Reply With QuoteWords of wisdom indeed. Look forward to seeing the rest over time. Enjoy!
Kinda following on from this G&D thred called Deeper, not wider, one of my resolutions this year has been to simplify, to cut down, to cut back, and to try to enjoy what I have. Because, by any reasonable metric, what I have is enough.
(I mean, I've already broken that resolution by picking up one of those bargain Seikos that the SC went wild for, but it might not stick, and anyway, my Christmas visitors returned to the UK on Sunday with four watches to send out to people, so I figure I'm doing OK, balancesheet-wise.)
So I guess this is a kinds of a State of the Collection thread, dripped out over the next week or so. There won't be too many watches in it - I'm not a collector, I only have two wrists - as I've only really got six watches at the moment (Seiko included. Oh, maybe seven, counting a Casio F-91w.) But the purpose of this thread is selfish - it's to remind myself what a great small collection of watches I have.
And a warning to stop chasing my tail!
This is a late Explorer 2 from about 2011. I bought it new, and it's got my daughters name and birthday on the papers. She can have it someday.
I'm always amazed at how dainty it feels compared to modern watches. The crown, in particular, is tiny.
It's a good watch.
More tomorrow.
Words of wisdom indeed. Look forward to seeing the rest over time. Enjoy!
Lovely idea with the EXPII and the papers. Wish that had occured to me when our daughter was born.
Great start and yes I agree we should def be thankful for what we have!! Wise words!
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On my birthday in 1957 my father bought a Rolex Datejust, and it is now with my son, along with the original invoice (with my birthday on) and timing papers. CS Bedfords in Ruislip recently did some minor work on it,and said it was in stunning condition - which is reflected in the figure he has been told to insure it for!Originally Posted by gcleminson
Good idea, I am currently trying something similar. Have decided to stick to wearing the 6 watches that I wore the most, until I retired a few of years ago. After that I had a period lasting about 12 months or so when I bought many other watches. Looking back I am not convinced that I enjoy wearing all of the recently acquired more than those that I already had.
Typing this whilst wearing my Polar Explorer II - as you say a good watch.
This has been Mrs P’s daily for many a year, they wear fantastic on a woman. Your daughter is very lucky
Pitch
Nice, i prefer that one to the version with the original styled GMT hand.
Enjoying what we already have sounds a lovely, wise, philosophy. However, taken literally, we would still be living in caves.
I love that version, love to add one, but doesn’t work with a fewer strategy for me, well not yet as I’ve got one of yours coming!
I agree with you though, it can get a bit daft sometimes given wrist numbers. For the first time I’ve sold 2 watches to get the UX rather than just add continuously. Feel strangely proud of that small achievement.
Off to read the other post.
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After 7 years, I’m sure Walter has the will power for such a lovely gift.
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Lovely sentiment with the thought of your daughter, I’m sure she’ll really appreciate that.
And a great watch the polar is. I’ve recently been liking the black dialled one with the hands that appear missing if you know what I mean.
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Understated and very good value, cheap even.
What a stunner. I love this watch, have been lusting over it for ages... one day.ay.
It's a good watch.
More tomorrow.
What a great idea to get the watch on the birth of a child to pass on.
Thank you for the replies, everyone.
There you go - that's what I'm hoping to start here! Well done for keeping it in the family!
Nah, don't be daft. I'm hoping to enjoy what I've got having spent 15 years buying and selling. I didn't say go back to sundials and church clocks!
Cynic. As Mj2k said, it's lasted nearly 7 years so far. My son's watch has lasted nearly 9 years. And I don't want to get onto the old dads' chat of "Where did the time go?", but if I give my son his watch when he's 18, then I'm half way there. And that doesn't seem to addd up, when I think how recently I was changing nappies, teaching him to swim, ride a bike, etc. It doesn't seem like I could be half way to him being able to vote. Or, worse, seven years until he can join the Army.
I've always said that the watches for the kids are less important than the kids themselves! - were I to get into financial trouble, then I'd sell them, of course - I'm pragmatic about this. But I'm also lucky enough to be in a position where I have a little spare cash to "invest". I'm also lucky enough to have a wife who knows that stock is as good as cash.
Oh, absolutely. When you compare prices of used models, the ExII is the poorman's way into sports Rolex, which is odd, as it does more than most other sports models (and more than enough for most mortals. 100m WR should peove plenty.)
OK, watch number 2. And these are in no particular order, and certainly not a final, definitive list! (At least two of the watches I'm going to post are half-heartedly for sale!)
