Cheers @SSS.

Safe it is, seeing as I have one of those and not a winder.

@ the flying ox, I’ll complicate this with a thought. In ~18 years when your kids may receive their gifts, will they be interested in watches and will they like a particular style? If you can’t answer those, will they receive the gifted watches and forever associate it with you and cherish them? All very hard to answer, impossible I guess and unfair to ask. Are you buying the watches as an investment that they can sell if they wish? If are you confident the watches will be worth something?

I’m not trying to put your off what is a well intended idea but just to help you think through if it will work or if saving/investing the money and buying a gift at their 18th might be better.

@scapegoat thanks, thats wonderful. Thats exactly the sort of image I have in my head to leave something for Jnr.

@neilnevill no worries, it’s a valid question and there’s a chance they’d wish it was a car or something. Still not 100% on the idea, the alternative is more of the same – ISA, kids savings account, etc. but those seem a little soulless if I’m honest. Basically I’m looking at “plain” black Submariner/Sea Dweller so a fairly safe bet in terms of style and certainly suitable for pretty much all occasions. Hopefully to be cherished as a coming-of-age gift from mum & dad, but if not then at least worth a bit and they can sell them for space drugs or sex robots or whatever the youth is into in 10-15 years time.

Referring back to the James Bond strap, yes, I think the later Craig watches had the ‘incorrect’ version, so complicating things more than a little.

This is a nice little article I read earlier today about British watchmaking, and horological history in Britain and Europe.

https://www.esquire.com/uk/watches/a41857731/the-rise-fall-british-watchmaking-worshipful-company-clockmakers/

I’ve always found the idea of buying a watch with the specific intention of handing it down a bit weird, it seems a bit like trying to force faux-sentimentality onto an object for the intended recipient.

I sort of get the thought process behind buying a watch to celebrate a birth and then handing that down if the watch is worn and becomes associated with the wearer and the recipient actually liked it but otherwise not.

In this case it seems even more contrived, buy it, stick it in the safe, wait a few years and hand it over. Not only might they not like ostentatious displays of materialism, watches in general or whichever model you decide upon in particular, they may well end up feeling uncomfortable getting rid.

You can tell them they can sell it but if they think you’re emotionally invested in the whole ceremony they could easily just nod and smile and chuck it in the bedside wire drawer muttering about why didn’t you just give them money instead of something you liked and they’re stuck with.

I know what you mean about ISAs etc seeming soulless but you can at least allocate one ISA to something they “want” whether it’s a watch or travel or whatever and then it’s up to them without strings attached, perceived or actual.

If I had to buy a physical “thing” to hand over for that sort of money I’d probably just buy gold which most people would be fascinated with and can easily be cashed in without risking causing offence etc in the same way.

handing that down if the watch is worn

To me that’s important, that’s it’s synonymous with the memory of the person which is why I liked scapegoats pics so much – it’s instantly recognised as “dads watch” not just “a watch that dad owned”. It totally justifies narrowing down a collection to 1 for me.

I’m due a watch from my Dad. His brother bought it in Cairo during the Suez crisis (*). When he came back, my dad who was still a nipper & idolised his big brother in the RAF was fascinated by it.

When Mum & Dad got married, my uncle was best man and gave the watch to Dad knowing how much he liked it. It’s nothing fancy (probably some cheap bazaar knock off) but the history is the draw for me.

Dad always said it’s mine when he’s gone. He died 10 years ago but Mum still has it as it’s a memento if their wedding, which adds to the cachet.

* AFAIK He was never imprisoned and had to hide it.

The watch is very much Dad’s watch. I remember liking it when I was young and when I inherited it I wore it as my daily wearer.

I treated myself to an Aqua Terra when I retired so it’s more of a dress and special occasions watch now. Looks great with a DJ.

There’s a great story that goes with it. He was gardening one day and after lunch realised he wasn’t wearing it. He searched the house top to bottom and went out to where he’d been cutting a hedge but failed to find it. Eventually he wrote it off and claimed on the insurance.

About eighteen months later he had a new dog. She was about six months old and came back in from the garden and dropped a clump of leaves at his feet. He looked down and realised that the leaves were clumped round his watch. Thinking the watch must be toast after all that time outside he ran it under the tap to wash the shite off it and it started running.

Just upgraded the movement in my modded seiko (refinished case and dial swap) now it have hacking and handwinding so i dont have to set the time every morning.

@theflyingox – Adding to @neilnevill ‘s thoughts, another alternative would be to buy yourself two very nice watches now (wait… bear with me!) and wear them both often – perhaps a daily and a smart watch and then when they’re 18 you give them ‘your’ watch. It will be always associated with you, be seen as a great gift as you’re giving them something you obviously treasure and which they’ll have seen you wear on many, many occasions.

I have a Tudor that my grandfather left me and I have a Seiko5 that my other grandfather gave me. I remember both of them wearing those watches and they’re watches that I’m going to keep forever, above my other, more fancy watches.

