I'd second the Garmin, although I've no clue on cost. The app to sync to your phone/ Strava isn't great but it's been around a while - and is the same one as for Garmin bike computers. And the Suunto battery life is not great: 12 months in time mode (ie no GPS, altimeter etc) and not rechargeable.
Yeah right. …. I’m looking forward to the what watch to wear whilst scuba diving training in a quarry near Macclesfield but elegant enough to wear in town for a cheeky lamb kebab post over the summer..
Sssshhhhhh, don't discourage him, I'm waiting for the Seiko fire sale... 😉
I have an interest in watches that waxes and wanes as I realise that 99% of the time I just look at my phone but they are the only form of jewellery beyond a wedding ring that I'd wear.
Looking at Kryton's relationship with his collection it's like the abusive partner he can't live with but can't live without. Apologies if that's a bit flippant but it really doesn't seem to bring him any joy! 🤣
But is it kinda the same as some people's relationships with their bikes? Even if it's more enjoyable, there's still the "n-1, which one to get rid of", "OMG, turns out I got rid of the one bike I love most", "N+1, replace my long lost love", "what to replace my current bike with" narrative! 😉
Yeah, I'm sure it is the same, I suppose the difference stems from different bikes giving you tangible advantages. I.e. I can't go for a bike ride without a bike and an enduro bike can't replace a road bike and vice versa. Whereas any £25 casio can do any job a watch needs to in the modern day.
Watches are jewellery though, it's as much (in fact probably more) about form as function. I have a selection of watches to wear for the same reason that I have a selection of shirts/t-shirts/shorts/jumpers etc etc - because I want a choice of what to wear.
Looking at Kryton’s relationship with his collection it’s like the abusive partner he can’t live with but can’t live without. Apologies if that’s a bit flippant but it really doesn’t seem to bring him any joy!
Ha Ha you aren’t wrong! In truth I love wearing my Omega for example, and my Aquaracer when on suit duty, and the cocktail time during next weeks posh exec dinner, but when I’m faced with a choice it plays to my anxiety and angst. For all the reason above I really enjoy having a collection to chose from, yet at the same time don’t - the multiple divers are an issue for sure. Having one very nice watch in each genre that I appreciate will help.
In the interim I find it massively enjoyable to watch the variety, complication and mechanics of the horological industry here and on various media platforms. That leads me to want to reflect on my more random prior experience and patiently use my new found and increasing levels of knowledge to make more informed decisions.
I wish I was like that, I’m a classic overthinker. I’d be 100 times less stressed 😂
Kryton57Full Member
I wish I was like that, I’m a classic overthinker. I’d be 100 times less stressed 😂
But that would stress you for not being accurate enough 🙃
Maybe you need to frame things differently?
e.g. I've decided that my watch collection will have mean=6 with sigma=2.2
😂^^
Anyway, the last hurrah, an oldie returns as an office watch alongside the SMP when smart casual…
S'nice that
@Harry_the_Spider I'd echo the Garmin instinct/instinct 2/crossover suggestions. I'm another one with a couple of G-shocks my instinct solar has all but displaced the G-shocks, it's comparable as a watch (IMO) and a good (durable, with good battery life) sports tracking device (if you're not into bells and whistles)...
If only someone was selling a Garmin Instinct Solar in the classifieds...
in orange...
with a spare strap...
for £75.
😉
My SMP is on Omega deployant rubber. Only available aftermarket and that’s nearer £500
I’ve had plenty of 3rd party rubbers before from cheap Amazon ones to Vanguards and RubberB
Nothing comes close to OEM
Jeepers, £500 notes. I can understand the quality as the rubber on my SMP is leagues above anything else I have, but why are deployants so expensive?
im looking at a Hirsxh for the Hamilton - £34 or £82 with a deployant!
