That’s a beautiful watch scapegoat

I have a Seamaster Automatic that I got in 2000. Sat in the sock drawer for 5 years until I had it serviced by Omega last year. I really baulked at the cost (£350), but glad I had it done now. It came back looking as new.

That’s a beautiful watch scapegoat

As heirlooms go I’m pretty fond of it. It has a sort of understated classic appearance that doesn’t shout “look at my watch”. It’s my everyday watch, and I intend never to part with it, so its value is immaterial. That’s why I have it serviced at an independent watchmaker, using genuine parts… it’s had a new button and crystal in the twelve years that I’ve owned it, and been serviced three or four times, usually for about £75-£100 plus the cost of parts. For my money I want it to run properly and look reasonably good. I may have the numeral batons repainted next time it goes in, the twelve O’Clock is looking a bit ropey. It gains about a minute a week. I honestly think £500 for a watch service is taking the piss.

I have a rather nice automatic Rolex that I wear most days. It’s about 64 years old and last year it stopped working. I took it to a place in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter which replaced the mainspring and gave it a thorough overhaul for about £120. It’s been perfect ever since. That’s where I’ll go if anything else needs doing.

My other watch, that I wear when I’m doing manual work, biking, sailing etc., is also a ***ex.

Timex.

For some reason I warm to people who wear eschew the obvious status symbol for a plastic watch… It’s a point in their favour. Anyone can wear an expensive watch if they have a credit card.

Why would you assume that everyone who has an expensive watch bought it on credit? They are often family heirlooms, retirement or long service gifts for example. Anyone who brags about a material object procured via credit is living their world falsely and we all know it. But it’s thier choice. Not everyone owns or wears a nice watch as a status symbol, so why be so judgemental?

Oh btw, people who buy plastic watches can be idiots as well.

Surely all people who wear plastic watches must be poor…? Guilty of gross generalisation? Probably 🙂

Much like some people prefer expensive bike to equaly fucntional cheap ones

It is often quite different though, some people are happy to pay for a nicer ride etc.

I’ve got a few watches but none worth much, I don’t see the point of the expensive stuff at all (and tired of that BS after the law years). Sadly my favourite, my dad’s Citizen, cant be repaired 🙁

Just find a local horologist who services them. I use a chap in Dorking for my Breitling and my wife’s TAG. TAG wanted £600 to service her 25 year old watch; used value perhaps £400. My watch was serviced by Breitling once for £500. We’d expected a bill for a third of that. Our chap did both for around a ton. That was three years ago and they run perfectly. Indeed mine used to lose time prior, where now it is perfect. I’d never have one serviced by the manufacturer again.

Since I gave up work I take great pride in wearing none of my watches.

Much like some people prefer expensive bike to equaly fucntional cheap ones

I get that some people get pleasure from wearing a nice watch and I hope that what I am about to say doesn’t change that for anyone, but…

A comparison drawn between expensive bikes and expensive watches in terms of function is false. An expensive bike will function better than a cheaper bike even though over a certain price there will be increasingly diminishing returns for each pound spent. An expensive watch, however will almost certainly be poorer at accurately telling the time than the £60 radio controlled Casio that I would be wearing if I wasn’t wearing my good watch today. That Casio is accurate within a single second each and every day. Unlike a boutique watch it doesn’t need servicing every few years to keep it in the region of 30 times less accurate than the Casio. That Casio will run for many a year without being touched at all, even underwater or used when crawling around under a broken Land Rover.

The only thing that the Casio doesn’t do is pretty.

I am on occasion tempted to buy myself a 2nd nice watch, I’ve had several in the shopping basket ready to click on confirm a few times, but then I’ve always downloaded the instruction manual and read it before purchase and that cuts right through the marketing. I looked a while back at a Tissot that could tell you the temperature – if you took it off your wrist and left it in a shaded place for a minimum of 30 minutes 😆 I looked at a Seiko GPS solar jobbie and found that it may or may not work according to some random things, that the timezone information on the watch couldn’t be updated ever and came to the conclusion that if it couldn’t more accurate, more often than my phone or my Casio then I could do without it.

Oh and my Junghans radio controlled, solar powered watch is more of a pain to set up and use and less reliable than good old Mr G-Shock. It is pretty though.

A comparison drawn between expensive bikes and expensive watches in terms of function is false. An expensive bike will function better than a cheaper bike

Not necessary. Much like you’re watch comparison depends on the innards, that example depends on the rider. Vis a vis your casio may be more accurate than my Tag, but Bradley Wiggins on a Ribble sportive will out ride me on my Bianchi. Both require and mechanism to define thier level of performance, one mechanism can be better than another.

A comparison drawn between expensive bikes and expensive watches in terms of function is false. An expensive bike will function better than a cheaper bike even though over a certain price there will be increasingly diminishing returns for each pound spent.

