CT1113.BA0550
This is a disappointing tale... I wasn't going to buy anything else for a while, I was going to be good and save for something special. But you know how it is, you start looking on eBay and something catches your eye, the price looks good, maybe a little too good...
This one was bidding at less than £300, albeit it hadn't hit its reserve price, and it had a buy it now of £495. Checking around I could see this going for over £495, in fact I could see it going up around £600 (if not more) and I knew that as soon as someone hit the reserve the buy it now price would disappear. The price climbed up to £319 and still hadn't hit the reserve and I figured £495 was a good price, sure it might go for less, but £495 was a good price and I didn't want to lose this one - so I took it.
But before I did I contacted the seller to establish that everything worked okay and that he had all the extra links for the bracelet. This was important because in the picture it was clear that the owner had a very small wrist - indeed I couldn't even get this over my hand when it arrived.
So two days later I get my post and there it is. The box and barrel case were in excellent shape, and the watch itself... well, it wasn't pristine, it had clearly been well worn, but the glass was scratch free. I figured I'd be quite happy to spend a little more to send it off for polishing and have it looking perfect again.
The watch felt great, I've always had a not so great feeling about Links in general, but this one looked and felt great. It's a nice size and weight, it's certainly not light and feels quite chunky. Obviously I couldn't get it on my wrist, but I was surprised how substantial it felt actually. I really loved the dial, it really is pretty damned cool and the Regatta function itself is pretty badass too. Not that I would ever have a use for it of course, but really... who cares about that?
The booklet that came with the watch wasn't overly helpful it must be said, and looking on the internet for assistance didn't produce much of worth. But after I played with it a bit I figured it out, and the Regatta function did seem to work just fine. The function is a countdown of ten minutes which then initiates the chronograph to time your race, pretty clever stuff... except when you revert back to chrono mode the hands didn't reset to 12 like they should.
So I figured, okay, I've been here before... watches in the post get dropped, so I pulled out the crown to reset the chrono. Well I got the second hand to reset but that was it, heaven knows how you're supposed to reset the other hand. I contacted the seller, but he had no idea how the watch worked, he'd never used it other than as a time telling tool, so that was a dead end.
And then I noticed something else, that being that the 1/10th of a second hand had not moved once since I'd picked the watch out of the box. Clearly something was awry. My Kirium chrono was all over the place when I got it, with every hand knocked off centre, but the 1/10th subdial still moved, this one was stuck at 4. I checked the photos on the auction and sure enough the 1/10th hand was stuck at 4.
This was enough for me to call time. The seller offered me a £100 discount, but I didn't think it was worth letting myself in for a potentially big bill. Being quartz there's every chance it would need the movement replacing, so I figured that even though it was tempting, it was a bad idea. It's such a shame as well because I really liked the watch, and I kinda want to hunt another one down - preferably in a lot better condition and working properly, obviously. I know it will cost more money, but I think it will be worth it, this is a very cool looking watch.
My only slight niggle is the bracelet, I can't comment on the comfort as I couldn't try it on, but Links are notoriously comfortable. What I didn't like so much was that the first two links are one size and then it jumps down to a smaller size link for the rest of the bracelet, which I thought looked a bit weak. I realise it would have cost more to make, but it would be nice if there was more of a gradual taper to the bracelet. Not a deal breaker, I'm sure I would have gotten used to it. Just an observation really.
Wristshot taken on my friend Rich's wrist (6.1/2")
Sadly the watch has been returned now, so I'll have to start looking for a replacement. No rush though, I need to rebuild my TAG fund a little. I do think I'm done with buying the cheaper, older models now though. I've got a good selection of interesting older pieces, I think now it's time to be more selective and get some higher quality pieces into the collection. Interestingly EST1897 have one of these for £995, which bears out my opinion that this was a great price - but only if it had worked properly, what a shame it didn't.
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