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Author Topic: Buying a Watch  (Read 32351 times)

Nick Rains

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2007, 07:19:24 pm »

It has been said that a gentleman only needs two items of jewellery - a wedding band and a good watch.

Choice of watch is a subtle thing and very personal, no doubt this is why Michael chose this subject for his wise words.
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Nick Rains
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blansky

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #21 on: August 22, 2007, 08:45:28 pm »

I'm a member of timezone http://timezone.com/ a pretty serious watch collector/owners site.  It's a pretty large community of like minded watch enthusiasts or WISs (watch idiot savants) who take a fairly humorous view of their particular addiction. On their sales corner there are great bargains on barely used watches with a pretty decent control and self control of fakes and cheats.

For some reason I've always been attracted to watches, probably pocket watches early on (although I don't own any) and then worked my way up to now owning around 20 watches.

I only started accumulating them in the last few years and most were under $500. A year or so ago I bought a Phillipe Charriol Columbus, then a Cartier Roadster and finally 6 months ago a Rolex Submariner.

Once I started wearing the Rolex and the Cartier I rarely wear the others. It's something like a fine camera, even though it's a tool it is still a great work of craftmanship and art.

The difference between the craftsmanship of a "mechanical" watch, compared to a quartz watch is where one starts to appreciate the "quality" of the workmanship.

If you've ever opened up a quartz watch, regardless of the price, you are quickly filled with disappointment. A mechanical, on the other hand, often have see through cases on the back and you are able to see craftsmanshop and art much like the prestige watches of years ago.

It's hard to explain the attraction but we WISs know it's a disease, and one we feel grateful to have.


Michael
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Rob C

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #22 on: August 23, 2007, 04:32:30 am »

Paul you are either living a very insulated or even insular existence; when I bought my Rolex Submariner I also owned a Nikon F and it was more expensive still.

The perspective? The Nikon worked for me for some years; the Rolex is for life: mine, now, and possibly for my son in due course. So where is greater value?

Rob C

HiltonP

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #23 on: August 23, 2007, 07:05:38 am »

For me the strange thing about time these days is that I hardly ever look to my wrist to check it.

The time is on my bedside radio, it sits in the corner of my computer screen, I see it on the sides of buildings driving to work, on the instrument panel of my car, and at the entrance to parking garages, it appears on the television every time I change channels, it is on my PDA, and my cellphone, not to mention my kitchen wall.

I still wear a watch, but it is an item of jewelry now, more than ever before.
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Regards, HILTON

ivan muller

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #24 on: August 23, 2007, 07:35:10 am »

Hi Michael

Congratulations on your beautifull new watch! I much prefer its look to the bell + ross, sort of classical, understated and simple. Reminds me of my basic fortis automatic I bought eight years ago. It ran accurately until I took it to the dealers last sept for its first major service. since then it has kept time very erratically. Two weeks ago in florence I bought [something I thought I would never do] a Kienzle quartz watch. a little bit more fancy than the fortis but a lot cheaper and , now, more accurate with a metal strap. I have decided to use this as my everyday watch, until I figure out where to have my fortis properly serviced. The funy thing is that it took me all of 10min, on the way to the boboli gardens, once I saw the watch to make up my mind and purchase it! whereas the fortis took me months to decide.
a bit like my recent purchase of the nikon p5000 after unming and aming for monaths weather to get the canon a640 or g7. Once I had the nikon in my hands it was a quick decision. I have decided definately not to have a look at the new just announced nikons
because it could become expensive selling all my canon gear!

Regards, Ivan
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Rob C

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #25 on: August 23, 2007, 12:03:53 pm »

Quote
For me the strange thing about time these days is that I hardly ever look to my wrist to check it.

The time is on my bedside radio, it sits in the corner of my computer screen, I see it on the sides of buildings driving to work, on the instrument panel of my car, and at the entrance to parking garages, it appears on the television every time I change channels, it is on my PDA, and my cellphone, not to mention my kitchen wall.

I still wear a watch, but it is an item of jewelry now, more than ever before.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135004\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Come on, Paris, we know your life is different; but look at it this way: if you wear, and learn to read, your own watch it saves you the trouble of having your people consult their people just to let you know what time it is. Anyway, they´d be slow by the time (no pun intended etc.) they got back to you.

Haven´t you done enough time already?

Love - Rob C

wolfnowl

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #26 on: August 23, 2007, 02:38:33 pm »

Quote
For me the strange thing about time these days is that I hardly ever look to my wrist to check it.

The time is on my bedside radio, it sits in the corner of my computer screen, I see it on the sides of buildings driving to work, on the instrument panel of my car, and at the entrance to parking garages, it appears on the television every time I change channels, it is on my PDA, and my cellphone, not to mention my kitchen wall.

I still wear a watch, but it is an item of jewelry now, more than ever before.

Went out cycling yesterday and after riding for a while stopped at Starbucks for a break.  Only then did I realize that I wasn't wearing my watch so I didn't know how long I'd been out.  No problem, I thought. Except there was no clock on the wall in Starbucks and neither of the clerks nor any of the other patrons in Starbucks at that time were wearing a watch!  Finally dawned on me that my cell phone was in my backpack...

That's getting away from Michael's original story on purchasing decisions, but it did seem somehow appropriate here...

Mike.
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If your mind is attuned t

HiltonP

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #27 on: August 23, 2007, 02:39:52 pm »

Quote
Come on, Paris, we know your life is different; but look at it this way: if you wear, and learn to read, your own watch it saves you the trouble of having your people consult their people just to let you know what time it is. Anyway, they´d be slow by the time (no pun intended etc.) they got back to you.

Haven´t you done enough time already?

