POST YOUR WATCHES vol. ?

[al audi]

how do you guys feel about victorinox timepieces?

 

[wpe1123]

Here is my latest pick up. Have to get a leather strap to switch it up.

 

[vegetaray123]

Damn I love blacked out watches.

Tag Heuer Monaco

Jesus that's the best watch I've ever seen...I thought I was all set with my Speedy Pro but I may have to throw down for one of these...

 

[Y4BBZY]

how do you guys feel about victorinox timepieces?

They are in the same league as Hamilton and Tissot offerings. Too toolish for my liking compared to the other mentioned.

 

[sirdilbert2k10]

I'm looking for a "dressy" watch but no clue what to look for, although that tissot up there is nice and i also like hamilton khaki king series. I'm not sure if those are considered "dressy" though. My budget would be no more than 350-370. any suggestions, would be appreciated.

 

[JJ Goon]

Got this on the mail incoming Citizen BN0088 from the WUS sales forum. $140 shipped for a lightly used watch. Beats buying new any day.

Sold me on this watch now man

My next purchase for sure

 

[Y4BBZY]

I'm looking for a "dressy" watch but no clue what to look for, although that tissot up there is nice and i also like hamilton khaki king series. I'm not sure if those are considered "dressy" though. My budget would be no more than 350-370. any suggestions, would be appreciated.

I have the Hamilton Khaki King on bracelet and love the watch. You can try the Orient Bambino should be under $200 or the Tissot Le Locle which should be over $400. I would also try the Smiths Everest which can be had for $400 and looks like the Rolex Explorer. Berhanrdt Binacle Anchor is also a nice watch that can be had for under $300.

TBH, as long as it fits under your cuff you are good because most people just don't care what you are wearing. The Tissot PRC200 is a casual watch and not a dress watch, but it is on the dressier side than the full on sports chrono like the Tag F1. If you want a nice subdue dressy chrono try the Citizen CA0331.

Sold me on this watch now man

My next purchase for sure

Thanks, wearing it right now.

 

[al audi]

Big fan of blacked out watches also. That is nice up there.

 

[eteam o2]

What's the word on TW Steel?
considering the canteen automatic 45mm.
can get it for under $300
just wasn't sure about the brand's reputation.

 

[Y4BBZY]

Great for automatic newbs. Some stuff I agree, some I do not but otherwise great info.

Best Value Automatic Watch

Automatic: Gets charged by wrist movement
Mechanical: Wind up clock ~ every 1-1.5 days
Quartz: More accurate but battery powered, less valuable and desireable
Desirable Watch features: A good movement (ETA movements are the best and made by the Swiss, then Miyota is a cheaper Japanese substitute for ETA but still great and very reliable, then Seagull which are decent but lower quality, unnamed Chinese movements are crap but super cheap, Seiko movements vary wildly upon the model), Movement isn’t everything (quality of the finish of the watch is important), Sapphire Crystal (more scratch resistant and prettier than mineral), Stainless Steel case over PVD (just my opinion, black cases are less versatile, too casual), Not too high profile (not too thick so it doesn’t bang into things and can fit under dress shirts)
Note: There may be other colors/styles available, so always search through the models

Automatics

Budget Automatic: ~$100-200
Parnis, Tao, or Alpha are decent cheap chinese brands (but I wouldn’t pay more than $120) ie Parnis all ~$100 but some models are not quality, Popular decent-quality models: Power Reserve (IWC Portugese Homage, movement: Sea-Gull ST2505) Parniswatch.net, Panerai Radiomir homage Parniswatch.net
Amphibia Vostok (Russian) ~$80 from either Smirs or Meranom (Smirs is cheaper than Ebay), or Ministry case Amphibia with the new bezel from Chistopolcity and pick up a nice Nato or Zulu from cheapestnatostraps.com since the Ministry case has a lug width of 22mm
HMT (Indian) – $30-$80 NASL or ADSL models, or Secondarily: Sona Ebay
Seiko 5 (SNK series) $60-$110 SNK809 w/ Cloth Strap, SNK809 w/ Steel bracelet, SNKD97K1 w/ Steel bracelet, OR SNZ $125 SNZG13 w/ Steel bracelet (possibly can find at an Ashford sale for $80)
Sea-Gull M187s $120 Ebay
Instead of all these brands, I’d either get $70-$125 Seiko, OR for a more unique/complex design find an automatic Orient for ~$100-140 LongIslandWatch Discount Sale