The deployant is £300
I’ve had snide ones before and “proper” copies like Artem. You can tell the difference. Not saying it’s worth 300 quid but there’s no hiding that it’s leagues better than a cheap one
Saying that I took the Omega deployant off my Speedy and replaced it with a Formex clasp. Not as nice but you can adjust it which makes loads of difference to the fit
Just read that back wondering how I can be trying to justify a £300 watch strap clasp
Then realised that there are people here that will spend 10 grand on a push bike and suddenly all was well in the world 😂
Tbf said bikes aren't *just* for pushing, you can also pedal some of them, which I believe justifies some of the cost 😉
I’m very fortunate that my lack of riding ability means I’m happy with gravel….so my expenditure on bikes these days is minimal….im very happy on my Planet X Tempest with no need to buy anything new for a while.
Which also means I can get away with spending more on my other hobby (watches!)
You need to discover guitars…
Straying from watches for a second, my elder son started to get decent on the guitar, which shamed me into getting some lessons to learn to play the Yamaha acoustic my wife bought me 23 years ago.
Somehow we now have three folk learning guitar and four guitars in the house, plus two DIY guitar build kits as something for me and the boys to do over our last school holidays together.
Watches are cheaper I think.
For full ridicule I play golf (badly)….equally expensive. The missus has just decided she wants to learn how to play. It’s her birthday in a week, she’s got clubs and lessons from me….which I’m now regretting!
I need to buy another watch this year before she gets into golf and diverts my spare money elsewhere!
Fortunately I’ll never be able to play guitar (very limited use of one arm) so that’s a bonus!
When learning, the best guitarist, violinist etc are one armed. Like having a mute switch...🙂
I've a banjo been sitting here for 15 years waiting for my attention. I'm not musical and tone deaf so that'll be a struggle. I've two arms tho so no real excuse.
Can anyone recommend a good leather strap please, under £100? I want it exactly the same as the dark brown on the Hammy page 220, cream or white stitching with a milled deployant. It’s the colour + deploying I’m struggling to find.
Thanks.
Well, slash was spotted with a Rolex GMT master whilst playing a couple of years back. 😁
Anything here?
https://www.hirschstraps.com/collections/deployment-hirsch-watch-straps
ignore that you’d have to buy a clasp separately so over-budget
https://www.hirschstraps.com/collections/buckles-deployments
Yeah thanks - looks like a Hirsch Boston with deployant upgrade wil be £82 - perfect.
Just need to wait for next months wages….
watch would STW recommend for learning to play guitar?
Well, slash was spotted with a Rolex GMT master whilst playing a couple of years back. 😁
Dunno, Ed Sheeran and John Mayer seem to manage in just about anything you can imagine.
Rolex in the news. Price increases due to the cost of Gold increase. A gold Daytona now cost £38k…. 😧
Happy not new watch day to me. As I think I said before, my folks gave me a bit of money for my 50th, so I spent it on getting the watch I bought with the bit of money they gave me when I graduated, repaired.
Nothing enormously special, but I like it, and the repair cost pretty much twice as much as I paid for the watch in the first place, but that's not the point, is it.
Anyway, I'm chuffed it's back up and running. Twenty five years old and counting...
I think I’m making a reasonable, if sarcastic, point. £260 for a rubber strap is, undeniably , taking the piss.
I wouldn’t argue with you on that point. I’m fine with a good, well-made stainless steel bracelet costing a fair bit, although the Breitling mesh-type bracelet is over £600, but absolutely not that sort of money for rubber. Not that I’d ever consider wearing a watch with one, I swapped the plastic straps my G-Shocks came with as soon as possible and put on the woven elastic ones, which only cost about £7-8.
Apple have just announced a Pride version, exactly the same as the one I’ve got on my yellow G-Shock CasiOak, only theirs is $44, not $11, which is what mine cost. 🤷🏼
I had the pleasure of sitting with an AD last night and try on my target GS Snowflake 3 hand spring drive, in Ti and Steel.
