Wristwatch Chat

[Manny]

The watch fund is going to be emptied.

My pal who was working in Afghanistan came home via Dubai recently and brought with him some superb copy Rolexes that he is flogging. Boxes, papers, the works. They run about £350 - £400 but are not to be confused with Chinese night market junk. It would take a jeweller to open one to tell the difference.

Sadly the pretty one is unavailable and nobody wants the slightly less pretty sister. But sometime in July it'll be here, according to the nice B&O man.

I'd ask B&O Manchester if they have a used or ex-display ones knocking about. They're quite resourceful.

I need a good bluetooth speaker, but they do seem a lot of money for what they are.

[andrewfi]

Don't buy a fakey one. You'll always know.

Don't buy a Rolex, unless it's not one of the popular ones.
I remember years ago, at Round Table, one of the guys, a car dealer, turned up with a Rolex, back when nobody saw a real one. We ripped the piss out of him for wearing a fake. He wasn't amused - it was real.

Fancy a costly watch, there's lots nicer and nobody would think it was a fake because nobody fakes them.

RE. The Level if I order one from the UK I'm stuck with duty, possibly vat and the messing. But there are some for sale over there. I saw John Lewis had some stock.
Go have a listen to one. You'll want one for your office. But only the gold and oak one.

Yes, a lot of money. But these are like good watches...
They are beautiful things that are perfectly made and will last decades. You pay for that. When you own stuff like that people know you're a proper mester without needing to do anything else.

Range Rover parked outside, Omega Seamaster in bronze on your wrist, attractive blonde wife, B&O home electronics that you're happy to take on picnics...

Proper mester's watch:


Proper mester's gear! Quiet, not flashy, statement pieces.
Proper mester - it's a good feeling!

[Manny]

Omega Seamaster in bronze on your wrist,

I like my bimetal blue face Rolex Submariner. I've had it about twenty years now. I've still got the Omega Constellation it replaced too.

I'd like a Blancpain Grande Date Aqua Lung next, like Putin wears.

[Contrarian]

Sweet looking watch! Definitely spendy.

https://www.authenticwatches.com/omega-mens-watch-21032422003001.html

[andrewfi]

Watches have gotten expensive. My daily wear, when I'm not wearing something else, is also a Seamaster now getting on for 25 years old.

I have enjoyed watches since I was a kid. I've got loads of the buggers. Annoyingly, my case is over full, sometimes I get a special treat when I turn one up that I've misplaced, then I have a new favourite for a few days. Like some folks are with records.

Mine's stainless steel. The new bronze gold alloy Seamaster is about $11,000. It is gorgeous though.

My new favourite things are homages. I'd never wear a fake but an honest homage designed by a colour photocopier and a pair of scissors is great fun. It was a great way to find that I really didn't want to wear a Submariner. And to find that there's a Seiko Presage with my name on it.

[AvHdB]

Can anyone tell us which watch will keep a woman on time?

[Markje]

Can anyone tell us which watch will keep a woman on time?

Well, all of them, as long as you calculate the women-timezone correctly. For me thats 1 hour behind, so appointment at 2 becomes appointment at 1.

[Contrarian]

Can anyone tell us which watch will keep a woman on time?

Well, all of them, as long as you calculate the women-timezone correctly. For me thats 1 hour behind, so appointment at 2 becomes appointment at 1.

Don't you mean an appointment at 1 will become an appointment at 2? 

[Manny]

Can anyone tell us which watch will keep a woman on time?

Wifey had an Omega Constellation but now she has an Omega Tresor. She's still late. 

Can anyone tell us which watch will keep a woman on time?

Well, all of them, as long as you calculate the women-timezone correctly. For me thats 1 hour behind, so appointment at 2 becomes appointment at 1.

Don't you mean an appointment at 1 will become an appointment at 2? 

I think he means you tell her it's at 1pm and really it's at 2pm and then you arrive on time. I do that.

[NS1]

Manny if that fake is real enough to fool people I want one,
I have a friend who is big into this stuff, it would drive him nuts if I had one LOL.

Personally I have a couple of nice watches, but tell wife to not buy them,
I never wear a watch any more, she has to remind me if were all dressed to go
somewhere fancy to put it on, like an ring or something.

Love the loo, just never wear, waste of money for me.
 

[2tallbill]

I had a pager in the late 1980's that had the time on it and a
phone since then. Before the late 1980's I wore a watch, but
always a cheap one since I was always beating them up on
jobsite's or knocking around.

If you like a nice watch, that's great but it's not for me.

[Markje]

Don't you mean an appointment at 1 will become an appointment at 2? 

I think he means you tell her it's at 1pm and really it's at 2pm and then you arrive on time. I do that.

Yes, exactly like that :-)

I have a nice Fossil Smartwatch. The only disadvantage being that it needs to re-charge batteries after 48 hours.

Next time I will get a hybrid, much better battery life.