Fliegers: (ww2 pilot watch)
Note: real pilots wear titanium! (not worth the extra money if you’re not a pilot), also I prefer the A dial as B dial is too “busy” to be classy
Maratec $200 Maratec’s Only Retailer a little more modern
Laco with Miyota movement $350, sapphire glass, is 100% true to history and definitely quality (I requested the strap without rivets) Laco in Germany. Or if you don’t want to hassle with importing: Amazon (not sure if you can request the non-riveted strap through Amazon).
Aristo (great value ETA) $300 from LongIslandWatch Discount Sale
Uhren von Uhr (great value ETA) $310 (newer company) A dial 40mm, A dial 42mm, B dial 40mm, B dial 42mm
Steinhart $400 ETA A dial 44mm, B dial 44mm, B dial 47mm (note the titanium ones not listed here are $469 with vintage-yellow font)
Stowa $650 ETA (best highest quality fliegers, but I don’t think worth it), A dial, A dial with date, A dial no logo, B dial

Submariner Homages/Classic James Bond 007 Style:
Orient Ray or Mako $140 Ray, Mako, to get them for $140 shop here
Seiko SKX007 $170 SKX007K2. Get the superb bracelet for this: Super Oyster Evo S bracelet from (email yobokies@yahoo.com.hk), but can instead get the Jubilee bracelet (dressy) or President bracelet (popping/unique). I’m not a fan of the Engineer bracelet. Or get a Black Seiko 5 SNZF17 $136 or Blue Seiko 5 SNZF15 (I’d get SKX007 over the SNZFs, better quality).
Seiko Classic: 6306 or 6309 bought off eBay $150-$300. I like the 6309-7040 better than the 6306. Unless you spend bigger bucks for a fully restored and pressure tested one you can’t really trust the watertight integrity. Otherwise you might end up with a “restored” watch that leaks while washing your hands and it’ll cost a lot just to clean up the gaskets (unless you do it yourself). Loyswatch is a reputable seller on eBay.
Seiko homage / Poor Man’s Marine Master (PMMM): Order both the SKX171 and SKX007 bezel to create this SKX171 w/ SKX007 bezel, shown with President bracelet (SKX171K), ask them to do the bezel swap before shipping, optional: Type S hands (or genuine MM300 hands), Super Oyster Evo S bracelet is the best (better than WJean’s Super Oyster Type 2), MM300 clasp for bracelet, Sapphire Crystal, smaller font bezel insert
Seiko Sumo $560 Great value for the quality, I don’t like the big lugs Seiya Japan
Squale 20 ATMOS Classic $440 from GnomonWatches or GnomonWatches – Vintage Off-black. I’d remove the date magnifier, slightly smaller than the Steinharts (40mm vs 42mm). Squale is a micro-watchmaker with a solid history from the 1950s.
Steinhart Ocean all ETA movements, $400 Steinhart Ocean 1 Black with Ceramic Option but I’d remove the date magnifier (a superb homage to the Rolex Deep Sea Sea Dweller 116660), or a little nontraditional with the flat bezel Ocean 44 $440 SteinhartWatches, or Steinhart Ocean 1 Vintage $400 for more sporty color, or for gold vintage trim $400 Steinhart OVM (Vintage Military) (a superb homage to the Rolex Milsub 5513 as seen in the classic James Bond 007 movies ie Sean Connery)
Ollechs & Wajs Diver ETA movement $390 from Ollechs and Wajs Home – Chronotime or try from GnomonWatches

Budget Divers (popular non-traditionals):
Seiko Monster $160 Amazon
Seiko Mini/Neo Monster $140 SNZF47K1
Seiko 5 Sports $125 Black SNZH55, Blue SNZH53, Black with Gold Trim SNZH57, All Black SNZH59.
Seiko SKX171 SKX171
Citizen Eco Zilla $200 (however this one is quartz, I’d take Seiko over this) Amazon
Steinhart Vintage GMT $440 SteinhartWatches

Mid-level Automatic ~$200-~$600
Android watches (ETA movement only) ~$240 (hard to find at good price)
Tissot PR 516 GL (old world sporty feel) $415 Tissot or Tissot Visodate $375 Tissot
Certina DS-1 $500 Certina (hard to find in US)
Steinhart Marine $460 Marines, Marine38mmsmall, MarineChrono1, MarineChrono2 Only gripe on these is that they might be too thick for a classy watch and too classy for everyday watch
Mido Baroncelli ~$500, highly regarded brand but not well-known, hard to find these at good prices, ie Baroncelli II AZFineTime or All Dial AZFineTime
Hamilton Khaki Automatic (Khaki Field line or Khaki King line) ~$350 Amazon
Seiko Spirit (Sarb) $430 SARB033, or step up looks with $570 SARB021/SARB023
Steinhart Triton 40 ATM $485 SteinhartWatches
Christopher Ward C60 tad expensive @ $535 Christopher Ward USA

