Afternoon all,
Mrs Lunge has a rather significant birthday coming up and I would like to buy her a watch. I have some rather specific requirements and I wondered if you may assist in pointing me in the right direction. So, the requirements are:

Quartz movement – Pretty much all of my watches are mechanical/automatic, this does not appeal to her at all so it needs to be quartz.
Gold or rose gold in colour. Gold on steel/silver would be fine but it needs to have a good chunk of gold colour in it somewhere.
Not tiny – She has a very classically styled ladies watch that is tiny that she does not like as it is too small, I’m thinking 30mm as a minimum, ideally nearer 33mm.
Around £1.5k – I know this is a difficult price point for watches (too expensive for cheap watches, not enough for genuinely posh watches) but it is what I have budgeted. Hell, for interest if you see something for more I’ll have a look!

So what have you got?

Ignoring the colour requirement almost completely, I’d say Cartier Tank Francaise. That’s what I went for in a similar situation, anyway.

Edit – you could get one with your colour requirements, but nowhere near that price.

Edit 2 – I’m talking used at that price as well, but looking like new. Chronos24…

Edit 3 – in fact you would get gold and stainless for your budget…

http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/d/2384876/tag+heuer+aquaracer+ladies%27+two+colour+bracelet+watch/?cmCat=OVM

My SO has one (without the gold) and it’s a lovely watch

http://www.watches-of-switzerland.co.uk/brands/baume-and-mercier-watches/linea/17710187

Longines might be worth a look at that price. Or a second hand Tank, as mentioned above.

She obviously doesn’t ride bikes. 😆

Very personal thing watches. As for quality brands that would probably have something suitable in that price range I would look at:-

Omega
Ebel
Fortis
Sinn
Longines
Baume & Mercier
Gucci
Bell & Ross

Quartz models tend to be cheaper, which should help on budget. Loads of other brands to consider too, above is just a quick snap shot. Personally I like Omega watches, but as I said it’s a very personal thing.

Junghans max bill or nomos glashütte

You should have gone to Salon QP last week, plenty of bling on show there.

Wow! My watch cost £35. If it was my birthday I’d be putting £1.5K towards a new bike!

My wife has asked for a Casio for her birthday. £20 quid green one, mind. Pure extravagance considering the black one is £9.

Who does she think I am, Donald Trump?

Wow! My watch cost £35. If it was my birthday I’d be putting £1.5K towards a new bike!

£1.5k? On a pushbike? Are you bleedin’ mental?

Etc, etc ad nauseam. Different people like spending money on different things shokka!

Wow! My watch cost £35. If it was my birthday I’d be putting £1.5K towards a new bike!

Couldn’t agree more! Or some nice new forks, or some fancy wheels. 😀

Well of course people like to spend money on different things and are totally entitled to.
I just can’t see how a watch could provide as much fun as a bike 😛

Not a TAG. What I’ve heard about their servicing requirements, lack of back up and charges for new movements on quartz watches is absolutely laughable.

Quartz watches are really not my cup of tea so I will resist offering views beyond that! The Max Bill mentioned above is a gorgeous watch, but I’ve no idea if they offer a quartz one.

Wow! My watch cost £35. If it was my birthday I’d be putting £1.5K towards a new bike!

The last bike I bought for her was ridden once and then put to the back of the garage, so no way I’m buying her a bike! There is a (easily pulled apart) argument that if you buy a watch that you wear 5 days per week for 16 hours on end it is hugely better value than a bike that gets used for 2 hours twice a week.

I wouldn’t buy her a bike either, lunge but I disagree with your argument about value.
Sorry for digressing the thread

bit over budget but Tudor Glamour Day-Date

vickypea – Member

Well of course people like to spend money on different things and are totally entitled to.
I just can’t see how a watch could provide as much fun as a bike

How much fun would you expect to get from that £1,500 bike in 20/30/40+ years?

The Max Bill mentioned above is a gorgeous watch, but I’ve no idea if they offer a quartz one.

Yes they do.

I love the Max Bill watches, but they’re 38mm and look bigger, if she’s after 33ish.

Pre-owned? Ian Blowers

I just can’t see how a watch could provide as much fun as a bike

I just can’t see how a bike will tell the time as well as a watch.