People pay extra for some bike brands on the name alone;

De Rosa, Colnago, Pinarello etc etc don’t neccesarily function better than cheaper bikes. £1800 for a 105 equiped road bike from colnago v 1300ish for a similar specced Boardman. hence my comment

I like a nice watch. To look at. Never really owned one. And don’t really wear them anymore so it would be a pointless expense at any price. Not that I’m knocking it. If you like them then knock yourself out.
I brought myself a suunto altimeter watch once. Thought it might be a nice little watch that gave me useful information in the mountains. I had it for about 6 months during which time I spent an inordinate amount of time telling it what altitude we were at. It was completely useless for altitude. I’d tell it my altitude. Go for a walk. And when we got back it would show a totally different altitude because the air pressure had changed. But actually by this time it was totally redundant because I’d had to manually find out my altitude anyway.

Miaow bigrich! Carbon wheels would be far too lookatme for me. And I think they’d cost more than my Rolex 😉

A question for those of you with good watches: do you actually wear them every day (or most days)?

It’s a genuine question. I’m intending to buy a watch (insurance payout) and don’t want to buy something that sits in a drawer and only comes out to be fondled occasionally. I’ve never had anything much more expensive than a swatch before.

Yes but not when engaged in manual work.

I wear one of my two most days. I don’t wear them mountain biking but quite happy to wear them road biking, at work, spannering on the bikes etc. It’s a watch it’s insured so I use it. I try, as a life rule, to avoid manual work but I have occasonaly realised I’ve still got it on whilst splitting logs and other STW manual labour equivalents 🙂

Got a Breitling; wear it every day no matter what I’m doing. Has survived ten years mountain biking, diy, and my generally being a dick. These things are like cars; depreciate like mad, and look better with a bit of patina

I don’t wear mine for work for obvious reasons but wear it as much as possible other times. I have worn it on the bike a couple of times but only because I forgot to take it off. I’m sure the vibrations from the bars don’t do auto’s any good at all.

I have two watches that I switch around week to week. A ten year old Omega Seamaster and an IWC Pilots watch. My Omega had a full service (by Omega) two years ago at a cost of £365. It came back looking like new. The IWC is only two years old so is a long way off needing a service (thankfully). I’ve loved watches since I was a kid. Bodie and Doyle always had smart watches. The two that I own are very plain looking. No bling here.

thanks, all. I don’t do much manual work and would reckon to take the watch off for sport but I’m happy to hear the answer is get on with it and accept signs of wear. To be honest, the owner is not box fresh himself…

I have a friend who buys Roly’s as investments (why?). They live in a safe, box fresh and never see daylight. Watches should be like bikes, made for using.

MrNice – Member

A question for those of you with good watches: do you actually wear them every day (or most days)?

Yes, I wear mine everyday. It was my Dad’s, he bought it when his Mother died, together with a ladies Omega for my Mum. (See receipt in photo above)
When he died it was passed onto me, and when Mum was facing her last few weeks she passed hers onto my wife to “keep the two together”.
As I hinted above, I have no interest in resale value of either watch, they are heirlooms now and serve a great functional purpose. They both look nice in a classic sort of way, and are reasonably accurate. I therefore wear mine every day in order to respect what the watch is… a great bit of Omega’s, but also a part of my family history. Even if you take that away, it’s a watch, and was designed to be worn, not fondled or kept in a display cabinet or whatever.

I don’t wear it when Mountainbiking, and it goes into the safe when I go on holiday to be replaced on both occasions by a generic dive watch which is rugged and doesn’t need leaving on a beach or whatever.

As for patina. Dad once lost it. He had been cutting a hedge, and came in for lunch. He realized after lunch that he wasn’t wearing the watch so went back to the sink to see if he’d left it there when he washed his hands. Frantic searching of the house and garden failed to locate the watch and he eventually claimed off the insurance.

About eighteen months later the dog came in from the garden and dropped the watch, covered in mud and leaves at his feet. Thinking it would be completely knackered he ran it under the tap to get the crap off it, and was amazed to see it had started running again.

I wear a nice watch every day. Why not? Never needs winding because I wear it. It is totally reliable, accurate and looks nice. Apart from my wedding ring, it is the only item of ‘jewellery’ I wear.

A bit like nice bikes that people are afraid to ride, I don’t see the point of having a nice watch if you don’t wear it.

Life is full of ‘Deore works as well as XTR’, ‘a Porsche only gets you from A to B like a Kia’ and ‘a Rolex is functionally no better than a Casio’ type of arguments. But the fact remains that we humans like to indulge ourselves and we need a bit of emotion in our lives beyond the simple utilitarian. Each to their own.

Yep watches like bikes, to be used not kept like a museum piece…..and you lot just made me place an order for a birthday watch as a daily wearer as my old biking g shock case has disintegrated so my daily wearer analogue g shocks getting demoted to MTB/holiday/abuse wearing. 😆
I’m a fan of tritium tubes and had a Nite watch when I used to work in the pitch black a lot, one of those watches on a metal band that just felt right, totally practical and relatively bomb proof….only downside is 3-4 year battery life but for £50 service you get new battery and crown and back seals and pressure tested.