High-Level Automatic $600+ (all ETA movements)
Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic $500-$700 I’m not a fan but they’re popular and great value for ETA Amazon
Seiko Premier with 6R20 or 6R15 movement ~$500-700 on ebay (usually these are little too big/busy for me but great value)
Seiko Marine Master MM300 The ultimate diver @ $2300. Try to get slightly used for $1850. The only watch over $1500 that I’d happily recommend. Definitely worth it over the $570 Seiko Sumo. Might be too high profile to fit under dress shirts.
Stowa Antea $850 StowaShop, Stowa Marine Original StowaShop
Damasko DA36 $1125 DamaskoUSA, Damasko DC56 $1750 DamaskoUSA
Junghans Max Bill Automatic $900 JunghansWatchesUSA
Sinn 556 $770 SinnWatches
Oris and Glycine both widely known to be good quality/resale value, but I don’t find their lower-end watches awe-inspiring/classy $800+ (Glycine Stratoforte is $1.2K new but probably can find for $600-$800 on http://forums.watchuseek.com/f29/)
Mido Multifort $800 Amazon BlackDial/GoldTrim/PVD, AZFineTime BlackDial/GoldTrim/PVD, AZFineTime Black Dial/LeatherStrap, AZFineTime Black Dial/Chain, or also Mido Baroncelli Chronograph AZFineTime Black Dial
Longinues Hydroconquest superb brand but way too expensive ~$790

Beautiful but overpriced:
Magrette Regattare $545 (beautiful but not great value for a Miyota)
Halios (similar to Magrette beautiful but overpriced for ETA)
MKII (mkiiwatches.com) great but $800+ (and the vantage or kingston are no longer for sale)
Prometheus (also not sure the quality of these) from PrometheusWatch or Watchgecko) (also check the movement, Prometheus tends to be overpriced even with watches that have crappy seagull/sellita movements, Baiji line and CR1 are recommended)

Conclusion/My Favorites

After all of my research, I’ve concluded: get an automatic watch, don’t spend more than $300 on a non-ETA movement watch (unless it’s a Seiko). My personal opinion is only get one or two watches that are versatile (both professional and casual), and don’t spend more than $500 for a watch, unless it is gold (you can find good-condition gold watches for ~$500-$600 on Ebay).
For less than $300, my favorite budget watch with a great movement is the diver Seiko SKX007 $170 SKX007K2 with Super Oyster Evo S bracelet $80 (email yobokies@yahoo.com.hk for it).
For a flieger, go for the Laco Augsberg $290 for its historical significance (albeit it’s only Miyota movement) Amazon or a $300-$400 Flieger with ETA Swiss movement, ex: Aristo, Steinhart.
For best budget ETA movement diver / submariner, my favorite is the Steinhart Ocean 1 Black $400 SteinhartWatches with Ceramic Option, or Steinhart Ocean 44 $440 SteinhartWatches. For slightly smaller/classier, get the Squale 20 ATMOS Classic $440 from GnomonWatches or GnomonWatches – Vintage Off-black. If you choose Ocean 1 or a Squale, I like it better to remove the date magnifier (aka cyclops).
For best budget high quality classiness, Seiko SARB021 at ~$570 on Amazon or Ebay, or Steinhart Marine ie $480 Marine Chronometer Roman. For ultra-classiness, the Stowa Antea 390 Day-Date black $900 looks beautiful, but again that’s a lot of money for a non-gold watch StowaShop.



_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Watch Straps/Bracelets: Need more research (Da Luca? Super Engineer? Hadley Roma Leather@ www.hadleyroma.com?)
22mm Super Oyster Evo S(with solid end links) for SKX007/009, SKXA35/53/55, 7002, 6309-729X… Tapers from 22mm to 20mm at the clasp. US$70 from email yobokies@yahoo.com.hk

Bad Watches – Stowa $600 overrated, Jaragar $20-90 bad quality movement/build, Tag Heuer is the worst bang for the buck, Chase Durer, Timex, Bad Value – Breitling, Nixon overpriced and bad quality, Victorinox overpriced, Jean Marcel little overpriced at $800 used $1k+ new, Kienzle quality too convoluted for me to recommend, Dievas watches (vortex in particular) too expensive, Skeleton watch: Richard Mille RM11 homage (can’t find a decent trustworthy quality copy online), Not really into the uniformwares, Croton, Invicta, Sturhling, Citizen, just okay Tauchmeister (ex: T0252 $200 Miyota)

