The quest draws to a close

Way back in March, I decided to start what's often called a 'grail quest' in watch geek forums. It's been about seven months now, and with all long projects the end isn't quite what I thought it would be initially. I'll be writing a review of the grail, watch postmortems and more, but this is just a news item and a bit of discussion.

The main goals for the quest were

• Reduce the watch count significantly. I had too many watches that I sorta liked, or didn't wear.
• Hold out for the best I can afford.
• Buy something comfortable, as I plan to wear it more often than not.
• Nice movement, ETA 2892 or better
• Durable materials and construction:
  • AR coated sapphire crystal
  • Ceramic bezel
  • Titanium or 316L case
• Good lume
• Not too flashy

You can see the candidates on this page, but my shortlist started narrowing towards

• Omega Planet Ocean, 42mm, black bezel and orange numbers, with bracelet.
• OWC MS-5517, version 3, with Soprod A-10, ceramic bezel, A/R crystal.

I started watching the for-sale forums on PMWF, WUS and TimeZone, as a good way to judge prices and availability. As of this month, a very nice Omega on bracelet is about $2100, so that was a good place to target, savings-wise.

As always, you can see my watch database, including previous watches, but I sold roughly 26 watches to get this:

Taaa-daa! IWC Aquatimer 2000 ref 3568-02, IWC 30110 movement (ETA 2892 base), amazing sapphire bezel, convex sapphire with dual-sided AR, etc, etc. Full review and first impression review in the works.

Some notes on the decision process and some notes:

• I saw one of this model go quickly for just under 3000 on WUS, and when one came up that was a) local to san diego and b) 2850, I knew what an opportunity it represented. Being able to try it on before buying was worth quite a bit to me.
• It didn't take that much longer to save the difference ($750) between the IWC and a Planet Ocean. I figure that if I sour on the IWC, I can sell it and buy an Omega for less, so no worries there.
• The last watch to sell was my SBDX001. The damage I did to the lugs ended up costing me quite a lot of sale value. Good-condition Marinemasters are going for 1500 or more; I got 800 net for mine. Ouch. Surface finish matters quite a lot, duh.
• The WUS sale board is an excellent place for deals. Very few hassles, recommended.
• Why not the OWC? Actually, I am going to get one, but Dan has had supplier issues and availability now looks like October. By then I should have funds saved for one of those; that'll make a killer beater stablemate for the IWC.