2manywatches
Tyme Machine
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2019
- Messages
- 2,749
So, I’ve always loved the Tudor Black Bay, specifically the red bezel edition. There’s just something elegant and sophisticated about it, while being utterly purposeful. But, beyond not wanting to plunk down three or four grand at the moment, I just can't shell out bigger bucks for a smaller watch.
I get it, the heritage, the little watches, etc., but just not my most favorite thing. To each their own, as always, but I’ve long kept an eye out for a similar colorway as that Tudor.
When I bought my Glycine Airman World Timer, a while back, I was extremely impressed.
So, when I spied one of their Combat Sub models, with the red bezel, and even some light accents of rose gold-ness, it seemed very appealing. At a price below $400, it was even more appealing.
Now, granted, at 42mm, it’s barely a scratch bigger than Tudor’s 41mm, but, sometimes watches wear larger, and I’ve been happy with many of the 42mm watches that I own.
And, hey, to be honest, I DO have a 40mm Raymond Weil, as well as a 41mm Certina, both of which I do love, when the mood strikes – it’s just that larger cases are preferred, for me, so I tend not to buy smaller cased watches. So, yes, there's love for smaller watches as well – and not that there’s anything wrong with it, lol, to quote some Seinfeld humor.
Anyway, despite the littler than usually chosen case size, it was certainly worth a try and I loved the notion of the rose gold gilt accents.
Hopes were high, but a bit of a mixed bag, disappointingly, in the actual experience and, suffice to say, a hair in my soup seems to be a recurring theme, unfortunately.
Again, this is why I prefer spending less on watches, per watch, because disappointments for even just a thousand bucks, or more, are, for me, much more aggravating than being less than thrilled at a few hundred bucks, or even less. I can wind up being happy with a watch that didn’t cost much. Weird, but that’s me.
Anyway, so it arrived nicely boxed and, the 42mm size, especially with the 11mm height, just exudes sleekness. Sometimes couth is preferable to uncouth, haha. I don’t have huge wrists, and I don’t “need” huge cased watches from that standpoint. This wears just fine and has plenty of face, so it does not look tiny on the wrist. It is a pretty one, in my opinion....
In the flesh, the rose gold touches looked even better, and this really gave off some great vibes as a terrific value for the price.
200m WR, and a 60 click bezel…..that honestly felt a bit flimsy. The SW200 movement (as I later confirmed…I’ll get to that…) is running quite fast, although I’m doing the home regulation concept, keeping it crown down, and it seems to be coming closer to reasonable time keeping. Odd because my other SW200’s are quite accurate. May have to get it adjusted, if it doesn’t settle in to satisfaction.
Sapphire crystal of course, screw down crown and case back, and I love the handset, seconds hand, and dial layout. I think it is just C1 Super-LumiNova being used. It’s no Zelos, but it lights up alright, although the rapid fade is a little disappointing.
On the plus side, the rose gold adorned red bezel is killin’ it! That just makes the watch, for me.
The strap, however, I really disliked. Super stiff, thin, cheap feeling, and seems like it would take far too long to break in, and not even then would I have liked it.
But, already in my mind had been the 22mm rubber strap from Dryden I’d found, and I’d ordered one in advance, in consideration that the strap might be an issue.
Swapped it out, and swapped the buckle as well! (I should note that I've bought some other options, since, and will eventually post them up. Dryden has a great selection of quality, quick-release straps.)
Now, no applied indices here, but everything looked fairly decent, nonetheless.
Or, did it? Did you see it?
What…is….THAT?!
Clearly, an errant bit of surface lint there, on the above pic, but, after the strap change, a closer look was telling me there were flecks of something UNDER the crystal, as I circled in red.
Observing the second hand pass UNDER it, well, it seems dirt was on the crystal back.
Good heavens!
Some may of course say that the Invicta lack-of-quality-control bug has struck Glycine, and, for me, that’s not even a bandwagon I’ve been on, so I don’t know. My only experience with Glycine was my Airman, which was flawless.
As for Invicta foul-ups, it was only recently that I met up with one like this – as I posted, I found a hair inside my Invicta, haha -- but I sure didn’t expect this in a Glycine. I mean, unless they have changed their assembly protocols? Maybe that’s why these are so affordable?
