So, just sent my watch off for a service…

I dunno, ask me in 60 years.

Age on its own does not confer value.

Age on its own does not confer value.

No, but it’s a good indicator of reliability.

ampthill, i will try to answer some of your questions, i like fashion so maybe i can give you some tips

Yes, we should care what people look like and you should care what you look like IMO.

Well no-one needs to be upset because it is just my opinion

Oh yes! you could definitely tell when it’s a fake very easily!

Yes, your orange watch is definitely better than a Tag Huer for many reasons. 1-Your watch is functional and you use it to jog/run and as timing instrument. For what you do and for your lifestyle it is perfect. Although personally I would never advocate bright colors like that. Some women might not find that attractive.

I would like to give you another little tip/experiment if you dont mind: Try to do something a bit different style wise next time you go out or go to a bar for example. Try to put in some effort and just take it one step up. Like if you normally wear jeans and tshirt to bar, now try with jeans and nice shirt with collar, maybe put some gel in your hair and smell nice or bit different than usual. Shoes are very important too, try wearing some nicer shoes. And also take off your orange watch. Just try it once and see the different response you get, if any. I think you will be very surprised.

I’m touched that you replied and was never upset by your post just amazed

My worry is that the appearance thing is a slipper slope. Do we not employe the ugly. Do we have a max BMI for the receptionist? How do we judge people from other cultures if we judge by appearance

It is true that when I wear a collar to work I get positive comment. But is it just a cheap trick. Shouldn’t they be impressed buy who I am and what I do

15 years old – £30 when new. Getting close yet?

Clothes maketh the man.

So being a city get and working in a dealing room I get to see alot of poncy watches…. (some are really rather serious money)

On one hand they make sense as some high end watches will hold thier value if not actually increase in price while you get to enjoy them. ( so better than buying flash motors or all mountain super bikes for the local woods)

But then on the other hand… there have been a number of watches lost on big nights out.

And that’s why I wouldn’t invest in one…. I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t screwed on…. and anyway I look enough like a city w***er with my stripped shirts and red braces.

What’s wrong with a bit of romance?

I have a thomas the tank engine solar calculator which is 25 years old and still works plus it plays the thomas the tank engine theme music.

Cool. As. ****.

No, but it’s a good indicator of reliability.

Not on its own. Something that’s been kept in a cupboard for decades doesn’t need to be reliable. And people seem to value things that are rare, but of course many things that were common are now rare because they were UNreliable and broke a lot.

What’s wrong with a bit of romance?

Nothing, but romance and large sums of money aren’t really compatible are they?

So, uh, what’s everyone’s take on 18 carat gold ones then? Those are impractical to the extreme, and there is no more engineering in hat that a steel one, in fact it probably harder to form the steel. And diamonds?

This is nice n tasteful

Cant’ tell the time on it though. (Belongs to Kanye )

15 years old – £30 when new. Getting close yet?

The squint buttons would drive me to distraction. If it’s electronic, it has to be a HP with proper clicky buttons and Reverse Polish operation.

“What’s wrong with a bit of romance?”

“Nothing, but romance and large sums of money aren’t really compatible are they?”

Depends who you’re trying to have sex with doesn’t it?

What? Yeah I love re-arranging me equations for fun…

EDIT: I hope you’re riffing of the mechanical watch theme.

Attached – the holy grail, presumably

Yes – you really don’t think this is astounding?

The problem with electronic stuff is we’re getting close to Arthur C Clarke’s thing about how sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I’ve got an iPhone – it’s incredible what it can do. But it’s a featureless black oblong. Open one up, and it’s full of more featureless oblongs. Whereas something mechanical, you can see the cleverness.

If all these really nice watches cost so much to service they cant be that good !Shouldnt they work for years like a 20 quid Timex does without maintenance?

The problem with electronic stuff is we’re getting close to Arthur C Clarke’s thing about how sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

That depends how clever you are. 😉

It is extremely clever, for sure.

