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The watch thread: pocket, wrist, sporty, showy? You name it!

billo said:
How unlucky am I ? A guy stopped me and asked the way to the airport, he had been at a conference and was going back to Switzerland. He had been given a few watches by his company but did not want to pay the tax upon landing back home. John Lewis were selling the man's watch he had for £500 and the ladies for £800, well it had real diamonds on it! He also had a wonderful large ceramic job worth £1500. He would have let me have all three for the £145 he owed Avis for the rental of his 4 year old Merc. A class. As I only had £20 on me he would let me have the first two watches for just that exact amount.
I told him that I would feel very bad about taking advantage of him in this way and he should try his luck at the airport as that's were all the people with money would be.
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Reminds me of our first trip to Italy when Mrs MiksMA bought a solid gold Omega off a bloke in the car park up Mt. Vesuvius. She never quite fathomed why it stopped working and all the gold washed off a couple of weeks later. My, how we laughed.
 
windhoek said:
A quick search on Ebay suggests you're right! I somehow imagined an Omega would cost close to £1k or more at the very least. I do like the look of the simple Seamaster however but buying used - and vintage at that - is a minefield - or sea of sea mines to be apter - as the few I looked at on Ebay price around a few hundred pounds were either sold as spares/ repairs or sold as seen, which didn't inspire confidence; at least, not in my ability to pick the dynamite from the dud :)
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Ebay is indeed a real minefield - apart from the condition of the movement you run a very real risk of picking up a repainted dial (a 'redial'), a case that's been overpolished (this may or may not worry you) or a 'frankenwatch' that's been cobbled together.

Online watch forums can be a good place as the watches tend to be scrutinised by all the members. There's an Omega forum that you might find interesting.

Bear in mind that a vintage watch will most likely not be as shockproof, water resistant or accurate as a modern timepiece. The case size will also likely be smaller than a modern watch. But don't let that stop you - 1950s & 60s watches are lovely :)
 
MikeMA said:
Reminds me of our first trip to Italy when Mrs MiksMA bought a solid gold Omega off a bloke in the car park up Mt. Vesuvius. She never quite fathomed why it stopped working and all the gold washed off a couple of weeks later. My, how we laughed.
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:D
Ah me...at least it wasn't in a suitcase, or all pinned inside his jacket!
 
alanbeeb said:
I've tried a leather strap on my SARB033 but soon swapped it back to the bracelet. Its easy to do and nice to have the choice. I think black face watches work best with a bracelet, while light coloured face watches (like that SARB035) better with leather.
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You might have someting there. I have a very nice Timex auto that I bought about 5 years ago (yes, I know, last of the big spenders, but I like it), it has a black face and came with a black leather strap. I always thought it looked a bit sombre, when the strap wore out I replaced it with a light brown leather one. It didn't ought to work as a combination, but it does and I really like it. In fact I'm going to put it on now, give my Seiko a day off.
 
windhoek said:
I nearly bought a Seiko SARB033 and SARB065 'Cocktail Time' on Amazon JP this morning as their prices were quite keen, but alas Amazon wouldn't ship to my address here in the UK, so what I did instead was order a Seiko SARB033 from an eBay vendor in Ireland for £246 delivered, which I hope to have within a week or so; their delivery speeds seem to be slower than advertised according to the feedback received from their customers.

Although the default stainless steel bracelet might be more than adequate by any fashionable measure, having watched a few video reviews, which showed how well the watch works with alternatives, I'm inclined to think it's not necessarily the one for me and I may well swap it for a fabric or leather strap at some point in the future.
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Glad to hear you got sorted - and interesting to hear that the Alpinist didn't do it for you in the flesh, or through the window at least :)

Nice to have a play with straps too. Often changes the look and feel of a watch quite dramatically - and a great way of giving a new lease of life to one you might have gone off somewhat.
 
paulfromcamden said:
Ebay is indeed a real minefield - apart from the condition of the movement you run a very real risk of picking up a repainted dial (a 'redial'), a case that's been overpolished (this may or may not worry you) or a 'frankenwatch' that's been cobbled together.

Online watch forums can be a good place as the watches tend to be scrutinised by all the members. There's an Omega forum that you might find interesting.

Bear in mind that a vintage watch will most likely not be as shockproof, water resistant or accurate as a modern timepiece. The case size will also likely be smaller than a modern watch. But don't let that stop you - 1950s & 60s watches are lovely :)
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Are franken watches really that bad if the components are the same? What I personally hate is repainted dials as they always end up looking tacky, but they still sell for high prices on Ebay.
 
My square-dial Fossil arrived yesterday and one of the things I like about it, something I meant to say about the other Fossil watch I bought recently, is that it comes with quick-release straps thanks to the inclusion of a small slider on the underside of the spring-loaded strap holder; as you can see in the video below.

 
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flatpopely said:
I'm going to get the non inverse display version of that!
The GW-M5610-1ER
GW-M5610-1ER.jpg
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Bought it from Argos for £70.
What a bargain!

I've always been a mechanical watch person but this really floats my boat.
Atomic clock sync and 200m water resistance are really great features.
 
CHE said:
Do you often dive to 200m ?

CHE
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Reminds me of a comedian (can't remember who - perhaps Ben Elton) who had a skit about how handy it was when you were swimming at 100m deep and someone comes up and asks you the time.
 
CHE said:
Do you often dive to 200m ?

CHE
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I think this is commonly misunderstood. The certification is under some weird laboratory conditions and grossly overestimates the waterproof level. 100m is minimum for a watch you would actually swim with IMO.
 
Yep, the barometric pressure increases enormously when you move under water. The testing is done with no movement.
 
I'd wonder how many beobachtungsuhr and divers watches are won by flyers and divers. My guess, totally random, is less than 10%
 
CHE said:
Do you often dive to 200m ?

CHE
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No but having a watch that I can go anywhere with is an advantage; especially on holiday on the water slides.

It's £70 FFS, it has loads of features I will never use but it's still a great watch.
 
This is one of my favourite watches although it does need the crystal replaced after I scratched it recently:
large.jpg
 
It's clear from this thread that watches are a very, very personal thing, which is exactly as it should be. ��
 
MikeMA said:
I'd wonder how many beobachtungsuhr and divers watches are won by flyers and divers. My guess, totally random, is less than 10%
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That's true. However a 50m watch is about the minimum for swimming in the sea. That's 5 bar and getting caught out by a bit of surf can do that. My best watch is a Seiko Alpinist. I'm va mountaineer so I'm in the clear. I wouldn't be with a super duper diver's watch, I'd feel like a fraud.
 
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