Sigh...okay then...

[Race-ready]

...I'll tell you the story of how I came upon my Sea Wolf.

During my military service I wore a thoroughly beat down, albeit completely servicable Sub. After I ETS'd I stayed in touch with a number of my former RNGR buddies.
I went into the I.T. field as I built my watch and clock business (a man has gotta eat) and was sitting with an old Army bud at a client site in Reston Va. He being instrumental in securing me the job and also being my boss.
"I see you still wear that fugly hammered Sub..." says he.

"Um...yea..." says I cleverly.

"That thing is as ugly as a sack of sphincters. I feel bad for you, ya know being a watch guy and all." Say's he.

"erm...'k..." Say's I, not missing a beat.

"Tell you what, I've got a watch...decent shape, runs well, you serviced it. Maybe we can work out a trade...?"

"Which watch are you talking about?"
Now, as a professional I can share with our group that my friend is what is known in the business as a "watch queer". He was then. He is now. Thank The Lord Almighty for all of them. At that point in time he probably had 30 crappy watches. Now he's 'burdened' with somewhere around 100 really nice examples of horology at it's finest. Sometimes I hate him. That feeling goes away a little when I service his Patek...or his Royal Oak.

"That Zodiac. So, what do you think that old Sub is worth anyhow? I could add some cash to the deal."

"Hmm."

In the end we traded. I never accept cash in a trade - "utter bollocks" as my uncle would say, so I serviced, polished and fitted new crystal/crown/bracelet to my Sub. Hated to see it go. Looked smashing, ran like a freight train.

I showed him the Sub after "thinking" about it. After he picked his jaw off the floor I began negotiating.

The item that my friend John had that I really wanted was a SIG P210. Another fine piece of Swiss engineering and artistry.

And that's what I got. A P210 with a .22 kit in a lovely wooden box. Out-Standing.

That and this pretty nifty Zodiac Sea Wolf. 



Cheers.

[TJW]

Great story, Race.  I'll never be able to top that.  My story goes...Saw it on TZ, liked it, bought it...although we have had some adventures together since then.  That SIG looks like a nice weapon; do you dare combine the two and shoot while wearing the watch?  perhaps it would be OK with the .22 kit installed?  BTW, Thanks for your service.   TJW

[Race-ready]

Hey you're welcome my friend.

And yes, I shoot wearing a watch all the time. I'm left handed to boot so the watch and the roscoe reside in the same quadrant. No problems as of yet - although shooting more 'abusive' calibers (anything above the .44 Mag) and wearing a more delicate/thinner calibre of watch could be problematic.
A friend was once wearing a Seiko 5 and touched off a round from Colt Dragoon copy (a black powder pistol renowned for it's nasty recoil). As the smoke cleared he informed that his watch had stopped. He handed it to me and sure enough, dead stop.
I gave it a wrist twist and it started back up. I opened it up that night and found nothing. Watch has worked like a champ ever since. 

And FWIW - I'm 46 years old and have never bought a watch. The Sub I traded for the SIG and Sea Wolf? I traded a Kawasaki 500 Triple for it, one week before I entered basic training. I've not stopped trading since.

Also being a watchmaker I get stuff abandoned from time to time. Mostly ladies watches and pocketwatches. I've had a struggling jeweler pay me in watches (cheap junk) and gold chains. My Grandfather left me a vintage Rolex. My wife valued me enough (HA!) to buy me newer Sub. Kind of the luck of the draw.

I've grown pretty fond of the Zodiac and consider it to be one the best trades I ever made.

Cheers