In any event, it meant either sending it back, or cracking it open on my own. I felt like an adventure….
I didn’t document the nightmare, lol, but this was my first time venturing into an auto, and it wasn’t quite as simple as I’d hoped. I will confirm here, that this watch is indeed running the SW200, not the ETA 2824. I think, really, most times they say "either/or" it's likely the SW200....
I will also confirm that it’s not easy to clean the inside of a watch crystal, haha – no matter what you use, some speck of something or some smear wants to be left behind, so, an exercise in patience, to be sure. Patience was tested further in trying to put the movement back in….
There’s an odd kind of brace inside the case, the puts tension to the movement, on each side, to keep it in place, and it was a heckuva NOT fun time getting the learning curve of how to reassemble that bit.
These two tiny, free floating plates extend into opposing slots in the sides of the watch case and each plate then gets a tiny screw to go into it. A very slight angle is required for how the plate fits into the case side slot, so that, when tensioning down the screw, it puts tension to the plate, against the movement, to hold it tight.
So, they have to be set in, and the screws have to loosely be set in, but not tightened, to keep the brace in place, yet allow for the edge of the little brace to fit into the slot, and only then can you tighten it down.
In fact, here, I’ve found a YT screen grab, that shows the little suckers. I’m sure there was some less than frustrating way to go about the task, but, it was my first run at it.
Finally, the use of two sewing needles, judicious amounts of foul language and many deep breaths later…I had it all lined up, I went to pick up the screwdriver, and….accidentally knocked my hand against the table I was using, tossing the tiny braces out of place, one of which fell into the dang movement….AAARRGGHHH!
Fished that out, lined up all the tiny bits again, and, this time, success!
Reassembled, and, a shiny clean crystal. And, geez, I love the red and gold....
The final product of this watch, on the black rubber, is a win, I’m glad to say, although it was a struggle to get it all together. I had ZERO issues with my Airman, and, in fact, it surprised me, frankly the level of quality to it, for the price, so this different experience was not anticipated.
Now, I have another Combat Sub on the way, a 46mm, so I’ll see how that goes, but this purchase did require a bit of massaging to get it right, and I’m not sure what to make of that.
But I’ll happily wear this little treasure, and, now that we’ve been through a brief spell of hell together, haha, I’ll like it even more.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on watching!
I get it, the heritage, the little watches, etc., but just not my most favorite thing. To each their own, as always, but I’ve long kept an eye out for a similar colorway as that Tudor.
When I bought my Glycine Airman World Timer, a while back, I was extremely impressed.
So, when I spied one of their Combat Sub models, with the red bezel, and even some light accents of rose gold-ness, it seemed very appealing. At a price below $400, it was even more appealing.
Now, granted, at 42mm, it’s barely a scratch bigger than Tudor’s 41mm, but, sometimes watches wear larger, and I’ve been happy with many of the 42mm watches that I own.
And, hey, to be honest, I DO have a 40mm Raymond Weil, as well as a 41mm Certina, both of which I do love, when the mood strikes – it’s just that larger cases are preferred, for me, so I tend not to buy smaller cased watches. So, yes, there's love for smaller watches as well – and not that there’s anything wrong with it, lol, to quote some Seinfeld humor.
Anyway, despite the littler than usually chosen case size, it was certainly worth a try and I loved the notion of the rose gold gilt accents.
Hopes were high, but a bit of a mixed bag, disappointingly, in the actual experience and, suffice to say, a hair in my soup seems to be a recurring theme, unfortunately.
Again, this is why I prefer spending less on watches, per watch, because disappointments for even just a thousand bucks, or more, are, for me, much more aggravating than being less than thrilled at a few hundred bucks, or even less. I can wind up being happy with a watch that didn’t cost much. Weird, but that’s me.
Anyway, so it arrived nicely boxed and, the 42mm size, especially with the 11mm height, just exudes sleekness. Sometimes couth is preferable to uncouth, haha. I don’t have huge wrists, and I don’t “need” huge cased watches from that standpoint. This wears just fine and has plenty of face, so it does not look tiny on the wrist. It is a pretty one, in my opinion....
In the flesh, the rose gold touches looked even better, and this really gave off some great vibes as a terrific value for the price.
