Anyone fancy opining on an expensive status trinket?

Yes, may as well get the one you like best. These things end up on ebay or the pawn shop anyway as the heir usually spunks the money away on a family holiday or something

Guess that depends on your relationship with the giver.

I’m in the ‘g shocks are better in many ways and fancy watches are just jewellery’ camp too, but a nice watch passed on by your father has more going on, and I would love such a thing deeply (despite the relationship with my father being far from good!). Nice sentiment. Black.

Grey face is like buying a fashionable suit. In 5 years it’ll be quirky but no one will actually want to own it & it’ll feel like your 40th was way back in the dim & distant past. Whereas the black will look like it & you are forever young & classic

You voice my concerns over the grey very well. The black is more “real”

I’m in the ‘g shocks are better in many ways and fancy watches are just jewellery’ camp too, but a nice watch passed on by your father has more going on, and I would love such a thing deeply (despite the relationship with my father being far from good!). Nice sentiment. Black.

Cheers Del.
As for km79, I am quite aware that it’s overpriced jewellery (hence the thread title), and whether I have more money than sense matters little as it’s my money that I have worked for and I’ll do what the hell I want with it. Have you seen the price of mountain bikes these days? It could easily be argued that any bike over £2k is just a skill compensating ego chariot.

The Mark XVII is more in keeping with “more real” as the early pilots watches were not chrono’s, the other option is the Portugueser which is a lovely looking timepiece if you want the chrono function.

As for the Veblen goods hand wringing. So what? The world is filled with pointless baubles, man has been been embellishing tools and creating useless objects of worship since the Stone Age, any argument is moot unless you live like a monk and your book of prayer is not richly illuminated in gold but a plain text document printed and spiral bound.

It’s not over priced jewelery at all, the work and craftsmanship that goes in to these can be incredible. For example the El Primero movement takes 9 months to build by dozens of highly skilled craftsmen out of dozens of different materials.

Yes the IWC use ETA èbauches, but they are heavily modified in house by one of the leading, forward thinking watch manufacturers in Switzerland.

This whole it’s my money I can do what I want with it attitude is what’s wrong with the world today.

Ok, what should people spend their money on?

This whole it’s my money I can do what I want with it attitude is what’s wrong with the world today.

Typed on a forum dedicated to a rather expensive, and arguably both trivial and pointless, hobby. Probably from a nice shiny tablet, too.

Assuming you give all your earnings to charridee?

Ok, what should people spend their money on?

Audi’s to sit in traffic jams in and 4K mountain bikes to show off to your corpulent trail centre car park chums who work in IT.

At least it’s not a private number plate I guess.

Black one though, if it was me.

But I’d probably not buy anything until I really knew what I wanted then end up spending it on rubbish in the mean time.

This whole it’s my money I can do what I want with it attitude is what’s wrong with the world today.

I think it’s brilliant that we can earn money to use however we want personally. It’s the most basic of freedoms. Obviously it is my money, and I can do what I want with it because, thankfully we are not communists. I could wipe my arse with fivers, and it would be nobody else’s business.

OP some information that might help you.

If you’re dead set on a leather strap, then spend the extra money on a deployment clasp rather than a tang and buckle. Over time the leather degrades due to sweat and bending and that wear is rapidly accelerated with a tang to the point you need to replace the strap about once every two years. A new strap (from IWC) will cost a few hundred pounds. The deployment clasp is pricey (around £400 but I got one from eBay for a quarter of that) but it pays for itself in a few years and it’s a lot nicer to wear.

That said, if the watch you want has the option of a bracelet I’d chose that; it’ll never need replacing and it’s more comfortable to wear when it’s hot. I love my IWC Portuguese but the leather strap is not nice in the heat.

So do you buy a deployant buckle and it fits on any strap?
I’m not into bracelets, if I did get one it would likely to be flipped to pay for sexy leather 😉

This is what Georges from IWC thinks. To a large extent all luxury watches are all smoke and mirrors, but if I were buying one, I’d rather not have it rubbed in my face.

One other thing worth knowing is that Swatch / ETA have stopped selling spares to independent repairer, so you may find yourself limited to official servicing providers.

