Orient Mako XL Black Dial & Bezel - New in Collection!

Here is finally a new addition to my collection, which happens rarely nowadays, and it is an Orient Mako XL.

A couple of years back there was a trend in oversized watches - and I remember it well and have a couple of 45 mm case diameter watches myself - and Orient came up with this version of the Mako - the Mako XL.

This is not a Mako I, not a Mako II, it is specifically a Mako XL, the largest of all Makos!

However it is powered by Orient's famous 469xx movement which, it has to be said, is strictly automatic, i.e. no hand-winding option which is good for a diver's watch and for reliability and longevity in general (as there are fewer operations that are required to do with the watch by the user) but it also loses something in convenience of use, especially where you have many watches and rotate them and for this reason don't wear, say, this one often enough for it to maintain enough auto wind reserve - which is a well-known inconvenience with purely automatic watches lacking hand-wind.

On the other hand it also has a pusher which changes day of week... and which also somewhat defeats the purpose of a diver's watch as it has no screw-down crown but the main crown is screw-down. 

But well I knew all of that before I bought the watch; I just wanted to have my first Mako and with the 469 caliber specifically.

Here it is side by side with one of my other 45+ mm watch - the Zlatoust Retro Military which turned to be one of my most successful watch purchases as it consistently kept good time and there were no major problem in about a year of wear. 

But now it goes to its box to give way to the Mako which will be my main wearable watch at least until my next watch purchase.

And here is unboxing in more detail.

 

Mako XL reference my be seen here.

Russ/Russian Watches Blog Is No More

Russ has shut down his blog, it appears

His last post on blog

Re;Selling Watches.

Russ/Russian Watches at Russ/Russian Watches - 4 weeks ago

Over the coming weeks,i will be selling most of my collection,[apart from the watches,that have been given to me as gifts or mementos]. Mainly for personal reasons,but,also because,i have realised,due to my limited budget,most of the watches that i would like to acquire are now out of my price range,by several multiples. When i eventually close the blog down,the one thing i will miss,is all the very pleasant people i have met from around the world,through there love of watch collecting. Regards, Russ.

I think I linked to it once or twice. Also had (and still have) it on my blog roll and reading list. 

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Britain's government-run official (biased) news and entertainment provider, the BBC, on watch collecting.

BBC - Capital - Is that watch on your dresser valuable?

Some pearls of wisdom:

Eric Fleming, a residential real estate broker in New York City, got turned on to watch-collecting six years ago when a client gave him some timeless advice. The client, who worked for jeweler Harry Winston, told Fleming he would never be able to sell a $4m apartment wearing a cheap watch.

Fleming, who was wearing a $400 Tissot sports watch back then, listened — and then some. The 37-year-old has since amassed a collection of 11 watches, ranging from a $250 Luminox sports watch to an $11,000 Rolex Yacht-Master Platinum. 

On the history of watch collecting

Vintage watch-collecting — which began in earnest in the 1980’s in Italy and Germany — is now a global phenomenon, 

I have a feeling that it started much earlier than that.

This is more or less true:

You don’t have to be a jet-setter to buy a watch worth collecting. Watch enthusiasts can go to a neighborhood flea market or local dealer to scoop up an early Swatch that is now highly collectible, such as limited-edition models designed by artists like Keith Haring, which can go for as much as $1,000 at auction. Other reasonably-priced models to look for are mechanical Omega and Heuer watches from the 1960s and 1970s. They could be purchased for as little as $200 only five years ago, and now go for $2,000 on eBay.

Yes, prices have gone up across the board. 

So called “complicated” watches, or those that display more than hours and minutes, are among the most collectible. That is because collectors, who are predominantly male and often in their mid-20s to 40s, are drawn to the watch’s mechanism. “It’s similar to car collecting, there’s a strong technical appeal, with over 400 parts put into something the size of a postage stamp,” said Joe Thompson, editor-in-chief of WatchTime, a US-based watch enthusiasts’ magazine. “Guys find it fascinating to know what’s going on under the hood.”

Business tips

For those who simply want to invest in the trend, there is a watch fund, Precious Time, which buys the best vintage watches, in the rarest configurations, from top brands such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Cartier and Breguet. The fund — started by a Milan-based collector, Alfredo Paramico, who has amassed what some experts consider one of the finest collections in the world — holds the watches, then sells them at an appropriate time to collectors for a profit.

Then it goes into some really expensive (and overpriced) stuff.