Are You a Watch Wearing Person

[Hans Tucker]

Walking past a Jewelry shop in the Shopping Centre I looked at the various watches on display and wondered if people really wear watches these days. Looking around I would say no. I know with the younger crowd it would be why do I need a watch when I have a phone. Ok there is truth in that statement, but I feel a phone can't contend with the beauty of a carefully crafted time piece. I am talking analogue watches not the cheap digital ones. When I was in the early stages of my Airforce Career as an Instrument Fitter I worked with a fellow that previously was a Watch Repairman whom was trained in Switzerland and then joined the RAAF. Part of the retaining the skill policy we had at the Squadron we repaired watches, particularly Aircrew issued watches and some personal items like mantel clocks. Ok, I am old fashioned, but I marvel at the engineering that goes into a crafted watch and I sort of lament that these things will be long forgotten in the future. To further add to my weirdness, I marvel at Instruments like Slide Rules, chronometer and Sextants .. the thought that went into the creation of these Instruments.

Ok, I am going to make a book recommendation here, Longitude by Dava Sobel.

[Rainmaker]

I wear a watch every day (unless I wake up in a stupor and forget :sadeyes: )

My everyday watch is the 1973 Omega Geneve Chronometer, unless doing water sports when I switch to Seiko Orange Monster…..or the SKX011J for deep dives….

[PCH]

I wear a Garmin smart watch which keeps a check on everything from sleep patterns to steps walked, heartbeats, and a whole load of other interesting stuff.

[Crater101]

I do indeed wear a watch. An old fashioned analog one with hands on a dial. But I think I'm the only one at work that does.

[wavelandscott]

Longitude is a good book!

I also wear a watch daily…

[Rainmaker]

I am also a fan of the older watches, I have a few from the 1940s onwards but don’t use some as their innards are rather fragile. My everyday watch is a very accurate (better than a minute per month) 1973 electronic chronometer version which has a tuning fork that vibrates at 300hertz to keep it humming along nicely.

The Seiko diver series are mechanical and so far have kept the water out down to -40metres. My Orange monster has done 500 dives.

[xelasnave]

Yes and a pocket watch.
I was watching a video..watches at F1...one $3 million, many between $100 and $300 k.

I have a fake Rolex..I would wear it when it was busted and loved hearing folk say what a nice watch and raved about quality...

I only wear a watch because it is more convenient than a phone...

My pocket watch is cheap but neat...mechanical and you can see it's internals from both front and back...

I still have my first wrist watch that I found when I was 11 years old..it just cost $675-00 recently to have made like new but now it sits in a display case with other stuff and wound now and then.. It is my oldest possession.

Alex

[AstroViking]

I fall into the watch-wearing category, although my ~40 year old watch finally gave up the ghost. So I'm stuck until I get around to buying a new one.

Oh, and analogue all the way - no digital or 'smart' watch for me.

[raymo]

Count me in. My Seiko was a birthday gift in 1979. I had a beautiful Girard Peregaux back in the day, but was lost in a burglary. It is worth thousands today.
raymo

[Peter Ward]

I am a Breitling aficionado with a couple examples in my top drawer. The digital copy is good to about +/- two seconds a month.

My limited edition dive watch (mechanical movement) is apparently good to 2000M...not quite Titanic depths, but clearly well beyond what an i-watch
can cope with.

[PhilTas]

https://www.vancleefarpels.com/au/en/the-maison/articles/midnight-planetarium---lady-arpels-planetarium-watches.html

When I last saw a price it was >A$300K.

You'll have to get the lady version for your better half as well.:):):)

[AdamJL]

Apple Watch. But thinking of going back to analogue soon. I don’t have to charge that one at least…

[graham.hobart]

I love a good old watch though I do have a smart watch and smart dive watch, had a rotary for 30 years and my dads rotary now for fifty years, a tag F1, lots of dive watches like Orient, Seiko, some German watches, currently wearing a luminox as I love the orange and green lume at night.Always looking for a new one, can't resist.

[Nikolas]

I wear an apple watch, before that fitbits I can't go back to analogue watches now

[Shiraz]

Yep, wear a watch all the time.

Started hobby watchmaking during the pandemic and now have about 15 restored watches to choose from. Really like automatic Swiss wristwatches from the 60s and 70s, but have watches from 1923 to 1984.