I think a lot of our collective searching, flipping, buying and selling, comes from some kind of nostalgia - we're looking for watches that mean something in time, a particular era, maybe? That's not the only drive, I know - there's the search for something new, there's the hunt for something rare.
But for me, I got into watches in the early 2000s, and at the time, the two main makers I covetted were Panerai and IWC. And both, IMHO, have wandered away from their core designs in search of new money. And good luck to them - I'm sure they're doing very well for themselves. But for me, both brands were at their best when I first noticed them - maybe 2002? 2003?
(I know, I know, you can still buy a 44mm Luminor in steel, but you can also buy a 47mm titanium diver with a flyback chrono, and that's doesn't seem very military to me...)
So. This is an IWC 3713 steel Doppelchronograph from about, oh, I don't know, 2000-ish? It's proper IWC watchmaking. Yes, I know it's only a 7750 base movement, but it's from the good old days when these were delivered to IWC as ebauches and then modified (or at least decorated and tested!) This has the split-second modifiaction, of course, which necessitates the third pusher at 10 o'clock. It's also slightly larger than the usual Pilot chrono, and uses a 21mm bracelet, rather than the more common 20mm.
(This also just happens to be one of the best photos I've ever taken of a watch, and I'm really happy with it!)
It feels like a mature, grown-up watch. The bracelet is a work of art, and with 60m WR, I can still wear it all day, swim with it, etc.
Couldn't agree more with regards to IWC - early 2000s were their heydays. Once the GST line was stopped (2007/2008?) things started to go terribly wrong imo
Been doing that for a few years
Never looked back
Lovely post :-)
Absolutely
And me and I have three wonderful daughters and now three beautiful grandsons.
Awesome, that is what I am hoping to do
Spot on :)
She's a very lucky girl. Something special about the old reference white dialled Explorers,superb all rounders.
Enjoyed reading your post Walter. You got me thinking of getting the 40mm polar for my wife to go with the 42mm polar I wear! That would be quite fun!
Nice Explorer but
Appreciate the sentiment in the original post but your daughter may appreciate the money you spent on this being better invested in an investment bond for her later years to come. The explorer or many similar makes and models are never going to be an investment no matter what we tell ourselves to justify the purchase for our own wrist pleasure.
Did he mention investment ? I thought it was a gift for his daughter some time down the road.
May we have a peep into that crystal ball it appears you have ? Please ?
You know what they say about never saying never .....
The member did mention investment in his later post but I suppose an explorer is cheaper than a pony, is that not what little girls use to dream of.
For the upkeep of my wife's "pony" I could buy a Daytona every year!
Stick to watches.
Hello to you too. When you've been here a while you may realise that most here care about the watches rather than what they cost.
F.T.F.A.
I am loving this thread.
The OP and I share some taste in watches (style, capability, design) and so far, 2 classic pieces, with the anticipation of many more to come.
Keep em coming......
Dave
Those ‘less popular’ can often become the nest egg. However, it is the sentiment and gifting of something so personal that carries the true value beyond any cash value.
If my wife and I wanted children, I would do the same for mine. It’s such a personal gift, having seen a father wearing it over the years.
Alas my father’s taste in watches has been less that desirable over the years, and he wears cheap watches to destruction!
I lent him a new g shock for a 2 week beach holiday & let him keep it after - unless he spent the 2 weeks sliding down rock faces, I genuinely cannot imagine how he destroyed it visually in so little time. That’s probably the one I would keep and cherish as just thinking about it makes me smile, and would remember him & his couldn’t give a hoot about watches attitude - you can imagine his face when he clocked my first Rolex! At least he didn’t ask to borrow it...yet
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A most enjoyable thread. Keep them coming!
I don't know, but I've got a feeling that the full set Explorer, in say, 20 years time will be worth a bit more than the equivalent cash invested in 'bonds'. So, his daughter will have a wonderful watch that will be worth quite a few quid and, will have the personal, 'this belonged to my daddy' aspect. Nice one Walter.
Day 3! And this one might divide opinion a little...
First,
Oh noes my hobby isn't providing an ROI of 5% I an undone. It's not about the money, or rather, it's only partially about the money. The kids know I like watches, and will often spot a new one before my wife does (and then usualy dob me in to her...) But this is something that I can pass on to her. Not the only thing I'll pass on, but something that I cared for and looked after, something that I'm passing to her. Of course there's a monitary value (which I have maintained, by keeping the full set, receipt, etc), but it really is secondary.
