached closer to 300 watches. So my idea of “laying low” during the writing process hasn’t turned out as planned so far. It makes it much harder for me to achieve my goal of reaching the present day if I keep on gathering new material all the time. But with my new purchase strategy the amount of new watches should decrease. Let’s also hope this year’s fishing season is better than last years. That would definitely take my mind off the watches for a while and make it easier to catch up!

Thank you once again for all the positive feedback!

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.