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Any fine watch collectors out there?

2K views 28 replies 22 participants last post by  STW 
#1 ·
I love watches, but never had a really decent one till a few years ago, when I got a Hamilton with Swiss ETA movement (self-winding). So for Christmas, I decided to get what I've wanted for a long time, and purchased a beautiful self-winding Omega Planet Ocean Seamaster. Stainless steel with the black face, as featured in the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale. Are there other watch collectors out there?
 
#3 ·
Had a beautiful Vashron Constantien I inheirited from my father when I was 8 (1965). I was extremely careful of it. I lost it 10 years ago in a parking lot (stap broke). Totally bummed. I don't think I will ever own a fine watch again.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I have a Tag Heuer classic 2000 I've had a few years. I guess its really not that special but I can't justify having to many 'good' watches. I would like an Omega Seamaster or Rolex Submariner but I could buy another motorcycle for that...I would get more use out of the motorcycle

 
#5 ·
I owned a very nice Rolex Oyster Perpetual that my dad got for 25 years service with his company in 1961. I was afraid to wear it for fear of losing it and I was afraid to leave it home for fear of being burgled. Gave it to my son when he got his PhD a couple of years ago. Now he can worry about it.
 
#6 ·
I have an Omega Seamaster, a Citizen ProMaster, a Bulova Accutron Curacao, and my every day watch a Casio Pathfinder; the one that always works no matter what I smash it into or on. It is not fancy or collectible, but it's accurate and tough and was a gift from my wife.
 
#7 ·
I wouldnt consider myself a collector, but I got limited edition Nicky Hayden Ducati Tissot as an engagement gift last year. I've always been a fan of watches and figured, why she should she be the only one to get bling.
 
#8 ·
:) I love fine watches! I've had a TAG, a Zenith, an Omega Seamaster, a Rolex Datejust, and my current fave, a Rolex Submariner, bought new on my 50th birthday as a gift to myself. It is amazing how hostile some folks become when they see you wearing a fine timepiece. I don't tell people how to spend their money, so they should do the same. Sorry for the rant!
 
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#9 ·
I don't have any really "fine" watches but lots of fun watches in my collection case My first was a 1990 Soviet Union Army watch I traded a cheap Ducati jacket for from a Russian embassy guy trapped here in DC right after the fall of the union. Industrial.

Couple Triumph motorcycle watches from the early 90s and Ducati from 2000 and 2005 Laguna Seca. Old Cadillac fob watch with chain and a 1890s railroad (Chicago Mainline) pocket watch. I don't wear one any more. Too old to care but I love em.
 
#10 ·
I've got one of these:
[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000J34HN4[/ame]
Had it for five years, haven't had to change the battery, and it hasn't lost any time. Even has a stop-watch. Just as good as anything the Swiss can make, in my opinion.

Also, apparently used by All Qaeda for all their time-bomb needs.
 
#13 ·
I like and wear mechanical self-winding watches. I like the valjoux 7750 self-winding chronograph movement (stop watch) used by lots of makers in their own versions, including Omega and Rolex. My favorite is Revue Thommen aviator styles--right up there in quality but you don't have to deal with the eye-popping reactions M.G.Vig mentioned because nobody recognizes. There are many small makers who do fine quality. I like leather or rubber staps; don't have any metal bracelet style.

For me it's mostly about fascination with machines. I have the same interest in mechanical cameras, old typewriters, old espresso machines, vintage italian bicycles, certain musical instruments... Motorcycles of course.

In some jobs/professions I think wearing a Rolex or similar is an advantage or even almost required. In my work it's not and could even be a problem. A quick look into the world of watches will show how quickly you can get out of depth. Men who collect these watches spend many multiples of thousands of dollars, over and over again. So it's a different world as far as I'm concerned.

I got my wife a fancy/sporty Tag-Heuer some years ago she still wears daily but had to talk her into it. Also got her a vintage war-time Rolex she likes but doesn't wear.

