I got my first watch in the early '70s when I was a little lad of about 7 or 8. It was a timex date that cost £6.00 from the co-op. I still have it and still wear it. The back has never been of it in all that time and it still keeps great time! It does wear a bit small these days though but it would be the very last watch I would ever let go. :D
Good question for which I don't have a definitive answer!
Have had my trusty Seiko RN/RAF watch for nearly 16 years. Along the way I've then then needed a waterproof watch, then needed a dress watch, then the internet happened and then... you know the rest :D
I'm still a relative noob around here and still think a chap only really needs 3 watches max. I seem to have failed on that count already :D
mine was quite recent, finally decided i needed a watch; i wanted a nice one for work but wanted to find a 'non mainstream' watch... ended up doing research, settled on a Sinn 6060 (Frankfurt finance watch) with 3 time-zones, which i love... however the 'research' carried on after i bought that watch, found myself on a forum or two (this one most recently) and have bought a few other pieces since then. I'm on a grail hunt at the moment in fact...
Didn't wear a watch for quite some time (7 or 8 years) when I walked by a juweler. Impulsively I bought a Pulsar chrono (quartz). As of that moment it never stopped :drunken: The Pulsar was a rookie mistake :mrgreen:
I wish I could remember more, but I believe it started in the late '60s - early '70s when I used to admire certain watches in my mother's mail-order catalogue (I didn't just look at the ladies underwear section :wink: ).
All I can recall is that the watches were large (or seemed to be at the time), brightly coloured, had sub-dials/alarms and something like world-time bezels. For some reason I've got it in my mind that they were Russian but I guess they might have been Japanese (neither of which had established great reputations at the time). My father wasn't impressed with them and so I never got one :( .
The interest was suppressed until very much later when I started a small collection of Omega bumpers, and the rest is history :)
My dad when I was about 18 had a bit of a thing for Baume and Mercier. He had (still has) a gold two faced (dual time zone)
B&M. I dont know the model but I will try and get a pic to share.
Stunning looking watch.
he bought me a B&M for my 18th, plain black face, no lettering, dress watch style.
30 years later and after acquiring a decent car colllection I have decided to start on watches with a Seadweller.
A subscription to National Geographic that I was given for Christmas ('92) when I was 12. Loads of really great watch adverts mostly of divers (that I remember). The one I really wanted was a Citizen Analog Aqualand which I was never able to get as it was about £400 :( . Still, the experience has scarred me for life and I'm now a total sucker for divers :D
I blame my ex, for making me want to surf the net rather than listen to her nonsense!
Oh, and Clive Cussler, led me to Doxa... :lol:
Being given my first watch as a kid, I think it was a timex, for a Xmas present.
I spotted a bi-colour casio divers style ana digi in a jewellers by my grans when i was 11 or 12. I decided i had to have it so got myself a paper round (my parents where firm believers of anything you want you earn) struck a deal with the jewellers they held it in the back for me and each week i paid off my £4 paper round money the watch cost £110 and was far too big back then but i had fallen in love every week the jewellers would let me wear it and play with it in the shop for about and hour it took me about 12 months to actually get to take the watch home i was so proud.
During commando training a sgt on the training team had a Rolex SUB that he wore for absolutely everything which was amazing to me that a watch could look so good and still stand up to all the abuse that my Gshock at the time did (granted i never saw him throw the rolex into the washing machine as i did with my Gshock on an animal velcro strap to clean it) I promised myself one day i'd buy one 12 months after setting up my own company and finding this place you all convinced me to buy an SD (well i ordered one and waited the 6-8 months) that rekindled the love from getting that casio at 11 You bunch of barstewards :lol:
I was given a Rolex GMT by my parents as an 18th birthday present (in 1980!)- been interested since, but not bought any other serious watches until fairly recently. Now looking again.
I wanted an Omega seamaster professional chronograph, and ended up with a Sinn 103... I've been through about 10 watches since then!
My grandfather was a magpie. All the men in my family since have been obsessed with shiny things.
