Hi all, I am new to these forums so I thought it was time for an introduction. I am active on the Omega Forums (same username), but recently acquired a Tag Heuer so it's time to join up over here. I really got into collecting watches after inheriting my dad's Speedmaster, but used to wear pocket watches as a teenager in the 90's. I've got smaller wrists and am really a fan of vintage sizing, which brings me to my new acquisition. When I was younger I had a boy sized Rolex Submariner knock-off, and I don't think I even knew what it was a copy of. Getting into watches again I became a fan of the 4-digit subs, but honestly they look a little big for me and I have no interest in paying that kind of money for a watch. I also looked at the 36mm Tudors from the 90s, but I think that is probably a little small for a diver and I don't like the cyclops.

Enter the mid-size 1000 Series Professional (Tag) Heuer divers from the 80's. To me they are a perfect size (37/38mm) and look. So I started my obsessive research and found Justin's site (https://www.tag1000diver.com/). He can swap out the crystal for sapphire and gets them to pass a pressure test. This was the perfect watch, but I am not a huge fan of quartz. The lollipop on the second hand bouncing around just wouldn't do. Then I dug some more and found posts where Justin discusses converting them to automatic. A little back and forth with Justin, and I settled on a clean example he had that was a candidate for conversion. So here it is, my perfect fantasy automatic Tag Diver running an ETA 2824:

Today


Some photos from Justin:



This image from the web shows what it originally would have looked like (more or less):

 

Nice seeing you here, welcome.

 

Nice! Looks like a great fit on your wrist, enjoy it!

 

Looks great! Very cool mod!

 

It feels like the perfect size. I can tell already that it's going to get a lot of wrist time.

 

I also hate quartz, wonderful way to make the 1000 a watch worth wearing

 

Absolutely fabulous. Enjoy.

 

Nice mod and a nice job!

 

It's a nice conversation but I'm all for quartz. It's original and of the period.

 

What?
How can you stand wearing your 'awful' quartz RedBull F1 in that case?

 

I totally get your sentiment. I typically like to keep watches original, but the conversion is reversible and the original quartz movement was dead.

 

Very cool, nice to see watches being modded.

I’m tempted to go the other way with my Aquaracer

 

I think it looks fantastic! I have nothing against quartz and would have preferred to keep the watch original. But I’m not the one wearing that 1000 on my wrist. Nice work and congrats on your newly acquired 1000.

 

Ok you can leave now. Bye

 

I might look around to see if there’s an ETA modified by someone like breitling or Tudor for vibration and magnetism resistance. Or maybe just fit a quartz movement that’s a direct swap