Watches N+1…

ideally I wanted a cheap quartz Solar sapphire GMT with 100m, seems hard to come by.

Ah addiesdive do one for £68.    Feel unbearable to entertain though!

If you happen to travel, there are definitely some good opportunities in duty-free; I got a mind-blowing tax-free discount on mine – as low as the secondhand market; I would highly recommend some careful shopping.

@ericemel

Ah! That’s interesting as I’m thinking of a significant trip next year too. Singapore and Oz. What sort of deal did you get?

I would like the ti one but I prefer the newer style where the bezel is coloured, but they are spendy and way over budget.

Ah! That’s interesting as I’m thinking of a significant trip next year too. Singapore and Oz. What sort of deal did you get?

I would like the ti one but I prefer the newer style where the bezel is coloured, but they are spendy and way over budget.

At the Omega dealer in Bangkok Airport, I got just over 40% off vs. UK RRP with VAT on a Planet Ocean, it was the exact model I wanted as well. It’s new stock. Authorised Omega dealer.

With the cash I had set aside, I also got a Grand Seiko Shunbun 🙂

@ericemel Presumably you pay UK VAT on entry? Do you get stung for Import Duty as well?

bobloFree Member

@ericemel Presumably you pay UK VAT on entry? Do you get stung for Import Duty as well?

erm… have you travelled much? To be sure, one would be more than happy to pay VAT, but they really don’t make it easy to understand how you do so…

I wore my Omega unpackaged on wrist back from Barbados with the box in my hand luggage to prove I wasn’t being it to resell it as new.

have you travelled much?

I have. I even had that w@nki word ‘Global’ in my job title for a few years… 🙂

I was just checking to see if the default was still smuggling to avoid duty and VAT 🙂

Urgent Q, would you replace a Coctail Time with this if it was offered to you at £460? https://www.watcho.co.uk/Watches/Seiko/Seiko-Presage-Craftsmanship-Series-Watch-40mm-Automatic-Riki-Watanabe-Edition-White-Enamel.html

Not sure if an appreciation of the enamel dial in the collection outweighs Seiko as a brand for black tie events 🙂

I’d want to see it really close up tbh. It’s not worth RRP that’s for sure if it has the famous Seiko QC .

If it’s boxed with papers then maybe. I’ve just brought an Alpine for more than that and it’s going back under warranty because the minute hand locks up.

I’m a fan of Seikos …

bobloFree Member
have you travelled much?
I have. I even had that w@nki word ‘Global’ in my job title for a few years… ?

😀

I once drunkenly offered to help a colleague who was trying to bring a watch box back from Lisbon to Toronto; she was going to take the watch herself. Next morning I was extraordinarily hungover and in a hurry to catch my flight back to Canada, was told by front desk there was a parcel for me – said watch box was for a Hublot, half the size of my carry-on suitcase, and contained the price tag (but not watch) saying something like €15k.

Canadian customs policy at that time was if they found a watch box in your baggage they’d charge you 10% of the total value of the watch; so that was quite a nervous journey…

If it’s boxed with papers

Brand new from an AD with 4 years warranty.

I once drunkenly offered to help a colleague who was trying to bring a watch box back from Lisbon to Toronto; she was going to take the watch herself

But what we really need to know, is did you get in her knickers…? 🙂 Just joshing obv.

That’s the thing. If they find a box in ya bags and a sparkly watch on ya wrist, you’re a bit bang to rights aren’t you…

Urgent Q, would you replace a Coctail Time with this if it was offered to you at £460?

@Kryton57 – no. But that’s me not anyone else.

Urgent Q, would you replace a Coctail Time with this if it was offered to you at £460?

Oh yes, but I’m a Seiko fanboy. In fact, if you buy it and it doesn’t float your boat, can I have first refusal please?

@tthew – I’m not going to buy it, but if you want it at that price send me an email address and I’ll forward the means for you to do so.

Well the uncle strap arrived:

First, I’m very pleased with the look of the watch, it’s really taken it to premium Seiko level, no need to look at MM’s or cheap beaters any more 🙂

Second, it’s of might higher quality than the 5kx Beads of Rice I bought, solid end links, screw links, very even finishing, solid feel and a tight fit. Despite all that it’s not out of balance with the watch, feels lovely.

The Oyster isn’t period correct but I wanted it to be more tool and less glam that the polished links within the z199/oem.   Job done I reckon.

Well the uncle strap arrived

It looks ok, the taper looks to be a bit off but it’s a mile better than their pos beads of rice (why not grains? Nobody counts rice in beads!) for the SARB017, so that’s a win.

Square G Shock at a good price at Argos

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2926175

Unless I’m missing something, like it being an older model…

They’re often down to that price on Argos but yes it’s good value.

Yes, I’ve seen them around the £75 mark before but not this particular model.

