Watches

Have a Omega Sea Master self wind and a Casio G 300 solar and atomic time meaning if resets itself by radio receiver. Watch for the shop is a free digital from a Car and Driver subscription.
 
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
I have a Fossil my girlfriend bought me years ago.


I got a Fossil many years ago. One of the guys in the mail room had the same watch. I have an Eco Drive Skyhawk but rarely wear it. Most of the time I just wear a Fitbit, up to Charge 3, Charge 4 is out. I use to wear Nike Triax watchs, Still got a couple Triax Elite watches, but the bands didn't last. Used to do Polar before Nike but they didn't keep up with the styling as the Nike watches looked better. Not a fan of the Garmin watches and I don't like Apple so still waiting for a good Android smart watch to come out.
 
Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by JohnG

Very nice! Most people don't realize the amount of work and YEARS that went in to earning these retirement watches. Hamilton did make a lot of them, since it was just after the WAR EFFORT that most of our grandfathers took part in. The Hamilton story is worth a read for anyone interested in that period of our history.
Mine is a rotor stem, in addition to the self wind function. I don't know what a "hammer wind" is.
If you look really close at the bottom of the face on mine, you'll see the word SWISS on it.
I remember Inland Steel. I've pumped a lot of oil barges and worked on many boats marked Inland. I'm sure there is a connection.


Im much more interested in acquiring Hamiltons than Tags (no offense to anyone). Great company and story.

The hammer wind was a bump stop deal, not to terribly effective, but cool in that was an early iteration of self winding mechanisms.
I basically have this watch without the date function - its a mechanical alarm, kind of a fun complication.
https://www.hoinkee.com/articles/a-week-on-the-wrist-the-jaeger-lecoultre-memovox-cal-825

I've worked pretty hard in my life but spending 25 years on the floor of a steel mill is something different.
My grandma on the same side worked there too keeping books, so half my family are steelworkers in some sense.

Inland was one of the true kings of industry and many of the big rigs they invested in heavily are still being used today by arcelor on the same site.
Check out the mighty 80 sometime if you like heavy machinery.

UD



I also like Hamiltons. I have a total of 7 of them, two of which were my dad's. One he bought in 1956 when he got out of the Army, and one that was his 25 year service award at work.

This guy's Hamilton restoration blog is amazing. He's serviced hundreds of Hamiltons:

http://www.hamiltonchronicles.com/?m=1
 
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I like watches that are very accurate and I can wear in shower or swimming. Current favorite is a Seiko solar one that receives time correction over the air every night at 2 AM.

But I have temporarly stopped wearing a watch all the time to wash my hands better because of the virus.
 
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Originally Posted by Donald
I like watches that are very accurate and I can wear in shower or swimming. Current favorite is a Seiko solar one that receives time correction over the air every night at 2 AM.

But I have temporarly stopped wearing a watch all the time to wash my hands better because of the virus.


If you just look at your watch and don't use it to touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, I don't think you need to worry about washing the watch.
 
I've never worn a watch before. I'm an Apple fanboy, and a family member got a new Apple Watch a year or two ago, and offered me the old one (perfect shape) for free. I said no thanks. Really don't have a need.

But I do have a pocket watch my grandma gave me, it was her fathers. Not sure how old it is. I'll have to look for it.
 
I keep it simple- an older Citizens, a few Fossil watches, and a Fitbit.

Would like a grab a few more though....
 
WOW, I feel as I am jumping in late here!
I love watches so, don't get me started. I tend to write too long and could become way too much to read.
 
I have a Seiko Solar for dressy occasions.
A One61 Batman Smart Watch I got for christmas a few years back, which my wrists are too big for.

And a G-Shock GD 350 for everyday wear.

Other than that does the clock on my Roku Screensaver count?
 
These, the Sub day date and Daytona are my favorites. The blue Ebel is a Cal 137 auto, one of the nicest chrono movements made, much better than the modified 7750 lump in the Breitling but not quite the Daytona 4130.
[Linked Image]
 
I've collected American pocket watches for years. My collection now isn't as large as it once was, but to me is a lot more interesting than it use to be with a lot of rarities and oddballs. It sits at right around 100 watches for now.