Even the cheapest quartz watch is more accurate than even really fine expensive mechanical watches. That makes me chuckle every time I re-set a mechanical watch.

It's interesting to see how people use watches now they are totally un-necessary in a world where no-one is without a cell phone with a clock.

In my dad's world, getting your first watch (and any after that) was a manhood rite of passage. You expected the watch to say something about you. But he also lived at the tail end of when men wore hats, and how you wore it, when you take it off, tip it, and all those little courtesy details are gone now.
 
#18 ·
Hmmmmm...a Stowa Marine Original and an Orange Monster?? Stowa is one of the best values out there, very nice watch for the price. I'm a watch fanatic...have owned just about every brand out there: Rolex, Omega, Patek Phillipe, Panerai, A Lange Sohne, Glahutte Original, Stowa, JLC and IWC...but now I'm down to just one...Rolex Steel Daytona.

It can definitely be an obsession.....I VERY expensive one.
 
#19 ·
After 50 years of having people give me watches I hated, I sat down at the computer at the beginning of a three day weekend and absorbed as much as I could about good watches over the following 72 hours. I ended up picking a Hanhart flyer's chronograph pattered after the ones they built for the Luftwaffe in WWII. Nobody gives it a second look, but I looooove it. Swiss ETA movement; you can actually read the damn thing without squinting, and the back is glass, so you can see all the lovely bells and whistles whirling around it's guts. Cost a bloody fortune, but I'm never again wearing a crappy gift watch I don't want, but feel obligated to wear.
 
#20 ·
When my Mom was alive she reminded me that she had a nice expensive cocktail watch and not to throw it away. We found it going thru her things when she passed. Looked it up on E-bay and found a similar one for 10K. Brother has it now and I have no idea what he's done with it.

The ones that really got away were two pocket watches owned by my Grandfather and Great Grandmother given to my brother and his 3rd wife. He left them and now I have no idea if she's still got them or has given them away.

But that's heirloom stuff and I don't wear a watch especially when I'm riding. Sun in the East it's morning, Sun high overhead it's noon, Sun in the West it's afternoon.
 
#23 ·
I like watches but don't have a collection per-se. I own a Zodiac Sea Wolf automatic that I bought in 1969. Great diving watch, I have it cleaned and adjusted every 5 years or so and it still keeps perfect time.

I also have a Breitling Colt Automatic that I bought in 2003. It slid down the road with me after a fall last summer. It sustained damage to the bezel but the saphire crystal was unscratched. An amazing piece of gear.

Got a Helbros engineers pocket watch from 1947 that belonged to my grand dad and also have his gold Elgin pocket watch.

I keep them all in working order.
 
#25 ·
I love watches, although I own very few.

Current watch is :



Oris Titan Date Divers.

I went to buy an Omega, but realised I didn't want to be an Omega sheep (I like things that are a little different - hence the Triumph!) and plumped for this instead.

Two other watches I have my eye on:

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean


and

Rolex Milgauss Re-issue



Although as someone else has pointed out, these are the thick end of a new bike, so not a short term investment!
 
#27 · (Edited)
The nicest watch I've ever owned is the one my girlfriend just got me for Christmas. It's a Laco Pilot's watch. It's my very first automatic, and I LOVE it! I've found myself being very careful with it, because all of my favorite watches have been broken by my clumsiness. I only tend to wear it when I'm doing something special.

It might not be considered a "fine watch" by most standards, but I think it is a very fine watch, indeed!

I used to have one of those Soviet Army watches, but I over-wound it as a kid and it broke.

I've also got a Speed Triple watch that has to be pretty nice... It came with a free motorcycle after all...
 
#28 ·
...It might not be considered a "fine watch" by most standards, but I think it is a very fine watch, indeed!...
Mechanical automatic watches don't have to be high end or name brand to be fine.
My favorite brand of well made fine but modest watches is Titoni. Swiss watches with ETA movements made mostly for the Asian market. The ones I've had are tanks and keep good time.

I have a couple quartz watches that are favorites too, but mechanical watches are special machines.
 
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