Show Us Your Wristwatches!

[trickg]

I don't know why this is, but I have always really enjoyed wristwatches. I think part of it is because of timing - inexpensive digital watches had become very popular about the time I was in middle school, and I saved my money (all of $25) and bought a Lorus 4-button digital watch when I was in 8th grade, mainly because everyone else was getting one, and it was a fun class distraction when someone's watch would chime, and the teacher would take it for the day. (Kind of a no harm, no foul kind of thing.) From that point on, I've always worn a watch, and I feel naked without it.

A couple of years after that I asked my mom for a specific Lorus quartz analog watch, and analog watches have been my thing ever since. I'm currently "accumulating" some new watches and have a couple of lesser cost options on the wish list - I suppose I could save up for something nicer, such as a Tag Heuer, Omega, or something like that,but for now I'm more concerned about wearing something I enjoy looking at rather than the name emblazoned on it.

This is some of what I do have.

This is the Seiko world timer my wife gave me for our 1st anniversary in 1993.

Invicta Pro Diver with Swiss Sellita SW200 movement. (ETA 2824 clone) Basically, it looks a lot like a Rolex Submariner.

Here's the Citizen Eco Drive Perpetual Atomic Chrongraph I got a few years ago - I'm actually wearing it right now. It has a fairly classic look of 3 sub-dials on the dial/face.

I have another chronograph too - another Citizen Eco Drive Brcyen Model with a black dial.

Last, but certainly not least, my Tissot Luxury that I got for Christmas. This one is also self-wind/automatic, and features a laser regulated ETA 2824 movement with an 80 hour power reserve. When I first got this, it was very accurate for a mechanical watch, keeping right around +/- 1-3 seconds/day.

[Hotair]

Every dayer, wedding present from my Wife, 1993

watch.jpg

[Kehaulani]

I don't see the point. The stone pillars out front tell me when the Summer and Winter equinoxes are. Works for me.

[Tobylou8]

@Kehaulani said in Show Us Your Wristwatches!:

I don't see the point. The stone pillars out front tell me when the Summer and Winter equinoxes are. Works for me.

[Lawler Bb]

My everything watch.

[trickg]

Good stuff! Keep em coming!

Here are a couple I'd like to get eventually - discovered a Japanese watch company called Orient that makes some well made yet cost efficient automatic wrist watches. There was a time when I swore off on automatic watches - my thought was that they can't even come close to keeping as good of time as a quartz watch, but there's something I like about the smooth sweeping second hand and the idea that there's a spring wound mechanical machine in there making it all work. When you consider that for a watch that "beats" 28,800 times per hour, only being 40-80 micro ticks off out of 691,200 per day is pretty amazing when you think about it.

Anyway, here are some of the offerings from Orient that I like:

1.) The Orient Bambino, V2 - cream dial, blue hands.

The Orient Mako USA II

Orient Flight, with blue dial.

[pss]

@trickg : Orient is owned by Seiko, and makes very nice watches indeed

[pss]

Here's what I'm wearing today, I believe it has a SII movement (= Seiko).

[trickg]

I really like the look of a Chronometer style watch - there's just something neat about the sub-dials that makes it work stylistically.

Funny thing though, it was only fairly recently that I learned how to read a tachymeter bezel, which is funny considering I had two watches that had it. (The idea is that you time based on a fixed distance - usually a mile or kilometer - and the bezel gives you your speed. As an example, if it takes you 36 seconds to traverse 1 mile, your average speed is 100 mph.

Getting back to the subject of Orient, they are owned by Seiko, but to my knowledge, they don't mix parts - Orient produces their own movements and they do everything in house. I'm intrigued - everything I've read about Orient suggests that they are quite reliable and accurate.

[pss]

You're right, I was not aware of that, always thought they were just another sub-brand, like Lorus or Pulsar.

