Affordable automatic meteorite-dial watches - Are there any?

X2-Elijah

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Discussion starter · #1 · Jun 29, 2014 (Edited)

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Lately, I've been drawn to a "meteorite-dial" look.. Something like this Bovet:

But with me being a student and world being the way it is, Most of these are out of my price range by miles.

So is there something affordable (and hopefully automatic) with that kind of dial design? Any style is okay, otherwise - dress, diver, chrono, sporty... As long as it is affordable, ofc.

 

Drop of a Hat

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#2 · Jun 29, 2014

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Invicta makes one or two (or did).

"He's just a witness"

 

X2-Elijah

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Discussion starter · #3 · Jun 29, 2014

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Umm.

Dangit.

Perhaps there are other, less ... unsavoury... options?

 

Drop of a Hat

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#4 · Jun 29, 2014

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I remember some people having modded Seiko's with homemade dials like that.

"He's just a witness"

 

Docrwm

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#5 · Jun 29, 2014

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Croton, android, and Invicta are the only ones I can think of that aren't outrageously expensive.

 

W

woodt3

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#6 · Jun 29, 2014

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I recently started looking for one myself, I wasn't aware croton or android did one.

 

hayday

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#7 · Jun 29, 2014

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The Invicta is one of their Pro Divers, so it's not an awful watch. It's actually quite nice looking, though I'd be concerned about the QC, as is always the case with Invicta.

-hayday

 

Docrwm

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#8 · Jun 29, 2014

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woodt3 said:

I recently started looking for one myself, I wasn't aware croton or android did one.

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My recollection from a brief voyeuristic moment watching ShopNBC.

 

watchmego3000

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#9 · Jun 29, 2014 (Edited)

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There's a guy on Etsy making custom pieces with meteorite.

 

Reno

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#10 · Jun 29, 2014

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Stuhrling has some rather nice models :

It's not really affordable, but for a tourbillon, it's not insane either :think:

 

Pallet Spoon

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#11 · Jun 29, 2014

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daschlag said:

There's a guy on Etsy making custom pieces with Gibson meteorite.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/153750...duct_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=jewelry_mid&gclid=COr4tpitn78CFUlqfgodorwAdg

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Great find! but it is "Gibeon" meteorite the OP is looking for. I think this seller has come up with a look-a-like, hence the name. Does not look quite right but may scratch the itch. A dial alone for my Datejust would be around 500USD.

 

watchmego3000

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#12 · Jun 29, 2014

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Pallet Spoon said:

Great find! but it is "Gibeon" meteorite the OP is looking for. I think this seller has come up with a look-a-like, hence the name. Does not look quite right but may scratch the itch. A dial alone for my Datejust would be around 500USD.

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Yeah I noticed my typo and fixed it, then realized that's how the guy spells it... Caveat emptor I guess.

 

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at.ray

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#13 · Jun 30, 2014

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I found that Starborn creations makes Gibeon Mateorite watches. Affordable, although quartz.

http://www.starborncreations.com/Mens-Gibeon-Meteorite-Watch/WWATCHMBL/

 

X2-Elijah

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Discussion starter · #14 · Jun 30, 2014

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at.ray said:

I found that Starborn creations makes Gibeon Mateorite watches. Affordable, although quartz.

Starborn Creations - Mens Gibeon Meteorite Watch Starborn - Hand crafted Silver Gemstone Jewelry - wholesale - drusy, moldavite, meteorite, druzy, larimar, fossils

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Hmm. Kinda wish that dial had a ...better watch attached.

Anda thousand bucks for a stuhrling sounds downright insane

 

ffritz

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#15 · Jun 30, 2014

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Reno said:

Stuhrling has some rather nice models

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I had an eye on that model for a while, but I never was quite sure if the dial is actually meteorite if if meteorite was just the model name and the dial was etched steel. It doesn't really look like a Widmanstätten pattern to me.. (but I wouldn't be able to tell the difference either) Does anybody know?

 

ffritz

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#16 · Jan 8, 2015 (Edited)

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X2-Elijah said:

Hmm. Kinda wish that dial had a ...better watch attached.

Anda thousand bucks for a stuhrling sounds downright insane

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Hi guys, I finally finished my meteorite dial mod. Or let's say the latest version of this mod is good enough to wear and present on WUS. I tried a different dial design before but that didn't really look good. Anyway, here is my affordable Muonionalusta hand cranker:

It's a standard Parnis 44mm type case, dial and hands, plus a Seagull TY3600 movement I bought at the Liv Morris online shop (Max, if you read this: thanks a lot for your great customer service and help! I really appreciate it a lot!) for a total of 125€. I was lucky to get a fitting meteorite slice on ebay for about 30€.

The dial center is a piece of the Muonionalusta meteorite from northern Sweden, where it impacted about one million years ago. Due to its long presence on earth, numerous ice ages and woolly mammoths etc. passing over it, its fragments are spread out in a 15 x 25 km area. It has a beautiful Widmanstätten pattern which reflects the light in many different ways (after seeing this, I'm fairly certain that the Stührling meteorite watch is just plain steel etched to resemble a meteorite pattern, but not the real McCoy).

I just ordered a black metal bracelet where I can brush off certain parts/links to match the black/steel bicolor dial. So, with a bit of a modding effort, I got my affordable meteorite dial watch. Not an automatic though, but I actually prefer the hand winding movement in this case.