I thought that might work. Those watches stunt have to be investments, they could be more affordable. You can do the ISA or whatever too.

buy yourself two very nice watches

That has been suggested by a guy at work, and while I certainly like the idea of having a couple of Rolex to swap between I think that it tips the balance from the “forced faux-sentimentality” of buying a gift for each of my boys way over into pure selfishness territory. Will have a think.

@Robz, nice watch. I’ve toyed with the world of modding and decided to leave it to the experts because I wanted my watch to be reliable; I had the bezel and crystal swapped on my SKX007J as well as having the mechanism re-calibrated and it came back significantly better than new, and way more accurate. I didn’t want it to look too different from stock, so a flat sapphire and a ceramic bezel with lume just smartened (and hardened) it up a bit.

@dmorts I sent mine to Paul at Tempus Watch Mods, he was superb. His Instagram is worth a look (and contains how to get in touch with him) at https://www.instagram.com/tempuswatchmods/

Looks really great! I follow Tempus on Instagram. Some very nice work for sure.

another vote for Tempus, Paul is great to deal with.
The black Seiko with red crown on his instagram is mine, i had him change the bezel and insert and cerakote the crown red.
Having since modded the other Seiko i have found its not quite as scary as it seems, just dont drop your second hand on the floor to many times…

@Mikkel – nice work on the Seiko. What movement did you use? NH35?
I was thinking of doing the same on my old 5 Sport, the hairspring is bent and although it could be fixed, I’d rather swap the movement to get hacking/handwinding

i used a NH38A.

Looks like he might have a lot of incoming business, I want to replace the the crystal on my Arnie with Sapphire.

Cheers. Would like to swap the dial & hands too, but it has this kind of stepped/recessed dial going on, not sure what the options are.

Bob, thatd the model i started with for the watch pictured above (just different case finish originally) the dial is same as usual seiko 5 but its sort of a flat chapter ring setup and not found any replacement for those.
Also worth noting that to get that out you have to pop the bezel out.

Here’s something new just popped up, that might interest those looking for a more traditional style watch that isn’t too dressy.

The Yema Wristmaster Traveller Micro-Rotor Limited Edition — Introducing An Impressive New In-House Micro-Rotor Caliber In A Brand-New Wristmaster

I saw that and was tempted by the Kickstarter but somebody pointed out the ‘comic sans’ font they’ve used for “Wristmaster” and now I can’t unsee it.

Thanks for the advice a few pages back. JrT is 18 today and is loving his new watch. It’s an edifice eqb1100 is active cares.

I like that ☝🏼

Good Choice (I’m Biased though).

Main thing, is Junior happy with it?

Woohoo

Got “that” email today.

“Congratulations you can now order a Titanium Helm Vanuatu!!!”

Ordered – hurry up postie. Perfectly timed for my retirement from nursing and my new job.

@aphex_2k

Woohoo

Nice watch, really good price for a titanium piece, did you go for the black or white face ?

Nice one @aphex_2k. I’ve still got 3500 other people in front of me.

Yeah I’ve waited a while! I turned down an SS as I was top of the list there too but I knew the ti was imminent so I held on. Got the email and paid yesterday so it’s going to be posted soon. Probs a good 2.5-3 years on the wait list (this is the second time I didn’t buy an SS as I got to the top a couple of years ago but finances weren’t great then.

Ordered the black face, ti engineer as standard and a black and orange Nato.

Talking about waiting.
I am waiting for this

My first ever kickstarter purchase (and probably last)

Entered the collection yesterday. Wait time, six months. Will take it to work today and test resistance to magnetic fields, he he he

Nice. One of those or an Oyster Perpetual would be my pick of the Rolex range. My taste seems to have settled on cases without big rotating bezels and I definitely don’t like a Cyclops.

Yup, not clean on cyclops either. BITD I would have gone for a SeaDweller 4000 and I nearly got a Deepsea last year. However, now the absurd Challenge has come out, the Deepsea is no longer (Rolex) top dog and has lost its appeal. Next on my list is a classic Sub, but that’ll be a couple of years away. I still have my Sinn 3006 coming in January or February, and I’m getting quite tempted by the Speedmaster 57, even with the red dial!

The bracelet is coming off the Milgauss immediately. I was worried even my shirt would scratch those PCLs!

3 really nice watches above!!! I’ve never really been keen on the Rolex as the minute hand feels a bit “Novelty” to me, but I have to admit it looks very nice on the wrist.

You mean the second hand on the Milgauss?

@DougD I had a Spork serviced by Brendon Haddock in Roseburn, he would do you right.

You mean the second hand on the Milgauss?

I do. Sorry I’ve had a long week already! Yes it’s personal for me but it’s not my thing.

I don’t mind the second hand. On that watch it’s always been part of the design, not part of some gimmicky special edition or fashionable collaboration.

Sorry I’ve had a long week already

All g! Must admit I spent a min or two staring at the minute hand thinking it wasn’t that bad haha