Author Topic: Wearing a watch  (Read 126693 times)

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #225 on: 10 October, 2012, 12:01:12 am »

On the subject of Rolexes, pile of poo!

I'm afraid I just don't "get" watch one-upmanship.  Its a tool for telling the time, I just can't manage to view it in the way I might a camera or a cycle.  It either tells the right time, or it doesn't.

It's not one-upmanship for everyone, some people just like the quality and aesthetics. You can say the same about all sorts of things: shoes, cars, rucksacks, houses. We all value these things differently.

Your cost objection is also a bit of red herring. I know it sounds odd, but you can own almost any of the Rolex tool watches (i.e. the sports models) for very close to bugger all...

I've just sold one of mine. Owned it for about 5 years, not been serviced in that time and had been worn plenty, so it was rather scratched and in need of good wash and brush up. Sold it for £5500, which was more than I paid for it retail. So, I've owned and enjoyed it for years, and now it has returned all my money to me. The one on my wrist is just the same, it's worth far more now than it cost me, so any time I want my money I can walk into the nearest dealer and get it all back on the spot.

You can't say the same about the cameras or bikes you mentioned you were happy to spend your hard earned on.

Rhys W

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #226 on: 10 October, 2012, 09:19:47 am »
The problem is finding the £5500 in the first place...

I'm still happy with my Vostok Amphibia. 200m water resistant, 31 jewel automatic movement. £36 (varies slightly due to exchange rate) from a guy called Viktor from Moscow on ebay.

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #227 on: 10 October, 2012, 09:45:39 am »
I haven't worn a watch  in years, my time piece comes in the shape of  mobile  phone (@ the moment Nokia) or cateye or computer

fuzzy

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #228 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:07:42 am »
Since 100% of analogue watches I've seen are designed to be worn on the left wrist & wound or adjusted with the right hand, & winding or adjusting can easily be done with the non-writing hand, I don't understand why some people wear them on the wrong wrist. Why not use them in the way they're made to be used?
In my case, because my father does.  I don't know why other right-right people do it.

SWMBO wears her watch on her right wrist (right handed) because, if she wears it on her left wrist it dies a strange and mysterious death (digital and analogue). I thought about burning her but, she might hold it against me.
First, throw her in the nearest body of water to see if she floats.

Funnily enough, I never used to be able to wear a nurses watch.  They always died on me.  Normal watches - no problem.

P.S.  I float...  ;)

She can't swim....

Rhys W

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #229 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:16:56 am »
I find people taking a phone out of their pocket to check the time rather pathetic for some reason. Glancing discreetly at your wrist is much classier. I do judge people on this, for good reason - based on personal experience people who boast about not wearing a watch I've found to be unreliable and poor organisers of their own (and mine) time.

As for Cateye computers... out of all electronic gadgets that have a clock that is sometimes useful, the several Cateye computers I've owned have been so spectacularly bad at gaining/losing time as to be totally unusable.

Jacomus

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #230 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:19:56 am »
I find people taking a phone out of their pocket to check the time rather pathetic for some reason. Glancing discreetly at your wrist is much classier. I do judge people on this, for good reason - based on personal experience people who boast about not wearing a watch I've found to be unreliable and poor organisers of their own (and mine) time.

As for Cateye computers... out of all electronic gadgets that have a clock that is sometimes useful, the several Cateye computers I've owned have been so spectacularly bad at gaining/losing time as to be totally unusable.

As I pointed out to a friend of mine - sure, my phone can operate as a clock and a stopwatch... but it's a fragile, £450 timepiece that is less convinient to use than a watch ;D
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

LEE

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #231 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:35:59 am »

On the subject of Rolexes, pile of poo!

I'm afraid I just don't "get" watch one-upmanship.  Its a tool for telling the time, I just can't manage to view it in the way I might a camera or a cycle.  It either tells the right time, or it doesn't.

It's not one-upmanship for everyone, some people just like the quality and aesthetics. You can say the same about all sorts of things: shoes, cars, rucksacks, houses. We all value these things differently.