Would normally say Clive Cussler mentioning "Orange Dial Doxa" in his books.
Though thinking back, at school I owned databank/calculator/world-time casio's.
On discovering ebay I soon had a small collection of nineties Animal watches reknown from my mountain biking days.
Nowadays it's whatever catches my interest on TZ-UK...
Dave
:D :D :DOriginally Posted by AshUK
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
For me, when I was told that an Adidas chrono wasn't the best watch to portray the right image for my job. Was advised to get a Maurice Lacroix Les Classiques chrono, which then led to a Stowa Airman then selling the ML to trade up to a SBIII LE and that's when the madness started! ;)
A simple question about the quality of an MWC G10 over the CWC version. All I wanted was a beater to alleviate the hammer my (then) 20yr old Datejust was getting at work. :roll:
F.T.F.A.
I started looking for a new strap for my old seiko, and couldnt help liking most of the watches that were being used to show of various straps :shock: .
So I blame (thank :wink:) Kenny at watchworx, and his good photography.
i enherited an old pocked watch from my father when i was 3 years old and since then i cant resist the ticking :)
as a kid I was aware of family members having windups and my grandad had an automatic - an omega seamaster. I was amazed that it never needed winding up.
then the quartz rage casio got hold of me until I got a poljot 3133 chrono in 2002 - the rest is history... my dad passed me on grandad's Omega only recently
(needs sorting as the crystal somehow came away a few mm letting moisture in and its oxidised the hands and dial a bit so it needs a clean and a service)
I looked for a new watch when my Citizen Eco-Drive failed.
There was a lengthy watch thread going on a Finnish forum I used to be quite active on. It turned into a really intresting watch discussion and drew new users to that forum, probably being the #1 online watch discussion in the country for a time.
The genral attitude on the forum eventually wore me out and last time I checked the watch thread had also degenerated into a bunch of people recommending the same watch they had to each other leading to everyone talking of nothing but sub, speedy and bond. Trolls were also abundant.
Luckily by that time I had found multiple international forums with a much wider audience and intrest in different brands :)
Always wanted a seamaster growing up so my sister said she will buy me one for my 18th birthday (she was working in goldsmiths), but she left that job about 6 months before my 18th so I never got it. Feeling hard done by I decided that I shall save up and buy it for myself, all down hill from there.
Seems many moons ago, but my granddad was a self taught watch repairer I can remember the spare bedroom in there place set up as his workshop. I remember he picked me up a cheep divers and fixed it up for me when I was still in my primary school days, I can’t remember what happened to that but I have a 70 Seiko that he did for me still. Couple that with an uncle who liked to dive and instilled the legionary virtues of the Rolex brand and service in me form the same age upwards and I think my fate was sealed.
Funny its his birthday today and its reminded me of my 16th birthday when I got my rarest watch, a Rolex plastic flip-top Garfield watch. The barsteward got Rolex wrapping paper, took the box from his Sub and put the Garfield watch in it, not the surprise I really wanted in the middle of a crowed restaurant on my 16th but a great effort on his part. If only I’d kept the box, papers and watch eh…..
Still I had a Tudor sub on my wrist the following year paid for by me on the never-never, that was over 20 years ago and now the collection stands at 15, the Sub is still with me and one day I hope to sell a watch but not today.
My name is Simon and I’m a WIS in waiting.
My dad's Blancpain FF Aqualung. It went to the bottom of the North Sea in the early 70s when he was sailing. 'Oh well, it was an old watch, I'll buy one of these new technology Quartz-things now...' He bought a... quartz Tissot :evil: And I got a automatic Seiko for my 15th birthday. ('No quartz for you lad, these batteries are expensive.'
So, now you also know what's my grail watch.
Menno
To give you an idea... (well that's the watch in my memory)
My father liked divers, although I can't remember him ever diving, only in his bath tub... But whatever, they looked great. He bought my first Seiko and that was it...
my main reason was my father used to work at peugeot at ryton, and there used to be a bloke there selling watches for £1. i was allowed one on very rare occasions.. that all started it off now im vintage chronos all the way...
