Talk to Me about Watches!

[skyactiv]

I've never owned a watch over $200 but want to buy a nice watch someday and occasionally research and look at watches online.

I've had a few cheap automatics plus a manual wind watch and of course quartz watches. My work watch is a Miltado with the Seiko VH31 quartz movement that ticks 4 times a second mimicking an old manual wind watch. The watch has a domed sapphire crystal and well under $100. I was wearing a Citizen Eco-Drive for work but the mineral crystal is rough looking.

I bought a stainless steel band Seiko 5 from Walmart.com in the early 2000's and didn't like the heavy weight of it and gave it to my middle brother.

I considered a Bulova Marinestar with the smooth sweeping 262 kHz movement model 96B426. But it's heavy and I would probably have buyers remorse.

 

[KrisZ]

I've never owned a watch over $200 but want to buy a nice watch someday and occasionally research and look at watches online.

I've had a few cheap automatics plus a manual wind watch and of course quartz watches. My work watch is a Miltado with the Seiko VH31 quartz movement that ticks 4 times a second mimicking an old manual wind watch. The watch has a domed sapphire crystal and well under $100. I was wearing a Citizen Eco-Drive for work but the mineral crystal is rough looking.

I bought a stainless steel band Seiko 5 from Walmart.com in the early 2000's and didn't like the heavy weight of it and gave it to my middle brother.

I considered a Bulova Marinestar with the smooth sweeping 262 kHz movement model 96B426. But it's heavy and I would probably have buyers remorse.

A lot of people, including me, like heavy watches, within reason of course.

For you, I would look into titanium watches, this should address your dislike of heavy watches, while keeping the aesthetic of a fully metal watch.

Something like this for example:

 

[BobsArmory]

Titanium is a great metal. If you want to go in the other direstion you can pick up a watch made with tantalum wich is almost 2x as heavy as stainless steel.

 

[Astro14]

@BISCUT - you’ve earned it - if you like the Rolex, go for it.

I am a Breitling fan (as mentioned) but have always admired the Yachtmaster and the Submariner. A buddy was given a Submariner on his graduation from the Naval Academy. In 1986. Blue and Gold, of course, and I always admired that watch.

 

[charbaby]

I bought a serviced (by Breitling-supposedly) from a high end Jewelry store. C oule seconds per day. It failed a few weeks later. It is back at Breitling..missing in action for 14 weeks....sucks big time.

View attachment 349060

Any time that I've had to send a watch back to the Mfg, it was gone for 2-3 months. You're approaching 4 months but I wouldn't say that this is out of the ordinary.

 

[Astro14]

I bought a serviced (by Breitling-supposedly) from a high end Jewelry store. C oule seconds per day. It failed a few weeks later. It is back at Breitling..missing in action for 14 weeks....sucks big time.

View attachment 349060

Disappointing, but not surprising.

When I sent my Breitling in for service, I was quoted 6-8 MONTHS. They’re backed up, since they had to shut down for CV.

Now, I got mine back in six weeks.

Checking this morning, it’s 25 seconds fast, after being set to Mountain time on the 10th.

2 secs/ day.

Amazing mechanical accuracy.

 

[Al]

Now, I got mine back in six weeks.

Checking this morning, it’s 25 seconds fast, after being set to Mountain time on the 10th.

2 secs/ day.

Amazing mechanical accuracy.

Great!!!!

 

[JohnnyG]

I use a local authorized Rolex dealer for the routine servicing. The initial service I did when I received the watch in 1996, went to Rolex in NY as the watch is considered vintage due to it's age and parts for those are much harder to source outside the RSC. Again, no cosmetic restoration was done and the service still cost $1300. Local jeweler takes care of the routine servicing in house now and it generally costs $800-$1000.

Thanks. Watchrepairsusa was $425.00 which is a lot to spend on a watch with little value other than sentimental. But I'm glad I did it.
Recently installed a jubilee style band on it since it's only 35mm (?) case after becoming allergic to the leather strap for some reason.