It is really satisfying to wear something that used to be a useless lump of metal and that once again can be relied on to keep time to within a minute a week. Agree Hans, the engineering in old Swiss watches is impressive and they are beautiful machines. Cheers Ray

[Venter]

I read an article recently which went along the lines of ‘….a watch is not to tell the time, it’s a fashion accessory….”. Time is everywhere these days. I do wear a watch, but more as a fashion statement than anything else. I’ve got two Breitling’s, a Tag Heuer, Month Blanc, and a Longiness. All analogue :D

Men don’t have many options when it comes to fashion!

[RB]

Agreed, there's something so elegant about an anlogue watch.
It's a fashion statement that, to me, says a lot about the gentleman wearing it.
I only wear mechanical analogue watches and yes I do have to wind most of them up.

1. My prime going-out watch, is a Solar Seiko PADI in Deep Blue.
2. My everyday Seiko PADI in Pepsi colour scheme.
3. My other going-out watch is a Seiko White and Blue.
4. My dress-up watch is a Citizen Lunar phase month watch.
5. A lovely Seiko Time and Stopwatch which I found at a bargain price in an antique store.
6. The Apollo commemorative watch that my son gifted me for my Birthday.

7. A very special Reuge Swish Heirloom Musical Gold Pocket Watch which I bought for the birth of my first daughter.
It's a fully mechanical movement and microscopic music box.
The Gold Harp key is used to wind it up and the Alarm function can be set.
When the alarm sounds: the musical movement starts, the lady activates the crank of the fountain, the man on the horse raises and lowers his arm and the horse moves his head.
The back of the watch opens to wind up the music box or manually activate the melody. The open back also serves as a support to hold the watch vertically.
The detail is exquisite on this watch.

Here's a Youtube clip of it's operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AINfI3Xsrg

RB
:)

[PCH]

My Garmin lasts a month or so per charge. Don’t give up on technology 👍

[dikman]

Interesting comments. I can see the attraction and usefulness of a "smart watch", particularly if you use a mobile a lot - I don't. I stopped wearing a watch when I retired, just as I didn't get a mobile phone when I had to give up the work one.

When I took up Single Action Shooting (Old West style) I bought a pocket watch (goes with the era) and when I need to carry a watch that's it. I like the elegance of it and can see the workings as it has a semi-transparent face. It is also a fashion statement, with the attached chain, when worn with a vest.:)

[Stonius]

Stopped wearing a watch about the same time I got a mobile phone. It made a watch completely useless to me. Haven't worn one in 15 years. I get some people like them but it seems like an anachronism. Just goes to show that humans are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea (Douglas Adams).

[Steffen]

A minute a week?? Maybe if you get it converted to belt drive it’ll track a bit better?
;):D

[Shiraz]

Haha:lol:

Am retired, so if my watch is accurate enough to get the date right, it has done a large part of its job.

[JA]

I was a watch person, but no longer wear one. All given to the boys including a beautiful Black face Longines dress watch (21st Birthday gift from Mum and Dad) and an Omega Seamaster that I bought during my college days and ....(?)

Best
JA

[m11]

I only like mechanical watches and the feeling that they are alive.

In particular I like the moonphase complications but can't justify getting one when there are more scopes to get. :P

[raymo]

My watch is not the anachronism, I am. I don't have a phone, so still need
my faithful watch that has been on my wrist since 1979[not literally, of course, I have to remove it every seven years to replace the battery].:D
My watch has been a wonderful investment. I've had it 44 yrs. Some people change their phones every 44 weeks; my eldest gets a new
phone as soon as a new model is announced.
raymo

[xelasnave]

I think I caught this right..earlier today I heard that Floyd Mayweather the very very rich boxer was seen wearing his $18 million watch ..in the photo I would say his diamond neck lace was probably more...

I would buy one but I don't have that sort of money or silliness...I felt rather extravagant when I paid $65 on line for a watch...

Alex

[csb]

I was the same but 5 years ago I started wearing a watch again (birthday gift).

It is actually simpler/quicker to glance at my wristwatch than ge the phone out.

[The_bluester]

I recently went back to wearing a watch to try to get away from looking at my phone so often. Mine is a Casio which has an analog display but it is really a digital watch behind that with stepper motors driving the hands.

