Reply With QuoteNo laughing at the back but I've been looking for this watch for 5 years... Only 250 were made and they're all probably in China.
Hell, I'll put £50 in the fundraiser myself if anyone can source it for me.
Reading about members achieving grail watches makes me think that for some a grail is achieved after a long search and/or much saving over the long term. If money is no object, or the grail watch is easily affordable, then I wouldn't consider it a grail as it is too easily attainable.
So for those who have determined and attained a grail watch, how long did it take you and was the main obstacle finding the right one, affordability or both?
I'll give it a week and the member with the longest time to successfully secure a grail can choose a charity/just giving cause and I'll donate a £10. So no cheating.....
The only grail watch that reasonably deserves that title for me was a limited run but cost only £250 so it took about 2yrs of waiting for one to come up and getting to it first. Since then my tastes have changed quite a bit and I think recognising that is why I currently don't have a grail as such. I have plenty I'd like to try but none that speak to me so loudly as to warrant being termed a grail.
Last edited by deepreddave; 12th March 2017 at 00:09.
No laughing at the back but I've been looking for this watch for 5 years... Only 250 were made and they're all probably in China.
Hell, I'll put £50 in the fundraiser myself if anyone can source it for me.
I wouldn't panda to a desire for that ;)
Not a fan of the term grail personally.
I think the longest time has been about a month or two purely because of price (moon watch). I had a speedy reduced at the time so I was in no rush.
Shortest time is overnight. Had been really hankering for a 16800 matte sub having looked at a gloss one last year. Put up a WTB and got an offer by the morning :) The delay on that one was simply justifying spending the money, but my ISA interest rate soon convinced me.
Took me 10 years to get an original Longines twin crown diver. And about the same to get a BeBa peseux 260.
30 years and still haven't got my Rolex Explorer II, simply because of they always are 1-2000€ more than I have :(
I saw one of these in 1977 in a shop window near Leicester Square and fell in love with it.
At the time the asking price, which was more than a mechanical Speedmaster, was way beyond my means. It become a grail lodged in the back of my mind as opposed to something I obsessed about.
I wouldn't say that I consistently searched for one over the years but I did keep a look out. The advent of the internet certainly helped but when I did spot one occasionally up for sale I either wasn't quick enough or didn't have enough spare money.
I eventually bagged one from Caruso (Dan) in March 2016.
Later on in 2016 due to a severe cash shortage I sold it back to him - however come 2017 it is now back in my hands, so all is well.
So I make that somewhere between 38 and 39 years.
Ian
Like others I think a grail is only a grail until you own it and having owned a few that might fit the description of a grail watch such as a DRSD and an Aquanaut, the one watch I keep promising to buy is one of Eddie's - the Smiths Everest (PRS-25).
I have come close several times, being outbid on e-bay and sending PMs to people listing them on SC only to be told, sorry it has already gone. But I knew one day I would own one.
Sitting watching Jeff and the Boys on Sky this afternoon and flicking through e-bay someone listed one that is less than a year old as a 'buy it now' so I clicked and should have it by the middle of next week.
I will give it a go and it will certainly scratch an itch. If it is not for me they are very popular when listed for sale. So not so much of a grail or indeed a risk - but a watch that I knew one day I would own.
I've got to ask. Why?Originally Posted by Lampoc
No laughing at the back but I've been looking for this watch for 5 years... Only 250 were made and they're all probably in China.
Hell, I'll put £50 in the fundraiser myself if anyone can source it for me.
Isn't it obvious, it's a panda dial
I'm a big Titoni fan and I love this watch, as weird as it is.
Grail can mean many things. It can mean a truly luxurious very expensive and therefore pretty unattainable piece. It could also mean a Steinhart forum special edition that you missed out on and won't be repeated. I know there's a Steinhart I've been searching for for 5 yrs now and still never even seen one. Grail also needn't be singular. I have a sports and a dress Grail for example
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I think this a common theme, a lot of people lust after watches that aren't instantly available as you describe with your Steinhart (out of interest, which one was it) and you see a lot of WTBs for some of Eddie's watches etc which were either limited editions or are no longer produced. Are these grails or just us desiring watches that are difficult to obtain. If every Rolex AD had SS Ceramic Daytonas in their windows for sale would the watch even be discussed - probably less so.
I am guilty of the same, having bought four US only Orient Makos that were not intended for the European market and I currently have a WTB for a Smiths Radio Room. Is it a grail, perhaps not - but if someone offered me one tomorrow I would buy it.