[andrewfi]

Years ago I had a couple of fake Rolex Datejusts. That was when I was working for a newspaper and I wanted, for convenience, a watch with both day and date. That was not, and still isn't a common feature on an analogue watch but very handy in a business driven by deadlines.

I don't like fakes because it means that one is always lying to oneself and to others. What pride in ownership is there in a fake? What life milestones do they celebrate?

Given that a good fake is, has to be, at least as expensive as a good watch in the first place, why do it? Why not just buy a good watch sold honestly?
If you like the look, buy an homage watch, at least the branding is different and usually while one gets the look and feel of the original brand it is not usually a straight copy.

Here's a good example: https://www.paganidesignwatch.com/pagani-design-pd-1651
I own a pd-1651. I have the blue sunburst dial with stainless steel bracelet and black ceramic insert. It is clearly designed to look similar to a Rolex Yacht Master. I bought it because it is smaller on the wrist than the most commonly copied Submariner. But I soon found that I just didn't get on with the style. I prefer slimmer styles such as my Omega and Longines watches as well as most of my other watches which even if having a large crown tend to be sleek and relatively slender. But the bronze colour version is very pretty. It was not available when I bought mine a couple of years ago.

This is not a straight copy, it shares some cues with the Submariner such as the ceramic bezel but for sure it is primarily a Yacht Master given the size, shape and very pretty sunburst dial. The movement is a Seiko automatic mechanical movement. All the watches I have with this movement keep good time, but I do not expect quartz accuracy as I swap them around too much so I am always having to wind them before wearing them.

Most of my watches are mechanical and automatic winding but here's a quartz one that I just love. https://www.paganidesignwatch.com/pagani-design-pd-1654
You can see the cues from the Presage I posted upthread but it is hardly an homage or copy. I love the dial on this and the circular date complication. It is really comfy to wear and sits nicely with jeans and a polo shirt or a blazer. Mine is the cream/rose gold model. They have a Seiko mechaquartz movement that gives a very smooth, mechanical style sweeping movement to the second hand.
I might buy this again in the black/steel colourway. But when my crypto takes its next upward jump I might just get the Presage.

By the way, I have found that quality of manufacture is not really an issue. At least not with the watches I bought. The Yotty homage has a bezel action that isn't as good as the real thing, too much play, but of all my cheapy watches, that's the worst offence I have found. The same watch had a slightly stiff link in the bracelet, but that has worn itself in with wear and may originally have been due to me taking out and swapping the links around when resizing it.

Recently a friend of mine who is familiar with my watch fetish and didn't know that many of them are homage types told me that he wanted to buy himself a nice watch. Like most guys the only high-end brand he knew of was Rolex. He was looking at a Subby, again because that's all he knew about. I showed him around my little collection, showed him some more watches and suggested he try a couple of homages, after all, if one pays €12k or more on an expensive watch it's a lot of money if it just doesn't suit. That incompatibility does not, as I have discovered, come right away, it takes days or weeks of picking the thing up each morning (or not). He's now planning to buy the bronze/gold Omega I shared upthread. It's a start.

[Manny]

Manny if that fake is real enough to fool people I want one,
I have a friend who is big into this stuff, it would drive him nuts if I had one LOL.

I'll get some photos.

[Manny]

Manny if that fake is real enough to fool people I want one,
I have a friend who is big into this stuff, it would drive him nuts if I had one LOL.

I'll get some photos.

He's only got several of two types left.

Black face all steel Submariner:





And GMT Master II, the one they call the Batman.



They're £250 each. UPS to the US or Canada costs £40. PM me if you want one.

[NS1]

Sent you a PM

[Danchik]

I have never worn jewerly and never will and therefore my only experience in pricing is buying diamonds and such as gifts to women so I could get laid and oral sex .

The exception is a wedding band. I want peace at home

That being said, watches do carry some clout in Russia and I'm sure elsewhere around the world.

I remember one of my first clients here. A well-known economist, who often gave seminars throughout Europe in English, called and asked for my help.

When I met him he told me he had just bought a new watch mainly because, and I quote "Russian businessmen will often judge you by the watch you wear".

I asked him out of curiosity how much the watch cost and he said "30,000".

Being totally unaware/naive of the cost of a watch and with the ruble at 30 to $1 at that time, I quickly deduced that the watch was around $1k .

No, that would be $30k he would later inform me.

I'll stick to the wedding band thank you very much.

[andrewfi]

Yes, it is. No problem with that. It's also an appreciation of both design and engineering. It's one reason that I can appreciate homages but despise fakes. With one you get real engineering, albeit with cost constraints. With the other the manufacturer has only goal to get your for the least possible effort. Sometimes one might actually get an OK watch but lt will never be the best watch one can get for the money.

I think your experience of women is different to mine though.  In that regard, I probably am accustomed to better value for money.

