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- Surrey, UK
I enjoy Richard's YT content as wellGood value watches by all accounts, there is a good video on YT by Richard Perritt watchmaker where he makes some beefed up parts and fits them to that watch to make it work better and last longer. Well worth a look.
Just an FYI as is seems to be little spoken about but there are two 1963 models available, those sold by the Sea-Gull factory themselves which is the official one sold for around £500 and those sold by a 3rd party called Redstar which is sold under licence for around £150. The official one is all tickety-boo but the Redstar models are hit and miss with occasional poor QC on movements and poor chrono pusher integration leading to premature failure.
Have chatted to Julian of Strela about this as most of the parts for his watch originate in the Sea-Gull factory. He says that contrary to what Redstar claim and hobbyists believe, the ST1901 movement comes in different grades and is priced accordingly (ETA always did the same with their 2824 movement.) He only uses the top grade and reports a vanishingly low failure rate. The cheap one's are good value if you get a good one but from I've seen the odds are 50/50 at best.