I’d think about buying the black one, but I’d go out and buy a Rolex Submariner instead just because they tend to be rock solid value wise.

Do you think the MTB industry is any different? We’re at £3K a FRAME and that’s not just the sexy stuff, even specialized sell frames at this price point.
Of course it’s a rip-off. Everything high end is a rip off. And yet ENVE, Santa Cruz, Rolex and IWC all seem to do rather well.
I know stuff all about watches, as I said about the Gshock being a better thing for telling the time. I just want something nice to mark my 40th.

This whole it’s my money I can do what I want with it attitude is what’s wrong with the world today.

😯

What’s left after the tax man has his take is our money and assuming the OP is buying the watch in the UK HMRC will take another 20%. So assuming the OP is a higher rate taxpayer (40% + 2% NI) then the Government will have taken 56% of the money he has earnt to pay for the watch. MORE THAN HALF

Both are nice, get them both!

I’d go for the black, as it’s easier to tell the time with.

Scores so far (by my interpretation)
Grey – 9
Black – 10
To be honest, if I couldn’t make my mind up when they were both in my hand then I may as well flip a coin.

Definitely prefer the grey, though both a bit small for me. I love the Big Pilot though…

^^^^ half sliced numbers are just wrong. Otherwise nice watch!

Go for a black one, yeah you may lust after a grey one but when IWC release the next fashion colour you won’t regret it.

Seen the updated Air King Tron? That will really hold it’s value, same 3131 movement as the Milgause and it’s just over £4k! The new Daytona looks good too, going to be a long waiting list for that one.

Really like the Air King – tempted.

As for the OP. Tough choice. I like the grey but when dropping this much cash on a watch, I think you need to lessen to your heart. If the pull isn’t that strong you should probably wait or buy something else.

So do you buy a deployant buckle and it fits on any strap?

The deployment claps will work on any strap that is the correct size, which I know is a tautology but there are still different straps for the same watch. As long as it fits the watch it will fit any strap that fits that watch. I don’t know for sure but I imagine some models of watch, like the Big Pilots Watch for instance, have much braoder straps.

Typed on a forum dedicated to a rather expensive, and arguably both trivial and pointless, hobby. Probably from a nice shiny tablet, too.

This is the Chat forum, so nobody actually rides bikes…

Blackface is timeless. Maybe not a good thing in a watch.

Some really nice watches above and valid comments. The ceramic daytona is lovely but a huge premium on list if you want one now.

I vote black on black but live in a hot country and leather or Croc straps really do smell after a bit.

Stick to classic styles, loving the portugeusers too

Sorry double post

Grey looks nicer. So, grey.

i too, dont get expensive watches or such

If I had £3k of bling strapped to my wrist the chances are I’d scratch it or bash it up the first time I wore it.

Also, isn’t a bit like having a big sign on your head saying “mug me”?!
(very carefully avoided placing a comma there :D)

Ive got the Mark XVI – a wedding gift from the wife

polished steel / white face and with a leather strap

I love it. Simple and perfect

How dare you acknowledge the superiority of a G-shock pre-emptively?

It’s an important unimportant decision, innit.

As a tie breaker, ask your significant other, and if you’re in a good mood with him/her, buy the one (s)he likes best. If not, get the other. Be prepared to live with the consequences.

If I had £3k of bling strapped to my wrist the chances are I’d scratch it or bash it up the first time I wore it.

People drag 8k Santa cruz’s round muddy trails every weekend…

I do like a nice watch and price not withstanding i’d buy the black faced based on your photos. In practice i’d keep the g shock, get a seamaster and a new bike. YMMV though and hey, what makes you happy.

If I had £3k of bling strapped to my wrist the chances are I’d scratch it or bash it up the first time I wore it.

And the rest. IWCs probably more like £5k.

£4600 new, it’s why the unworn second hand one on watchfinder is a bit of a bargain.

Good point about the deployment strap, I have a butterfly one on my El Primero, only problem is that s that it adds to the girth making it harder for my shirtsleeves to fall over it without being pulled.

I,d be looking something vintage, like this, Omega 911

List for the leather is £4190 (according to the tag), the B&M dealer will sell it for £4K. I have seen it elsewhere (brand new) for £3600-odd.