So what frivolous things have you bought lately? Why?

[chas]

Hesitated to put this up as I know we have at least one Swiss watch aficionado who walks among us but I sold some guitar gear a few weeks ago and converted the profits to a 50 year old Japanese watch..
as far as I can tell it's completely original, keeps time to the minute over a week and the power reserve is nearly 48 hrs so the movement is in pretty good order.

 

[MartytheMartian]

Is that a big watch or a skinny wrist @chas ? I am currently wearing a German 'Aeromatic' vintage style automatic watch. I've got an old battery powered Seiko divers watch but it's not working. It's not the battery as I've tried putting a new one in and I haven't bothered to see about getting it repaired. Been sat there doing nothing for twenty years or so. I've got far too many watches myself but nothing particularly valuable.

I've got a beautiful fake watch though... A copy of a fifteen thousand quid handwinding Swiss Vacheron Constantin, rose gold 'Regulator' watch. It's ultra thin, not even five millimetres deep and really far too elegant for a scruffy oik like me. I've had it for twenty years and it still keeps perfect time and, if I didn't know it wasn't the real thing I would have thought it was genuine. Everything about it is spot on down to the microscopic Maltese Cross on the end of the crown and the Maltese cross buckle. Best two hundred quid I ever spent.

 

[DD67]

Hesitated to put this up as I know we have at least one Swiss watch aficionado who walks among us but I sold some guitar gear a few weeks ago and converted the profits to a 50 year old Japanese watch..
View attachment 23334 as far as I can tell it's completely original, keeps time to the minute over a week and the power reserve is nearly 48 hrs so the movement is in pretty good order.

As I'm sure you're aware.
Among those in the know in watch circles. The standing joke is..."The finest Swiss movements are made in Japan"...

Here's my own...

I wear it 24/7/365 & it isn't treated particularly kindly. Yet it's been giving faultless service for approx 10yrs

 

[chas]

Is that a big watch or a skinny wrist @chas ?

Bit of both it's not huge (42mm wide) and although I need an 8" fit on a watch strap I think at the mo it's about the only place I'm not fat
I'd like a look at the Aeromatic when you've the time /inclination

As I'm sure you're aware.
Among those in the know in watch circles. The standing joke is..."The finest Swiss movements are made in Japan"...

Here's my own...
View attachment 23335
I wear it 24/7/365 & it isn't treated particularly kindly. Yet it's been giving faultless service for approx 10yrs

That's a beaut, I restrict myself to 70s Seikos and the Divers are a minefield in themselves but I'm tempted by the weird 'Rally Divers' from the 70s with the chequered bezels. As I'm sure you've heard before, you can't kill a Seiko (mechanical) and servicing on them isn't eye watering.
I'm waiting for one of mine to come back from a service, if I'm happy I'll pass the deets on as he's in Jockistan and is a postal service.

 

[DD67]

That's a beaut, I restrict myself to 70s Seikos and the Divers are a minefield in themselves but I'm tempted by the weird 'Rally Divers' from the 70s with the chequered bezels. As I'm sure you've heard before, you can't kill a Seiko (mechanical) and servicing on them isn't eye watering.
I'm waiting for one of mine to come back from a service, if I'm happy I'll pass the deets on as he's in Jockistan and is a postal service.

Cheers mate, but TBH after all these years it owes me nothing. Therefore having it serviced would undoubtedly feel expensive at almost any price.
But please do pass on the details.

In the past I've used it for its intended purpose & taken it to 52 meters (just over 170 feet) without any water ingress. It's worn for swimming & bathing without a problem. But I guess the rubber seals must be drying out by now. So it would be a shame to boll#x it up for the sake of a few seals.

 

[chas]

Cheers mate, but TBH after all these years it owes me nothing. Therefore having it serviced would undoubtedly feel expensive at almost any price.
But please do pass on the details.

In the past I've used it for its intended purpose & taken it to 52 meters (just over 170 feet) without any water ingress. It's worn for swimming & bathing without a problem. But I guess the rubber seals must be drying out by now. So it would be a shame to boll#x it up for the sake of a few seals.

If you've had it for ten years you can prob get away with another 30 before it needs one

The one I'm getting done is a '73 workaday 7009 cal that I bought ten years ago that has no service marks on the inside caseback and only recently stopped working well.

 

[Big Sandy]

Christ. I'm still wearing an old Timex.....

 

[DD67]

Christ. I'm still wearing an old Timex.....

Chas's 50yr old classic might be valuable but mine is nothing to shout about Sandy.
Seiko watches are just superb quality at sensible money

 

[half ton]

I'm waiting for one of mine to come back from a service, if I'm happy I'll pass the deets on as he's in Jockistan and is a postal service.

I would like to know how you get on Chas, I have my Dads Seiko which was worn every day by him and when he passed away I did the same. It's just a plain automatic but means a lot to me , It would be good to get it going again , I've had it 36yrs and it just stopped working a couple of years ago

 

[Public Enemy]

My mate has a Rolex Submariner that he has worn daily for a good few years. Not one of the daft gold bling ones, just a white face with stainless case and bracelet. Recently started to lose time quite badly so he took it into the local Rolex dealer for an estimate.
He already knew the clasp was dented, but was surprised to learn that the bezel had "significant scratching". Total cost for a service, new bracelet and bezel, and a small amount of polishing on the glass, £4000.
It's now back in it's original box, unrepaired, and awaiting sale as is.
Meanwhile he's now wearing his 20 year old Seiko automatic back up watch!

