Sorry about your run of bad luck, but that watch should cheer you up for a while. It looks great! I bought a 110.253b from a seller on ebay in November and he also had a gold one like yours for sale, almost bought it but I passed. Smart move on my part because he had butchered the movement on my 110.253 and it cost me a lot to make it right. I really dig the look of your watch.