That made me laugh out loudIsn't it obvious, it's a panda dial
Interesting, most of thier other watches are 'normal'. For those interested:
Titoni Ltd. is a Swiss watchmaker that was founded in 1919 by Fritz Schluep in the Swiss "watch town" of Grenchen. The company, which is now owned by the third generation of its founding family, currently employs around 60 people in the finances and accounting, purchasing, sales as well as production departments.
Titoni manufactures watches in the mid-price range. Almost all of the timepieces have mechanical movements that are assembled by hand. The family-owned company thus combines the art of the traditional watchmaker's skills with the use of the latest technologies.
The watch brand Titoni is known in Switzerland by watch experts in particular as a quality brand with an excellent price-performance relationship. For historical reason, the traditional family-run company focusses on working the international markets. Titoni has been very strong in the Asian region for many years. Thus, this Swiss SME has been present in China for more than half a century, for example
5 years on the list for a Daytona, in that time it put on 50% in to list price. All the time waiting i threw my pound coins in a bucket in my garage and when the time came i had very nearly enough. A grail as it was my first Rolex,still wear it a lot now.
The grail then shifted to a seadweller, got that christmas 2015 and the status is now projected onto a meters first 5513.
In my opinion, the longer a grail is a grail, the .Ore you'll appreciate it. I bet the Daytona lasted you the longest before you yearned for the seadweller and then the 5513
That's an interesting question, I don't like to use the word "grail" because it refers to a religious quest and as enthusiastic as I am about watches, a watch is just a watch. However, considering the question, a grail is something that by definition is almost impossible to obtain.
So it either has to be as rare as hen's teeth, or totally beyond one's means, or very close to it --or all of the above at once.
I took me about 2 years to find a very rare and for me very expensive watch I saved up for a special birthday, and no other has since gained similar status for me.
Not really a grail as I dont think you can call a watch you have been eyeing up for only a year a grail - maybe "desirable" a better term for me.
Anyhow longest I had to wait for a watch was my SS Daytona which was about 5 months
This has already been surpassed as currently been waiting on a blue 5711 Nautilus since August 2016
Took me about 18 months for find the right BPFF.
However it took 3 years to find the parts and to have my Panerai 6152-1 homage made, but had I been wanted, and could afford an original, then I would still be looking as only 6 are known to exist
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Over 3 years for 1675.
Obstacle - pal wouldn't let it go.
Took god knows how much pestering over coffee/whatsapp.
8 years and counting, since I became aware of the Universal Geneve Tri-Compax. Money, or rather my constant lack of it, has prevented me from buying one.
My Grail was the white 116520 from 2002. Must have walked into between 50 and 100 AD's around the world over the years and asked if they had one. Ironically in 2013 I found one in my nearest AD, so 11 years I guess.
July 2016 and I get the white 116500, few months on and I not wearing the 116520 enough so we parted ways.
I don't imagine I'll ever find my Rolex 1680 full set at anything like a sensible price.
Must have been a nice moment when you finally secured the watch after half a lifetime :).
I think you're right to recognise it wasn't a grail in the sense usually used here. Potential winner otherwise as part of the reasoning for me posting was the increasing easy availability of grail watches to many that just don't have the 'back story' of yours here.
Last edited by deepreddave; 12th March 2017 at 16:56.
I do love that Daytona, prob 6 or 7 years from inception to wrist, the seadweller was 4 love that too. 12mths later i got a rootbeer, loved it more before purchase than i do now, be first to go that one, The only thing with the M first is the scarcity as i want a specific year.
Grail status has progressively got shorter as i got better financially
It would have to be a bailiff situation to make me want to sell the Daytona, she was my first.
I would love an AP RO ultra-thin. But way out of my league at the moment, and there are 1-2 watches I will buy first so I think it's another 8-15 years away. Goodness only knows how much it will cost then!
It's the ocean one bundespolizei was issued to German airborne police only so I doubt I'll ever even see one
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About 3-4 years to find this:
Wow I assume it was well worth the wait?? Absolutely beautiful condition.About 3-4 years to find this:
I don't actually have a "grail" watch surprisingly.
A BLRO GMT I can't get out of my mind but that is almost achievable so I wouldn't class that a grail.
I coveted a SS Daytona but that watch truly does not live up to the hype and didn't stay.
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