The Watches Thread

[JLv3.0]

And yet again, just like that, I fail completely.

[Mito Man]

I wear an Apple Watch coz I’m a millennial cunt

[Rich B]

I’m not fussed about expensive watches (not saying anyone else is wrong for liking them), I don’t really get the point of a watch that costs thousands and have no interest in what movement they have. I quite like russian and military style watches and I currently have Vostok Europe Anchar (that I like but just annoys me because it dies if I don’t wear it for a day or so (kinetic)).

So I bought a cheap quartz watch for daily wear the other day that I’m waiting for. This time German pilot style. Astroavia N57s.

[240PP]

I like that ^

I'm not too arsed about expensive watches either. I couldn't ever see myself paying more than a couple of hundred quid max on one. Though I do like JLs IWC.

I've just bought this for much cheapness to wear everyday

[Alex_]

Omega fanboi over here. I don’t have anything against Rolex, they’re beautiful, but I just never saw one I really, really wanted. Nothing against Breitling either, but holy fucking shit! 48mm? Like a bloody manhole cover... Kudos to those who can carry them off, but I worry I’ll look like a low-rent Public Enemy tribute.

Do you like Omega's black sheeps? My 30th present to myself last year:

[PreacherCain]

Omega fanboi over here. I don’t have anything against Rolex, they’re beautiful, but I just never saw one I really, really wanted. Nothing against Breitling either, but holy fucking shit! 48mm? Like a bloody manhole cover... Kudos to those who can carry them off, but I worry I’ll look like a low-rent Public Enemy tribute.

Do you like Omega's black sheeps? My 30th present to myself last year:

Very nice - I was lucky enough to receive one of the Hour Vision Blue ones for my 35th birthday. I love the Deco styling, the geek in me enjoys the crystal case sides, and I've found it wears surprisingly well on a Rio 2016 blue-and-white NATO.

[Alex_]

Very nice - I was lucky enough to receive one of the Hour Vision Blue ones for my 35th birthday. I love the Deco styling, the geek in me enjoys the crystal case sides, and I've found it wears surprisingly well on a Rio 2016 blue-wand-white NATO.

I love the crystal sides too, totally pointless but CAF!

[Alex_]

I like most brands and admire the engineering that goes behind each automatic watch but I have a lot of hatred towards Tag Heuer. For example, the new Monaco has a Sellita base movement. Nothing wrong with Sellita but when you charge nearly £5k, it just screams cost cutting.

[PreacherCain]

Isn’t that just because they’ve been shut out of ETA, though? They’ve always used stock movements AFAIK (apart from the super high end chronos).

[JLv3.0]

I like most brands and admire the engineering that goes behind each automatic watch but I have a lot of hatred towards Tag Heuer. For example, the new Monaco has a Sellita base movement. Nothing wrong with Sellita but when you charge nearly £5k, it just screams cost cutting.

I must be going mad - I could have sworn I replied to this but it's gone. Anyway - I bought a Monaco back in 2005 or so and the bloody thing cost more to keep going properly than most cars, as well as it getting scratched way too easily. Power reserves that disappeared, hands not aligning properly, ditto the date (which clicked over at 4am or so rather than the more widely-accepted midnight) - it was just wasn't a viable thing to wear every day, and now lives in a drawer.

[ShockDiamonds]

I've seen one or two that don't scream "LOOK AT ME AND MY BREITLING, I'M SUPER SUCCESSFUL AND I DRIVE A PORSCHE"

SD's is very much not one of them.

Each to their own, of course. Some people don't like my IWC - not that they're alive any more.

This image thing is why I don’t buy Rolex. Because I tend to think of them as far too ‘showy’. In all honesty, the last Breitling I had was a bit OTT. The new one is a tad more discreet. At 48mm yeah it’s wide, but there’s less metal and more face, which works better to my eyes.

[JLv3.0]

It's just the fussiness of the face that I don't like, but again it's purely subjective, isn't it. I probably also have an inherent dislike of Breitling as a brand, seeing some of the repulsive fronts to horology they vomit forth

You like it and that's all that matters.

[ShockDiamonds]

Like it more than what they are going to apparently replace them with. Be interesting to see how they are received.

[PreacherCain]

I was in the Breitling "boutique" on Bond St recently and I can honestly say their range contains (at most) two watches that I'd buy; I am partial to a multifunction analogue/digital, for instance, but the B50 is ENORMOUS, which completely kills it for me. Even the Aerospace (which back in the day was a 40mm, thin and therefore very wearable watch) has bloated into a monster. The smaller B01-based Navitimers are lovely, though - I currently haven't got a slide-rule bezel in my collection and I find them quite unreasonably cool. Quite want.

My issue with Rolex isn't the showiness (every brand produces stuff that's a bit blingy), I just don't "get" them, something about the brand and the design language leaves me cold.

@JL - I remember you hating your Monaco last time we met in a pub, "quite some time ago"! Glad the IWC is a better bet. Also glad that it's a sensible one, their recent fetish for stupid date windows really put me off.

[mik]

Same two Chris Ward auto’s I have had for a while.

Steel C11
Titanium/Ceramic C1000

[Alex_]

Isn’t that just because they’ve been shut out of ETA, though? They’ve always used stock movements AFAIK (apart from the super high end chronos).

Yeah, I think they used to use ETA until Swatch decided to stop supplying them. But this also affects other big brands like Tudor who decided to team up with Breitling to come up with an in-house movement. Tag could have done the same but didn't.

[DaveE]

I think the real trick all these brands pull off is the premium price/imagine when they make millions of watches a year.

They somehow manage to maintain this mystique - but they're pretty much all machine-made, mass produced etc.

[JLv3.0]

@JL - I remember you hating your Monaco last time we met in a pub, "quite some time ago"! Glad the IWC is a better bet. Also glad that it's a sensible one, their recent fetish for stupid date windows really put me off.

Hate was probably overcooking it a bit (I was young and outspoken then!) but yes, I was very disillusioned that far from having bought something of quality and durability, it was actually more temperamental and worse-made than a Seiko. I now see the analogy between the ToyotaSeiko and, say, BMWTag, but it was a bit of a bitter pill.

That was 2006, by the way.............

[Alex_]

I think the real trick all these brands pull off is the premium price/imagine when they make millions of watches a year.

They somehow manage to maintain this mystique - but they're pretty all machine-made, mass produced etc.

I have no problem with mass production or machine-made as long as the quality and finishing are there. It's something Rolex does so well. Pick up a Rolex and it gives you a Thor-like solid feel. I can't say the thing with say Omega when they charge most the same.

[PreacherCain]

Jesus. 2006. I now have less hair than you.

DaveE - exactly; all this “mystique” around Swiss watches and by any rational standard there are a good few micro brands (and Seiko of course) who make stuff of similar quality and reliability at a much, much lower price point.

The difficulty with that sort of reductive reasoning, though, is that you end up concluding that it’s essentially pointless owning any watch other than a G-shock. (Full disclosure: my G is definitely the most robust and horologically advanced watch I own. It was £70.)