Watches

[Risso]

The good thing is you can now get a decent automatic watch at almost any price point, and most of the non-top tier makers like Rotary (as above) and Longines etc are making some cracking looking watches these days. For the price of a crap quartz with a fashion brand slapped on it like Boss, you can buy something that will last a lifetime.

[Phil Silvers]

4 minutes ago, Risso said:

The good thing is you can now get a decent automatic watch at almost any price point, and most of the non-top tier makers like Rotary (as above) and Longines etc are making some cracking looking watches these days. For the price of a crap quartz with a fashion brand slapped on it like Boss, you can buy something that will last a lifetime.

Agree, a mate of mine is the worst, he will always come over and what you wearing today and be unimpressed, ill huff silently and say, and you? Then he'll show me a 60mm diesel brick ffs, how much 350, I've tried to tell him but he just doesn't get in.

When I was younger and still in a suit and tie job, I had a lovely gold look Rotary dress watch, very thin, wouldn't recognise it if saw it, its been that long, stolen in a burglary at ours, always remember liking it a lot, its a brand that I've not taken any notice of for a couple of decades, like Timex too. Much better then these fashion quartz pieces. They must drop money like a bomb, 350 to 100 in minutes I'd guess.

Anyway, next quest is something that beats at 36000.

[Mandy Lifeboats]

My first watch was a Timex.  I wear a Timex most days.  Decent watches at a decent price.  

[El Zen]

Nixon Sentry Chrono. The quality probably isn’t spectacular, but the price isn’t too high and I really like the look and it goes well with my wardrobe.

So I have three

(the grey one there, one brown leather and one black leather.) 

[Phil Silvers]

On 28/09/2021 at 07:20, blandy said:

EBay links are always auto-blocked. Posters need to pm Admin or a moderator to get them to work. It’s to stop spam and fraud and ticket badness etc.

Sorry, only just seen this, thx for the info.

[Risso]

On 02/10/2021 at 10:41, Mandy Lifeboats said:

My first watch was a Timex.  I wear a Timex most days.  Decent watches at a decent price.  

I recently bought my son a Timex Snoopy watch, his first automatic. Brilliant piece of kit, and he loves it.

[Phil Silvers]

Thinking about buying a 2nd hand piece from Japan, anyone got experience of this and what to expect.

Will be something not too expensive as a test, say £250 uncle p&p, what customs and excise costs would I pay and how simple is the process. Cheers.

[ferguson1]

4 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Thinking about buying a 2nd hand piece from Japan, anyone got experience of this and what to expect.

Will be something not too expensive as a test, say £250 uncle p&p, what customs and excise costs would I pay and how simple is the process. Cheers.

Never bought but looked in the past at these sites:  jauce.com    timepeaks.com

Someone on here will hopefully have had experience of purchasing from Japan etc, even if it’s not been a watch? Best of luck buddy whatever you choose to do

[Phil Silvers]

7 minutes ago, ferguson1 said:

Never bought but looked in the past at these sites:  jauce.com    timepeaks.com

Someone on here will hopefully have had experience of purchasing from Japan etc, even if it’s not been a watch? Best of luck buddy whatever you choose to do

Cheers pal, from what I've found its about 25% of the value on top for import duties, including a £8 handling fee from Royal mail. 

Just don't a hidden surprise that doubles the cost say, so just doing a bit of leg work.

Lifeboats got me on the hunt for a piece from my birth year and I fancy a nice Seiko dress /sports-dress piece.

[est1874]

Longines Conquest.

One of the best personal investments I ever made.

[Phil Silvers]

2 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Longines Conquest.

One of the best personal investments I ever made.

Used to have a Hydroconquest diver, liked it a lot, good brand and good value for what you get. Flipped that because it was too similar to other pieces in the collection back then. 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

3 hours ago, Phil Silvers said:

Cheers pal, from what I've found its about 25% of the value on top for import duties, including a £8 handling fee from Royal mail. 

Just don't a hidden surprise that doubles the cost say, so just doing a bit of leg work.

Lifeboats got me on the hunt for a piece from my birth year and I fancy a nice Seiko dress /sports-dress piece.

Don't blame me.  

I have never purchased from Japan but there's somewhat of a catch 22 situation with ordering from abroad.  A credible large company will label the watch correctly and declare the correct import value.  This makes it likely to be picked up for import duties.  A less reputable company will know how to package it in order to avoid unwanted attention.    

 

[Phil Silvers]

8 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Don't blame me.  

I have never purchased from Japan but there's somewhat of a catch 22 situation with ordering from abroad.  A credible large company will label the watch correctly and declare the correct import value.  This makes it likely to be picked up for import duties.  A less reputable company will know how to package it in order to avoid unwanted attention.    

 

Cheers. I'm being careful.

Regarding blame, I'd thought about years ago and you reminded me of all that. Then a beauty popped up on eBay, exact year so started the hunt.

 

[StanBalaban]

On 30/09/2021 at 16:09, Mandy Lifeboats said:

 

The price of watches has gone crazy in the last few years.   But I have a watch shaped gap that needs filling and permission from Mrs Lifeboats to spend.   I am not sure I will.  Some of the prices people are paying are ridiculous and out of principle I can’t buy a watch that costs the same amount as a decent car.  But I am on the lookout for:

 A watch from 1970.   £1000 - £2000.   

I am always on the lookout for these watches.  They need to be a model I like, a decent condition but also have that patina that shows its lived.  I thought I’d found a Rolex that fitted the bill in my local jewellers.   There were 2 problems.   At some stage non-standard parts had been used.  It had a very specific and deep engraving on the case back.     

A watch that looks like it’s from 1970 but isn’t. 