200m WR, and a 60 click bezel…..that honestly felt a bit flimsy. The SW200 movement (as I later confirmed…I’ll get to that…) is running quite fast, although I’m doing the home regulation concept, keeping it crown down, and it seems to be coming closer to reasonable time keeping. Odd because my other SW200’s are quite accurate. May have to get it adjusted, if it doesn’t settle in to satisfaction.
Sapphire crystal of course, screw down crown and case back, and I love the handset, seconds hand, and dial layout. I think it is just C1 Super-LumiNova being used. It’s no Zelos, but it lights up alright, although the rapid fade is a little disappointing.
On the plus side, the rose gold adorned red bezel is killin’ it! That just makes the watch, for me.
The strap, however, I really disliked. Super stiff, thin, cheap feeling, and seems like it would take far too long to break in, and not even then would I have liked it.
But, already in my mind had been the 22mm rubber strap from Dryden I’d found, and I’d ordered one in advance, in consideration that the strap might be an issue.
Swapped it out, and swapped the buckle as well! (I should note that I've bought some other options, since, and will eventually post them up. Dryden has a great selection of quality, quick-release straps.)
Now, no applied indices here, but everything looked fairly decent, nonetheless.
Or, did it? Did you see it?
What…is….THAT?!
Clearly, an errant bit of surface lint there, on the above pic, but, after the strap change, a closer look was telling me there were flecks of something UNDER the crystal, as I circled in red.
Observing the second hand pass UNDER it, well, it seems dirt was on the crystal back.
Good heavens!
Some may of course say that the Invicta lack-of-quality-control bug has struck Glycine, and, for me, that’s not even a bandwagon I’ve been on, so I don’t know. My only experience with Glycine was my Airman, which was flawless.
As for Invicta foul-ups, it was only recently that I met up with one like this – as I posted, I found a hair inside my Invicta, haha -- but I sure didn’t expect this in a Glycine. I mean, unless they have changed their assembly protocols? Maybe that’s why these are so affordable?
In any event, it meant either sending it back, or cracking it open on my own. I felt like an adventure….
I didn’t document the nightmare, lol, but this was my first time venturing into an auto, and it wasn’t quite as simple as I’d hoped. I will confirm here, that this watch is indeed running the SW200, not the ETA 2824. I think, really, most times they say "either/or" it's likely the SW200....
I will also confirm that it’s not easy to clean the inside of a watch crystal, haha – no matter what you use, some speck of something or some smear wants to be left behind, so, an exercise in patience, to be sure. Patience was tested further in trying to put the movement back in….
There’s an odd kind of brace inside the case, the puts tension to the movement, on each side, to keep it in place, and it was a heckuva NOT fun time getting the learning curve of how to reassemble that bit.
These two tiny, free floating plates extend into opposing slots in the sides of the watch case and each plate then gets a tiny screw to go into it. A very slight angle is required for how the plate fits into the case side slot, so that, when tensioning down the screw, it puts tension to the plate, against the movement, to hold it tight.
So, they have to be set in, and the screws have to loosely be set in, but not tightened, to keep the brace in place, yet allow for the edge of the little brace to fit into the slot, and only then can you tighten it down.
In fact, here, I’ve found a YT screen grab, that shows the little suckers. I’m sure there was some less than frustrating way to go about the task, but, it was my first run at it.
Finally, the use of two sewing needles, judicious amounts of foul language and many deep breaths later…I had it all lined up, I went to pick up the screwdriver, and….accidentally knocked my hand against the table I was using, tossing the tiny braces out of place, one of which fell into the dang movement….AAARRGGHHH!
Fished that out, lined up all the tiny bits again, and, this time, success!
Reassembled, and, a shiny clean crystal. And, geez, I love the red and gold....
The final product of this watch, on the black rubber, is a win, I’m glad to say, although it was a struggle to get it all together. I had ZERO issues with my Airman, and, in fact, it surprised me, frankly the level of quality to it, for the price, so this different experience was not anticipated.
Now, I have another Combat Sub on the way, a 46mm, so I’ll see how that goes, but this purchase did require a bit of massaging to get it right, and I’m not sure what to make of that.
But I’ll happily wear this little treasure, and, now that we’ve been through a brief spell of hell together, haha, I’ll like it even more.
Thanks for reading!
Keep on watching!