Yeah the Rolex RSC polish is extremely unimpressive. Are there independent craftsmen who focus on GS lapping and polishing yet? Rolliworks works miracles with restoring cases, but they’re Rolex and Tudor focused

I love that! Especially with the domed crystal. Adds a great 3 dimensional element to this watch, especially when viewed Fromm the side.

Makes me want to pick up that new Seiko GMT and swap one in

I've been here too. I think it's important to try a little bit of everything. But I also think it is important to sell things off as they stop getting wrist time (unless it is some rare vintage piece that you couldn't just buy again easily).

Selling watches and keeping the collection concise forces you to think harder about what you value and what actually works for you in reality on a daily basis.

And after you've done enough of that, I'd sell as many as you can and to save the $ to experience the "genuine articles" ie the watches that some of these watches are emulating. You might find that more expensive watch is a let down. Or you might find it makes 90% of your other watches completely obsolete.

There are many different phases to collecting and experiencing watches! Don't get stuck on the notion of just seeking the "next watch to add" !

Frankly I'd like to see them place form over function in some of their product lines. They have nothing that competes with a classically sized Cartier Tank. And that watch is all the rage these days.

I want some 36mm, thin cased, simple and elegant time only Omegas, preferably with a nice domed crystal. They've chosen to hang their hat on technical innovation but I fear the general public's tastes are headed the opposite way: smaller, classic wearing watches.

The CK859 was on the right track in terms of dial design... but it was ostensibly a field watch case with a dressy dial. Too big and too thick, and a needlessly expensive silver dial that didn't do much for it vs a painted dial at a lower price point. It's almost like they sabotaged that release intentionally.

A watch similar to the CK859 but at 36mm, slimmed down with the thinnest possible movement, with a SS, gold and rose gold case options. Not to mention some simple elegant dials without engraved patterns and funky colors. I think it would be killer, and timeless. And I think it would sell, if priced appropriately vs the Tank.

And no more giant wooden boxes.

But maybe Omega is content to win the spec sheet battle and not the sales battle...

Such a great example of a beautiful design

This is why I spend my money on quality of design first and quality of finishing 2nd. Finishing fades as you use the watch. The fundamental quality of the design is permanent.

I have 60+ year old watches whose polished surfaces have been dulled to a subdued almost matte finish. But those with great design still look amazing.

If you fall in love with a particular watch due to the finishing, you won't be as likely to get that kind of long term enjoyment out of the watch. It'll only look that perfect on day 1. And the scratches and dents will hurt that much more. And if you have it polished someday, it'll still never be as good as it was when new

In photos vs in-person aesthetics are two very different things. In person, the the BB58 resembles nothing actually vintage. It is as heavy as modern watches, and it wears larger and more modern than even 5 digit (ie neo vintage) Tudor or Rolex Subs do. It's fully a modern watch experience, but with a colorway that evokes the earliest subs. So that alone I think should put it in last place here. Great watch as it is. Plus the applied indices and many lines of text are far too modern for a really vintage feeling diver. It's essentially a modern 911 but with a retro color and houndstooth interior. Charming and cool, and probably the modern 911 I'd want, but it's only superficially retro.

In your hand or on your wrist, the Lorier by far looks and feels the most like a vintage diver. Gilt dial, no applied indices, vintage weight, everything is just about right. Though my heart wants a matte dial.

The Baltic comes in 2nd for me. It's more inspired by vintage skin divers, but the sandwich dial execution adds some modern dial "depth" that some people like, without going full modern and having applied indices.

I have never handled this particular Yema... but as someone who actually uses a dive bezel every day for random things, their weird lock-out is a non-starter. Also I had a Yema diver that had a fully indexed 60 minute bezel but it had 90 CLICKS. WTF. This was infuriating and frankly an insane decision. 60 or 120 clicks are the only thing that make any sense. 90?! SMH

Faux patina elephant in the room: We could really only make white lume that glowed green back then. But the happy accident of aging tritium and radium showed us that tan/beige/yellow/orange lume can look great. Better than white did, especially with gold elements on the dial. So why not use all the colors we have at our disposal these days?

If we really wanted to be accurate, we'd have to make the lume appear faintly green even in daylight because that's how a lot of radium and tritium from this period appeared when new. But that would look like crap