Your cost objection is also a bit of red herring. I know it sounds odd, but you can own almost any of the Rolex tool watches (i.e. the sports models) for very close to bugger all...

I've just sold one of mine. Owned it for about 5 years, not been serviced in that time and had been worn plenty, so it was rather scratched and in need of good wash and brush up. Sold it for £5500, which was more than I paid for it retail. So, I've owned and enjoyed it for years, and now it has returned all my money to me. The one on my wrist is just the same, it's worth far more now than it cost me, so any time I want my money I can walk into the nearest dealer and get it all back on the spot.

You can't say the same about the cameras or bikes you mentioned you were happy to spend your hard earned on.

A £5500 Rolex is functionally no better than a watch costing £100.  Nobody spends £5500 in the hope of better timekeeping.  Expensive watches are about:

1) Status
2) The love of fine craftsmanship
3) Investment
4) Any/All the above 

If it's an investment you are after then no, a bike is rarely a good financial investment but, if I want to go faster, then spending £5500 rather than £100 will achieve that.

Jacomus

  • My favourite gender neutral pronoun is comrade
Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #232 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:44:31 am »

On the subject of Rolexes, pile of poo!

I'm afraid I just don't "get" watch one-upmanship.  Its a tool for telling the time, I just can't manage to view it in the way I might a camera or a cycle.  It either tells the right time, or it doesn't.

It's not one-upmanship for everyone, some people just like the quality and aesthetics. You can say the same about all sorts of things: shoes, cars, rucksacks, houses. We all value these things differently.

Your cost objection is also a bit of red herring. I know it sounds odd, but you can own almost any of the Rolex tool watches (i.e. the sports models) for very close to bugger all...

I've just sold one of mine. Owned it for about 5 years, not been serviced in that time and had been worn plenty, so it was rather scratched and in need of good wash and brush up. Sold it for £5500, which was more than I paid for it retail. So, I've owned and enjoyed it for years, and now it has returned all my money to me. The one on my wrist is just the same, it's worth far more now than it cost me, so any time I want my money I can walk into the nearest dealer and get it all back on the spot.

You can't say the same about the cameras or bikes you mentioned you were happy to spend your hard earned on.

A £5500 Rolex is functionally no better than a watch costing £100.  Nobody spends £5500 in the hope of better timekeeping.  Expensive watches are about:

1) Status
2) The love of fine craftsmanship
3) Investment
4) Any/All the above 

If it's an investment you are after then no, a bike is rarely a good financial investment but, if I want to go faster, then spending £5500 rather than £100 will achieve that.

I think there should be a number 5 - because you can, and you want to.

I don't see a problem with someone buying something, be it a watch, car or anything else just simply because that is the one that they want to have. There is often an attitude that is a competition to see who can spend the least amount of money on something, which can go so far as to miss the point. 'I spent £0.90 on a watch from a market traded, 20 years ago I did, always kept perfect time etc etc'

There is nothing wrong with that attitude, except when it cannot be accepting of the reply 'that's fine, but I wanted this £5,500 watch'.

The thing that really grates on me though is your number 1 - status, being flashy for the sake of it absolutely drives me up the wall!
"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." Amelia Earhart

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #233 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:48:46 am »
I don't care if people stick their watches up their arses.  I'd imagine time runs more slowly up there, though.

Is that something to do with the Theory of Relativity and Black Holes?

Time doesn't actually run more slowly with a watch up your arse,  it just feels like it does.
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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #234 on: 10 October, 2012, 10:49:11 am »
I wear a watch mainly because there are times when I can only look at this, in court for instance.   Taking one's phone out is rather a giveaway.   However, given my very poor sight, I prefer to read my phone which has a much bigger display.   

Please don't judge somebody just because they use a phone for a timepiece - it's like judging somebody because thy're riding a shopper bike on an audax or using a camera phone instead of a bulky dslr imo.   The objective is simply to know the time and is wholly fulfilled.