Just picked up a nice seiko presage for my wife, so she stops stealing mine!

motor city co op credit union

I’m in mid swither about this ATM, a Zenith el primero chronomaster sport titanium . I can get a new one for an absolute steal tho still a lot of dosh. The issue is, I really want a Daytona but am not prepared to pay the uplift currently needed. I feel like Kryton mk2… Angst is my middle name. 🙂

If I’ve learned anything, go with your heart.  Anything else comes with regrets.

However Daytona level spend is another tier – I couldn’t afford one, so I’d happily get the Zenith.  If one Daytona is in your reach, wait.

IMHO

Or maybe I wouldn’t 😀

That’s helpfull… 🙂

I can’t see Daytona’s dropping to retail pricing anytime soon as availability is still poor, so that means paying the uplift if you want one.  If you’re not prepared to pay the uplift, then you won’t be getting one whatever, so if the Zenith floats your boat, then crack on.  I tried a Zenith, but for me, it didn’t bring much to the party that my sapphire sandwich moonwatch didn’t.

The second post was a humorous addition.

A analogy – I really want a Pelagos 41.  But, I dont want to pay £3.5k for it,  or the £2k secondhand right now.  Hence I bought the Uncle strap to see if I could get a reasonable semblance of a mono-diver I’d be happy with.

In years to come, if I ever come into £3.4k of very disposal income I’ll get the Pelagos to replace it.   There’s an argument that I could have saved the £750 the mini-turtle cost me toward the Pelagos, and you’d be right.   But, while I’m waiting for the Pelagos, I’m really enjoying the Seiko.    I appreciate your issue is magnified by the cost of both, would paying for the Zenith hurt the Daytona fund putting it out of reach especially considering Blazin Saddles post?

And the zenith does float my boat so I got one (in steel). The daytona is not available retail unless you are a very very big spender. It’s a ‘thank you for your continued custom’ piece.

They’re great watches and the prices you can pick them up at the moment are nice.   Certainly struggle with the idea of 4-5x the price for the Crown equivalent

The second post was a humorous addition

I know, no probs. I tried to respond in kind but clearly failed 🙂

I could get both assuming Daytona’s ever sell at retail again, but that is really taking the pizz. If I bought the Zenith, it’d be because I can’t (sensibly) get the Rolly and might always feel a bit ‘second best’. I know this sounds utterly ludicrous so please don’t tell the argumenteers on the luxury car tax thread or I’ll be strung up by the goolies…

Nice.   If it was me – (yes in  i know, but I’ve turned a corner now) I wouldn’t spend that kind of cash only to be feeling “second best”.   Perhaps spend more time researching and smooth talking AD and industry people to get on/up that ladder.

Having said that, i watched a YT vid that explained the “luxury ladder” model via a (spoiler – it didn’t happen) Porche GT3 RS purchase.  Essentially you have to have bought, sold and lost on X no. Items before you’re even offered the opportunity to be on a list.  The alternative of course is higher cost on the grey market, or a BMW M3 Touring. 🙂

Edit: The answer was he’d have lost more selling the X no cars prior to the GT3 than he would paying the grey market price.

I would only do that for a grail / exit watch.

What is an exit watch?

What is an exit watch?

The one you wear in your wooden overcoat I assume. Battery Quartz would be best, benefits of Solar not applicable. 🙂

What is an exit watch?

it’s a term used by some collectors to describe the last watch they’ll buy, an exit from the hobby I guess?

it’s a term used by some collectors to describe the last watch they’ll buy

If you’re really into ‘it’, is there any such thing? Presumably once a collector, always a collector and new stuff comes up all the time? Obv if you collect paintings or some such from a given period in the past, your targets are limited as no more can be created that fit the bill. Watches, they’re making em all the time. 🙂

FWIW I’m with you Boblo, I don’t subscribe to the exit watch theory, I know someone who does.  He swears a new Panerai Luminor GMT, sandwich dial modern movement would be his stopping point.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

@Kryton57 Probably because he would be dead if caught splurging that amount of cash on a trinket… So last purchase by default 🙂

Multiple watches (high end or otherwise) can be seen as a bit silly anyway. I wear either a Fenix or Forerunner 99% of the time nowadays. Neither are nice, just functional. My ‘collection’ (such as it is) sits forlorn and unloved in a couple of watch boxes. Another reason I’m loath to jump in with an in-betweener before the main event.

I wear either a Fenix or Forerunner 99% of the time nowadays. Neither are nice, just functional. My ‘collection’ (such as it is) sits forlorn and unloved in a couple of watch boxes.

This is the reason I don’t own a smart watch. You’re kind of stuck with wearing them to feed the data beast.

This is the reason I don’t own a smart watch

+1   I only wear my Fenix on the bike /run /turbo to record relevant data for those events.

im with you on the multiple luxury watches though. After the SMP and Panerai my desire for anything less and to spend anything more disappeared PDQ.  I wear them both regularly.

”Less” and “more” being entirely subjective of course.

Fully agree Boblo.  I like what I like and I’m discovering new stuff I like all the time plus they’re still making/designing ‘em.  I’ll have periods when I don’t want to buy anything, I may sell some stuff I don’t wear much and trade out to other stuff as tastes change/evolve.