I am sure some people who post in this topic will go mad when I mention fake patina watches.  I don’t see any problem with them.  But it has to be well done.  I thought I had found it when I came across the Steinhart Ocean 39 Vintage for £700.  But when I took delivery it didn’t look as good as the pictures.  What looked like a lovely creamy colour on the dial and bezel was much browner under natural light.  I was terribly disappointed because it looked perfect. 

 

 Tudor Black Bay.  £2800

I love these watches but there are so many models to choose from.  I’d buy one today but I still hope to stumble upon that 1970 watch. 

 Tudor Black Bay Bronze £3100

This is the model that’s looking most likely. 

 

Omega Seamaster James Bond.  £7000

This watch is causing me anguish.  I love the watch.  It’s the right model.  It’s the right colour.  It’s got that vintage look.  But I hate the connection to James Bond.  Whenever I see anyone wearing one I always think they jump around the house pretending to be Bond.  How much do I love the watch compared to how much do I hate the Bond connection?  At the moment the Bond connection is too strong.  

 

Omega Speedmaster Silver Snoopy.  New £8500.  Realistic price £25,000.   

I know this isn’t going to happen but I can dream.  I have mentioned it several times before in this thread.  

Bit late to the party here, but the Tudor Black Bay 58 is a great watch is a much more reasonable size compared (39mm) to the Omega (42mm) and Black Bay Heritage (41mm).

Only downside is that it's on the all too familiar "Rolex Wishlist" now, but still possible to get within a few months.

[StanBalaban]

Whilst I've been on the mythical wishlist for a new "Starbucks" Submariner (15 months so far), I've recently plundered Chrono24 and added a 'modern vintage' piece with this cheeky little number:

It's designed by Gerald Genta - who also did the AP Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. This was a response to the "quartz crisis" / "quartz revolution". The Swiss watch manufacturers all shat themselves after Seiko brought out a quartz movement watch. Fearing this would ultimately lead to mechanical watchmaking to become a thing of the past, Patek, Piaget and Omega combined to try to beat Seiko to the market (in the late 60's). 

Swiss watch makers were really hit hard in the 70's and 80's, leading to a loss of over 60% of manufacturers, leading to two major groups combining to form Swatch. The revenue from making quartz watched allowed Swatch to acquire historical brands such a Longines, Tissot, Breguet and Omega.

This was Rolex's response in the 80's - The OysterQuartz.

[Risso]

On 31/10/2021 at 11:18, StanBalaban said:

Whilst I've been on the mythical wishlist for a new "Starbucks" Submariner (15 months so far), I've recently plundered Chrono24 and added a 'modern vintage' piece with this cheeky little number:

It's designed by Gerald Genta - who also did the AP Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus. This was a response to the "quartz crisis" / "quartz revolution". The Swiss watch manufacturers all shat themselves after Seiko brought out a quartz movement watch. Fearing this would ultimately lead to mechanical watchmaking to become a thing of the past, Patek, Piaget and Omega combined to try to beat Seiko to the market (in the late 60's). 

Swiss watch makers were really hit hard in the 70's and 80's, leading to a loss of over 60% of manufacturers, leading to two major groups combining to form Swatch. The revenue from making quartz watched allowed Swatch to acquire historical brands such a Longines, Tissot, Breguet and Omega.

This was Rolex's response in the 80's - The OysterQuartz.

I went to the Jaeger LeCoultre manufacture a few years ago, and they’ve got an in-house museum showing their watches through history. They had a section dedicated to their quartz watches from the 80s, and most of them were absolutely hideous. A lot of the watchmakers were getting similarly worried about smart watches but thankfully they don’t seem to have had much of an effect on sales

[StanBalaban]

9 hours ago, Risso said:

I went to the Jaeger LeCoultre manufacture a few years ago, and they’ve got an in-house museum showing their watches through history. They had a section dedicated to their quartz watches from the 80s, and most of them were absolutely hideous. A lot of the watchmakers were getting similarly worried about smart watches but thankfully they don’t seem to have had much of an effect on sales

Yeah you're right that smart watches don't really seem to compete with mechanical watches. Not sure who buys a TAG Heuer smart watch though...? 

I find premium watch brands quite fascinating, especially the lustre for models that are hard to find. Many will say we're in a bubble with prices, but I just don't see how supply of Rolex, AP and Patek sports watches will ever meet demand, especially given that they're not PLC's. Compare Rolex (owned by a charity no less) with Omega, with arguably the latter being the better comparible device, but Swatch won't stand for a control of supply with shareholders to answer to.

I actually questioned myself as to whether I had lost the plot when I bought a Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5167a on the grey market at a premium in 2018. Now it's comfortably worth double and rising, but will it end? Can genuinely see many brands becoming invite-only, leading to a knock-on effect for their vintage models.

[astondalston]

Do any of our resident watch experts have any knowledge to shine on Yema watches?

They've got a strong social media game but is there anything behind the hype? Nice looking watches but I need to know more....

 

 

[choffer]

29 minutes ago, astondalston said:

Do any of our resident watch experts have any knowledge to shine on Yema watches?

They've got a strong social media game but is there anything behind the hype? Nice looking watches but I need to know more....

 

 

Well established brand. Been around about 50 years I think. I’ve never owned one but from what little I know of them, they’re a decent option for someone who wants something good on their wrist but doesn’t want to step up to entry-level omega/Rolex prices. 

[KMitch]

I usually wear a G-Shock "CasiOak" at work, and it's fine for the factory floor, but doesn't really blend well with the executive side of the office.  I don't really want to wear one of my Rolexes or my AP to the office and flex on everyone, so I just picked up the new Seiko SUR311, which replaced the discontinued SARB033.  I only paid $300 for it and I'm blown away with how fantastic it is for that price.