It is also utterly outdated. Technology has moved on, though it may be physically featureless as you say, it is vastly more practical. While the Antikythera Mech is astonishing for it’s age, what it can actually calculate is now the work complexity of a musical birthday card.

See Colossos vs Bombes, throughput of GPUs, the internetz etc etc etc

Just because something is outdated it does not mean it has no worth. Is a painting less worthy than a photograph, does a book have less value than a film?

We all ride and I assume enjoy owning a mechanical device the design of which is over 100 years old. We could all drive, ride motorcycles or go by some other method but we choose an old technology that works. I expect many of us are mechanically sympathetic and enjoy a well oiled silent machine, mechanical watches are similar to that IMO, old yes but still wonderful things..

sure – but it’s sentimentality and not a practical decision

try wearing your automatic for a few weeks when riding your bike and see how well it keeps time then

That depends how clever you are.

True 😉

One thing I remember from working for IBM – apart from the depressing corporate culture – was that not one of the several hundred people working at that site knew how the whole system worked. Not really. They each knew their own little bits in great detail. And that was only a few mainframes handling an insurance company.

I doubt there’s any one person who truly understands how an iPhone works. And by that I mean they could sit down and write the hardware and software design by themselves.

We could all drive, ride motorcycles or go by some other method but we choose an old technology that works.

There are practical advantage to cycling, not least that it’s the most energy efficient mode of transport going. Not disputing your point but that’s a poor example.

So, what we are saying is that there’s nothing wrong with a cheap watch, or an expensive watch, and that it’s all about choice of the consumer.

Who’d have thunk people have different onions on stuff?

My preference is that I love my Brietling (30th from the then g/f now wife), wear a timex when sailing or mountain biking which is also fine, and utterly hate the Kayne watch above, but equally dislike my friends rose gold and diamond studded rolex.

I doubt there’s any one person who truly understands how an iPhone works. And by that I mean they could sit down and write the hardware and software design by themselves.

Too true I met some one who worked for imagination. They just design the graphics chip. There might be a few people who get how that chip works but would only have limited knowledge of how the main processor was layed out

Yes – you really don’t think this is astounding?

For it’s time, maybe. But isn’t saying that a disservice to the intelligence of the ancient greeks? Are we expecting them to be superstitious simpletons who made up whatever ideas suited them about how stuff worked? They did a lot of that, of course, but they were still intelligent people and were able to express it in certain areas in a way that still holds today. They were just as clever as us, they only lacked the body of knowledge we have.

Just because something is outdated it does not mean it has no worth.

Of course, but similarly just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wonderful. Old watches and other machines are fantastic things, and it’s great that we still have this knowledge.

BUT

The people who make these £4k watches are only making stuff this way because they know that some folk will pay tons of money for them. That’s it.

I doubt there’s any one person who truly understands how an iPhone works. And by that I mean they could sit down and write the hardware and software design by themselves.

This is true but it in no way detracts from its amazingness, to me. I know enough about it to marvel at the sheer number of man hours that’ve gone into it. Not just in its development but in everything all the way back to 1947 and further. On the shoulders of giants we all stand.

The people who make these £4k watches are only making stuff this way because they know that some folk will pay tons of money for them. That’s it.

But why is that an issue? The world is full of things that are more expensive, but do the same. Some of these objects bring pleasure to people, and that has a value for them. Another individual may not be able to understand a particular choice, but I’ll almost guarantee that they are making another purchase decision based on the same feelings / values.

Agreed, just look at the bun fights kids bikes kick off & the difference in cost between the most expensive & cheapest is only £150…

I love a nice watch. I love a nice bike. 🙂

Some of these objects bring pleasure to people

I have a 1962 Rolex, it is not flash it attracts little attention. My Grandad gave me this in 1989 (it hasn’t been serviced since although I have a quote for £150). When I wear this I have to wind it up once a day and maybe I think about my Grandad and the wonderful gift he gave me.

I have decided to give this to my daughter when she is 18 and who knows she may give to her child. There are not many things in life that you can do that with.