[pss]

Another one of my daily beaters, this one is probably unknown in the US, it's a Belgian designed brand (more of a marketing thing, they are made far far East, but are supposed to have Miyota movements):


[trickg]

@pss said in Show Us Your Wristwatches!:

Another one of my daily beaters, this one is probably unknown in the US, it's a Belgian designed brand (more of a marketing thing, they are made far far East, but are supposed to have Miyota movements):

You seem to be a fan of tool watches. Hah! I didn't even realize there was such a thing as a "tool" watch until recently when I saw the term being bandied about on a forum. I always just looked at watches as being either a dress watch or a sport watch, and even then, some sport watches are classic enough that they go with just about anything, such as the Rolex Submariner or Daytona, or the Omega Seamaster, or even the Speedmaster.

Now that my collection has grown a bit, I've really enjoyed picking and choosing what to wear. I really dig this Tissot - it's categorized as a dress watch, but with the carved sides of the case, it takes on a bit of a sporty look and it works well with jeans and a t-shirt too.

[pss]

Exactly! And I like to find the less expensive ones, with reliable japanese quartz movements, that look nice! I have a couple of mechanic ones somewhere, but they need servicing/repairing.
The ICE is the most expensive one I have, it was a gift from a car dealer, but I had to buy the car.

[Three Sevens]

Seems like I've always recognized a wristwatch connection to the "car thing" and the "trumpet thing"! Once I get the photo thing worked out I will definitely post here!

[Shifty]

Pilots always used to brag about the accuracy of their watches (before the advent of the "atomic" clocks that are corrected by radio signals). I got one of these:

over eight years ago. It was spot on GPS time coming out of the box. It is solar powered, but NOT corrected by any radio signals. I have never adjusted the time. At present, it is 4 seconds slow -- the worst it's ever been. (internet image, easier than taking a picture). Not bad

[Newell Post]

I really like the look of this Hamilton, but $300 for a "chronometer tune up" to keep it accurate? Forget it. The Citizen Eco-Drives never need winding, never need batteries, never need cleaning, and never need regulating.

[Newell Post]

Like this. $125 on sale, never needs anything. It's a perpetual motion machine.

[Newell Post]

"The daily driver."

[Newell Post]

Every once in a while, I use a pocket watch. I don't really use it as a watch, but I set it on the podium when making speeches and things of that nature when I don't want to always be looking at my wristwatch. The "railroad style" face and hands are very easy to read. True railroad watches were designed that way so trainmen could read them in all kinds of weather and lighting conditions.

[trickg]

@Newell-Post said in Show Us Your Wristwatches!:

I really like the look of this Hamilton, but $300 for a "chronometer tune up" to keep it accurate? Forget it. The Citizen Eco-Drives never need winding, never need batteries, never need cleaning, and never need regulating.

@Newell-Post said in Show Us Your Wristwatches!:

Like this. $125 on sale, never needs anything. It's a perpetual motion machine.

All good points, however, when a Citizen dies or breaks - and it will eventually die or break - you are left with a throwaway timepiece that is no longer worth what it would cost to repair it. With a Hamilton automatic, it retains it's value, and once you have it serviced, you get years worth of use out of it again. Don't get me wrong, I've owned more Citizen watches than anything else - all Eco Drives - but the lithium cell in the oldest one is almost dead (although amazingly it will still charge up a bit) and it has been discontinued so long that I can't even replace the bracelet, which is now falling apart. I made the decision to just simply let it go, and it was a $200 watch when I bought in the mid 1990s.

A friend of mine bought a Rolex years and years ago before they got stupid expensive. (I think he said he paid something like $275 for it when he was overseas.) It's nothing fancy, just a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, but he's only had it serviced twice by Rolex in the nearly 30 years he's worn it, and it still runs and looks great - it's a timeless classic that is worth by far more now than when he initially bought it.

You can't do that with a Citizen.

Again, I have two Citizens that I rotate through, and at least these two are classic designs with normal style bracelets. In theory, I could continue to wear these for the rest of my life, although I might eventually want to replace the crystal on the one - it's mineral glass rather than sapphire, which I have on the other one, and therefore much more prone to scratching. Otherwise, as long as I can still get the lithium cells, I should be able to replace them when they eventually die and stop taking a charge.