 

[charbaby]

Nice vintage HAMILTON. MY Dad enjoyed HAMILTON & LONGINES. I now have a soft spot for both brands and had many of his older watches that I’ve since past on to my daughter.

 

[charbaby]

Nice vintage HAMILTON. MY Dad enjoyed HAMILTON & LONGINES. I now have a soft spot for both brands and had many of his older watches that I’ve since past on to my daughter.

 

[Opelman]

I'm not a daily watch wearer but when I do it is the Polimaster with the Geiger-Mueller tube built in. It keeps track of gamma radiation. Just a curiosity of mine. The Rolex wes from my dad, it was old when he got it in the 50s.

 

[BobsArmory]

I'm not a daily watch wearer but when I do it is the Polimaster with the Geiger-Mueller tube built in. It keeps track of gamma radiation. Just a curiosity of mine. The Rolex wes from my dad, it was old when he got it in the 50s.

View attachment 349286

View attachment 349287

That Rolex could be valuable! I think it's a Rolex model 3139? Very popular in the WW2 era.

 

[opus1]

Nice vintage HAMILTON. MY Dad enjoyed HAMILTON & LONGINES. I now have a soft spot for both brands and had many of his older watches that I’ve since past on to my daughter.

My Dad received 2 watches from his time at the steel mill. I remember one was a Bulova, don't remember the other one, but they were pretty nice. I need to look for them.

 

[charbaby]

My Dad received 2 watches from his time at the steel mill. I remember one was a Bulova, don't remember the other one, but they were pretty nice. I need to look for them.

My Dad had a bunch of watches but wasn't necessarily a watch collector nor an enthusiast, even though he had at least a half-a-dozen watches to my best memory, mostly of the American name watches w/Swiss MVT. He'd just put one on his wrist for the occasion and never really spoke of it after that. Most of the time, they just sat in a jewelry box. I think, that's the way it was back in the 1930s-'50s. Dad would be 113 years old.

 

[Vil_Riker]

My Dad received 2 watches from his time at the steel mill. I remember one was a Bulova, don't remember the other one, but they were pretty nice. I need to look for them.

I found a Bulova that I got in a similar way years ago last week in a drawer. Not sure what to do with it -- I'll probably sell it on eBay.

 

[Vil_Riker]

OP, if you are interested in good replicas, go to DHGATE .com and search for NOOB Watch. Noob makes high end inspired replicas.

 

[shortyb]

All the talk of Eco-Drives piqued my curiousity. Went over to the Citizen website and have picked a couple I like. Think I will pull the trigger soon on one and see for myself why so many seem to like them so much.

 

[charbaby]

Solar watches are
Wear it and forget it watch.
I have an Atomic Time Eco-Drive watch that I don’t have to do a thing to the watch.
It automatically changes for Time Zones, DST, Days of the Month, and adjusts for accuracy every morning at 2am. Plus, more features than I can list.

 

[maggie06]

I think you will find (as I have) that the accuracy will be within 15 seconds at the most. Like I said, I have four chinese OLEVS and their accuracy is typically less than 6 seconds. With 0.1/.00 beat error and high amplitude. My friends 5 Sports is well under 10 seconds.

If I got a Seiko 5 Sports that was off 40seconds, I would send it back.

Why does the OP WANT a Rolex? Thats the question. And vanity is a perfectly fine answer,

Been wearing my Seiko 5 blue sunray diver for 2 days and has been accurate to the minute so far. I was concerned about +or- time keeping, but so far, so good. This is my 1st automatic so learning the ropes compared to my Citizen ecodrive

 

[charbaby]

I know that certain SEIKO automatic movements have a large +/- per day spec(e.g., -20 to +40 sec/day). However even the le$$er SEIKO automatic movements that I've owned were quite good and within a few seconds/day meaning that they're regulated from the factory to be quite accurate for what they are. My current non winding/non hacking 21jewel NH25A(yes NH25A not NH35A) is running around -7sec/day and I'm good with that for not even being -1 min/wk.