The thread about cool watches

I'm trying to decide on a few watches:

• Exhibit A - I like the simplistic look of this one, and the bronze bezel gives the black a hint of style.
• Exhibit B - Love the skeleton watches.
• Exhibit C - Another Stuhrling skeleton watch. A little classier than the previous one.
• Exhibit D - The steampunk nerd in me adores the flourishes on the gears of this one.
• Exhibit E - I'm not normally a brown watch person, but I quite like this.

If I'm not careful, I'll just up and buy them all. And I really don't have that kinda cash. :)

Despite what the internet tells me daily, personal taste is subjective, so all I would say is to go with the one you keep going back to (except Exhibit C as explained below). What I can probably help with though, is info.

The Stuhrling models say they have Krysterna crystal and the Invicta is calling it Flame-Fusion. I have no idea what they mean by this as the glass is usually either Mineral or Sapphire Crystal. Mineral scratches easier and can sometimes give a distorted view from an angle. The Kenneth Cole has that. Sapphire is harder to scratch, but when you do it shatters. You have to hit it hard though.

The Invicta is the only one that is quartz, and seeing as the rest are skeleton style, I gather you prefer the mechanicals. The Kenneth Cole is Japanese while the rest are Chinese movements. They're not bad movements, I have a few myself, but the Japanese will be of better quality. The Akribos is the odd one, as it's the Chinese version of the Swiss Unitas 6497 movement (originally a pocket watch movement, later used extensively by Panerai). It's actually a reliable movement that is also cheap and easy to replace if needed. The Invicta says the chronograph can measure 1/10th of a second, which tells me it's the Japanese version of the Swiss Rhonda. If it works out of the box, it will work forever.

You can ignore the water resistance rating on all of them. Even the Invicta as I know of many people who had the "Pro Diver" models fail in a sink despite having a screw-down crown.

As for pricing, obviously ignore the "List Price". Avoid Exhibit C unless you can find it for half the asking price. Stuhrling are well known for putting together cheap Chinese watches and then marketing them as something they're not.

If you're not paying top dollar, PVD coating will scratch easily.

I don't have a new cool watch, but I have a bit of a story about an older one. I bought a nice little Teno Boccia Titanium watch several years back. Today I took it to a Batteries Plus store to have the battery replaced. When he handed it back to me, the hands were swinging freely. WTF? They tell me they have an assistant manager on staff who used to be a jeweler, and they think he can fix it. If not, though, there's going to be an issue.

I got a watch for Christmas!

Nice!

is the "skeleton watch" a new phenomenon or just one I never noticed before? they are awesome.

I too received a watch for Christmas! It's pretty neat, although the band is annoying (and I ordered a new one) but I really like the face with the subtle inlaid pattern:

A strap can sometimes make a huge difference with watches. If anyone is interested in leather straps, I've had good experience with Crown and Buckle (crownandbuckle.com) who sell very nice, reasonably priced leather straps. I got this one on my Alpinist from them.

Yep, it makes a huge difference in look, here's the watch with a new strap:

I got a Christmas watch, too!

I got a Christmas watch, too, courtesy of my girlfriend:


Now I just have to figure out how to resize the band.

If there's a Fossil store near you, they'll do it for you.

I have the best sister:

(the gears are differently coloured on the one I have)

The closest Fossil store is in Montreal. I have no active plans to head up there anytime soon, but I could always use a good excuse...

I'm hoping Macy's (where the watch was purchased) can take care of it for me.

Wow you guys are lucky! This is my new obsession now (I seriously have to stop visiting watchuseek.com


This is the US version and I would probably get the Euro version because it has a much nicer case back. Unfortunately, the Euro version doesn't have the word Nighthawk on the front nor does it have the raised numerals. Can't have everything I guess. At $215 this is an amazingly good value for what you pay. It's an Eco drive which means there's no battery to replace, the watch charges through exposure to sunlight or artificial lighting. It seems that it doesn't take to long to charge and the watch can run for a super long time (months) on a single charge (unlike automatics which generally only get you 50 hours).
My only concerns are that I have pathetically small wrists (6.5" on a good day) and I'm worried that even though the watch itself isn't bigger than some of my other watches, the fact that it's all dial would make it look too big for my wrist. Another concern is that the dial is mineral crystal, not sapphire so I'm a little concerned about scratches on the dial.
I just got my Alpinist so I should let this wait a little while longer. It comes with a decent bracelet apparently but the first thing I would do is change it over to a reddish brown leather strap which I've seen and looks HOT.