 

[MartytheMartian]

Here is a photo of the Aeromatic @chas The strap isn't original of course. The strap I had on it burst due to age and wear and that was the last one I had in the right size. Bought a job lot of straps years ago and have been steadily working my way through them. I bought the watch through a guy in the UK who had a website called Werner's watches and he brought these in from Germany along with a range of different WWII and vintage 'inspired' watches. I doubt the movement is of Seiko quality but I've worn it off and on for most of the last twenty years and it has kept time well.

Back around the late nineties and early 2000's I took an interest in mechanical watches but I went for unusual designs and vintage styles rather than value. The Aeromatic cost something like £150 if I recall correctly. I have a number of Russian watches and some replicas of 'designer' watches as well that were suitably weird. One of the most peculiar is a copy of a Frank Muller 'Jump Hour' watch where the numbers aren't in sequence around the face and the hour hand jumps from number to number as the minute hand passes the half past mark.

 

[chas]

I would like to know how you get on Chas, I have my Dads Seiko which was worn every day by him and when he passed away I did the same. It's just a plain automatic but means a lot to me , It would be good to get it going again , I've had it 36yrs and it just stopped working a couple of years ago

Will do mate

Here is a photo of the Aeromatic @chas The strap isn't original of course. The strap I had on it burst due to age and wear and that was the last one I had in the right size. Bought a job lot of straps years ago and have been steadily working my way through them. I bought the watch through a guy in the UK who had a website called Werner's watches and he brought these in from Germany along with a range of different WWII and vintage 'inspired' watches. I doubt the movement is of Seiko quality but I've worn it off and on for most of the last twenty years and it has kept time well.
View attachment 23336
Back around the late nineties and early 2000's I took an interest in mechanical watches but I went for unusual designs and vintage styles rather than value. The Aeromatic cost something like £150 if I recall correctly. I have a number of Russian watches and some replicas of 'designer' watches as well that were suitably weird. One of the most peculiar is a copy of a Frank Muller 'Jump Hour' watch where the numbers aren't in sequence around the face and the hour hand jumps from number to number as the minute hand passes the half past mark.

I like that

 

[Big Sandy]

Chas's 50yr old classic might be valuable but mine is nothing to shout about Sandy.
Seiko watches are just superb quality at sensible money

I did a Google to see if I could find one like mine, but couldn't. I guess it's about 20 years old? Not the original strap...



See the OCD kicking in, the north, and 2 pointers for the alarm have to line up, or it annoys me....

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Sooner or later a watch show and tell shows up on any forum, I have a bit of a watch fetish but on the cheap aside cos a cant afford Rolex etc and wouldn't be a brand whore even if I could, so having ruffled the feathers of the snotty brand owners here are mine.

 

[Scrappy]

I used to be a bit of a watch collector, and it got a bit out of hand. There was too much money tied up in them, and I've since sold most of them, some have helped to finance bikes and guitars. I'm currently down to 10 pieces, and I'll be selling a couple more in the next couple of months.

I did have a couple of Seikos, but I was mostly interested in Tudor, Oris, Christopher Ward, Orient & Orient Star (owned by Seiko Epson).

Tudor:



Oris


Christopher Ward



And the rest

 

[MartytheMartian]

That one with the copper coloured bezel is quite a beast @Tricky Dicky I like the sort of steampunk diver style.

 

[MartytheMartian]

Lord that must be a fair bit of loot tied up in those @Scrappy I like the two Oris models with the coin bezels. The vintage style is more my thing. I used to own a nice solid silver Trench watch from WWI but it was unwearable as it couldn't be sealed properly no matter what was tried and fogged up almost instantly when I put it on my wrist. I'd love to get my hands on a genuine German Luftwaffe Beobachtungsuhr or a Glaschutte pilots watch but they are silly money and most are long past their best and I wouldn't buy one I couldn't use every day.

I looked at those Christopher Ward watches after seeing them advertised on the goggle recently as 'affordable'. Hmmm starting at over six hundred quid a piece if I remember correctly I wouldn't call them exactly proletariat friendly.

 

[Public Enemy]

Lord that must be a fair bit of loot tied up in those @Scrappy I like the two Oris models with the coin bezels. The vintage style is more my thing. I used to own a nice solid silver Trench watch from WWI but it was unwearable as it couldn't be sealed properly no matter what was tried and fogged up almost instantly when I put it on my wrist. I'd love to get my hands on a genuine German Luftwaffe Beobachtungsuhr or a Glaschutte pilots watch but they are silly money and most are long past their best and I wouldn't buy one I couldn't use every day.

I looked at those Christopher Ward watches after seeing them advertised on the goggle recently as 'affordable'. Hmmm starting at over six hundred quid a piece if I remember correctly I wouldn't call them exactly proletariat friendly.

I have one Christopher Ward in my (small) collection. It's my daily, except when I'm grubbing about under a car or bike. It has a retractable crown, usually only found in hugely more expensive watches. I love it, but for me £1300 is pushing the boat out when I know I could buy a cheap quartz watch that would keep just as good time. Then the pride of ownership thing factors in!

 

[Tallpaul]

Argos. £6.99

 

[DD67]

View attachment 23347
Argos. £6.99

A perfectly good watch at a bargain price. But how many of those shite chocolate straps have you gone through?
When I was a kid & not buying my own watches. Those Casio's were the go to watch. But I always ended up with a metal strap from Northampton market. A stainless strap fitted to a black plastic watch wasn't a great look. But beggars couldn't be choosers