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A watch thread?

#22
I was given my grandfather's Rolex after he passed away two Thanksgivings ago. It's not one of the fancy-schmancy ones, just straight up functional, reliable, and conservative. Probably about $3,000 back in the day (roughly 20 years ago), but it's priceless to me.


lamborghini98 said:
What kind of watch do you wear? What the heck is the difference between something like a Seiko or Citizen and a Movado or Rolex? I can see how craftsmanship might differ, but if you have a $1,000+ watch, you probably wont be testing it's durability to the limits anyways. I have a Seiko which Im pretty happy with. Only problem is that I think it gets messed up too easily if you bump it or something. Once it completely stopped because I bumped it or something, and now the date is always stuck between today and tomorrow. might look into an exchange or something.
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#23
I'm also a Timex Ironman guy. It's uncanny how accurate this $25 rubber banded digital appliance is. And since I go to a lot of High School Cross Country meets, as well as soccer matches, the additional stop watch features are useful.

I find it hard to spend real money on a good one. I have purchased a few 'better' watches in my life, only to beat it up with in a few years. I think you have to spend more than I am willing to get the type of quality that will be scratch and dent free for years.
 
#24
I have an Omega Seamaster (very similar to the Rolex Submariner). I decided Omega because they seemed to be roughly equivalent to Rolex in quality, but at half the price. Omega is the second largest Swiss chronometer maker, after Rolex, and makes about one-tenth the number of watches.

I expected, having spent a considerable amount of money on the watch, for it to be reliable. I wore it everyday until it broke. I wore it at sea, on a submarine (which I find somewhat ironic). I worked in the engineroom around a bunch of machinery. I did take it off while performing maintenance, but it still got bumped around a lot.

Right now the adjustment knob is missing, and I have seen condensation inside the watch. It is the automatic version, not the quartz, and it no longer self-winds. The (synthetic) sapphire crystal (lens) is in excellent shape - no scratches, and one very small chip. I'm very happy with the crystal. It's a beautiful watch. When I first got it, it was hard not to look at it all the time. Still, I'm very disappointed with the reliability, and have sinced looked at some watch forums and found other people to have had similar experiences. This may be a phenomenon limited to their newer watches. I've not yet had it repaired, or even looked at for repaired - I've been meaning to send it in for quite some time now. There is only one service facility for Omega in the entire United States, and no one else will look at it.

I do miss wearing it. Now I don't wear a watch - my cell phone keeps track of time quite accurately, and so my only real reason to wear a watch is as jewelry, which I'll be happy to do again after I get the Omega fixed.
 
#25
i have a titanium seiko kinetic that i rarely use anymore. but i also have a Longines and Movado for when i have to wear a suit (interviews, weddings, etc). i also have some Timex's that i use for casualness.

to me watches are like shoes, i have the necessary instrumentation to cover most events.
 
#29
I have destroyed more watches than Underwriter's Laboratory. I have killed most major brands in relatively short periods of time, but there are three that have withstood the brutality that is my left wrist:

Rolex - stainless steel datejust. Nearly indestructable. Not even PA gear and acid man-sweat has gotten to this one

Citizen - My folks brought me a gold, slim-case citizen years ago from their trip to China. I had about a dozen bands dissolve into nothingness on that one over time. It was lost during a Russian River weekend

Gucci - Yes, Gucci. I got about half-a-dozen of these from my parents' association with RJR/Nabisco. They were, get this, identification for the various golf tournaments and corporate shindigs they attended. I abused three of them (all different color faces) really badly for years. I still have them
 
#31
I normally wear my Seiko everyday. It's one of the "chronograph" one's with a stop watch on it and it's all scratched up, but it has been through a lot of abuse and still works. I also have a Swiss Army that I wear, too, but its just a plain watch. I wouldn't mind having a nice watch, like an Omega or Patek Phillippe, but even if I had enough money to buy one of those, I'd probably end up buying a bass instead.
 
#33
I also have a Seiko Titanium kinetic. It keeps great time and has taken a fair amount of abuse. I think my folks bought it for me for Christmas one year. I did have to replace the self-wind mechanism but that was after maybe 10 years and it didn't cost that much to do.
 
#34
Watches are the one jewelry type item I can stand to wear. I'm a big guy, and have always felt that most watches look to small on my wrist. So I got an Oris XXL Chronograph.
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It's outlasted any watch I've had before, and seems likely to last for many more years.
 
#35
I do love watches. don't know why really. It could have something to do with an uncle who had a Rolex Submariner which looked cool to me when I was a lad. Anyway I tend to avoid watches with batteries and stick to the old "tick tock" variety. Currently own a Rolex GMT Master II and a Breitling Navitimer. If I had to keep just one it would be the Rolex for 2 reasons, it just seems tougher than the Breitling and it was a gift from my wife.
 
#38
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