The Watches Thread

[DaveE]

@Jobbo I see what you mean about the indices on the Alpinist looking like an early Explorer!

[John]

Nice price reduction on this Seiko Prospex Alpinist, £320



https://www.goldsmiths.co.uk/Seiko-Pros ... p/18280085

[Jobbo]

Good discount but without the second crown I can’t help but feel it’s not a real Alpinist.

[duncs500]

I do love the Alpinist, but I've got my eye on the green one with the rotating crown (among other watches). If it was on offer I'd have bagged it!).

[mik]

I like Spinnaker, and I am Scottish, yet….. no ta.

[GG.]

I like Spinnaker, and I am Scottish, yet….. no ta.

Its missing some thistles, tartan and mel gibson's face otherwise it ticks all the boxes

I've been doing a bit of watch-trying-on recently. More and more coming to the realisation that it is critical to actually put one on your wrist before you even think about buying. So many watches I think look great in pictures just don't work for me IRL.

I had my eye on a few that were 40mm in diameter but after the Radiomir, they just look like kids/womens watches This speedmaster '57 is a good example - great looking watch but just too small. The bracelet taper toward the clasp made it look comical even on an average to small sized wrist like mine. Suprisingly the larger 44mm speedmaster two counter which I also tried (no photo) also felt insubstantial for some reason - it didn't give me 'the fizz'. Sadly I think that's Omega off the list.



I had previously tried on some of the Breitling AVI line at 40mm and again they were too dinky. I then tried on a couple of SuperAVIs at 46mm. I liked the feel of them on the wrist but looking again at the photos they look stupidly oversized - much more so than the 45mm PAM (probably because the wire lugs minimise the length of it).



So no winners yet - 42/3mm seems like it is probably the sweet spot. I then had a look round Selfridges watch department and tried on a Girard Perregaux Laureato Chrono. I really like these - people criticise them as being a Royal Oak rip off, but they've history going back to the early 70s and pre-dated the Royal Oak copies by Patek and Vacheron so I don't get too hung up on that. They're also clearly quite some level above the mass market brands in terms of quality. Given the price it would have to be a used one at 50% off and would then need to come from the US I think as none in the UK currently.



Final option I tried was an IWC Portugieser. These are 42.3mm so in the sweet spot and look great - again I'd be looking at a pre-owned one and really like the annual calendars... but they're $$$ even second hand.

[duncs500]

I actually think the Omega looks cracking! But then I've never been a fan of big watches.

I do like that IWC too though.

[mik]

Breitling looks mahoosive.

That Perregaux is quite nice, but £chokes

[Jobbo]

Even the Omega looks big to me - you should try a 38 or 39mm watch as a comparison. That’s my sweet spot, and I don’t have tiny wrists.

[duncs500]

I'm with you Jobbo. My Baltic which I wear every day and still love is 39mm, and that's about perfect for my also (I think) fairly regulation wrists. Massive watches would just bother me fitting them under sleeves and stuff too. Each to their own though.

[Mito Man]

Surely it depends on your build, if you’re over 6ft tall and a pretty big chap a sub 40mm watch will look like a kids watch.

[Jobbo]

Surely it depends on your build, if you’re over 6ft tall and a pretty big chap a sub 40mm watch will look like a kids watch.

Sub-35mm was perfectly normal in the past. Bigger watches are just fashion and going out of favour a bit. It’s always easier to show off your bling if it’s bigger but is being flash a good look?

[DaveE]

Surely it depends on your build, if you’re over 6ft tall and a pretty big chap a sub 40mm watch will look like a kids watch.

Sub-35mm was perfectly normal in the past. Bigger watches are just fashion and going out of favour a bit. It’s always easier to show off your bling if it’s bigger but is being flash a good look?

Totally agree

I'm about 6'2" but slim, and have quite small wrists - 39mm is about as large as I feel comfortable to wear

But I also have a few 36mm watches, and they look and feel great

When I see people wearing (what I consider to be) overly large watches, it just reminds me of those awful Jacob & Co watches from the 90s that had four time zones/colours etc

What always strikes me though is the difference a millimetre or so makes in how a watch looks/wears - along the same lines, I'm always struck by how much difference a one inch bigger wheel can make on a car - 911, I'm looking at you - in profile, they look like tractors, even though the rear wheel is only one inch larger than the front

[GG.]

I do agree as well but there is a difference between dress and sports watches for a start - Paul Newman's cosmograph was 37mm back in 1963 and the Royal Oak normalised 39mm watches from the early 70s and I think by the turn of the century 40mm had become the standard. That's without even getting into Breitling Navitimers which were 41mm back in the 50s. The days of sub-35mm watches being the standard even for dress watches were quite a long way in the past - maybe, what, 1980s or earlier?

I think as times have changed 42mm probably became 'standard' but as Jobbo says, things are gravitating back to 40mm again and objectively 'big' watches (which I'd consider >44mm are increasingly out of fashion). I was a bit annoyed yesterday as the IWC I tried on in the shop at the weekend was just the 7 day power reserve and felt really good at 42.3mm - on looking into it further, the annual calendar which is that extra element of coolness in the added complication, despite looking exactly the same, is apparently 44mm - which is then probably too large again I think simpler designs with leather straps and without fussy dials are easier to get away with at larger sizes though and the IWC ticks those boxes...

[Jobbo]

I do often find the same - different versions of the watch are different sizes from Rolex and Omega as well, and the version you want usually isn't offered in the size you want.

[DaveE]

@Jobbo have you seen that Jody from Just One More Watch has bought himself the new Aplinist GMT?

[Jobbo]

Not seen that yet - cheers @DaveE

I used to watch all of his videos but he's been a bit too focused on boring microbrands this year so I suspect Youtube isn't suggesting him as much, despite me subscribing.

[Jobbo]

Now I've watched it, I am reminded why the GMT just doesn't work for me:
- same case is good, but the plain steel bezel gains hour markers which look too much of a GMT II copy
- thickness; the normal Alpinist is 12mm and the GMT is 13.5mm which is too much
- the indices; again, the normal Alpinist has a numeral every 2 hours which is unique to it, whereas the GMT has a numeral every 3 hours which looks like an Explorer copy
- the face; there's a lovely sunburst on both my Alpinists (green and glacier) but this black GMT has a very plain face

Colour scheme is otherwise nice with the red tip to the GMT hand to match the red north point though.

[Explosive Newt]

I have a Seamaster from 1962

Pictures please!!

I've no pictures of mine so library pic



the straps gone and it's back not working again - winding mechanism is broken. In truth, it's probably too brittle to wear any more. even just for Special Events which is all I wear it for

My father has almost the exact same watch. Goodness knows when it was last serviced, certainly not while I have been alive. I think they are stunning though and modern watches cannot look so perfectly uncluttered.

[dinny_g]

It looks very small next to modern watches but It’s lovely. I need to get it working again and start wearing it again