A $30k watch needs to be pretty special in every respect and just covering it with diamonds isn't IMHO enough. Problem is  that at a certain level the appreciation of value does require some expertise. Kinda like hifi or art. At some point the law of i knows wot I likes when I sees it fails. That point is reached at different levels for different people.

[NS1]

So I got a watch through Manny, actually transaction was quite easy and shipping was
surprisingly fast. Quite impressed, I took to a jeweler to adjust band to fit and he could not tell
if real or not.

So the wife deciding she liked it, I ask if female watches were available, Manny sent several
pics and Aliona found a few she liked and choose one, again quite quick in the whole process.

Now this part is funny, she is in the mall, wants to get couple links in band removed, so stops
in jeweler shop and girl won't work on it  SHe has to get manager, he spent 45 minute with ultimate care
adjusting, he went to get something and girl was walking by and Aliona asked if she could finish
she was late and Girl said no, only the manager works on Rolex's  SO  now I am laughing.
this shop is a dealer for Rolex, he trained in dealing with customers for Rolex.
So I guess they more than passed sniff test, he could not tell difference.

[Orchid]

So I got a watch through Manny, actually transaction was quite easy and shipping was
surprisingly fast. Quite impressed, I took to a jeweler to adjust band to fit and he could not tell
if real or not.

So the wife deciding she liked it, I ask if female watches were available, Manny sent several
pics and Aliona found a few she liked and choose one, again quite quick in the whole process.

Now this part is funny, she is in the mall, wants to get couple links in band removed, so stops
in jeweler shop and girl won't work on it  SHe has to get manager, he spent 45 minute with ultimate care
adjusting, he went to get something and girl was walking by and Aliona asked if she could finish
she was late and Girl said no, only the manager works on Rolex's  SO  now I am laughing.
this shop is a dealer for Rolex, he trained in dealing with customers for Rolex.
So I guess they more than passed sniff test, he could not tell difference.

So, you got a wife and a watch through Manny. Nice!
What’s next? 

[AvHdB]

A true story . . .

A fellow sailor had a large collection of watches. When a competitor needed to borrow a tool he always said, ok, let me have your watch. At the end of the season he took the watch collection to some dealer in watches and sold them.

[NS1]

So I got a watch through Manny, actually transaction was quite easy and shipping was
surprisingly fast. Quite impressed, I took to a jeweler to adjust band to fit and he could not tell
if real or not.

So the wife deciding she liked it, I ask if female watches were available, Manny sent several
pics and Aliona found a few she liked and choose one, again quite quick in the whole process.

Now this part is funny, she is in the mall, wants to get couple links in band removed, so stops
in jeweler shop and girl won't work on it  SHe has to get manager, he spent 45 minute with ultimate care
adjusting, he went to get something and girl was walking by and Aliona asked if she could finish
she was late and Girl said no, only the manager works on Rolex's  SO  now I am laughing.
this shop is a dealer for Rolex, he trained in dealing with customers for Rolex.
So I guess they more than passed sniff test, he could not tell difference.

So, you got a wife and a watch through Manny. Nice!
What’s next? 

Watch yes, Wife no lol.
I don't think Manny sells wives.

[BillyB]

Before the phone, I always carried a pocket watch. Never liked wristwatches. I'll probably end up buying one more pocket watch though, a musical pocket watch replica from one of my favorite Westerns.

https://www.themusicalpocketwatch.com

[andrewfi]

NS1, I think that somebody was being polite. A watch dealer will come across fakes all the time and nobody wants the responsibility of making an innocent party feel bad. There's absolutely no no customer service win to tell someone that their Rolex. Omega, Panerai, whatever, is a fake.

That goes double for a Rolex AD. Did you imagine that a Rolex dealer would miss the weld spots or lack of definition on the coronet? The rough glide lock on the clasp? Of course not.

One can argue that Rolexes are overpriced in terms of price compared to engineering, but there's no doubt that a 'proper' Rolex will be better than even the best fakes. Those differences may well be invisible to someone who doesn't know the real thing, but to a person whose profession is knowing about this stuff? Yeah, he knew.

To give a small example, I assume that the watch has glow in the dark, numerals, indices, hands?
Look at the watch closely, but by naked eye.

See how the lume paint looks lovely and smoothly finished. Looks good, right? Just what you'd expect from a quality watch like a Rolex or a good fake.

Odd thing though, the lume applied to Rolexes isn't smooth, it's textured. It's also rather expensive. I don't know how old Manny's Rolex is, and that makes a difference, but if relatively new, I bet he'd see the difference between two watches, real and fake in that regard. In isolation it might be missed, but in a store with loads of examples of the real thing - what do you think?

[Manny]

I've had mine for about twenty years and seen many others. Those are as good as any I've seen and I'd not be able to say one way or another if someone just showed me one.

There's a blue Chanel handbag going if anyone fancies one?









Its one I got for wifey that she has never used. £120 plus delivery.