Genes? 😉

OK – I hope everyone has a lovely time enjoying their watches.

You’d expect a Ferrari to cost more to service than a Mondeo though, wouldn’t you? And probably not be as useful.

My own (relatively cheap) ‘expensive’ German watch has the logo removed, so where does that put me in the ‘only buying a watch to look flash’ argument?

Of course I consider myself superior to the brand-whores with their Swiss Rolexes and Omegas but I love those watches too.

Mainly though I love the history, (pointless) engineering, the hand-written certificates of manufacture, the six-month wait and the little flight case Herr Engineer sends them out in.

What’s wrong with that? I love traction engines too, and strictly speaking, there’s no point to having them any more.

Some people are so boring it defies words. And most of them seem to post on here.

Don’t you people have phones?

but equally dislike my friends rose gold and diamond studded rolex.

I can’t think why. That sounds reet tasteful, that. Proper classy, like! 😆

I have a Omega Seamaster, spent my entire first paycheck on it when I secured my first PAYE job after leaving uni in 2000, a reckless decision but I’ve worn it every single day since, only take it off to bike as it nearly broke my wrist once, lesson learnt, in an OTB my arm will break before the watch…

It’s a quartz model as that was all I could afford, I bought it purely for me, I have no interest in what anyone thinks or how expensive/cheap their watches are. I love my watch, hopefully it will last my lifetime. 🙂

A young man did once comment that ‘nice watch, shame it’s not a chronograph’ as he showed me his. He might be right, I’ve no idea.

A new battery is expensive though, costs about £100 every 5 years, I’ve no idea why, I’m almost certainly being taken for a ride… 😆

I have decided to give this to my daughter when she is 18 and who knows she may give to her child. There are not many things in life that you can do that with

Knowledge, values, wisdom.. but yeah nothing important 😉

I could pass any old junk down through my family. Pots, dishes, glassware, old mobile phones etc etc.

Some people are so boring it defies words

Lol.. so just because I don’t care to be pumped for large sums of cash for something that does nothing interesting, I’m boring? Really?

Incidentally, all I’ve said on here is that buying expensive watches is daft. I’ve not judged any of the posters – some admit they are daft, some don’t, I’ve just enjoyed reading the justifications people have given. Some are quite good, some are not 🙂

Come now you can’t tell me this isn’t the height of taste and sophistication. I give you……..the Gaytona.

(Actually this might go all the way around the terrible dial and actually be awesome)

Don’t you people have phones?

The wristwatch became popular in the late 19th/early 20th century as it is much quicker and more convenient than having to fish your time keeping device out of your pocket when you need it. If you want/need to know the time regularly relying on your phone would be a backward step, regardless of how much you want to spend on your watch. 🙂

Yeah, that’s awesome. How to pull it off though…?

Maybe I should take some style tips from kukonaya

Bear necessities,
Thank you :-). I bought the modern one this year for my 40th , for many of the reasons others have mention…. For me, to have something to admire and to have one thing that I might pass on to someone andthey may keep and remember me by. I spent 3 years and a lengthy thread on here choosing it. Thinking it is too expensive and big to wear biking, climbing and diy-ing I admired the 1959 version in the window of a very small local jeweller in crystal palace. Gf bought it for me. Dial is tatty but the mechanism is superb and clean, it keeps time to a very reasonable -12 secs +-1 sec a day, cost a 20th of the new one and I love it, sometimes more then the new one.
Bought my mum a pretty little 9 ct gold 1960 omega geneve for her 70th a month before my own birthday, she adores it, shocking Time keeper! . All very pretty things.

I have a 1962 Rolex, it is not flash it attracts little attention.

That’s pretty classy and understated actually. 🙂

The wristwatch became popular in the late 19th/early 20th century as it is much quicker and more convenient than having to fish your time keeping device out of your pocket when you need it.

It’s sweatier and less comfortable though. And more expensive (since the phone is already paid for and present for other reasons).

I don’t wear my watch for those reasons.