So Casio EF-125D-7AV Bracelet Broke After 7 Years..

My Casio EF-125D-7AV's bracelet broke. Luckily, it was a spring bar that broke and fell into pieces, and doubly luckily, it was not on my wrist when it did. A simple fix. However, the 7 years of hard use has not been kind to the bracelet and spring bars.

Yes, the EF-125D-7AV is by no means a watch meant to last the eons, especially the folded metal bracelet construction, but it does worry me a bit since it has the integrated bracelet which isn't changeable when the time comes, the bracelet has gotten very loose from stretching and rattly over the years.

The watch may have stopped once in the past but that was probably due to accidental bumping of the crown. It's almost been 7 years to this day and the 10-year battery has kept ticking non-stop, with essentially zero maintenance. That is pretty darn amazing. Also, I have dropped it once to a tile floor from arm height, standing up. Dented the case a bit, but no other damages.

If you didn't know, the EF-125D was my first 'proper' watch I got for myself, back in late 2008. It is the watch that got me into watches.

My Orient 'Ray Raven' CEM65007B Arrived..

....and I am disappointed.

Firstly, the box is different. It is significantly cheaper, than what I saw online:

This is what I expected (Pic taken online)

This is what I got, on the right.. on the left is a Casio Edifice box for comparison. The Edifice is 'pleather' with a pillow inside, but the Orient is is basically leather-embossed cardboard on the outside, and fur cardboard on the inside.

Here're some pictures. I have no doubt the watch is genuine, and it IS a beautiful watch.

But, the watch bezel came with scratches. More like a scuff, as if someone hit it against a rough concrete wall:

Scratch at the 30 marker on the bezel.

I'm contacting the seller to get a refund or replacement. But if they screw with me, I might just change the bezel. Or paint it with a black marker.. :(

Vintage Sandoz Automatic

Wow, this one is old. I don't know how old, but, it definitely is very old. Behold, my father's vintage Sandoz automatic. I have never heard of the name Sandoz but apparently it has been around since 1870s. Sandoz in the 1970s was split into several companies, according to Wikipedia, all of them named Sandoz but split into 4 areas of production, due to licensing. This became 4 separate brands, Sandoz Singapore, Sandoz Hong Kong, Sandoz Swiss and Sandoz Spain, each with their own line of products. 

Now, that means that, I am just really guessing here that this watch is either one of the post-1970s one, or the pre-1970s product. As the watch has the "Swiss Made" on it, it maybe the Swiss one. But really, I have no idea.

Condition:

When I found it, the second hand has fallen off sadly. And it doesn't tick. I can wind it, but it won't work. I have since cleaned it up a bit, and brought it over to my watch guy to have a look. He says he can see some rust (uh oh) but if that clears up there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong. Hopefully we can fix it.

The lug on the lower left side has also bent, most likely as a result of a fall. My watch guy says that he won't be touching that as he doesn't want to be held liable for breaking it off... fair enough. Well we will see how that will work out. Hopefully I can get it at least ticking again, and reoiled and serviced.

I knew it was too good to last...

Well earlier I had posted about my Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2 bending a spring bar and the watch fell to the floor without damage? Well, turns out it dented the watch and I totally missed it until this afternoon, when I got new springbars and put the bracelet together. Sigh. Oh well, first cut is the deepest they say, here's to many more years with my Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2!

....meanwhile, an excuse for a new watch!! How about Casio Edifice EQS-A500?? Or the EQS-700DB-1AV I've been eyeing?

 Decisions decisions..

Bad Luck Today

Hit some bad luck with my new Casio Edifice EQS-500DB-1A2. I snagged it against a door catch and bent the spring bars, which came apart from the watch case and it fell onto the floor.

Fortunately, however, there aren't any scratches on the watch itself, surprisingly, since when it fell, it landed on the bracelet side, on a smooth tile floor. Even the bracelet didn't show much of a scratch, I am extremely lucky. The only damage on the case appears to be very tiny scratches on the side of the impact, which looks like wear against the bracelet anyway. Needless to say, Casios are tough.

I will be heading over to my watch guy for some new spring bars. 

Sorry for the bad pics, evening pics with iPad..