I came away with mixed feelings; the Ti so light is feels cheap, or rather it doesn’t feel expensive as the steel watch despite being £1.2k more, so the steel watch came away with honours there, but both are the same movement, and size etc. On the plus side, both watches - at 40mm - fitted my wrist perfect from a visual and L-to-L perspective so it’s pleasing to know I don’t need to rule them out, and they have drilled lugs with which the AD said they’d throw in a GS leather strap for those dressier times.
I had the overwhelming feeling though that although I know of the efforts that go into a GS - ancient arts carried through which appeals to me as well as owning Spring Drive movement - I’d spend a long time explaining to a on enthusiastic which “it’s not a Seiko”. But hey, why does that matter, maybe I’m more of an attention seeker than I thought. With that in mind I walked through Breitling on my way back and spent (another) few minutes with a Green Super Ocean Heritage and dismissed it - beautiful watch, but too blingy to the point I’d only ever wear in “safe spaces”, so what’s the point?
Interesting times, the GS perfect for work/the type of dress events I’d attend, but very much a sleeper to the outside world. An as much as I wanted the snowflake dial, I’m wondering now whether a different colour - maybe a champagne - would feel better . They had a baby blue dial, very nice but I’m cautious that colour is very much “of the times”.
Really interesting post Kryton, and good to get your views on the Ti etc. I'd agree really - Ti is what I'd instinctively go for, but after trying it on it feels less substantial than the steel, and a bit toy-ish.
GS are perfect as the sleeper do anything watch. I prefer the Evolution 9 case myself, and if they actually put lume on their standard models (not just the divers etc) I'd be very tempted by a Spring Drive, something like a Lake Suwa
However tiresome it might get explaining to none-watch people that the Grand Seiko isn’t “just” a Seiko, it’ll be worse having to admit to watch people that the Breitling is an actual Breitling.
You think that's bad, imagine how tiresome it is for the non-watch person who's got some watch nerd explaining to them that the Grand Seiko isn’t “just” a Seiko, or that the Breitling is an actual Breitling 😉
lol.
I tried to explain Zaratsu polishing to my non watch nerd boss once, it wasn’t long before he glazed over…..
Nicko indeed, I went away feeling that more investigation and time with the AD is needed before I commit, and yes the lume! I was wearing my cocktail time (the white/silver/blue one) and it was a stark reminder at midnight last night in the back of an uber that silver hands on a gloss white/silver/blue dial with no lume isn’t 100% useful :). It does just the importance of wrist time with an AD though before committing as per Gaidong does so well.
The had a SLGA009 which I think is Spring Drive, but I didn’t try it on, next time. £8.5k though 😬
it’ll be worse having to admit to watch people that the Breitling is an actual Breitling
Meoooowwww... 😁
I bought a Breitling as I was seduced by the advertising I walked past twice every day for 18 months - maybe. It is a Chronomat Evolution with a mother of pearl dial, gold accents and a loverly alligator strap (the bit I really like). The trouble is, I now think it's a bit gauche, a bit too gaudy. I'm more into straight stainless than fancy gold and this is just a bit too much now. Each to their own though.
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What's the deal with discounts on GS? They're not exactly flying off the shelves - and you could argue are definitely overpriced - so will ADs offer a discount; or is it a case of scouting around on Chrono24 and other marketplaces for decent deals?
When I was looking at them, I was very aware that they're a watch that loses value as soon as you buy it. It's obviously not necessarily a reason to buy or not buy, but compared to say a Rolex, it's a consideration. Also a good demonstration that market value isn't about features/ capabilities etc.
And the lume thing is really annoying; but GS fans claim that the silver hands pick up enough ambient light that you don't need lume really...
I always fancied the Snowflake but was instantly underwhelmed when I finally tried one on. It seemed to wear a bit small, perhaps compounded by overall lightness. But I think the main factor was that it seemed dated rather than traditional. Perhaps a leather strap would have improved things, but I quickly moved on.