Other Watches I’m Not Recommending
Rolex subs (ie Rolex Deep Sea Sea Dweller 116660) are so small/common/expensive, even though they hold their value very well
Omega Speedmaster has silly tachymeter scale and no rotating bezel

Other watches I need to research: there are some great smaller brands that would have quality similar to the Glycine, but prices considerably lower. I’d second Christopher Ward but they are a little over your budget. In addition to the ones mentioned above, I’d look at Olech & Wajs, Ocean7. Stylish but crappy movement (seagull): G Gerlach http://sklep.gerlach.org.pl/index.php?route=common/home
Christopher Ward, Helson, Archimede, aristo vollmer, bernhardt more unique than seiko/orient, Sekonda & Accurist, Buran? Siberia and Buran? ’55

http://examinedliving.com/products/fashion/best-watches-automatic

 

[vegetaray123]

So I officially sold off the last piece of my entire Omega collection and as of right now I'm watch-less aside from a 5600 G-Shock ...

I posted pics up a loooong time ago in this thread but just to give a run through I decided to sell everything off and get a "One and Only" piece that I could wear every day. Criteria is simple:

1) Something that can be dressed up or dressed down
2) Omega is out since I've owned just about every modern model that the brand offers (Aside from Tourbillon's etc...)
3) Needs to be a rectangular case since this is what I'm most drawn to...

Complication and water resistance is whatever since I always have my trusty 5600 G-Shock for the rough stuff anyway...

So that being said I finally started my search and this is where I've ended up...

Breitling Flying B

JLC Reverso Squadra

Cartier Santos 100

All three can be had for around the same price and each can easily have a new strap thrown on to fit any situation...That Tag I commented on earlier is really nice but I just don't think I can use a PVC style piece as my daily watch...Just me though...

So what's everybody thinking about the above 3 pieces?

 

[based mod]

Why are you limiting yourself to just one watch? I'd like to have at least 3 watches: dress-up, casual/everyday, active.

 

[vegetaray123]

Why are you limiting yourself to just one watch? I'd like to have at least 3 watches: dress-up, casual/everyday, active.

Been there done that with multiple pieces...Just want one piece I can use for basically everything...I'll still have a G-Shock for the gym and such...

 

[rfx45]

To be quite honest, I don't think a square watch is the most versatile one & only piece.


If I were to pick one and only one watch to wear whenever and wherever, it is not doubt a SS Rolex Submariner.

 

[puglife]

i'd go with the JLC, but i'm brand biased with those 3 choices.

 

[Y4BBZY]

Been there done that with multiple pieces...Just want one piece I can use for basically everything...I'll still have a G-Shock for the gym and such...

Glashutte Original Seventies be original and get something different from a great watch company that makes amazing watches. MSRP is 11K but should be able to get above $8K.


But if I had to choose from your list the Cartier Santos.

If you guys don't know about this brand, it is about time to step up your horological knowledge. There a lot of watches coming out of Germany.

 

[fresh out dabox]

changed the leather strap to these:
 

nice looks like a silver medal in the olympics

 

[khmerster]

changed the leather strap to these:

 

[khmerster]

Oops... Where can I get these straps?

 

[bgl2687]

Oops... Where can I get these straps?

theyre called nato straps..just google and look for cheapest price.

 

[fly23s]

What watch is that

 

[offbad]

looks like the prc200

 

[leannsupreme]

What watch is that

looks like the prc200

Offbad is right, it's a Tissot PRC 200.

 

[Y4BBZY]

Oops... Where can I get these straps?

Natostrapco, I heard he has quality nato straps for a good price and is shipping from the US.

You can try cheapnatostraps also, I heard they were good also but have a minimum $3 delivery fee.

Maratac also makes some quality straps and can be found on countycomm

theyre called nato straps..just google and look for cheapest price.

But most of the cheap nato straps are garbage.

 

[mftioa]

My humble collection -

Tag Grand Carrera
Tissot T Classic Chrono
Timex Jcrew Andros (my beater)
Hamilton Jazzmaster Viewmatic

Also, does anyone know where I can find a quality 22mm leather band for the grand carrera? The OEM band costs $300+ and the buckle is an additional $250. :x:x