"In the spirit of the forum..." (PRS-17C content)

Good evening folks,

a repeating motif in the story of my WIS life seems to be the fact that I fail to realise how good many watches are while they are still in production.
The revelation regularly comes to me only AFTER a certain model is discontinued, making it much more difficult to find.
This was the case with the venerable PRS-17C - a watch I lusted after for a very long time.
When a good example popped up on SC, I was always either too late, broke, or both at the same time.

Then a short while ago, a decent specimen appeared on ebay UK. I asked the seller whether he would be willing to ship abroad and he agreed.
So I waited patiently until the end of the auction. With a couple seconds left on the clock I entered a bid and hoped for the best.
And then nothing happened, because the seller failed to accept foreign bidders. Needless to say I was gutted because I had just missed another opportunity. :blue:

To deal with my bad luck, I did what any sensible man would do in that situation. I went on an internet forum and moaned about it... :grief:
As if that helped! Except this time, it actually did. TZ's very own Backward point saw my post and told me he was the winning bidder on the PRS-17C.
He explained that he had picked it up in case a fellow member did not get a chance to bid on it. Ian said I could have it "in the spirit of the forum" and that he did not want to make a profit on it. :eagerness:
I couldn't believe how lucky I was and obviously accepted his offer. Ian despatched the Precista right away, he even went to the post office TWICE in one day, because the clerk would not let
him ship the watch with the battery installed. :eagerness:

So here we are now, I am a lucky owner of a nice PRS-17C. According to the first owner it received a new movement.
When the watch arrived, I removed a bit of dust from the inside of the crystal, cleaned the case, and lubricated the bezel.
With a fresh battery and pressure tested she'll be good to go for many years to come.

Thanks again to Ian, for your help, and thanks to Eddie for designing such a fine chronograph.
It's become an instant favorite of mine. I enjoy wearing and using it immensely.

http://uhrforum.de/attachment.php?at...8&d=1437587809

Hope you enjoyed this little anecdote and thanks for reading! :smug:

Well done. Your patience is rewarded. Great photo , that strap looks great. I think the 17c is very underated , even on here. Well done ian. Good work.

Great watch and an excellent turn of events!

Great community spirit

It does look fantastic on that strap!

Yes. The Post Office. I was asked if the package contained a battery, and the very kind lady explained that Germany won't allow the import via mail of anything containing a lithium battery. And apparently, if you try to fib about it and customs open the package and discover such a life-threatening thing inside, they could confiscate it and the sender will have committed a criminal offence.

Obviously undesirable on both counts. So a quick trip back home, a PM along the lines of "do you mind if I take the battery out before I send the watch?" and all was well.

I'm glad that you're enjoying it!


All the best


Ian

That strap looks cool, what is it please Ian ?


mike

Congrats Jan! Great looking watch and a story everyone here should read. Enjoy :thumbsup:

Oh I so would like one of those, if ever,,,oh you can guess the rest, well done both of you.

Good stuff!

And an excellent photo if I may say so.

Cheers guys, thanks for the kind words!

I had already answered last night, but somehow my post disappeared. Guess that's me trying to use one of those fancy phones. :apologetic:

The strap is a Timefactors canvas I had knocking about. I also think it works well on the PRS-17C, so I may have to get some more colors.

I also tried the watch on several natos. It looked very good with most of them, but even the RAF pattern ones made it sit too high on the wrist for my taste.

Btw: I forgot to mention that Carl (dowsing) kindly gave me a heads up for the ebay auction, which makes the whole thing even more of a team effort.

Well done in acquiring the PRS17C - one of Eddie's true classics

What a gent! :)

Great photo, I never realised what a looker the 17C was until just now! Lovely watch and a very nice gesture.

What a great story and truly shows what a wonderful place this forum is.

Congrats on your new watch. Wearing mine today but having seen the picture I think I'll now need to order one of those canvas straps.

I had mine on one of Eddie's black canvas straps for a while which also went very well with it. Unfortunately I don't think I took any pictures of that particular combination before I sold it on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Backward point

It does look fantastic on that strap!

Yes. The Post Office. I was asked if the package contained a battery, and the very kind lady explained that Germany won't allow the import via mail of anything containing a lithium battery. And apparently, if you try to fib about it and customs open the package and discover such a life-threatening thing inside, they could confiscate it and the sender will have committed a criminal offence.

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How ridiculously officious. It's not as if we can't fly in the cabin with the battery installed. Still, Australia Post is little better. They once refused to send an iPod with its (non-removable) battery therein. I had to find a specialty courier with all sorts of clearances.

It is a wonderful watch. I once had the second version of the PRS17C. I sold it to help fund my PRS22. I regretted it terribly. Then Eddie found a stash of version 1 watches and offered them at 2006 prices. I snapped one up. It's a keeper.