RARE Gem and Grail now on the wrist!

Awwwwwwwww, heck! That's beautiful!

Dang-it that's a nice watch.

That is a real nice watch you go there. Love the duratect coatings on those as well.


Enjoy it...

Nice way to make an entrance! 8) Citi!

Cheers!
Mike

Really very nice. Great find!

Wow! I'm drooling. Congrats on a great find.

Wow totally mint. A real rare catch you got there!

Congrats and drool!

Congrats, that's a beauty! ;D

Enjoy and savour the find!
Looks great...
Regards
Jem

That watch is sweet! What are the little metal knob things sticking out on the back side of the strap near the spring bars?

Ted

Ted said:

That watch is sweet! What are the little metal knob things sticking out on the back side of the strap near the spring bars?

Ted

Click to expand...

Hi Ted...
Those are "bradybars", automatic springbars for easy strap changing.

Very nice but I suggest you do NOT follow the example of the previous owner and let the secondary battery "deep cycle down". Eco-drives work best when they receive a daily light bath to keep them charged -- in fact, they are designed to operate this way and Citizen recommend it. You cannot "overuse" the eco-drive function, as over-charge protection is built in.

Running the secondary battery right down can in fact kill it and/or make the watch impossible to restart when exposed to light again. Your best bet when not wearing the watch is to leave it in a safe place exposed to indirect light, such as under a skylight or away from the direct rays of light through a window.

Looks good on that strap!

Sir said:

Very nice but I suggest you do NOT follow the example of the previous owner and let the secondary battery "deep cycle down". Eco-drives work best when they receive a daily light bath to keep them charged -- in fact, they are designed to operate this way and Citizen recommend it. You cannot "overuse" the eco-drive function, as over-charge protection is built in.

Running the secondary battery right down can in fact kill it and/or make the watch impossible to restart when exposed to light again. Your best bet when not wearing the watch is to leave it in a safe place exposed to indirect light, such as under a skylight or away from the direct rays of light through a window.

Looks good on that strap!

Click to expand...

Thank you, Les. Great advice and much appreciated.

When I'm not wearing, it would be on a nightstand. The room is not very bright in the daytime but should be good enough to keep the watch going I assume? You say to not leave in diect light though for days at a time, correct?

bradystraps said:

When I'm not wearing, it would be on a nightstand. The room is not very bright in the daytime but should be good enough to keep the watch going I assume? You say to not leave in diect light though for days at a time, correct?

Click to expand...

That is correct, the reason being to prevent heat build-up. An adequately lit bedroom should be fine. You'd be amazed how little light is required to keep these babies topped up.

Excellent. Thanks again, Les!

Thanks for the kind words, gents. I am loving this watch and it hasn't left my wrist for days now. 8)

Congratulations and welcome to the club. They are pure quality IMO.

Took me over a year to find one, which I eventually did on the SCTP and I got it for what I considered to be a fair price for such a rare and sought after grail watch. My only issue is with the strap which on my wrist is on the next to last hole rendering the titanium keeper obsolete. I understand the short strap was for the Asian market and mine came from japan.

Take mine out and wear it or leave it on the window sill once per month and its fine.

I had another ecodrive diver bought on the bay as dead and needing new battery. I put in under my bedside lamp and it began to tick but wouldn't hold any charge. The next day I put it on the window sill and two years later its still working. Which is more than can be said for the numerous kinetics I've since offloaded.

Did anyone ever find out what the Mission Antarctica 1998-2001 on the back refered to?

Great stuff, John.


I'd LOVE to learn more about the watch's history and the caseback as well. Can anyone refer us to something?

OtherJohnUK said:

Did anyone ever find out what the Mission Antarctica 1998-2001 on the back refered to?

Click to expand...

AFAIK, they were made specifically for a Japanese scientific expedition to Antarctica between 1998 and 2001. Japan has an Antarctic research station called Showa which has been the site for many such expeditions, now numbering 51 in total. The Mission Antarctica watch was specifically designed to cope with Antarctic conditions, including (of course) extreme cold, prolonged darkness (hence the eco-drive with its long power reserve), and high resistance to magnetism (at 16,000 gauss it's more than 3 times the usual value of 4800 gauss).