Month: December 2021 (Page 3 of 4)

–Got clementines, cauliflower, jam at the Folsom farmers mrket.

–My right ear has been driving me crazy for a couple of weeks. The crinkly noise made when blowing my nose (“equalizing pressure”) is constant, not brief, and never goes away. Hearing is affected too–right ear makes my voice sound weird, and my head sound hollow on that side. I fear something is loose or broken that can’t be fixed.

–Took the Yuzh black Daytona to FedEx for consignment.

–Later took the champagne two-tone Daytona to FedEx for consignmentat Craft and tailored (or something like that). They offered $19,500, so I’m taking a $5,000 loss, but maybe it will teach me something. Unlikely.

–Speaking of which, I been playing around with them. Really extreme differences in fitting inserts: some just pop out and in, others (measuring the same) won’t go in on a bet. I would have thought that aluminum is soft enough that any right-size insert could be persuaded to fit, but that one I mangled (at least) just ain’t going in.

–Stopped at Bel Air for more soup, cream cheese, cheese, dessert.

–Rolex Daytona 116503 two-tone came in. Not usually a fan of two-tone, but the dial is awesome. Hope it’s a keeper.

–Dropped a couple of USPS packages off for Grace at UPS.

–Second Squale Batman came in. Not bad.

–Rolex 14060 from Jacek came in. Pretty nice. Runs well, so I don’t need to swap movements with the POS Menta 14060. Will send the Menta case to Rolliworks for refurbishing. Ordered a complete 14060 bezel/insert on eBay from Italy (expensive, but it obviates all the problems I’ve had putting inserts into bezels). Will rebuild the Menta watch with case, new (fake) crystal, new bezel, and likely swap in the Jacek movement where the dial has a bit better patina, then sell the other watch.

–Super-fine Scotch-Brite belt came in, allowing me to put the final (re)finish on the Daytona caseback so I can send it off to Kirill Yuzh.

–Watchco Seamasters came in from Tim Mackrain. Super nice. Will keep non-date and sell date.

–Big showerhead came in. Had to use the new (duplicate) arm to mount it, as the old one wouldn’t hold the weight.

–Had a can of Progresso chicken-sausage gumbo for dinner. Good stuff.

–Third (or fourth?) portafilter gasket came in. I sanded it down .2-.3mm and it seems pretty close to perfect: handle comes almost to 6 o’clock. It could probably stand another .1-.2mm shaved off (especially when the machine is hot), but I’m taking this one slow.

–Went to Target for wrapping paper/ribbon, eye drops, shampoo, bottled water (not Crystal Geyser–I think I’ve been over-paranoid about using only Crystal Geyser).

–Polished up the caseback on the black Daytona. What a nightmare. Ended up with a combo (bastard) sandpaper/satin wheel finish. Praying that Kirill Yuzh won’t catch it.

–Phil Ridley wrote: in addition to selling me the super-dome crystal, he wants to sell a set of genuine tritium hands. I fear the price…

–Took Grace shopping at Brainy Zoo Toys in Folsom, then Green Acres Nursery. Lunch at Burger King. Grace is in a tizzy because of Christmas.

–Went to put a (fake) ceramic bezel on my black Daytona. Following a video, I tried to hammer in a razor blade between case and bezel. Not only did it fail to penetrate, but somehow the blade put a significant scratch on the case. Sweating bullets, I managed to polish it out satisfactorily. Will sell the Daytona now. Too much money to tie up in a watch I’m not thrilled by.

–My face hurts and itches like crazy.

–Got Clementines, broccoli, giant radishes at the Folsom framers market.

–14060 came in from Menta Watch. Chip in the crystal, unpolishable dent in the case, broken pip. On the plus side, nice dial and it’s running exceedingly well. Removed bezel, then insert for cleaning; could not get insert back into bezel. Bent the bezel and broke the insert trying. Tried a couple of other inserts, no luck. This has happened before, and it’s incredibly frustrating. There doesn’t seem to be a tool for it, and people’s “tips” are useless: press against the edge of a table, use soft pliers, etc. I really don’t see how practice could improve this–it just seems like the insert is the wrong size when I try to put it back in. So: I ordered an aftermarket crystal, bezel and insert on eBay; may order a genuine insert and let someone else try to install it (who?), then sell the watch. Meanwhile, bought another 14060 from Tropical Watch via Kirill Yuzh.

–Got a Papa Murphy’s pizza for dinner, and some apple strudel for dessert, since Grace is pulling her hair out looking for Christmas gifts.

–Bread book I ordered yesterday on eBay came today. eBay fulfilled by Amazon is pretty amazing. It would be nice if you knew in advance which items would ship this way.

–Spent some time (re)organizing watch stuff. As usual, I discovered things I had forgotten I had. Time to start selling.

–Tim McKrain (Omega Addict) called. He actually finished building out the two Watchco Seamasters I sent him, and will ship soon. He said the delay was due to cancer. The cost was $700 per watch–which includes the movements. Really looking forward to these.

–Bought a Rolex 14060 from Menta Watch last night; it shipped today. Tritium dial, described as (and looked) unpolished. Kind of redundant, but it’s only money…

–Sent the 5513 to Phil Ridley so he could (hopefully) install the minute hand properly.

–Missed out on a really nice red Submariner on eBay. Winning bid wasn’t much higher than my max, but (of course) one never knows how high other bidders’ snipes were.

–Mowed the lawn.