WWR #22: Steinhart Ocean Vintage Military

What do you think about homages? Are they fakes? Just a copy? Well these questions are the most asked and discussed by watch collectors and enthusiasts everywhere. True nothing can beat the real deal, but sometimes it may not be as practical as you think. Especially true for vintage watches. And so my weekly watch recommendation for this week is the best homage for the most coveted and holiest of all military dive watch grails.

The watch for this week is from the German watch company Steinhart with their Ocean Vintage Military divers watch.






It is cased on a 42mm stainless steel case with a domed sapphire crystal and powered by an ETA 2824-2 automatic movement.  Aside from milsub design homage, it also has that dial with patina look on the markers and that includes the hands.  And even though these have that patina color in them, they surely glow in the dark considering that these are Superluminova.  It is also water resistant to 300 meters and is equipped with a solid stainless steel bracelet.  Replace this with a black nato strap and you have yourself the complete homage of the rare and cool Rolex MilSub.

Here are the pics of this vintage inspired beauty.

The Rolex that influenced this Steiny was the Military Submariner or named to many as the MilSub.  This watch was issued to the British Military in the 70s and only about 1200 of them was made this way.  A normal person would mistake this with a normal Rolex Submariner on a nato strap but there are so many differences in this model that makes this more unique and in demand.

 Interested, more info on the link below:

http://rolex.watchprosite.com/show-nblog.post/ti-503131/

  

The Steinhart Ocean Vintage Military Dive watch carries a price tag of around $580 to $600.  The Rolex on the other hand you can probably get about 100 to 200 times that price if it ever comes up in the bay or an auction. The price is only not the biggest plus, as the problems come with all vintage time pieces is the repair and service.  The parts are mostly scarce, and you would need to spend more to have it in tip-top condition.  The Steinhart uses an ETA movement, and is basically used in hundred thousands of watches and has a vast supply of replacement parts.  Lots of people love a patina/vintage look on their watches, but that usually is a sign that your watch is used up so those luminous markers no matter what they are made won't glow anymore, well except for this Steiny.  And lastly, the 42mm case on the Steiny is up to the style of big watches nowadays, the Milsubs are at the minimum level of case diameter.  

To conclude, nothing beats the Rolex MilSub when it comes to heritage and the respect it deserves as the real tool watch that made Rolex a good pedigree for watches.  But in the new generation today, not so many of us have lots of dough to put down on a 40 year old watch, but thanks to Steiny, we can enjoy the classic design of the historic milsub, and the reliability of a new working movement that we can use day till night, and still have surplus for dropping some dought another new watch for a growing collection.

We must thank these homages as they let our generation appreciate the history and value of the old and experience it with our generation's version....in some way.