Horological Meandering

iim7v7im7
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Down to Two Very Different Hand Winds or Wait for Basel?

Hi Again,

I posted here a few weeks back, looking at a number of different hand wind watches that met a set of criteria.  I was looking for my first manual wind watch to add to my collection of  six automatic watches (Ball Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer, Glashutte Original Panomatic Lunar, IWC Aquatimer 2000, Jaeger-LeCoultre Reserve de Marche', Sinn 756 Diapal and a Stowa Antea 365 Chronometer).  I was looking for something that diversified my looks, something that would fit in somewhat dressy or with a pair of blue jeans.  Size was important 37-41 mm.  I also wanted a stainless steel case and a display case back if possible.  My budget was <$8,000.

Since then, I was able to visit a local AD who had some pieces that were instructive to help me hone in on a watch and a few pieces that surprised me in the flesh. I was able to try on watches by Chronoswiss, Habring2 and Nomos at this AD.  Here is what I learned:

Nomos watches, while below my minumum size criteria (they are 35 mm) wear much larger and should not be excluded due to size. I would say that their dials at 35 mm were as large or larger than my JLC RDM.  They represent a tremendous value.  Their design and quality are outstanding.  They do however look quite similar, albeit higher quality and more elegant to my Stowa Antea. So they don't really diversify the look of my collection. I was able to try on a Chronoswiss Grand Regulateur which has a beautiful guilloche' dial.  What surprised me was how the guilloche refected the light and made reading the time more difficult even with blued Breguet style hands. I have always been attracted to guilloche' perhaps within a Regulateur format it is visually too competing?
1. I tried on some Habring2 watches which use the same Fricker cases as the Dornblueth 99.1 that I had been considering.  The Habring2 has a different bezel and a convex case back that protrudes a bit more than the Dornblueth,  Based on this, it is a bit larger than I was looking for.

I also tried on a watch that I had seen on the Internet and not been attracted to.  In person, the watch revealed detail that I could not see in Internet images.  The watch was a Chronoswiss Regulateur 24.  I found the size fit well and the 24 hour, Arabic sub-dial for hours read easily when glanced upon one's wrist.

So from my initial search, the only watch that remains a contender is a Grand Seiko SBGW001.  For those of you who mentioned Henschtel, I did reach out to them via e-mail and I received no reply to my inquiry (curious). So I am down to two very different watches:

or

These are very different pieces.  I have not been able to see the GS in the flesh (only via the internet).  With Baselworld coming up shortly, I could wait knowing that new watches won't reach the system until >September.  What do you guys  think about these choices?  I know that the regulateur would really diversify the collection, but I have never really had the "live" with one.  I would appreciate hearing from any Regulateur owners.  Also this months Watchtime Magazine looked at the Chronoswiss Sirius which uses a similar movement (C.111 vs. C.112) that is also based on the Marvin 700 caliber.  They had very inconsistent accuracy issues based upon position.  I wonder if they got a "lemon" or that there is something inherently at issue with these reworked calibers?

Sorry for the long note, I did not have time to write a short one...(it is horological meandering after all

Bob