Love - Rob C
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135051\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Rob, you're a funny guy!
1st  -  just checked my nether region and there are things down there which I'm sure Paris ain't got!    
2nd  -  just checked my bank balance, and there aren't things in there which I'm sure Paris has got!    
3rd  -  I penned that reply in good spirit. Times (!) really have changed in the sense that everywhere we look these days there seems to be a clock shining back at us.  
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Regards, HILTON

Rob C

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #28 on: August 23, 2007, 02:58:27 pm »

Quote
Rob, you're a funny guy!
1st  -  just checked my nether region and there are things down there which I'm sure Paris ain't got!   
2nd  -  just checked my bank balance, and there aren't things in there which I'm sure Paris has got!   
3rd  -  I penned that reply in good spirit. Times (!) really have changed in the sense that everywhere we look these days there seems to be a clock shining back at us.   
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135086\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, I know, but after a certain age you begin to wonder how close it is to running down...

That´s one of the better things about this site: it isn´t always as deadly serious as it might be, given the way of the world. In fact, I think it is that very thing which keps me interested even when some of the photographic bits have gone right out of my budget, if not right over my head.

Take care - Rob C

SteveGu

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #29 on: August 23, 2007, 08:23:47 pm »

Michael, I had no idea you were interested in watches!  I have been a regular reader (& occasional customer) of your site for several years, and it was my interest in watches which drew me to photography.  I simply could not squint through the jeweler's loupe.

Anyhow, I am now enjoying a second hobby, (mostly) macro photography:



here is a sample:

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pobrien3

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #30 on: August 23, 2007, 09:04:34 pm »

Quote
... in fact, lying at the bottom of 660 ft of ocean it would still tick whilst I´d be well beyond caring...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134739\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I have had occasion to use the Rolex Sub Mariner at depth, and I'm glad I had my then-new TAG Aquagraph as well.  Up until recently I was a tech diver who liked to go deep.  I was at approx 190m (623 feet) and noticed the TAG and Rolex were showing different time: worryingly, the Rolex was showing I had spent less time at depth than my TAG and the three dive computers I had.  I reached 210m accoring to the line markers, and by this time two of the computers had failed, and the Rolex strap had buckled and snapped, and it was lost to the deep.  I was on manual; I had my pre-planned dive and deco profile written on my slate, and I timed it with the TAG using the last computer (VR3) as confirmation.  The TAG and the VR3 stayed true.  The Big C (and common sense and a little more maturity!) prevents me diving deep just for the sake of it now, but I still occasionally go to 60-90m on a rebreather with heliox, and always I have that same original TAG plus an extra VR3.

When I first bought it I complained to the TAG dealer that the thing didn't show the date: his reply was that this is a professional dive instrument, and if I didn't know what day it was I shouldn't be going down!
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Nill Toulme

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #31 on: August 23, 2007, 10:00:33 pm »

I've never claimed to be a gentleman; I like wearing nothing other my wedding ring.  And my Blackberry always knows what time it is.  ;-)

Nill
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DarkPenguin

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #32 on: August 23, 2007, 10:33:49 pm »

I haven't worn a watch since I popeyed my fossil watch off my wrist while trying to avoid falling into the St. Louis up at Jay Cooke.
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Rob C

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« Reply #33 on: August 24, 2007, 04:09:19 am »

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I haven't worn a watch since I popeyed my fossil watch off my wrist while trying to avoid falling into the St. Louis up at Jay Cooke.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135175\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Don´t tell me: you were beng inverted...

Ciao - Rob C

Thomas Krüger

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #34 on: August 24, 2007, 06:18:03 am »

I never worn a watch too. If I go for clients I have my cellphone that gives me the digital time.

But I like watches as objects. On the german magazine Spiegel there was a nice article about handmade watches from the watchmaker store Dornblüth.
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dturina

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #35 on: August 24, 2007, 06:23:38 am »

The watch article made me think about how money can influence one's considerations of gadgets... You unconsciously limit yourself to a budget and try to get the best from it; it can really be fun to see how much you can do within certain limitations if they are low; for instance, take a $100 film camera from ebay with a $60 prime lens and create the most beautiful pictures Provia or Sensia can make. However, when you try to think big, then it really becomes agonizing, if you try to maximize. What is the best [car, camera, watch,...] you can buy? Do you settle for something normal, or do you try to squeeze the absolute maximum out of your pool of choices? Hmm...
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Danijel

Robert Roaldi

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #36 on: August 24, 2007, 08:11:53 am »

Every single time I have tried wearing a good(ish) watch I have banged them against doors, walls, desktops, you name it. Every time I've worn cheap (sub $50) plastic ugly electronic things, they last for years and years. It's not right.
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Robert

michael

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« Reply #37 on: August 24, 2007, 08:52:51 am »

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I've never claimed to be a gentleman; I like wearing nothing other my wedding ring.  And my Blackberry always knows what time it is.  ;-)

Nill
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I've always found it a bit difficult to tell the time on a Blackberry underwater.  

Michael
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Nill Toulme

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #38 on: August 24, 2007, 09:37:34 am »

Quote
I've always found it a bit difficult to tell the time on a Blackberry underwater.
I try to avoid getting wet under any circumstances.  ;-)

Nill
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p.s.  That's why God created waders.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2007, 09:38:29 am by Nill Toulme »
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Rob C

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Buying a Watch
« Reply #39 on: August 24, 2007, 09:58:54 am »

Quote
I've never claimed to be a gentleman; I like wearing nothing other my wedding ring.  And my Blackberry always knows what time it is.  ;-)

Nill
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[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=135165\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

A nudist, then...

Rob C
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