[csb]

Now that is good impetus to wear a watch, Paul.

Smart phones are more addictive than fags.

[FlashDrive]

I have 2 Watches ....don't wear them, they irritate my wrist.....!!

Col....

[Sunfish]

👍Anything by Dava Sobell is good .
The Glass Universe is particularly appealing to an interest in Astronomy.
Galileo’s Daughter, all great books.

My kids wear Apple watches. The advantage is keeping track in the lab without touching the phone and keeping track of walking and swimming distances . The perfect time timekeeper , or is that AI assistant. Have to get one but then I would just loose it in the sea. Ha.

[Shano592]

I have a couple of cheaper watches that actually look pretty tidy at a glance. If Michelle and I are going out, I will wear either a silver face or black one, depending on the clothing.


I also have a watch that displays the time and date as a series of LED dots. It takes some getting used to, but I can tell the time at a glance now. It is a little dressy, and makes for a good talking point.



Daily though, I wear a Fitbit Versa 3. I like this one because I can dive with it on. I did have to ditch the silicon strap though, as they are god-awful. They actually would make my skin blister.

[Leo.G]

I probably have more watches than days in the week but aside from my Pierre Cardin which needs a new electronic movement and now defunct original coin watch when they were only releasing 1500, it was a 2 bob watch, sadly I hit someone/something and it exploded (self defense), yes I was angry before and angrier after but I now don't purchase expensive watches.
I buy cheap things from aliexpress which are more novelties yet they work well and are accurate.
I wear a different watch depending on my mood, fun mood it's my new Joker watch, bad mood it's my skull watch, sometimes it's just the weird thing with rotating coloured rings which show hour and minute, yesterday it was my more expensive skeleton watch I can't even see the hands on because they blend in with the working mechanisms.


I don't have the money for expensive watches (not that I wouldn't purchase them if they were within my means) but some of these new, cheap watches are very accurate for the money.
Being on a pension I rarely need the time except for a monthly visit to my doctor, everything else I get to it when I get to it.

[Hans Tucker]

Check it out

https://www.recwatches.com/timepieces/x4009-midnight-blue/?fbclid=IwAR2kcUkFnnj-H5fUsyO366AGNwkgkaW8HBwaNsY40JIWzCm 1I0k7VSNlgFA

[xelasnave]

https://youtube.com/shorts/SfbRmb_QwKI?si=t0y4DbbBFISWlaPT

[GrahamL]

I have a few watches

An old vintage tissot seastar think the Italian gold band is worth more than a watch

A bulova computron reissue.. blue .. dont mind using it while observing
as the screen remains dark dark.. until you light it up .

A seiko Alpinist SPB121J the 70 + hour power reserve of these 6R35
movements means you can take it off for a few days

Want to go down a rabbit hole a litlle deeper
Join
Australian affordable watch forum on face book
lots of for sales , vintage omegas ,and many well kept examples of allsorts of time pieces often very reasonably priced
I liked a specific watch at the jewelers at $250 bought one here still tagged for $100
:D

[SimmoW]

A group such as this would of course have many members with watches of all sorts, esp the expensive/complex types.

I used to buy a watch every now and then, nothing outlandish, but soon found they just sat in my top drawer. So now I just keep to the basics, my trusty old black Casio digital watch doing a perfect job.

I love watching YouTube vids on the Swiss watches, such works of art! One day i might get a $5k one, need to wait for the Super to be touchable!

[Rainmaker]

Today’s watch, 1960s Swiss Sentinel Waterproof Automatic 25 jewels…..

[RB]

Very nice Matt !!

I'm waiting for my Seiko 5 Sports Limited Edition 55th Aniversary - 1968 Orange Face to arrive.
The movement is visible on the back.

RB

[Rainmaker]

I like it ! :thumbsup:

[m11]

If I ever win Tattslotto - my holy grail watch with Astro features:

https://www.iwc.com/en/watch-collections/portugieser/iw504101-portugieser-siderale-scafusia.html

Review below:
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/just-because-hands-on-with-the-iwc-sidrale-scafusia

[erick]

Yep, a nice analogue Citizen. My second in some 30 years - great brand.

And I have a nice pocket watch from the 1970s - but it needs repairs :sadeyes:

[Hans Tucker]

That really is an impressive time piece. Love the window into the internal workings.