Thank you Dave - I think you're pretty much responsible for one of the watches coming up!
This guy gets it.
OK, so the third watch. (And don't take this thread as a statement that I'll keep all these watches, or quit my flipping habits. There are two keepers (one revealed already) and I reserve the right to change my mind about the rest!)
I discovered Panerai fairly early (how early, I hear you ask? Well it was when Paneristi was still bearable and run by Guy Verbist - that long ago.) I saved and scrimped and did all the usualy teenage boy things - I read over the catalogue, I compared prices, and I ended up buying an E-Series 116 (titanium base, sapphire caseback). And I had that for a long time, but always in the back of my mind was the idea that I'd only bought the 116 because the PVD models, the PAM4, the PAM9 (we don't talk about he PVD PR model) were out of production.
I came close to buying a PAM4 in about 2007 - to the point of being on the phone to the NY dealer, but the combination of me being in Qatar, the watch being in the US, my credit card company getting nervous about the whole deal, meant that it never happened. I started a WTB here in Oct 2008 and bumped that now and then.
Last year I found one at a London dealer. Like my IWC, it is an orphan, no box, no papers, but the price was eye-watering, rather than down-right extortionate, and it caught me in a moment of weakness when I had some spare funds, so what the hell.
It was in proper time-warp condition, with some nice straps, but I put it on a Dirk Grandry strap (all I've ever really used for my Panerais) and there it sits.
It's a silly watch really - it's big (although not as huge as it was considered back in the early 2000s - everyone else seems to have caught up with this big watch thing.) I swam this morning, and actually took it off to avoid soaking the leather strap. How stupid is that for a diver's watch? But it's a reassuring hunk of metal, and I like it. It's also the only watch I regularly wear on leather, and that makes a nice change.
I like how all the marks on it are mine - the crease on the strap, the little light dings in the PVD coating. I think modern PVD Panerais are a different shade, a different process - this pencil grey PVD is handsome, to my eyes.
So there - other early 2000s watch. I wonder which one I'll post tomorrow? (Thanks for reading thus far.)
I love threads like this - it’s great to read some insight into what motivates people to buy the watches they do. The responder who talked about investment bonds clearly doesn’t get the point!
I’m not aware that I’ve ever seen a SOTC from you, Walter, and you’ve been a member here for even longer than me. So, thank you.
The standout watch for me from the first three (controversially I suspect!) is the Panerai.
Keep ‘em coming. Looking forward to episode 4...!
Simon
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Thank you! And as promised, here's the one that sweets is responsible for!
I don't travel as much as I used to, but I had a patch from about 2005-2015 when I flew a lot with work, and I became obsessed with traveller's GMT watches. It's an obsession that's slipped a little recently, thankfully, but I still love a good independant hour hand. I've tried most - CA-M1, Seiko 8F movements, GMTs from Omega, Rolex, Seiko. And I always wonder why it's not a more common feature?
I've had a couple of EZM-1s, too, but they never stuck with me, although I like the centre-minute chrono.
What if.... there was a centre minute chrono... with an independent hour hand..... that cost four times the price of Eddie's PRS-17C?
There is!
I like it. I like the pick-up-ability of the quartz movement, I like the beatability of the watch as a whole, the WR, the GGB velcro (although it's supplied on a great Morrelato strap.) It's a good size, too.
The lume could be better, but isn't that the case with all watches that aren't Seiko?
I knew from your previous mention that this was on the way.
I really enjoy mne, it is the first quartz I have had for a while that is genuinely part of my regular rotation.
Like a few others (in fact all of them, so far) that you have shared, it owes a lot to restraint in the design. Paolo has made this exactly what envisaged, an A-13A for the wrist.
No extra baubles or other decoration. Just the main concept.
Great choice..
Dave
ps - I am also relieved that you like it, my review having been part of your buying process
I’ve not been on TZ as much recently as I had been, but have stumbled across your post and have enjoyed reading your thoughts & rationale. I’m not a fan of the ExpII, but absolutely buy-in to your idea of passing something on to your children that you wore and cherished. I have a relatively cheap dress watch that my father owned and whenever I wear it (usually on Father’s Day or his birthday) I remember him wearing it with tremendous fondness. I know that I’ll pass my BLNR on to my son and I’m sure he’ll wear it and know how much I enjoyed my time with it. Isn’t that part of the enjoyment of such a watch? Love Love Love the Panerai. Look forward to seeing more. G.