US case back


Euro case back

I dive - well, it's been a while - but this is the reason I bought a ladies diver's watch for the wife. She doesn't dive, but she runs a lot in all kinds of weather, and also don't want to take her watch of all the times when she doing the washing or whatever.
Never trust water resistance ratings - especially not on cheap(ish) watches.

We should start a support group. I fucking hate love hate that site.

I was going to buy my wife the Fossil that Jerri bought, but you've just reminded me that she has wanted a Nighthawk for some time. I had forgotten which model it was, but didn't want to ask a week before her birthday because I knew that she would figure out why.

Ha! I was just trawling watchuseek for a new Casio G-Shock. I know they're ugly by most standards compared to most of what shows up in this thread, but I really love the one I have.

I am considering getting the fancy one with a barometer and thermometer.

I am tentatively considering this one:

Mainly because I want an analogue G Shock, but my experience is that anadigi watches end up being used solely one way or the other, and the analogue really doesn't look very readable here. On the other hand, it IS white. On the other other hand, it's neither solar nor atomic.

A white watch would start looking pretty dingy pretty soon, wouldn't it?

Astromarine gave me this one for Xmas+10 year marriage anniversary which is going to be this Sunday \O/. It's a Maurice Lacroix Fiaba and it's lovely :)

G-Shocks are pretty amazing. I still have a bright yellow Brazil version from the 2006 World Cup. That watch gets noticed, believe me!

My watch died. Actually the watch is fine but the strap has broken and it's a custom strap that's only available to order in the USA and the only supplier will only ship to the US which is annoying. So I'm looking at a new watch. I want a mechanical watch and I like automatics and skeleton watches. This is the one I'm currently looking at, does anyone have an opinion on the movement or quality of this thing?

http://www.amazon.de/dp/B002M78G5K

I can't speak for the quality, but the movement is Chinese. Burgmeister appears to be one of the many "Mushroom" or in this case, "Germasian" brands out there that are made in China and then given a fake history to appear as if it's a prestige brand. Not all Chinese movements are bad, some are quite good, but this one could be risky as it's not recognised on the Watchuseek forums and they have a section dedicated to watches made with Chinese movements.

The Pebble folks are doing a live stream from CES right now that is ... not going well. The main problem should be that every human in the room has blue skin, but really his speech about the watch is much, much worse than that.

I bought a new watch:


Look for updates in the weight loss thread!

You get what you pay for I guess. I'm not sure how much faith I would have in a 160 Euro automatic watch from China. On the other hand, if it breaks then you aren't out very much money. If you're looking for something not too expensive and auto and maybe open heart then I would suggest taking a look at Orient. They are a very good quality Japanese watch company which uses in house movements. I would also suggest checking out the Affordable Watch forum on Watchuseek.com and you might be able to get some ideas on what is a good value watch. I know personally that everytime I go there I end up wanting a watch that I never knew I wanted!
Also, when you say your watch has a custom strap, do you mean an integrated strap? If so then I suppose you're out of luck. Don't buy watches with integrated straps! Half of the fun of owning a good watch is buying different straps for it and changing the look with just the change from a bracelet to a leather strap or a nato strap. :)

It's not an integrated strap, it uses standard lugs but the strap is designed to look seamless with the case.

It's not easy to see on the picture, but the ends aren't square, they have a curve which fits the case.

I wonder what that watch would look like on a black zulu or nato strap (or maybe black with yellow stripes!) :)
If you like the watch the strap would only cost about 15 euros.