My usual watch is a Seiko diver with a black face and big chunky hands - I have a slight chance of more or less working out the approximate time from further than 3 inches with that!   As for date windows - pffft!!!    :)

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #235 on: 10 October, 2012, 11:12:08 am »
I like watches. I like expensive watches (I have one a Breitling Super Ocean), I like cheap watches (I have several Casios), I like tool watches (I have a Timex diver and a G-Shock), I like analogue and digital watches.  The ones I don't get are the middling expensive fashion watches, things like D&G or Fossil that cost over £100 but are just cheap quartz movements with a famous name from the fashion industry attached. The profit margin on these must be huge. I like a certain honesty in a watch, cheap and cheerful, hard as nails or expensive because of the man hours involved in making the thing. Oh I have one other rule, a watch must be legible or it's a fail. That's just me though and it's a free world. My favorite watch of all is this Seiko military that I wear a lot, automatic, legible and with the indestructible 21 jewel 7S26B movement:

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #236 on: 10 October, 2012, 11:42:56 am »
I like watches. I like expensive watches (I have one a Breitling Super Ocean), I like cheap watches (I have several Casios), I like tool watches (I have a Timex diver and a G-Shock), I like analogue and digital watches.  The ones I don't get are the middling expensive fashion watches, things like D&G or Fossil that cost over £100 but are just cheap quartz movements with a famous name from the fashion industry attached. The profit margin on these must be huge. I like a certain honesty in a watch, cheap and cheerful, hard as nails or expensive because of the man hours involved in making the thing. Oh I have one other rule, a watch must be legible or it's a fail. That's just me though and it's a free world.
Naah. Your last rule is a given for watches. If it isn't readable, it's not a watch, it's just jewellery, & you might as well take out the movement & throw it away. To be a watch, rather than just an ornament, it must work as a watch, & that means it must be clear & easy to read.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

tiermat

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #237 on: 10 October, 2012, 11:46:49 am »
I like watches. I like expensive watches (I have one a Breitling Super Ocean), I like cheap watches (I have several Casios), I like tool watches (I have a Timex diver and a G-Shock), I like analogue and digital watches.  The ones I don't get are the middling expensive fashion watches, things like D&G or Fossil that cost over £100 but are just cheap quartz movements with a famous name from the fashion industry attached. The profit margin on these must be huge.

I can only assume it is, and the average Joe Public has bought into the hype, otherwise the manufacturers wouldn't bother making that dross, would they?

I would wear any clothing designed by a watch manufacturer (nor by most fashion houses, but that is another matter completely), nor would I even consider buying a watch "designed" by one of the big mass market fashion houses (though how much input they have beyond the signing off process is a mystery, but I am willing to bet a big fat NONE!)

Short and simple, buy things from people who have a reputation for making good items in that market (Land Rover/Porshe/Merc bicycle, anyone?).
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Arellcat

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #238 on: 10 October, 2012, 12:22:29 pm »
...nor would I even consider buying a watch "designed" by one of the big mass market fashion houses...

A case in point would be a (probably large) number of Emporio Armani watches that are advertised with three figure prices.  Admittedly I rather like the look of one or two of them, but open them up and you find a $10 Miyota 1L12 movement.
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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #239 on: 10 October, 2012, 12:34:40 pm »
I like watches. I like expensive watches (I have one a Breitling Super Ocean), I like cheap watches (I have several Casios), I like tool watches (I have a Timex diver and a G-Shock), I like analogue and digital watches.  The ones I don't get are the middling expensive fashion watches, things like D&G or Fossil that cost over £100 but are just cheap quartz movements with a famous name from the fashion industry attached. The profit margin on these must be huge. I like a certain honesty in a watch, cheap and cheerful, hard as nails or expensive because of the man hours involved in making the thing. Oh I have one other rule, a watch must be legible or it's a fail. That's just me though and it's a free world. ..

