Ghost 1680 Back Finally

[dsio]

Well it cost a fair bit of change, but I guess there's no such thing as a cheap submariner. Finally got the watch back after two months with the following work carried out:

*Complete movement overhaul with significant part replacement and rust removal
*New Top-Hat crystal sourced and fitted (I know some like the beveled but the Top-Hat is a signature part of the 1680 and I couldn't go without it)
*Colour matched tritium dot fitted to original silver "ghost" bezel
*New 93150 bracelet with 580 endlinks
*No polishing or aesthetic modification done apart from replacement of missing parts

Slight problem is that while servicing, the moisture affected tritium on the dial was so fragile that it just crumbled away in some parts of the plots. This coupled with the fact that the hands had already darkened further than the dial has me thinking I may eventually have to replace both the dial and hands with a replacement matching set, which will be a bit sad given how much trouble I've had to go to to get it back into this shape, but I guess that's what happens when a watch isn't serviced or pressure tested over decades.

Doesn't stop me from enjoying it for now, I hardly notice the missing lume (but do ever so slightly, like a splinter in my toe). Here's the pics.

[dsio]

That third picture... no idea how it came out that clear, I was walking down a sidewalk bumping both the watch and the iphone camera around at the time, but somehow luck must have made it focus correctly and angle the light just right. Might make that the new avatar.

[Nicko]

It's a beautiful 1680! Enjoy and wear it in good health.

[HL65]

Very nice--congrats on a nice clean up and getting her back!!

[harry in montreal]

man, that is a nice vintage sub. that one will be tough to beat.

[Frogman4me]

Wow that's a stunner! Perfect service on it to. Congrats

[dsio]

The part that's surprised me most is they claimed it was running around +2/week in testing, and so far its at +0.5 after a day and a half. My Omegas are in the +2ish range and I thought that was as good as you can get, but even that's with a 28,800 vph fast-beat movement, this only has a 19,800 vph movement and its doing better. Admittedly the movement was over 70% replaced with brand new parts but I just didn't expect an old slow beat movement to be capable of anything better than -4 / +6.

The other surprising part is the bracelet. It rattles like a box full of nails, but the clasp is so stiff I can hardly open it (mainly the fliplock latch) yet in spite of its apparently cheapness its one of the most comfortable I've worn, up there with the Omega Bond and BOR's.

I've got about 15 NATOs that I /had/ intended to try out, but I might have to stick to the bracelet for a while.

[Puffy]

that's stunning mate, well done

[Yazo]

Beautiful dude!!! LOVE the faded insert!!

[Nicko]

Mine says hello!

[therolexguy]

Very nice.