What about a Chanel J12? (would have to be used at that budget)

Ladies Max Bills are 31.7
Also because the crystal goes so close to the edge they look smaller, I would try them (ladies and gents for size)

Isn’t spending “Around £1.5k” without discussing with your spouse first reasonable grounds for divorce?

Madame would be really unimpressed. blowing all that on a watch and she doesn’t get to choose which one. Imagine your wife buying you a bike and it’s a Stork X-C hardtail a size to big because because you told her your current bike is a bit small.

Wifey has a couple of bling watches. When shopping for women it soon becomes obvious that it’s about the look and not the movement. If she wants something big and shiney take a look at the ceramic Tags. Experience tells me that no matter how well you think you’ve got your wife’s tastes sused she’ll go for something completely different, so take her shopping rather than go it alone.

How much fun would you expect to get from that £1,500 bike in 20/30/40+ years?

My work watch is the first adult watch I bought when I started work, around forty-odd years ago. Couldn’t have cost more than £20-25, I was only earning around £9/week back then.
Found one on eBay France that sold for over €500; if I still had the s/h BSA StarRider that was my first adult bike, I very much doubt it would be worth more than £50.
Still keeps good time, I have to remember to wind it every day, though.

My first mountain bike would be worth a fortune to the retro fans, if I hadn’t ridden it and every bit of kit on it to the point the best place for it would be the bin (if I could bring myself to throw it in).

Should what somebody you never met paid for their first MTB, or what it might be worth now influence you if you want to buy somebody a £1.5k watch?

Have a look at the Georg Jenson open bracket watch – truly beautiful.

Wow! My watch cost £35. If it was my birthday I’d be putting £1.5K towards a new bike!

People can afford a £1.5K watch shocker.

I just can’t see how a watch could provide as much fun as a bike

Neither can I, but I do have several very nice watches and several very nice bikes. You seem to presume they are mutually exclusive items.

It’s a shame Omega don’t do a Ladymatic in quartz. Beautiful watch, and the size is perfect.

They aren’t mutually exclusive but one is a symbol of being slave to time and the other symbol of being free to ride.

Listening to the radio one morning an politician said that if you didn’t have a Rolex by fifty you’d failed in life:

” Si à cinquante ans, on n’a pas une Rolex, on a quand même raté sa vie”

Jacques Séguéla

I immediately quipped, “if you no longer need a watch you’ve done better”.

They aren’t mutually exclusive but one is a symbol of being slave to time and the other symbol of being free to ride

LOL.

i get paid to go to Geneva to photograph amazing timepieces, i love going there and visiting the manufactures (they are not ‘factories’) I’m not exactly dragging myself out of bed with a sigh every monday morning and as a bonus I’m paid well to do it.
wouldn’t swap that for having time to ride a bike all hours or sit in an office doing spreadsheets.
one thing i have noticed visiting manufactures in Neuchâtel and Glashütte is the quiet buzz of energy, all the people who work in the watch making industry seem to have one thing in common, they love what they do.

remind me who’s a slave again?

They aren’t mutually exclusive but one is a symbol of being slave to time and the other symbol of being free to ride.

Wow, that’s a pretty negative view on watches! I always thought they were pretty cool engineering. Anyway for someone who clearly isn’t into watches, why waste your valuable time on a watch thread?

one is a symbol of being slave to time and the other symbol of being free to ride.

Oh well, someone has to….

he could be posting from a smartphone* while riding his bike 🙄

*modern life bauble/conversation killer/social interaction stifler/ego-crutch/banality sharing media device

Edukator – Troll
…Listening to the radio one morning an politician said that if you didn’t have a Rolex by fifty you’d failed in life:

…I immediately quipped, “if you no longer need a watch you’ve done better”.

My big dream was to get a watch with just a hour hand and the phases of the moon. Then I discovered the procrastination and unpunctuality lifestyle and it didn’t matter any more. 🙂

Thank you all for some very interesting suggestions along with some equally interesting ideas on the demographics of various contributors.

one is a symbol of being slave to time and the other symbol of being free to ride.

Just remember, you’re posting on STW, the home of the middle management IT worker. Socialist Worker this isn’t.

The income thread says this place is as much Socialist Worker as Financial Times. Watch, tattoo, piercing, hair and facial hair threads now seem to cross social and class boundaries in that I’ve seen as many “interesting” tattoos on middle-management IT workers as in the roughest bar in town.

May I ask what the most expensive present Ms Lunge ever bought you cost?