Reply With QuoteThis one my dad gave me when I was 12 in 1995.
A PUW quartz
Nostalgic one, sorry if it's been asked before this place can be quite fast paced.
What is the one watch, the earliest memory, the one that got you hooked on watches?
My old man had a beat up gold looking Seiko that i remember from late 80's childhood and i absolutely loved it. Got me hooked on watches from a young age...
This one my dad gave me when I was 12 in 1995.
A PUW quartz
Lovely watch, unfortunately my old man never gave me the Seiko, maybe one day!
Rotary Monza GT. My father worked abroad and bought it in Switzerland around 1974. His foreign locations always sounded exciting, far better than the dreary dark North East. Years later I got a NOS Monza GT and it's a regular wear, it featured on a recent 'Friday watch' post.
And here it is...
Must have been in the late 1980s an uncle of mine gave me one of these as he had 2 of them.
I felt like a million bucks as a teenager with a 'gold watch' on my arm.
Lord knows where it is now, I think the ana part of it seized up and the digi part kept going.
I cant believe they are still making the exact model (or what looks just like it anyway)...
I had a cheap Rotary (£15-ish) around 1971, but got interested in good watches in Japan in 1976 and bought a Seiko Bullhead. Still got it, and wear it occasionally.
It was a National Geographic ad in the dentist'so waiting room when I was about eight that piqued my interest in watches - specifically Rolex. IIRC it was something to do with an explorer's Oyster being lost in the snow and found years later still working. I liked the idea of that ruggedness. Then along came Thunderball and I was hooked on the brand (though when I eventually bought a modern sub date 40 years later, it wasn't my favourite.
My Father had a black faced diving watch but I never knew what it was. But I have always preferred black faced watches.
Loved watches & clocks since before I could walk but it became all consuming when Brosnan wore the ‘Bond’ Seamaster in Goldeneye. I got the auto though.
It was my dads Seiko in the 1980’s that got me started.
Lovely to have a watch like this from new and know its history as so many are franken’s, classic design too..Originally Posted by blackal
I had a cheap Rotary (£15-ish) around 1971, but got interested in good watches in Japan in 1976 and bought a Seiko Bullhead. Still got it, and wear it occasionally.
Since I can remember I've been into the look and feel of watches, and as a teenager with all of the standard insecurities I was very brand aware so could spot a commonplace Rolex or Omega from a long way off.
The one that made me interested beyond just brand names and looks was a friend's dad's JLC Reverso which I saw when I was perhaps 17. I don't know what model it was, and in retrospect think that it was quartz (it was a long while ago so memory is a bit faded on hand movement), but the build quality, action of the deployant clasp and the way that the design was for polo was just really interesting.
I didn't properly get into watches for a long time, but that was the one that I think started me off thinking about them in greater depth.
My boys Timex when I was seven. I used to listen to it ticking for ages. Even now my first preference always seems to be three handed military/field style watches.
Possibly an 18k pocket watch (although I owned a quartz Tag at the time but it was just a watch to me). I was fascinated by the movement which of course you could see quite easily. Still own it to this day...
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For me it would have been in my early twenties with a little spare cash the Speedmaster and the Heuer monaco reissue.
The speedy was one of the classic models to have and this was some 25+ years ago but the monaco reissue was eyecatching stuff at that time. I would even say that back then Tag Heuer was a pretty well respected brand by all watch buyers.
D
It was this for me. Had always hankered after a Breitling for years and wanted a colour that epitomised the brand. So after a long time saving this arrived for my 30th
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This one, a Seiko SKX779, maybe around 7 years ago now. I've always had a passing interest in watches however it was this one that really kicked things off, I've since sold it and have considered getting another however I'm not entirely sure I'd wear it considering what else I currently have.
I have always had an interest in watches, I had a Swatch back in the late 80's early 90's, I went through 3 of them (still got 2). Then I had a fake TAG bought from a market in Italy when I was about 16 (lasted around 6 months) before getting a real Tag 4000 for my 18th. I wore it every day for years until I discovered Piston Heads watch forum, which led me to TZ and then the addiction set in to the point where I now have far too many watches...
I think the level of interest I have now was actually kick started by this one, not highly regarded I know, but at the time the guys on Pistonheads were all raving about them for the money and I liked the fact it was not a high street watch
I think the Seiko Monster arrived shortly after...
Ha! Exactly the same story for me. I signed up to PH when I bought my Lotus so I could take part in the chat there, discovered the watch sub-forum, bought my Monster after being influenced by a couple of threads there, then discovered this place and my habit really took off...
Mines the Seiko Arnie. Was my dads watch growing up. Bought from Greece when I was not even 1yrs old. Given to me on my 18th & still going strong now I’m at 33! Great 80s watch, functional & über cool. Now get to the chopper
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Bulova Accutron Spaceview, bought brand new from exchange and mart in 1976 for £10 (which for me was a lot of money about two days pay back then), quartz had killed their market and it was a fire sale..wore it pretty much every day until about 1990 when the central pinion seemed to fail and nobody wanted to touch the repair back then so I chucked it into the bin..silly boy!
Keith
Blume et Mercier Capeland auto, gotta be early 2000's, still got it, still wear it, just a great looking classic watch.
Longines Conquest.
