Do you wear or even own a watch?

[IronJambo]

Currently got 7 watches and wear two different ones in a day on occasion. I enjoy wearing the cheap ones as much as I do the more expensive ones.

 

2x Classic casio's

G-Shock

Citizen eco drive

Rolex Explorer (39 mkII)

Christopher Ward (another bronze one for the forum)

Hamilton Khaki day/date

 

 

[Ribble]

Got some vouchers at xmas and picked up this in the sales as a daily beater for £60, really like the way it looks and really does look like it's a much more expensive watch (admittedly it's original rrp was something like £250)

[periodictabledancer]

On 02/01/2024 at 12:20, Victorian said:

I was a bad boy over the festive period and ended up buying a couple of watches.  A spectacularly flash TAG Heuer Formula 1 chronograph and a Seiko Marinemaster 'Tuna can'.  God knows how many tunas I've had now,  must be about 8.  

I was looking in Beaverbrook's  window this morning , admiring the Prospex. But the price of Seikos now is obscene (currently got two) and my wife would probably cut my knackers off if I bought another watch of any description. 

[Tazio]

Watch fans are convinced normal people notice and admire their watches when actually they barely even notice them. The only watch I own which is ever commented on is my Mondaine which most people seem to like. 
https://uk.mondaine.com/products/evo2-35-mm-black-vegan-grape-leather-watch-mse-35110-lbv

[periodictabledancer]

1 minute ago, Tazio said:

Watch fans are convinced normal people notice and admire their watches when actually they barely even notice them. The only watch I own which is ever commented on is my Mondaine which most people seem to like. 
https://uk.mondaine.com/products/evo2-35-mm-black-vegan-grape-leather-watch-mse-35110-lbv

Not me, I couldn't care less. 

I know   a guy who at the time I met him was a hospital porter who had a clutch of Rolexes which he bought for cash to hide his money/investment (when he had his own business). He wears one every day and he says the only people who ever comment are jealous doctors. 😄

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, periodictabledancer said:

Not me, I couldn't care less. 

I know   a guy who at the time I met him was a hospital porter who had a clutch of Rolexes which he bought for cash to hide his money/investment (when he had his own business). He wears one every day and he says the only people who ever comment are jealous doctors. 😄

I should have used the word fanatic instead of fan. 

[tedarmy]

On 02/01/2024 at 12:20, Victorian said:

I was a bad boy over the festive period and ended up buying a couple of watches.  A spectacularly flash TAG Heuer Formula 1 chronograph and a Seiko Marinemaster 'Tuna can'.  God knows how many tunas I've had now,  must be about 8.  

this one?

[Victorian]

1 hour ago, periodictabledancer said:

I was looking in Beaverbrook's  window this morning , admiring the Prospex. But the price of Seikos now is obscene (currently got two) and my wife would probably cut my knackers off if I bought another watch of any description. 

 

Watches are rarely value for money.

 

Seiko has a vast range and back catalogue.  Endless.  The Prospex line used to be quite limited and exclusive but it seems to have expanded greatly over the years and not everything looks all that great.  But a proper Seiko Marinemaster is something special.  Merely a quartz of course but I've never suffered from any kind of phobia of,  or snobbery about mechanical versus quartz.  

 

My new tuna is getting a Strapcode Super Engineer 'lumpy' bracelet with solid screwed links.  OEM Seiko bracelets have fiddly links with basic friction pins and side link collets.  

[Victorian]

Just now, tedarmy said:

this one?

 

No.  That's the new model Gulf Oils edition.  I had the Mk1 years ago.  I've bought the gold faced one.  

[tedarmy]

2 minutes ago, Victorian said:

 

No.  That's the new model Gulf Oils edition.  I had the Mk1 years ago.  I've bought the gold faced one.  

[Pennywise]

I own 16-20 watches. Only wear maybe 3-4 of them. Got one my father in law gave me which is worth a few grand that has never been out the house. The ones I wear are from bobobird. Wooden watches that I like. 

[redjambo]

2 minutes ago, Pennywise said:

I own 16-20 watches. Only wear maybe 3-4 of them. Got one my father in law gave me which is worth a few grand that has never been out the house. The ones I wear are from bobobird. Wooden watches that I like. 

 

I'd never heard of wooden watches. They look great.

[periodictabledancer]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

 

Watches are rarely value for money.

 

Seiko has a vast range and back catalogue.  Endless.  The Prospex line used to be quite limited and exclusive but it seems to have expanded greatly over the years and not everything looks all that great.  But a proper Seiko Marinemaster is something special.  Merely a quartz of course but I've never suffered from any kind of phobia of,  or snobbery about mechanical versus quartz.  

