u/havefund0ntdie

Is anyone in the market for one? I bought this awhile ago off of eBay and found that I prefer the button shifters (I know, total weirdo)

Asking $500 (also listed on eBay if you prefer that route, but it is slightly more expensive there)

Local pick up in the Bay Area preferred but will ship at buyers expense. Happy to do a video call to confirm the steering wheel beforehand. Feel free to ask any questions.

Edit to add: this will obviously work for all .2 cars with the PDK transmission and reuses the stock airbag. There are confirmed posts online that say that you can make this work on a .1 tiptronic but that’s on you to figure out.

This was the cheapest S4 avant on the market in my area.

110k miles, no history of timing chain service, sat in a field for over a month, coolant leak, washer fluid leak, low/high beam burnt out on one side, exhaust tips bent on one side, clunk from the suspension going over bumps, missing hood prop, rear wiper doesn’t work, multiple interior trim pieces barely hanging on, and best of all I am owner #9 of this shit box.

The upside? That glorious 4.2 ticking time bomb fired up right away and settled into a nice and smooth idle. One of the previous 8 owners installed a milltek cat back which sings the song of the V8 gods.

Place your bets now: how long before the engine grenades itself.

And as you can see, the Oris won. I was in search of a simple three hander, with a pink dial, and under $1000. I bumped up the budget a bit for the Oris ($1100) since I’ve been eyeing this reference since release but could never justify a ~$3000 watch.

I figure Oris as a brand doesn’t need much intro in this sub but my initial impression is, well, impressed! I was a little worried about how this watch would fit but the case size and the bracelet are chef’s kiss. 38mm wears well on my 7.5” wrist and the bracelet, which is borderline dainty, is extremely comfortable. The addition of 2 half links plus 5 micro adjust holes is a nice touch imo. Another thing I like about the bracelet is the center link of the end links. It is fully articulated on both ends and drops downwards almost immediately so the bracelet sits almost entirely flat against the wrist.

It’s only been 3 days so I can’t really comment on the movement, but so far so good. I’m seeing roughly +4s per day. My other time only movement is a miyota 8215 and interestingly enough that seems to keep better time at +2/3s per day.

I’m not accustomed to a domed sapphire so the distortion still throws me off. Additionally, the lume is just meh. And lastly, the bezel has a slight bit of play in it. The lume and bezel play are totally excusable for the massive discount in the grey market atm ($1100).

Thanks everyone who chimed in last week! Will probably end up getting the Baltic sometime in the future though…

I’m a big fan of the surveyor auto design and the pistachio dial is every bit as nice as it looks. I couldn’t get over the polishing though. The middle links in the bracelet turned into a disco ball while driving so I turned to a diy solution.

I took a green scotch brite pad to the bracelet and case. Honestly, I should have stopped at the bracelet; this part is easy since you can lay the bracelet flat and carefully lay uniform brush marks. The case though was challenging. Overall it’s about a 6/10 finish when viewing up close. I can probably get a more consistent brushing pattern with some patience but I put in about 30 mins here. As it is now it’s passable from a couple feet away and most importantly it is no longer beaming the sun into my eyes.

I would NOT recommend this unless you’re willing to alter your watch forever.

Recently acquired the pistachio dial surveyor on a bracelet directly from Bulova during their sale. Interestingly, they are in the process of updating their logo and dial design. The watch I received has a newer font for Bulova and they did away with “21 jewels” on the dial. Just something to keep in mind if you plan on ordering soon.

I really like the case design and the dial color, but the high polishing in the case and middle links of the bracelet were not for me. It was especially bad while driving since it seemed to catch and reflect light directly into my eyes.

It’s a seemingly common suggestion to use a green scotch brite pad to apply a diy brushed finish. Well, I gotta say it works as intended as long as you have realistic expectations.

This is by no means perfect. For the bracelet, I laid it flat on a soft towel and ran the green pad in on direction, then the other. It took less than 5 minutes to completely remove the polishing. The case is a whole different story. I should’ve stopped at the bracelet but I had more time than sense this past weekend. I taped off the bezel and crystal and tried to apply the same logic as the bracelet. Unfortunately, the case shape is not as easy to work with so the brushing marks are all over the place.

Overall though this was a fun experience in trying a diy “trick”. I do NOT recommend trying this with anything you love lol.

EDIT: Thank you everyone for dropping your thoughts and comments here, I’ve decided to go with the Oris

Hi everyone,

I’m torn between the Baltic Hermetique or Oris divers 65, both in the pink dial variation. What’re your thoughts on the Baltic vs Oris comparison? Pricing is relatively close since the Oris can be found at a massive discount (~$1,100) on a bracelet whereas the Baltic comes out to ~$750.

The hermetique looks really good, the dial and the markers are very attractive. I do have a major gripe about the flush crown, and I’m also not a big fan of the partially polished bracelets (not the biggest issue as I’m comfortable doing a diy brushed finish). The divers 65 is also a great looking watch although a little “plain”. I do appreciate their oem bracelet being mostly brushed and the taper looks great to me, but 19mm lug width is a bit odd.

I guess an honorable mention would be a 37mm tsuyosa, but that doesn’t really excite me in the same way.

Another area of thought is the movement; how would you all compare the miyota 9000 series in the Baltic to Oris’ take on a sellita sw200?