I got an honorable mention at GameFront for bashing Blizzard fanboys

[Hammerskjold]

Interesting, I also on and off have this as a hobby. Sadly it is a bit too expensive to really get into it, but I have a few zeniths from end 60's befginning 70's and love my normal watch (a divers Oris I bought in 1994).

Nice, I'm a dive watch fan as well. Bonus points if it is a hybrid military\pilot-diver. Something that looks like this:

http://www.higuchi-inc.com/56-2811.html

The blue dial one is nice, but the -black dial- one. She's spectacular IMO. It's solar quartz and not mechanical, but she's gorgeous in my eyes. Too bad it's a Japan Release only model, with the price to match. Though still not too bad comparatively, it's not exactly peanuts. And no I don't have that watch. Though it's definitely on my 'sooo want' list.

I'd be interested if you have pics (not necessarily your own due to privacy\safety issue of course) or a model# of that Oris diver. The Zeniths as well. 60's-70's vintage models usually have nice stylings to them. I love the tonneau\cushion case divers of that era for example.

It is a big hobby for many people so chances of finding cool stuff for cheap are very small, but still.

If you're buying quality vintage, yes I agree for the most part. However, thanks to the innernetz, I say it's a great time to be a bargain hunter. And I'm not even talking about vintage hunting.

For mechanicals, new even, I say it's hard to beat the Japanese and Russian watches in the bang to buck ratio. The cheapest mechanical you can get that I know of starts with the Russians. Vostok 'Komandirskie' in particular. Those starts at about 30-40 dollars approx. Let's throw in 20 dollars for shipping, and that still works out to about 50$. (At the time of this writing etc etc.)

The next step up is the Vostok 'Amphibia' classics line. Those starts at around 60-80 dollars, throw in s&h, that can still work out to around 100 dollars. That's still pretty good IMO for what you're getting. A 200m water resistant mechanical watch.

Though at this price range the Japanese watches starts to become available as well. Basic Seiko 5's can start at around 80 dollars, though sometimes there are sales that makes them available at 50$. (The only thing to watch out for is counterfeits. And the Seiko5 water resistance is usually less than 200 unless specified, and those are usually more expensive.)

Another one is Orient. Orient 'Mako' specifically. At the 100-150$ mark the Orient is AFAIK, the only other contender besides the Vostoks for a 200m water resistant mechanical watch. Considering that a Casio G-Shock goes for 99$ (reg. non sale price,before taxes.) at my local Walmart, this is still IMO a good bargain.

At the 200-250$ range, I personally think this is the sweet spot of getting the most value for your buck. Some of the Seiko divers are at this range, innernetz price at least. Screw the MSRP.

So while I personally lust after some fine mechanical German and Swiss timepieces, for my own money it's the Japanese and Russians.

By the way, what is happening with ETA?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA_SA

Under the 'monopoly allegations and investigations'.

Now I was exaggerating slightly for attempted comedy before, with the ETA created the void themselves comment. On a serious-face note, there is no clear cut good guy vs bad guy here IMO.

ETA argued that it was overwhelmed with orders and that its ébauches were sometimes ending up in counterfeit watches.[13] ETA also warned that there could be another crisis in Swiss watch making unless there was more innovation and investment. Nicolas Hayek, then the CEO of Swatch, the parent of ETA observed,


"there was no innovation, no new development, and when I pushed them to start doing new production, everybody started shouting... I said I was not going to deliver any more of my movements unless they try to do their own production... Otherwise the Swiss watch industry will suffer exactly the same problems it had before and it will go down."

While I understand some of the sentiment, I think it could backfire on ETA. Then again I also think this could be an opportunity.

While I'm no watchmaker, from what little I know the basics of a mechanical watch is probably done and mastered. Advancement and innovation usually comes in the form of new material tech, and things like automated production.

The image of a village of magical swiss gnomes hand assembling and repairing a small part with a loupe under the supervision of an old wizened master watchmaker (picture a 3way lovechild between Gandolf, Yoda, and Geppeto) is mostly just that nowadays. An image.

Most modern mechanicals do not see a direct human hand in it's assembly. Most repair nowadays consist of replacing the whole movement. Considering some movement can be bought for less than the price of an overhaul, this is just the way things are currently, for better or worse.


/hears someone say 'coolest story ever'
/hears someone calling me a 'bro'
/hears someone say 'tell it again!'
/Proudface on

O and I didn't buy D3 yet....I want to, eventhough my computer is probably too old, and I don't want to spend all the money for just playing the game. I also came in pretty late with D2 and played mostly single player or via lan with a few friends.

The basic gameplay of D3 looks interesting to me, but I already mention my reasons for not feeling the love for the product.

Torchlight 2 looks like an interesting alternative for me at least.