I have a few older wristwatches, including a couple of Hamiltons(real ones, made in Lancaster) and Illinois. I've owned a few Longines watches over the years, and am partial to that brand at least as Swiss watches go. I MAY be buying a nice little 14K Admiral in the next week or two if I can meet up with the guy selling it.

My daily wear watch is an 80s Rolex 16013 Datejust. It was a graduation gift from my parents(and is older than I am-I told them to buy used!) and just recently had it serviced. It runs reliably, and looks good in most situations.

The comments on Calatravas are interesting to me. I love Calatravas-they're the perfect understated watch, and there are times were I don't necessarily want 100 complications on my wrist. Also, look at the movement finish on a Patek or any Geneva seal watch. It's the kind of stuff that makes watchmakers love them.
 
Originally Posted by KGMtech
I have a watch collection problem, the quantity is 46 pieces, mostly mechanical automatics.

I have 1 dozen Orients, one Heuer (before TAG arrived on scene) one Omega Constellation from my dad, and other Seikos. The top dog is my Grand Seiko Spring Drive.

I can accept that the Swiss know how to make a good watch, but they are less durable than my Orient and Seiko mechanicals. The newest Seiko automatic movement NH35 or NH36 is everything anyone could want in a reliable, accurate, hand winding, hacking day, date, 3 hands watch. The last kicker is the NH3x is cheaper to replace new rather than service. Swiss, not so.


Omega Constellation with a "pie-pan" dial is my dream watch - so beautiful.

I have my dad's Omega DeVille that he received as a "service award" and I purchased a Seamaster Omegamatic via "grey market" back in 2000. The Omegamatic is much like a Seiko Kinetic and has maintained it's value for most of 20 years (probably because it's an unusual design for a Swiss watch), and is my daily wear watch. Several years ago I picked up a vintage Lucien Picard "Seashark" off of ebay for under $100. The autowind mechanism doesn't work, but hand winding keeps it running and keeps very good time - I like to wear that watch when wearing a suit because it is has a small case and is very thin (doesn't catch on shirt sleeve).

On a similar note I discovered an old travel alarm clock my father had. It's kind of a neat little art deco design, but I never really used it or looked at it closely. A few months ago I was looking it over and realized it is a Jaeger Lecoultre ! Not terribly valuable, but far from useless junk. lol
 
Originally Posted by bunnspecial


The comments on Calatravas are interesting to me. I love Calatravas-they're the perfect understated watch, and there are times were I don't necessarily want 100 complications on my wrist. Also, look at the movement finish on a Patek or any Geneva seal watch. It's the kind of stuff that makes watchmakers love them.


When did movement finishing become more important that movement engineering, packaging, or accuracy?

In a dress environment how much time do you spend looking at the back of a watch?


UD
 
Originally Posted by UncleDave
Originally Posted by bunnspecial


The comments on Calatravas are interesting to me. I love Calatravas-they're the perfect understated watch, and there are times were I don't necessarily want 100 complications on my wrist. Also, look at the movement finish on a Patek or any Geneva seal watch. It's the kind of stuff that makes watchmakers love them.


When did movement finishing become more important that movement engineering, packaging, or accuracy?

In a dress environment how much time do you spend looking at the back of a watch?


UD



It's ALWAYS been important-manufacturers wouldn't have been making movements look "pretty" since the dawn of watchmaking if that weren't the case.

Aside from that, Geneval seal watches do have inherent technical advantages over the more mass market movements, although some Swiss makes incorporate them at least into some of their products.

For one, the Geneva seal requires that the pallet fork bank off the plates and not banking pins. This makes escapement adjustment somewhat more tedious during initial set-up, but ensure that it will never change.

Freesprung balances, from a timekeeping perspective, are inherently superior as there is no residual positional error introduced by the banking pins. They're more difficult to time, but the advantage shows in the results.

Let me ask you this-how much time have you spent taking apart and servicing high grade watches? I have had several Pateks across my bench(nothing recent) and they really are that good. Yes, products from V&C, A.Lange and a bunch of other Swiss makers whose names have been lost to history(Ed Koehn comes to mind) are every bit their equal, but seeing how well everything fits together and ultimately works with great results every time leaves an impression on you. The same holds of high grade Waltham, Hamilton, and Illinois pieces, although many of them have their quirks.

