zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

Can't wait to read about the X-33! You're a very generous guy too! Your brother will probably pass it down the family next, as an heirloom!! Louis

: After living 10 years with my rugged Seamaster Pro(during those years I
: purchased other watches, including a Seamaster for my wife, but no other
: Omegas.) I decided to investigate all the crazy ravings about the
: Speedmaster Professional, by adding a preowned model to my personal
: inventory. After searching furiously on the web, I decided to actually try
: a Pro Mark II first because it was equipped with a mineral glass cyrstal
: and was more watertight than the Pro. Fellow Speedmaster owners may see
: where I was heading here. I was thinking that I might retire my Seamaster
: to a backup position and try out this whole cal. 861 mechanical movement
: madness. I found a nice Mark II at Bernard Enterprises and after I
: received it I sent it out for a complete overhaul to include new dial,
: hands and bracelet. It came back looking great.(Tom Gref did the work,
: BTW) I immediately started wearing the Pro Mark II everywhere. It looked
: cool, had great luminous hands and readibility and was highly, highly
: accurate.(I know this because I also have an X-33 to compare all my other
: watches against. The X-33 will be covered in a later installment.)

: I was now hooked. They say it takes only one try to become addicted to crack.
: If that is true then I had discovered the crack cocaine of the watch
: world. I marveled at the beauty of the cal. 861 movement, I admired the
: intricate and high quality craftsmanship of the watch and it's bracelet,
: and amazingly, I needed more.....

: I had to have a Speedy Pro, I also had to have an Speedy Auto to round out my
: collection. So....I found a really nice preowned Speedy Pro at Bernard
: Ent.(they are beginning to really like me at this point) and I ordered 2
: Speedy Autos from 2 different internet grey market vendors. One was the
: Pro look-a-like ref: 3510.50 and the other was the really cool looking
: date model ref: 3813.53.26. Since I already had a Pro coming I decided to
: send back the 3510.50 and keep the really cool date model. (Based on my
: experiences with the grey market guys, I'm not convinced they are the
: evil-doers that some of us perceive them to be...)

: At this point I now have 4 Speedmasters and A Seamaster(not to mention a few
: other cats and dogs...Movado's etc.)I am having a hard time trying to wear
: all these watches as much as I would like too...hmmm, maybe it's time to
: thin the flock. During this time period I also took a job back in the area
: of the rest of my family and I finally get to have more time with my
: brother. We spend alot of time together (to our wives dismay) having a
: good time and generally acting like kids. My brother had long since
: unloaded the TAG I gave him and had only a Swiss Army brand watch as his
: companion. Feeling guilty for hoarding so many Omega's to myself, and
: knowing that my brother could learn to share in my addiction I gave my
: trusted Seamaster Pro to my brother......

: In Part III, I note the absence of a highly watertight and rugged watch as
: well as talk about the Speedmaster X-33!