Errr, excuse my ignorance -what is it, Walter?!
I like it. I like the pick-up-ability of the quartz movement, I like the beatability of the watch as a whole, the WR, the GGB velcro (although it's supplied on a great Morrelato strap.) It's a good size too
Simon
You sound so much like me.
I grew up in a 2 bedroom terrace house, in a council estate, to 2 very hard working and loving parents.
I always remember at the weekends my Dad would wear his "good watch" and was always told in a light hearted way that i would get it "when he wasn't about". Well, at the still young age of 29 i was sadly relieved of my Dad and i inherited it. Its a cheap 40mm Seiko dress watch on a bracelet. I rarely wear it but i wouldn't part with it for a box of Rolex's. There's no word to explain what it means to me, its beyond precious. I don't even really see a watch when i look at it anymore. Instead i get the smell of rolling tobacco, blue stratos aftershave and the nip of a winters day on my face, as we walked to the bus stop, small hand in big hand and a blue watch peeking out from under a coat cuff.
That watch taught me the lessons that value is subjective and individual and that the love from father to son has no monetary value whatsoever.
I myself am an honest, working class guy and as much as i'd love one, unless i win the lottery, i'll unfortunately never own a Rolex or an Omega. I do however have a watch that no one else has has.
I see a LOT of amazing watch collections on this forum that would literally be worth more than my house and i often wonder what they actually mean to the owners. I've no doubt they cherish them, but what do they REALLY mean to them?
I once read on a calendar that "TRUE happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting what you've got".
Never a truer word spoken.
Last edited by EchoSevenNine; 26th January 2018 at 10:54.
I often think on this, I’ve got a medium size collection (10ish) I worry that the kids will not associated a particular watch with me as a wear so many. I have 2 keepers which the kids will get, if they are not all wearing communicators by then, the rest I enjoy wearing, I’m not yet in the place to downsize
A fairly basic omission in a show and tell thread, I guess! Ir's an a-13a Pilot's Watch - a modern watch based on the A-13a cockpit chronograph.
Last edited by Qatar-wol; 26th January 2018 at 14:26.
That link doesn't work (either of them!).
This should, it is my post that I think was quoted as being the reason that the OP bought one.
Dave
Whoops, changed the link in my post, thank you!
What a lovely post, straight from the heart.
I like the idea of starting with your 'grail' watch.
She might. I don't think so. She knows what matters, what's important.
Hopefully, my son does, too - this is his. Again, his name and birthday on the papers and again, something that he can have when he's older. And hopefully, something he will associate with me. (Or, you know, sell if for cider money, if you want to believe the cynics on here.)
Like the Explorer II, one of the last of the old-shape SeaDwellers, and the full kit. I think I paid list for it about eight and a half yers ago, so, what? £2440?
Shame they never bothered with AR.
I had one of the newer, butcher SDs a while back, and I liked it a lot - the bigger dial and hands, the great lume. But this watch is the classic SeaDweller, I think. I'll need a service some time soon, I think - it's losing about 15s a day - but that's OK. It's worth it to keep the papertrail up, keep it's value. (There - threw that out for the member of the forum who know the cost of everything, and the value of nothing.)
This is a quick show and tell - a Seiko SPB053, arrived yesterday! First impressions are that for £380, I can't think of a better watch. Hacking, handwinding, sapphire, if a little large at 42mm. Great lume, of course. (That hour hand, tho'.)
I'll probably not keep it, but it's a great watch to keep the others honest, as a benchmark for other watches.
Looks fantastic Walter, very classy. I have the padi version coming and will put it on a dark navy nato.This is a quick show and tell - a Seiko SPB053, arrived yesterday! First impressions are that for £380, I can't think of a better watch. Hacking, handwinding, sapphire, if a little large at 42mm. Great lume, of course. (That hour hand, tho'.
I'll probably not keep it, but it's a great watch to keep the others honest, as a benchmark for other watches.
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I saw an attractive young lady wear a rose gold yacht master, looked fantastic. Like this one
I saw a lady with small wrists wearing a Daytona over a jumper sleeve and it looked daft. Just like I would like daft wearing a 44mm or larger watch.I saw an attractive young lady wear a rose gold yacht master, looked fantastic. Like this one
And I equally find it looks daft men wearing 33mm pp calatrava 80s style.
Ps. I find conversation re size of watches the most boring, can we end it with it depends on taste and agreeing to disagree on matters of personal preference and taste.
Last edited by ac11111; 28th January 2018 at 16:47.
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