Help me pick a watch

Seiko “Pepsi” Monster looks Rolex-esque.

Get something very different, go for a Sturmanskie. Russian military watches, they were worn by Yuri Gagarin, so the first watch in space. Well within your price bracket.

I have a Christopher ward and I am very pleased with it. Braun also do some nice watches

Blimey I had Seiko Tuna when I was in the navy in the 80’s, great watch.
I’ve got a Sea Dweller now which I brought 10 years ago before they changed it to the huge thing it is today. I was lucky to get a little bit of inheritance otherwise I couldn’t have afforded it.

Depending on your budget and If you like that style of watch look at used Breitling Super Ocean or an Omega Seamaster. Both great watches.

What is a great watch?

As the 2nd post shows, perfect time keeping costs just £10.

Anything beyond that is (needless) craftmanship, bling or aesthetics.

What is a great watch?

As the 2nd post shows, perfect time keeping costs just £10.

Anything beyond that is (needless) craftmanship, bling or aesthetics.

And I’ll bet you ride a £50 bike from Toys-r-us. A cheap Casio doesn’t keep perfect time, and they’re a bastard to reset if they gain, because you then have to sit there holding a stupid little button in while it slowly winds the hands forward in a really tedious fashion. And that’s a £70 Casio with analogue hands.
I want a watch that’s a pleasure to own and look at, that’s easy to read in the dark, and keeps excellent time. My Seiko fulfils every one of those criteria perfectly, a £10 Casio doesn’t come anywhere close.
Still, if you’re a Jihadist who’s not planning on hanging around too long, then it’s just dandy…

Sound advice chaps, I am going to wait a while and see when the watch I first linked to comes in. If that fails a seiko looks good

I bought this modded Seiko from Yobokies beginning of last year, I “think” it was around £200 but don’t quote me on that.

Is it worth it over the bog standard Seiko?, it tells exactly the same time and costs £120 more but i think it’s worth it – a very nice watch and surprisingly accurate.

From contacting Harold, to paying for it, to receiving the watch took less than 7 days – I’d certainly buy from him again, if i ever lost this one that is.

When my Seiko failed in Turkey about 6 years ago, I bought a nice watch from the market for 20 euros. I didn’t realise it at the time, but it was a rolex submariner and its only recently been considered the genuine Rolex when compared next to a genuine one. I still wear it for work and it has worked perfectly, only once getting moisture inside it on a skiing holiday a few years ago.

Ignore the masses tripping over each other to tell you what watch they like and go with the Steinhart.

If I didn’t already have too many watches one these would be on the list, Panerai-ish. (Note not the ones with mental engraving)

http://www.magrette.com

Or if you’re after a Rolex-a-like MWC do some nice automatic ones

http://www.mwcwatches.com/product_info.php?pID=245&products_id=245

Or Unifom Wares do really nice minimalist ones
http://uniformwares.com/

oooh lots of lovely watches…….but how many of them will be worth twice as much in ten years?

+1 for Christopher Ward. Quality affordable watches. Trident is nice. 60 month movement guarenee too.

You can pick up a nice Omega Seamaster Model 2254.50.00 for £1000-1500, might be worth saving up. This is the classic seamaster, and is getting more desirable.

If you want it now, get a Christopher Ward Trident. Nice watch.

Can anyone recommend a retailer for Vostok Europe? I can only find foreign online sellers and fleabay.

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Look at time factors for good value : if they don’t have one that suites now then you could wait as he keeps bringing in new designs whilst the old ones sell out.

http://www.timefactors.com/

Also consider servicing costs when choosing a watch, and the servicing fees will be higher the more complicated the movement, such as for a chronograph.

Watches like a Rolex might well go up, but if you get it serviced every 5 years as you should (otherwise it might not go for a premium price 2nd hand anyway) then they don’t go up that much once you remove the servicing fees.

For example my Omega Speedmaster Moonphase was something like 2.2k when I bought it new and they are maybe 4.5k now, but a recent Omega service was £440 (although it looks like new now) and a new strap is something like £250.

So to get full investment value you would buy the watch and then never wear it, so it wouldn’t need servicing or replacement straps.

So this Yobokies guy, what does he actually do to the watch?

That one that Somafunk posted above.. (which looks great btw)
What did it look like when it left the factory..?

Depending on your view on such matters, aliexpress.com does some tremendous “replicas”, as long as you filter out the sub-£30 tat.

My mum had an Omega Constellation thing from there a while ago and it’s very almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Keeps time marvelously well, and cost about 1/50th of the price of the actual Omega.

I’m tempted by one of the Asian homages to the Cosmograph Daytona that is available. £50 delivered. Ordinarily I’d shy away from spending that kind of money on an obvious non-original, but the quality of my mum’s has changed my mind.

Lots of nice things in this thread – now I’m thinking one for me and one for my son is the way to go!

My brother and a few mates have Steinharts,very nice watches for the price.
You could also try christopherward,very reasonable prices also.

So I went for the steinhart

http://www.steinhartwatches.de/en/OCEAN-One-Vintage,817.html

Arrived today after a bit of a wait. I could not be happier with it.

The classic seamaster has some appeal to me a nice example with the gold plating intact would hold it’s value

Not this one but similar

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-SWISS-OMEGA-SEAMASTER-S-STEEL-CALENDAR-14k-GP-WRIST-WATCH-GORGEOUS-/321353307036?pt=UK_Jewelery_Watches_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item4ad226539c

also consider servicing costs for a mechanical watch.

The recent service on my omega speedy was £440 – although it now looks like new (apart from needing a new strap…)

Look at timefactors and wait for something to come up that you like – they are limited runs and he brings out new ones every so often.

Those Magrette’s are just gorgeous! The case engraving is stunning, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a watch engraved like that before.

oooh lots of lovely watches…….but how many of them will be worth twice as much in ten years?

(Shrugs) Who cares? Only collectors, or people with more money than sense, buying as investment rather than wearable timepiece worry about such things. My TAG only cost me £250 around twenty years ago, and could easily be worth £500, but it’s black coating is seriously worn, so who knows. I don’t actually care, it’s not being sold.
Same as my Yema; forty years old, I think it cost me about fifty quid, if that. Quite possibly worth ten times that now, it shares a movement with period Breitling and Raymond Weil watches, and is pretty rare, but the last thing I was thinking when I bought it was it’s future value, more ‘oooo, that’s a pretty watch!’
It’s like buying a work of art: buy because you like it, not because it might be worth more in the future. It has to be lived with on a daily basis.