Omega TC 1\2 OR Girard Perregaux Casquette?

22 Aug 2010, 18:28

I am trying to save my pennies for a new addition to my collection (it will take me a few months of saving) I can't decide between the Omega TC 1\2 and the Girard Perregaux Casquette, please cast your votes to help me decide.

If you have one that you would consider selling which can be put to one side for me until I have the dough, drop me a PM.

22 Aug 2010, 19:09

GP of course, no question :-D

But it's harder to find and also very hard to repair if anything's broken.
And no, I won't sell mine (actually, I sold my avatar Macrolon GP some months ago after I had finally managed to get a very nice and working SS one) :-D

22 Aug 2010, 20:46

omega tc1 or 2 its all in the looks good luck

23 Aug 2010, 19:13

That's a hard decision to make... but as a faithful LED Lover I'd say... (drumroll).... BOTH! :-D

But which one first? The Omega is easier to find, so I say look for the GP. If you spend your piggy bank on the Omega and need to save up for the GP - but it shows up before you're ready to spend the $ you need to get it and you miss the oppportunity.... Well, you get the picture.

23 Aug 2010, 19:53

LEDluvr wrote:But which one first? The Omega is easier to find, so I say look for the GP. If you spend your piggy bank on the Omega and need to save up for the GP - but it shows up before you're ready to spend the $ you need to get it and you miss the oppportunity.... Well, you get the picture.

That sounds like good advice, thanks LEDluvr.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

BTW: 4 to 2 in favor of the GP as it stands.

And no, I won't sell mine (actually, I sold my avatar Macrolon GP some months ago after I had finally managed to get a very nice and working SS one

I thought you might of had a spare tucked away, I understand the SS was produced in the highest numbers but it always seems to be the rolled gold ones that crop up on eBay.

http://www.ledwatch.de/gp.htm

What sort of price are they bringing nowadays?

24 Aug 2010, 15:39

That was excellent advice LedLuvr gave. And you already have some larger Pulsars, so the exterior case is the only interesting thing there. The aesthetics are purely personal - I like the Hamilton QED in stainless over the Omega.

A GP driver will set you back from $1200-$2500, depending on case, condition, correct box(a few hundred just for that), paperwork. The movement itself is fairly robust, but the battery contacts where made flimsy and a bit troublesome. I've rebuilt a couple of those contact assemblies and I know Juergen Hofstaedter has done a number of those. The physical layout is the challenge...you'd think battery contact would be easy but it is harder than it looks.

24 Aug 2010, 20:18

bucko170 wrote:I thought you might of had a spare tucked away, I understand the SS was produced in the highest numbers but it always seems to be the rolled gold ones that crop up on eBay.

I simply prefer the SS version for the looks. IMHO it looks a lot better than Macrolon, let alone gold - but that's just MHO ;-)

. I don't care for rareness. And I don't need boxes. I even wear this watch from time to time, and if the SS should get a scratch it can be restored.

Yes, the battery contacts ARE flimsy, plus they have a tendency to short the batteries - with the usual catastrophic result (battery leakage). I had one where this had apparently happened and acid had eaten away most of the copper traces leading to the QC. Then, the QC was defective and I had to replace it. Now try soldering on remnants of acid-damaged copper traces on a flexible printed circuit... of course the copper traces came off immediately, I rebuilt it with thin wires - it worked, but certainly didn't look nice.

24 Aug 2010, 20:42

rewolf wrote:Yes, the battery contacts ARE flimsy, plus they have a tendency to short the batteries - with the usual catastrophic result (battery leakage). I had one where this had apparently happened and acid had eaten away most of the copper traces leading to the QC. Then, the QC was defective and I had to replace it. Now try soldering on remnants of acid-damaged copper traces on a flexible printed circuit... of course the copper traces came off immediately, I rebuilt it with thin wires - it worked, but certainly didn't look nice.

I do stained glass as a hobby, so I have this nice copper foil(adhesive backed) I use for some of those rebuilding jobs. I stick the foil onto an overhead sheet made for going through a laser printer(heat resistant to a degree), then cutting the contacts out with a razor knife, finishing by giving them a quick coat of solder on the top side, which greatly increases their stiffness(bi-metal). I used the stainless steel contacts off a defective Hughes Dual LED/LCD module for the side terminal. Not my favorite job, that's for sure.

25 Aug 2010, 11:30

with omega watches alot of them are handed down to family members and there for if your very lucky like i was you just might get one in mint condition

25 Aug 2010, 13:36

retroleds wrote:... so I have this nice copper foil(adhesive backed) I use for some of those rebuilding jobs...

Great idea, hadn't thought of that. I even have easy access to this adhesive copper foil at work. Anyway, my current GP is perfect inside, so I dare hope I'll never have to work on it :-D

18 Sep 2010, 23:54

Just been thinking about this, I have ordered a SASM15 module from Hanno to make use of a spare that I had, would anyone have a spare Omega TC 1 case that I could match with the module? My budget is tight so I'm not looking for anything in mint condition one in a nice daily wear condition would be ideal.

21 Oct 2010, 19:39

I went for a GP in the end.
Beautiful watch, I can now understand why its held in such high esteem.

21 Oct 2010, 19:50

bucko170 wrote:I went for a GP in the end. ...

A wise decision :-D

I almost can't believe the GP has only 66% of the (up to now only 9) votes ;-)

22 Oct 2010, 12:04

They are such different pieces in style, history and appearance, I couldn't really fathom the comparison....other than from the sense of , "which should I buy to add to my collection". Votes may below sense, (a) a GP is out of many folks reasonable budget,(b) some consider a GP a bit "dainty" or small. I fall into that category myself....greatly preferring the Mido drivers for their size. But the GP does have a very classy shape.

22 Oct 2010, 14:14

I couldn't really fathom the comparison....other than from the sense of , "which should I buy to add to my collection"

Yes, there was nothing in mind linking the two together in any particular way, it was just a simple which do you like better question.