I don't mean to distract this thread, but I do think it's rather dismissive to say talk down to something like the Calatrava on the basis of it lacking complications. If you have that money to spend and want a simple, understated dress watch that is one of the finest finished time-only watches in production, it's hard to argue with it being a strong contender. Yes, you are paying for the name, but a lot of work goes into finishing the watch that well, and I think it's rather dismissive to discount that.
 
Originally Posted by bunnspecial

It's ALWAYS been important-manufacturers wouldn't have been making movements look "pretty" since the dawn of watchmaking if that weren't the case.

Aside from that, Geneval seal watches do have inherent technical advantages over the more mass market movements, although some Swiss makes incorporate them at least into some of their products.

For one, the Geneva seal requires that the pallet fork bank off the plates and not banking pins. This makes escapement adjustment somewhat more tedious during initial set-up, but ensure that it will never change.

Freesprung balances, from a timekeeping perspective, are inherently superior as there is no residual positional error introduced by the banking pins. They're more difficult to time, but the advantage shows in the results.

Let me ask you this-how much time have you spent taking apart and servicing high grade watches? I have had several Pateks across my bench(nothing recent) and they really are that good. Yes, products from V&C, A.Lange and a bunch of other Swiss makers whose names have been lost to history(Ed Koehn comes to mind) are every bit their equal, but seeing how well everything fits together and ultimately works with great results every time leaves an impression on you. The same holds of high grade Waltham, Hamilton, and Illinois pieces, although many of them have their quirks.

I don't mean to distract this thread, but I do think it's rather dismissive to say talk down to something like the Calatrava on the basis of it lacking complications. If you have that money to spend and want a simple, understated dress watch that is one of the finest finished time-only watches in production, it's hard to argue with it being a strong contender. Yes, you are paying for the name, but a lot of work goes into finishing the watch that well, and I think it's rather dismissive to discount that.



When did finishing start to trump mechanical execution is a question many people ask about Pateks vs some of the other brands.

Im not a watchmaker and Ive only ever been inside low end watches low end watches like seikos as Im a rank amateur, but Iv had the back off more pieces than most guys.

I have have the money - and prefer either of my JLC reversos to a Calatrava so it isnt a case of sour grapes, but more my preference of what I get for what I pay.

I haven't seen much inside a Patek that looked significantly better than what comes from JLC, but that said I dont rip them apart myself but rely on sites to guide me through.

If Patek is so far above everyone else why did they source movements from JLC?

Between a Patek Calatrava, and a Piaget Altiplano, I see little to justify the caltrava holding its much higher price.

I never dismissed the quality of the work, dont put words in my mouth.

UD
 
Keep the thread about watches and we remain good.

Please stop the virus discussion right here.

Thanks
 
The guys talking about dress watches - whats the right color for the face of a dress watch ?

For a tux or dark suit.....

What about a white or light colored suit?

Do you believe one size fits all?

UD
 
Originally Posted by UncleDave
The guys talking about dress watches - whats the right color for the face of a dress watch ?

For a tux or dark suit... What about a white or light colored suit?



I try to color coordinate my watch to my wear. If I am dressing in black & white or brown, I wear my gold Seiko Tri-chron. If I have any blue or hunter green on at all, including dress jeans, I wear my blue faced Bulova Marine Star.
 
Originally Posted by gfh77665
Originally Posted by UncleDave
The guys talking about dress watches - whats the right color for the face of a dress watch ?

For a tux or dark suit... What about a white or light colored suit?



I try to color coordinate my watch to my wear. If I am dressing in black & white or brown, I wear my gold Seiko Tri-chron. If I have any blue or hunter green on at all, including dress jeans, I wear my blue faced Bulova Marine Star.


Those colors would probably look fine together. Im terrible at that so Ill just say thats perfect.

- Heres where the watch community and regular guys start to diverge -

Although those watches are nice watches and Id happily wear them out - those aren't "dress" watches.

Those are "sports" or Diving watches. (pretty sure chron means chronograph in the case of your watch.
I'm not singling out your watches - the same could be said of my Submariner not being a "dress" watch.
I wear my sub more than anything - suit, tux, jeans and call it a dress watch but its really not

The industry has its own definition of what is a dress watch and what is a sport watch.

Its kind of bizarre and fun to watch guys argue over, and one of the reasons the hobby of watches and or horology is something that fascinates me.

UD
 
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