It was my dad's Rolex Datejust with pinstripe slate grey dial on a clasped jubilee. Still a stunning piece to this day, ~30+ years on.
Timex "Hopalong Cassidy" watch - around 1955/56
Probably a Flik-Flak or one of those red and blue Timex that all kids get given to learn telling the time on. I remember going to Blackpool to see the illuminations one year when I was around 9 or 10 maybe - a 'stall' near the tower had a rack of digital watches with all kinds of graphics printed on them in pretence of features, I thought they were amazing and for £1 a bargain, so I spent my pocket money and bought a few (and I seem to remember my Gramp doing the same!).
Think that was the real catalyst!
All started with a Breitling Cosmonaute...
I was gifted this one in 2011 and it has been all down hill from then!
Although it now looks rather different
My interest was sparked with 'the moon watch.' The first that I bought was a Seiko quartz chronograph.
Wow nice, did you have the dial changed ? Am thinking of a dial change on my Datejust to a white one.I was gifted this one in 2011 and it has been all down hill from then!
Although it now looks rather different
Have always liked watches but seeing one of these started the real fever!
Yes, a very helpful forum member supplied and fitted it which meant I could keep the original too.
Oh ok, was thinking of getting an AD to do it.
My first watch, a gift from my dad :).
For me it was a Tag Heuer Edge frankentag following the need for a capacitor repair to my Seiko Arctura. Having discovered limited edition watches, so to speak, it's been downhill into the WIS rabbit hole since.
Last edited by deepreddave; 7th October 2017 at 21:10.
This.
1990 from a jewelers in Trowbridge Wiltshire.Back in the day a bargain at £600. Not sure what I was thinking but it seemed like a good idea at the time
For me it was the first watch that I bought myself, on holiday in Jersey in 1974. It was a Sekonda (Poljot) Strela chronograph, with a white dial. The shop was a Heuer stockist and I really wanted a Carrera but just couldn't stretch to it - I was only 17 at the time. The Sekonda gave good service for years, until it was trodden underfoot during a burglary at a watchmakers and that was the end of it. For a few years I just had a couple of Rotary and Adidas, then (2002/3) spotted a Heuer Carrera '64 re-edition on eBay and bought it for around £500 - it was in mint condition. It was great for a while, then felt too small, so I bought my first Speedy Pro and that was the start of a Speedmaster & Heuer focussed chronograph collection.
My dad’s Rolex that I used to sneak to school to wear
4 watches
A 50m casio as a kid.
Then a 100m SQ100 Seiko as a late teen.
Then both the Omega 120m Chronometer (toss up from that and the SMP300m bond) and the Rolex Explorer II. I couldn't really decide, and the Rolex was twice the price - but when my AD offered me 0% and the watch arrived in the deal was done. It was, and should have stayed, my only watch!!!
3 here also.
1 - my dad's tissot seastar that I used to sneak into his bedroom to play with. I could fasten it above my elbow. The seconds hand had fallen off but I remember it clearly.
2 - my first watch, a swatch from my grandfather that had a clear plastic strap and a holographic design on the face reminiscent of those windmills on sticks people used to put in their gardens. I always used to sit with him as he set his watch by the radio pips and was always pleased that mine hadn't really changed. His was a manual wind on a spiegel bracelet.
3. Seiko kinetic arctura that my mum bought me from hk airport when she came back from her travels. It was identical to the UK ones that had the yellow to red power reserve but it's reserve was in greyscale and it had a full steel clad rubber bracelet rather than a half one. I later found out it was Asian market only when I researched it many years on after the capacitor blew and the bracelet snapped where the rubber was perished. That sent me on the hunt for my first automatic watch which was an oris.. just carried on the obsession from there.
Looking back I've been into watches since I was knee high to a grasshopper.
My friends tag heuer f1 is the watch that got me into watches
Mine's a bit strange, I had great watches (Alaska Speedmaster, etc) in the past but don't really think I was "into" watches at that stage, just a happy if not very informed customer. This one was probably the pivot point that got me "into" watches...
Bell & Ross Geneva 123
My brother worked in the USA in 1990 and brought over a brochure of Tags. I chose this and so it began!
If that's the blue dial Tag Heuer 2000 chrono in the previous post then it was exactly the same watch for me!
Great question and great thread.
The first watch that actually got me into watches was one chap I used to work with always wore to work - a Titanium Seiko kinetic which looked a little like this.
It was a lovely looking thing, but me being considerably younger, I always fancied the Titanium Arctura, but could never afford one.
A couple of years later I was working with another bloke who always wore an old swatch to work, but one day turned up accidentally still wearing his “going out watch” an Air King, this exact model.
The first time I ever handled it I resolved there and then to save my pennies and buy a Rolex. I ended up with a GMT II.
(Pictures shamelessly stolen from the internet)!
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Has to be my seiko golden tuna 600m Quartz.
mike
I was 17 and going to a friend's black tie birthday dinner. My grandfather loaned me his Patek Calatrava (sp?) and it was beautiful, special, and part of his persona. I became interested in watches partly because of their relationship with identity and party because I was I was blown away by the ingenuity and engineering of watch and clock movements. Time is the great unwinding.
This one for me, a gift from my now ex wife. At least I still love the watch.
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Connery's Rolex Sub in Dr No....still yet to own one!
Seiko 'Orange Monster' for me about 5 years ago
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