This watch isn't black or skeleton but it seems to me at a glance like an amazing deal:


For $110 you get:
Made in Japan (well, it says Japan Mov't) so it might have been put together somewhere else
Automatic
Saphire Crystal
Day/Date display
Perpetual Calendar (20 years)
100m WR
and a very nice 44mm case size
I could see myself getting this watch! Good starter for someone who wants to get a nice watch for their highschool kids but don't want anything too expensive.
Creation watches sells it for $110 (free shipping worldwide) http://www.creationwatches.com/prod...atic-calendar-feu07008dx-mens-watch-3056.html

This is my "current" watch, a beat-to-shit GL-121 G-Shock which is now about 10-12 years old (?) and has been flat for two years (haven't worn a watch since it went flat). True story about this watch - it possibly saved me from a broken wrist.



I picked this watch for a couple of reasons over other G-Shocks, a) it had a 24 hour countdown timer (useful for rest/compulsory stops during sled dog races) and b) it had the large front button, useful for when wearing gloves in sub-zero temperatures. The tide/surfing/timezone stuff was not part of my requirement list!

During one event I had draw at the front of the field (30 teams, average of 3-4 dogs per team) which meant that as a slow team I was going to be passed, and often (bearing in mind that I was averaging 16-17kph vs teams capable of 30kph+). Sure enough, a fast team ended up behind me and since I was paranoid I pulled my team over to the side of the trail while one particularly almost out of control competitor came by, with the nearly inevitable consequence that my dogs tangled the gangline around their legs (not uncommon with slower teams). I went forward to get the line free for them and as I did *another* team came by, unannounced (a breach of trail etiquette) and surprising the shit out of me. For some reason, my team decided they wanted to follow RIGHT FUCKING NOW and went to take off while I was still getting them free. The result was the gangline snapping taut along my left forearm, thankfully clearing the dogs legs and I held on long enough to get back onto the rig and resume tearing down the trail.

It wasn't until the adrenaline from that incident passed another 500m down the trail that I realised my wrist was really, really sore. It was then I pulled my glove back and saw that a) my wrist bone was rope burnt and already swelling and b) my watch was missing. Shit. We finished (I think third) and I was pissed off about losing my watch. As soon as all the teams were back I jumped into my ute and went back to where I knew it had happened to see what I could find.

My G-Shock was in the *middle* of the trail, having been run over by about 25 sled dog teams and probably SEVENTY dogs. I was able to wipe the mud off it, reattached the strap which had broken at the shoulder and put it on my other wrist, since my left wrist at this point was totaled.

Damage score:
Watch = none
Mike = seriously damaged wrist, less so because my watch took the bulk of the force from the gangline.

I think I'll go get the battery changed today.

Anyway, fast forward to now. Nic wants to buy me a watch for our 15th anniversary and I've got no real idea about watches, but have been told "get something dressier that a G-Shock". I like the look of this Eco-Drive



but (given horrible watch prices here in NZ) it's a pricey watch at NZD$700 retail, but Citizen's are generally reliable, yeah? Eco-Drive appeals since I've been reading that the Seiko Kinectics can be a little unreliable?

I really liked the Citizen I had. The only problem was that the leather band rotted out where it attached to the watch, and a replacement was more than the watch itself cost. I couldn't find an aftermarket band that worked with it.

And regardless, automatics are way cooler anyway.

Would it make sense at all for you to find it or a similar model in the US and have a friend over here ship it to you? I'd be glad to help with that. Your G-Shock story is badass.

Thanks Jerri, but watches are one of those weird things that I'd almost prefer to buy locally, just in case anything goes wrong. There also seems to be lot of similar-but-not-quite-the-same stuff going on globally, with different model numbers and such. Anyway, I've found it locally for $100 less, which is a good start!

Updated! Went shopping and ended up with this:



It's not top end at all, but it's the nicest watch I've ever had, feels really good on my wrist and I'm quite happy with it. Well, will be, once Feb 14th rolls around and I'm actually allowed it. Tissot's packaging is great, the watch is sitting on a damn PILLOW inside it's box.

Good choice. Citizen make some very good watches (I have a couple pictured below) but I have always told people to never pay store prices for them. The markup is horrendous. The white face model below was around $1000 in the stores, but online it was around $250. The same applies to Seiko.



Tissot packaging is great. I was surprised when I bought this one as the packaging is not only really nice considering the price, it included a "History of" book that slides into the back of the box.



The back (not my photo)

Huh, I never thought to post the packaging. I had the same stuff and box with mine.