[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:
Invictus watches are sexy as [/quote]
I’ve had lousy luck with them. Didn’t last mechanically
Also go pre owned on any bigger dollar watch. Try tourneau for price range
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
Go on ebay and find an older, beat up, Rolex, preferably a Daytona or a old military Rolex, that has been recently serviced. You can find one for under $500. I found an old black case one from the 1960s that was perfect.
Put a NATO strap band on it (about $20): BINGO, looks like a $25,000 Pro-Hunter Rolex.
People have stopped meetings and asked about the watch, several times.
Total investment: $450.[/quote]
You can’t find a dial for a Daytona for $500. Hell, the box alone from the 60s or 70s would be worth more than $500. I paid over $1,000 for my Daytona’s 5 year service, you’re not going to find a recently serviced vintage watch for less than half the price of a service.
And in 10 years of collecting, I’ve never seen a vintage, black-cased Rolex. I’d love to be wrong, because it would be a great opportunity to learn more about a truly rare watch.
Got any pics?
[/quote]
This got me looking around and I can’t for the life of me imagine why someone would buy just the dial. I’m not a watch guy but can you shed any light?
Makes sense, I was thinking people without Rolexes were buying the dials and inserting them into a Timex or something.
How about a Shinola? American made in Detroit. They run between $500 and $700. I was thinking of picking up one myself. When $ allows, I would definitely recommend Omega. Great watches
I have a nice Citizen Eco Drive watch that was around $300 something.
Can anyone explain why watch hobbyists don’t respect Movado? Again, I don’t know much about watches but whenever a watch thread pops up, no one recommends Movado.
Movado is a fine watch, though the style is polarizing. From a “watch guys” point of view, the value of a watch comes from it’s movement.
Most of the watches in the $200 - $750 range are going to be battery operated, quartz movements.
Automatic and hand-wind watches are appreciated for the engineering and craftsmanship that go into the movements.
Put another way, a battery-operated watch is like a base-level Mustang. Pretty to look at, but the engineering is uninspiring. An automatic watch with complications (chrono, day/date/tourbillion) is a Shelby GT 500. The value is under-hood, not just in it’s looks.
Hand wind watch movement
Automatic watch movement. The “automatic” designation refers to the gold-colored half-moon weight that swings around a pivot point as you move your hand and winds the watch in doing so. They have a clutch that releases when the watch if fully wound so that it doesn’t get over wound.
Quartz movement. Can be made for about 50 cents. The battery is the most expensive part of the watch.
Simple automatic movements can be bought for $50 wholesale, then dressed up by watch manufacturers to produce new watches. Some high-end companies make their own movements (Rolex, VC, UN, etc) however, there are a few companies that make movements and wholesale them to other watch manufacturers as the movement for their watches. For example, ETA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swatch. They make a movement called the ETA 2824 that you can find in watches by Kobold, Hamilton, Breitling, Sinn, etc. Each watch manufacturer may pretty up the movement by adding gold or decoration, but they’re all made by the same company.
Frank Mueller Aeternitas Mega 4
Thirty six complications (features) and 1500 different parts. If you can keep it running continuously, you won’t have to re-set it until 2100. The round gold circle at the “6” position is a tourbillon. It “aims to counter the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece (thus the escapement) is stuck in a certain position.” In English, it negates the effect of gravity on the accuracy of the watch.
Hours, Minutes, 24 hours, Chronograph, Fly-back, Minutes counter, hour counter retrograde, two time zones, Movement power reserve.
Grande or petite chime.
Chime or silence.
Chime power reserve.
Date retrograde, Day, Month, Year, Leap year (cycle of 4 years), no leap year (cycle of 100 years), leap year (cycle of 400 years), Equation of time.
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
I can appreciate the appreciation of the craftsmanship. That being said, performance wise, any difference?
Also, is there a reason why companies like Hamilton or Tissot get more respect from watch guys even though I’m assuming they use a battery operated quartz movement? I’m finding this watch scene pretty fascinating.
As an aside, you seem to know a lot about a lot.
Tissot and Hamilton both offer quartz and automatic offerings
Hamilton has some cool stuff, personally a fan of the jazz master series. Tissot is a little better known… They sponsor some open wheel racing and what not.
Try jomashop.com
The question you need to ask yourself is if you’re buying a new watch for yourself, or for your status. What good is a $500 watch if you have to explain to everyone why it’s better or cooler than their Eco-drive.
If it’s the latter, save your money, get a Tag. Or save longer, and get an omega or used rollie. Just don’t get some 45mm “I’m an asshole” monstrosity.
One more thing
tissot, omega, and Hamilton are all owned by Swatch. So that might give them a little credibility and they probably have a more sophisticated marketing strategy than your lesser known brands.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
I can appreciate the appreciation of the craftsmanship. That being said, performance wise, any difference?
Also, is there a reason why companies like Hamilton or Tissot get more respect from watch guys even though I’m assuming they use a battery operated quartz movement? I’m finding this watch scene pretty fascinating.
As an aside, you seem to know a lot about a lot. [/quote]
Quartz watches are much, much more accurate. A mechanical watch will never be as accurate as a battery operated one. There’s an organization called COSC that certifies the accuracy of swiss watches. In order to pass, mechanical watches are allowed to be -4/+6 seconds a day. Quartz watches are allowed to be off +/- .07 (seven one hundredths) of a second a day.
At lower price points, the look of a watch makes a big impact. Hamilton makes some good looking watches and some highly regarded automatics, so the brand has some followers. Tissot, likewise.
Ultimately, at higher price points you’re paying for 1) the name/historical pedigree/snob-factor (depending on how charitable you want to be), 2) the engineering and design of the movement, and 3) the watch material.
Rolex is the brand everyone loves to hate. Their movements are very plain, even uninspired, they used to use other manufacturers movements in their watches (Zenith El Primero in the Daytona, for instance) yet their watches almost always carry a premium. And more importantly, retain much of that premium over the course of time. I can buy a Daytona now, wear it for 5 years and get my money back. There is almost no other watch you can say that about.
[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Can anyone explain why watch hobbyists don’t respect Movado? Again, I don’t know much about watches but whenever a watch thread pops up, no one recommends Movado. [/quote]
Its a fashion watch. Lacking the heritage and finer movements of brands such as Rolex or Omega, or the real big time luxury timepieces like Patek.
Rolex benefits from one of the most successful brand marketing campaigns in history and the fact that they mark their products up every 18 months or so at a rate that exceeds the inflation rate. Their movements are generic but the still have the “heritage” to charge a premium.
Buy a daytona for 6k today, sell it for 6k in 5 years. But in 5 years those daytonas (which will still be 99% the same) will be retailing for 8k.
In your price range, since we arent talking about investing months of pay into a timepiece you may come to dislike down the road, its all about durability and look.
My suggestion would be find a Tissot, Citizen or Seiko that you really like and pull the trigger. You really cant go wrong either way, all are top quality for the price and make some beautiful watches that you could fool the less-informed into thinking they are worth much more.
Dont sleep on the Japanese brands though, many would argue that they make the best watches for under a grand.