You are me AICMFP!  ;D
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tiermat

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #240 on: 10 October, 2012, 01:09:58 pm »
My everyday watch is an Animal W003 SAS (Surfers Against Sewerage) special, my interviews/casual smart night out watch is a Seiko 7782-0al0 (bought in Aus for $not_a_lot, but genuine), one of two Briels (one Ducati and one normal, octagonal face) or my other, steel bracletted, Animal.  For formal occasions I have one of these:



I still hanker after a Tag Monaco or a Breitling though. 
I feel like Captain Kirk, on a brand new planet every day, a little like King Kong on top of the Empire State

Rhys W

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #241 on: 10 October, 2012, 02:32:42 pm »
Please don't judge somebody just because they use a phone for a timepiece - it's like judging somebody because thy're riding a shopper bike on an audax or using a camera phone instead of a bulky dslr imo.   The objective is simply to know the time and is wholly fulfilled.

Fair point Mr Bear, I was basing my prejudice on a couple of people who like telling people that they don't like watches, and if the phone isn't within reach they forgot it was time to leave work and go home. Ties in with the "if you can't read it then it's useless" idea (like my Cateye computers - more convenient than taking off gloves and rolling up sleeves in winter, but useless because they don't keep time!) I find my iPhone useful to set my mechanical watch every few days, it appears to match the Greenwich Time Signal to the second.

Kim

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #242 on: 10 October, 2012, 03:28:05 pm »
I find a phone is less convenient than a watch, but more convenient than dermatitis...

I find the frequency with which I need to know the time when there isn't a clock within sight (either on a bike computer, or at the top of the screen, or on the wall) is fairly low, anyway.

Regulator

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #243 on: 10 October, 2012, 05:14:15 pm »
I find a phone is less convenient than a watch, but more convenient than dermatitis...

Nickel sensitivity?  The best thing I've found it to either get a watch made with one of the new low-Ni steels or coat the back with clear nail varnish (which has to be reapplied on an infrequent basis).
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I completely agree with Reg.

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #244 on: 10 October, 2012, 06:14:38 pm »
http://www.christopherward.co.uk aren't a bad deal. Posh mechanism in a sensible package. A colleague has one and he said their customer service is brilliant. (It had fault and there was no dispute, replaced without question)

rogerzilla

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #245 on: 10 October, 2012, 06:42:11 pm »
Gosh - Vostok watches aren't the bargains they were!  New ones are about £400!
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #246 on: 10 October, 2012, 06:47:38 pm »
Gosh - Vostok watches aren't the bargains they were!  New ones are about £400!

Don't know where your looking they are still about £60 here
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #247 on: 10 October, 2012, 06:55:08 pm »
I don't generally wear a watch from day to day, but I find I need one when I'm at work.

Taking pulses of animals in various places all the time means a second hand attached to me is vital. I don't want my iPhone in the large dog's kennels with me, it would get chewed or worse (covered in blood/vomit/shit/pee). I've tried the nurses type thing pinned to clothing but they always end up in the washing machine and dead.

I now have a solar charging titanium one Simon bought me for my last birthday  ;D

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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #248 on: 10 October, 2012, 07:11:36 pm »
I "retired" 9 years ago when the partnership I was working for wished to dispense with my services.  Being somewhat young for a clock and not getting a "gift" from the partnership given the circumstances I decided to buy myself a "retirement" watch with some of the payoff.  Not a fan of bulky or heavy watches I settled on a Longines Grand Classique

http://www.longines.com/watches/la-grande-classique-de-longines/L4.766.2.11.7

which has so far accompanied me on a couple of PBPs, an LEL, 2 24 hour time trials and the Mille Miglia as well as other assorted cycling adventures and is far more pleasant to look at than the display on my various cycle computers that I always forget to adjust to the correct time in any case.

The only problem is the eyewatering cost of the replacement batteries every three years which are specially made for its slimline form. 
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Re: Wearing a watch
« Reply #249 on: 10 October, 2012, 07:34:36 pm »
Nickel sensitivity?  The best thing I've found it to either get a watch made with one of the new low-Ni steels or coat the back with clear nail varnish (which has to be reapplied on an infrequent basis).

I did the nail varnish thing for a while, but the best thing I've found was using the clock on my mobile phone instead (this was in the days when mobile phones had batteries that lasted a week and mono reflective LCDs that you could read the time off in standby mode, rather than this modern rubbish).

One less thing to remove while sticking your arm perilously close to live bussbars, too.