Although I'm not very old (beeing 33) it started too long time ago to tell what started my "illness".
But there is an important moment for sure. When I was 14 my Uncle gave me one of his two Omega Chronographs, which he was using in the Hungarian Air Force.
It is from 1947 with the 27 CHRO (321) movement.
It's still my grail watch.
When I was a boy, my uncle wore what seemed at the time a huge watch which always intrigued me. I remember that whenever we would play fight, he would always carefully take it off so it wouldn’t accidentally catch me.
It was a Rolex Sub and I remember my Dad (who has always been a Seiko man) telling me that my uncle had always had nice watches, first Omega and then the Sub. I remember that Sub on my uncle’s wrist throughout my childhood and into adulthood.
As I’ve got older and more and more interested in watches, browsing forums and reading up in watch magazines I appreciate all sorts of different watches at all different price levels, but old Subs and Seikos have a special pull for me.
I have always been a little interested in watches. I remember admiring "expensive" watches behind shop windows at young age, expensive meaning typical Omega seamasters. I was quite happy with my cheap quatz wach and I wouldn't have even dreamed about evening one those watches some day.
Then about three years ago I was holding my girlfriend's brother's automatic watch while he was doing something. It was a Tissot and really the first automatic watch I ever had handled. I got really curious about those and started to look some information about mechanical watches from internet.
Well, I found a few watch forums and after that there was no turning back.. Nowadays you could really call this obsession!
A few years ago my watch was stolen. I've always had an interest in watches, but as I had to look for a new one I started surfing the forums.
Since then, main interest became a hobby and the hobby became obsession :drunken:
Hello, new here and first post, which kind of seems appropriate that it's on this thread.
Mine was started with my Suunto Core a year or so ago oddly enough, I wanted a watch that not only looked great, but which had some great functions I could actually use, and also was a little different to what I'd had before (run-of-the-mill fashion watches). A chap who I worked with who has some lovely pieces noticed it and commented how much he wanted one... and started talking about his collection. I was surprised that someone who at the time was wearing a Panerai took any interest in my digital plaything!
He reminded me of a phrase my Grandfather once said which was about men and jewellery, and that a good watch is one of few 'acceptable' pieces of jewellery that a man should wear. Since then I really started taking an interest in watches and at GFOS '09 noticed one of the drivers in the Sunday Times Supercar Paddock wearing a Mille Miglia which I fell in love with .
I've recently toyed with Glycine and Sinn as daily wearers and between a Mille Miglia GT XL and a Panerai for 'best' but never been brave enough to take the plunge, always finding some excuse or other not to justify a purchase. Just recently I've come into a small inheritance from my Grandmother and Grandfather and have decided to bite the bullet on a Chopard (my absolute favourite). Once I find the right one I'll probably go for a Glycine Incursor or a Seiko as a daily wearer too.
Until then, the search is on, and I'm very much aware that I'm looking down from the top of a slippery slope! :lol:
I've always liked watches, and have always worn one. I've also been annoyed with the rigamarole of changing batteries over the years, my last couple of "pre-WIS" watches were solar powered or kinetic to avoid the battery thing. When I got a new job back in 2003 I decided to treat myself to a watch, and specifically a mechanical watch. Nothing expensive, I got an O&W MP2824 in the end, but while doing the research I saw others that I liked, and then I found this place...
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
I've just properly read the thread and your post reminded me of my "watershed" moment regarding 'proper' watches.
I recall reading about the Breitling Emergency in a magazine somewhere when I was younger and thinking "blimey, that's pretty cool... I wonder if anyone's ever pulled the trigger on that just to see what happens..."
Still can't walk past a shop window with a Breitling display and not look for one and wonder "what if".
Well it all started with THIS when I was 6 or 7.
After that moved on to the inevitable cheap & nasty digitals (that all borke after a few months) - had one that played 'the yellow rose of texas' for the alarm - how annoying did that get for my parents (and class mates lol).
I remember my Dad had one of the first 'cheap' digitals - stainless case with red display (think it may have done the date too).