 

My new tuna is getting a Strapcode Super Engineer 'lumpy' bracelet with solid screwed links.  OEM Seiko bracelets* have fiddly links with basic friction pins and side link collets.  

I'm not talking about VFM , but the blatant price gouging. 

* I've got a SKF diver somewhere and the  Seiko strap on that is a disgrace , but it only cost about half what they're charging for a similar  model now.

 

PS I saw the ice blue Prospex today : it  looks fab.

 

[Pennywise]

9 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

I'd never heard of wooden watches. They look great.

Yeh I got my first one as a gift, always gets noticed when I'm out & about with it. 

[Tazio]

4 minutes ago, periodictabledancer said:

I'm not talking about VFM , but the blatant price gouging. 

* I've got a SKF diver somewhere and the  Seiko strap on that is a disgrace , but it only cost about half what they're charging for a similar  model now.

 

PS I saw the ice blue Prospex today : it  looks fab.

 

Seiko bracelets have always been shocking. Exactly why companies like Strapcode exist. 

[Victorian]

3 minutes ago, periodictabledancer said:

I'm not talking about VFM , but the blatant price gouging. 

* I've got a SKF diver somewhere and the  Seiko strap on that is a disgrace , but it only cost about half what they're charging for a similar  model now.

 

PS I saw the ice blue Prospex today : it  looks fab.

 

 

Think the best ever Prospex line one I had was a Marinemaster MM300.  Similar to but bigger than the Sumo.  These had a top grade automatic movement.  The thing that put me off it was the difficulty in having it serviced,  should it have needed to have one.  It was what's known as a toploader.  No removable caseback.  Monocoque case that can only be accessed by removal of the bezel and crystal.  

[Victorian]

Had a vintage 'Golden Tuna' years ago (quartz).  Those were also toploaders.  As,  if memory serves,  was the Emperor / 'Darth' (auto) I had.  A black watch is a good option sometimes as they somehow appear to wear smaller than polished or brushed steel.  My CWC SBS seems totty compared to the equally sized Royal Navy diver version.

[Tazio]

5 minutes ago, Victorian said:

Had a vintage 'Golden Tuna' years ago (quartz).  Those were also toploaders.  As,  if memory serves,  was the Emperor / 'Darth' (auto) I had.  A black watch is a good option sometimes as they somehow appear to wear smaller than polished or brushed steel.  My CWC SBS seems totty compared to the equally sized Royal Navy diver version.

I’ve got an Orient faux Fleiger type watch that is anodised black and I agree, it should be too big for me but I can get away with it. 

[Victorian]

2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

I’ve got an Orient faux Fleiger type watch that is anodised black and I agree, it should be too big for me but I can get away with it. 

 

Yeah,  quite an odd perception.  As you'll know,  it also greatly depends on the north-south length and the lug length + bar position.  

 

Monnin cased CWCs and especially Tunas are extremely coy when it comes to case size.  The Tuna lugs are really truncated and sit below the case shroud.  The effect is an almost completely round case,  which wears small.

 

Contrast square cased watches.  Even a modestly sized Bell & Ross wears huge,  as I found.  

[IronJambo]

3 hours ago, Tazio said:

Watch fans are convinced normal people notice and admire their watches when actually they barely even notice them. The only watch I own which is ever commented on is my Mondaine which most people seem to like. 
https://uk.mondaine.com/products/evo2-35-mm-black-vegan-grape-leather-watch-mse-35110-lbv

The only thing true about this is that nobody notices or is bothered about what's on your wrist. People that are enthused by wearing them are well aware of this though.

[periodictabledancer]

2 hours ago, IronJambo said:

The only thing true about this is that nobody notices or is bothered about what's on your wrist. People that are enthused by wearing them are well aware of this though.

[DG_HMFC]

I was given a lovely Tag Heuer Formula 1 Red Bull special edition for my 40th birthday the other day. Absolutely love it.

 

 

[mrmarkus1981_1]

I was given a Radio Centrix as a gift for my 40th. I think it's great, apart from I can't tell the time in the dark 🤣

 

 

[DG_HMFC]

4 hours ago, mrmarkus1981_1 said:

I was given a Radio Centrix as a gift for my 40th. I think it's great, apart from I can't tell the time in the dark 🤣

 

 

 

 

I had the same problem with an Armani watch my mrs bought me about a year ago. The whole watch was completely black and you struggled to even see the time outside in the blazing sunshine

 

It looks nice but it's completely useless.

[Victorian]

I hate skeleton dials.  It's even a bit of a fugly movement.  Milled bridges.  Christ,  at least decorate it with Geneva stripes.  

