Tale of Two Watches

royster

Tyme Machine
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Jul 11, 2014
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The Chase Durer Combat Command GMT has always been one of my favorite watches. I have had one in my collection since about 2011 when I got my first. I have bought and sold 5 of these total over the last 7 years. I currently have 2, a newer production variation from 2006 and I just picked up a "vintage" production version, I believe the first run, from 2000. They share many similarities as well as a couple notable differences. The 00 version has screw down pushers and crown, a flatter wider, unsigned crown, a high polish finish, a yellow GMT hand, shiny sub-dials with concentric circle pattern on matte dial, and a non-button fold-over scissor clasp. On the flip-side, the 06 version does not have screw down pushers, has a smaller, more rounded and signed crown, has a white GMT hand, all matte dial including sub-dials, and push button, fold over scissor clasp. They both share a 41mm case, sold link bracelets, Valjoux 7754 automatic chronograph movements, and a whole lot of good looking! The one I just received today, the vintage version, was a steal off eBay at $112.90. It was sold as-is by a non-watch person so I did not have too much information other than pictures. It was quite dirty and worn with zero "shine", but the crystal was scratch free and it was working. The scissor clasp would not close (disclosed), and the crown was unscrewed so I could not tell if is still screwed down or not. Turns out the crown is fine, the clutch slips just a hair without outward pressure, but nothing bad, the movement is fully functional and is actually keeping quite good time. The clasp would not close as one side of the "scissor" was slightly bent which was an easy fix. I imagine this watch had never been serviced. The hour totalizer hand is off a bit to the left, so I just advanced the chronograph a few minutes an stopped it and screwed down the pushers so it looks fine (I do not use the chronograph very often, so no problem for me); it can be easily re-aligned if I feel like gong in there at some point or if I get it serviced. I immediately gave it a sanitizing wash and took off the bracelet to ready it for a basic polishing. The polished surfaces were uniformly worn and without shine and almost looked brushed.... but in totally random pattern! I did take 2 pictures of it disassembled before polishing with rouge (but after bathing) and a picture after rouge and before applying a metal polish. It can still use some work as it will be many hours to get it back to a mirror finish and I simply did not want to go the distance today; you can see it now has a shine, but still lots of swirlies (and the full sun pictures accentuate the swirls, looks much better with interior lighting for now). Anyway, that is the "Tale of Two Watches" and here are some accompanying pictures:

The "before" shots:

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The two together:

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The new guy solo:

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Some wristies:

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Thanks for looking!
 
That’s fantastic!!! Great surgical skills with more follow ups to make perfect
 
A steal of a deal. For a little elbow grease you scored a true fixer upper. Congrats and enjoy!
 
Nice work Roy! Thanks for sharing your "Tale" Chase Durer's are wonderful watches, congrats on finding, and taking a chance, to find a gem!
 
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