When I was about 12 or 13 my parents got me a Timex ana/digi for my birthday (still have it somewhere), then when I was 15 I had a Casio diver (still got that too!).
My mate when we were about 15 (who used to wrok in his parents shop - so was earning money) bought himself a TAG F1, it was a thing of beauty! I always said I'd get myself one when I had the money.
Well after going through a few more dive watches (including an orange faced Sekonda - damn you Clive Cussler!!!) and having finished my apprentiship and getting a bonus I was on holiday (with the same mate who had the F1) in Gran Canaria - spent most of the holiday looking in one particular jewellers who had a white faced F1 Chrono with bracelet I went in to see how much it was (when they still used Pesatas!) and ended up walking out with said watch for the princley sum of £270!! (less than half UK price).
And since then it's been down hill - especially when I discovered the Orange faced Doxa I'd read about was real!!
I had my first watch (a timex) when I was 10 years old. It lasted my until I was 16 or so. Never Really thought about watches when I was younger. Had 2 Casios when I was late teens - early 20's then started to realise that there was more than telling time involved. This was around the time my Grandfather left me his Longines in his will. Moved onto a Tissot which was traded against my first TAG. I remember wanting my second TAG even as I bought the first one. Following that I started to learn a little more and a few years after TAG 2 I bought the Breitling. Was introduced to IWC by the local jeweller while buying Mrs A's Cartier and added that to the (modest) collection. Bought the Omega a few months ago when I joined here. So it's taken about 30 years for WISdom to really get a grip. Now I am considering my next purchase already!!!
I love ringing the changes when I swap watches - somehow it really seems to change my mood.
Lately my interest is moving towards vintage stuff. Th IWC influence is making me look at older pilot style watches. I'm starting to hanker after a Mk X or Mk XI. Oddly I know if I buy one it won't get much wrist time!! Ijust want it for it's own sake. See how easily you can slide down the slippery slope!
i shouldnt really be here it was pics and review of a SBDX001 on a non watch forum a while ago led to this place. Its just a bit of fun for me but you lot are so strange and crazy i feel comfortable and right at home now.
Twas a balmy summers eve, full uninterrupted access to SC, assisted by a lovely bottle of Nuits St George..... :wink:
Well I blame my parents and their stupid gift on my 10 year birthday :D
Always liked watches, but it got beyond the "happy with a Pulsar" stage when I saw an Omega Seamaster multifunction with the gold inlayed case in a shop window about 1993. My collection now is much smaller than at the peak of the madness, but I never did get round to getting one of those little Seamasters - they look so small now!
Steve
I bought this from eBay for a laugh, rather than to tell the time. It has all rather snowballed since then.
I have always been interested in clocks at the age of 7 I took my dads alarm clock to bits to see how it worked, the result was cut my finger on the main spring and he was late for work for a week. its been downhill ever since, :lol:
My maddness started 12 yrs ago. It was a Ventura GMT fell in love with it. And this obsession started.
It all started a few Easters ago here.
SWMBO was running an errand to the bank for her mother who is housebound. I was happily reading the paper upstairs whence I was summoned to examine the contents of a safety deposit box in the basement. Two watches belonging to her father had been sitting there for close to thirty years and, would I like them? Given that he was in the war I began to imagine all kind of military connections and the ensuing 3 months of online research eventually brought me here (and to a lesser extent MWR). The two watches are fairly run-of-the-mill Junghans, though one is a Chronometer, but clearly are irreplaceable.
Here are a couple of pictures of a sculpture outside the bank.
And while we were out taking these photos we chanced upon this gentleman who has recently gone into the call centre business. He is the Bishop of Trier and was recently tasked to set up the German catholic church's abuse helpline.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8594316.stm
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
My watch hobby is only just getting started. It was kicked off last year by my wife buying me a Stowa Marine Auto for my birthday. My wife is now equally as smitten with watches so birthdays and christmases are sorted.
Pierce Brosnan, well actually Sean Bean (when he compares the old issued Seamaster with the new one) in Goldeneye.
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