 

Apologies,  but not Rado's finest hour.  A lot of vintage Rados are superb.

Edited January 4 by Victorian

[HMFC01]

I got a cheap digital watch for £15-20.  I needed it to tell the time and  light up in the dark.   I was doing a long bicycle ride so stopping to use my phone or shine a light on my watch would slow me down.   It worked perfectly and I wear it everyday since.    Saves my phone getting overly used.   It also has an alarm, timer and a stopwatch which comes in useful.   Water resistant as well.   The usual watch benefits. 

 

I think I love it that much I'd wear it as a dress watch and wouldn't care if people found it vulgar.   Although I'd probably give in to it being fashionable to wear.   It's black so it goes with anything really. 

 

I like some of the pictures of the watches on this thread.   If they glow in the dark or light up that would be great.   I didn't notice any comments. 

Edited January 5 by HMFC01

[MTS1874]

I’ve had an Apple Watch for the last 3 years. It mirrors your iPhone, checks your steps, BPM and has an ECG facility. 

[happyjam]

Wear my Garmin 24 hours per day (just got an upgrade at xmas).  Use it for running, cycling, health metrics, listening to music and it also tells you the time.

Probably far more accurate than most high end watches due to GPS updates.

 

 

[PortyJambo]

5 hours ago, HMFC01 said:

I got a cheap digital watch for £15-20.  I needed it to tell the time and  light up in the dark.   I was doing a long bicycle ride so stopping to use my phone or shine a light on my watch would slow me down.   It worked perfectly and I wear it everyday since.    Saves my phone getting overly used.   It also has an alarm, timer and a stopwatch which comes in useful.   Water resistant as well.   The usual watch benefits. 

 

I think I love it that much I'd wear it as a dress watch and wouldn't care if people found it vulgar.   Although I'd probably give in to it being fashionable to wear.   It's black so it goes with anything really. 

 

I like some of the pictures of the watches on this thread.   If they glow in the dark or light up that would be great.   I didn't notice any comments. 

The hands and 10 minute markers on my Citizen Eco Drive glow in the dark, one of the things I like about it if I have to sleepily look at the time on it in the middle of the night...

 

This is the more of less the model I have, although I've got a black leather strap on it as I'm not a fan of metal bracelets.

 

[Victorian]

Permanent luminosity.  Try a watch with tritium tube hands and indices.  Tritium is Hydrogen3,  an extremely weak radioactive isotope.  Watches have tiny tubes of tritium gas (gaseous tritium light source GTLS). The lume is fairly weak but permanent and not activated by light with subsequent disappearance in darkness.  You can get tritium painted hands which are stronger.  Alternatively,  some of the strongest superluminova lumed watches will still retain lume many hours into darkness.  

 

Most affordable / best value tritium watches.  MWC (Military Industries).  German marque,  with Japanese automatic or quartz movements.  Good quality watches.

[Ulysses]

On 03/01/2024 at 18:47, Victorian said:

 

Watches are rarely value for money.

 

 

Absolutely not.  And if they were, what'd be the point in that?   

 

 

Watches are a great example of "one man's meat is another man's poison".  I'll post a pic of something I think is brilliant, and someone else will look at it and say "nope, not for me", and vice versa.  And as someone said earlier, most of us won't ever notice what someone else is wearing on their wrist.  On the other hand, we'll all be aware of what we're wearing on our own wrist.  So if you buy something that you can afford at whatever price, and you're happy with the function, look and feel of it, then it's a good purchase IMO.

 

 

[Spellczech]

On 03/01/2024 at 19:52, redjambo said:

 

I'd never heard of wooden watches. They look great.

I think it was originally Tissot who made watches out of wood and stone (not in same watch! haha) back in the 80s or 90s...

[Victorian]

38 minutes ago, Ulysses said:

 

Absolutely not.  And if they were, what'd be the point in that?   

 

 

Watches are a great example of "one man's meat is another man's poison".  I'll post a pic of something I think is brilliant, and someone else will look at it and say "nope, not for me", and vice versa.  And as someone said earlier, most of us won't ever notice what someone else is wearing on their wrist.  On the other hand, we'll all be aware of what we're wearing on our own wrist.  So if you buy something that you can afford at whatever price, and you're happy with the function, look and feel of it, then it's a good purchase IMO.

 

 

 

Of course.  It's an it's all relative type of deal.  There's tons of watches in the £150 to £200 range that are good enough quality,  good looking pieces that wearers are rightly happy with.  All the way through to very high end.  In amongst the seemingly infinite number in between there resides a whole lot of pap.