Help with a watch for my young daughter!

My Daughter is 9. Lockdown has been hard on her and she has really struggled, as she has struggled she has spent more and more time with me and taking an interest in my watches. She loves them and now pops on each VGTG.
She has now tasked me with finding her a ‘proper’ watch! She says something that doesn’t need a battery and I have to wind she says.... HELP! I am clueless on what’s best! I don’t want to spend a lot on it yet but I have no idea what’s out there.


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My 9 year old daughter said exactly the same thing after looking at my watches recently: "I want a proper watch, one that doesn't have a battery."

I'll be watching this thread with interest!

My immediate thought is it might be tough finding a hand wound to meet your specifications.....however, my second thought is Timex.
I don’t know your budget but,for example, this Marlin hand wound from Timex. There are other options on the website but you would be generally looking at automatics if you wanted to avoid the Indiglo ranges. Plenty at reasonable prices plus if you sign up to their newsletter you get 15% discount.

My first thought would be on old Ingersoll / Timex / Bradley Disney watch. They can be picked up on ebay for a few quid. It might not be robust enough for a kid to wear every day though. They are good fun! - I would not mind one myself.

Ebay has a number of cheaper Chinese made mechanical watches, as long as its not too big and looks cool I guess any kid would be happy? Especially if it has some lume

Another alternative might be a 2nd hand Marathon or Stocker and Yale US issued watch, they are small hand wound and still relatively cheap (although even these are going up in price), might better suited to a boy though as they have green or black plastic cases and the radioactive logo on the dial.

You can get a decent old manual wind seiko for about 50 quid on ebay, a bit dressy for her maybe though

I've got an old ladies Oris cocktail style watch in my spares box you're welcome to. Seems to run OK. PM if you want it, it's not pretty but I don't want anything for it.

There's a nice ladies datejust on sales corner :biggrin-new:

Swatch. Cheap, fun, light, and colourful.

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Originally Posted by ddm27

Swatch. Cheap, fun, light, and colourful.

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Yeah and she can always throw away the battery since she doesn’t want one:-)

OP, choose wisely as you are about to start a future WIS on a life long journey.

One of the Hamilton khaki field hand wound. You could find a nice Nato to suit or a swath sistem51

Lots of choice out there for a mechanical watch. Vostok and the original Seiko 5 would be first choice and for something a bit different a Mr Jones watch.

Nice selection of original seiko 5 in dial and colour

Really nice post! It’s lovely to see some enthusiasm from the children! My 7 year old daughter is developing an interest in my collection too. Since reading the thread I’ve been looking into your question. I liked the Disney Ingersoll idea mentioned earlier...as I myself started my horological fascination with a wind-up Mickey Mouse watch, aged 10. It seems Ingersoll don’t produce these any more in their mainstream collection. There are some knocking around on Etsy, EBay and Chrono24. I’m going to keep looking and will report with any bright ideas I have.


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Originally Posted by robert75

Lots of choice out there for a mechanical watch. Vostok and the original Seiko 5 would be first choice and for something a bit different a Mr Jones watch.

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Not sure the lower priced Seikos are hand wind. Have to spin the rotor around to wind them

DON

How big is her wrist? You want something she can wear.

Second. What kind of watch? men's watches are simple. Nothing fancy if your looking for under a set price

Doubt vintage. While many are inexpensive. Dials are average

Modern. not much cheap unless something from a Chinese company

Try a Swatch watch and tell her a manual wind later on if she takes care of this watch

DON

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Originally Posted by DONGinsler

Not sure the lower priced Seikos are hand wind. Have to spin the rotor around to wind them

DON

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Sorry I was just thinking non quartz. In that case consider a vintage watch and getting it serviced, lots to choose from.

If used/vintage is acceptable, I have a light blue faced Vostok Cadet/Kadet (junior model) diver she can have. Made in CCCP, so a bit of history.

Match it with a similar blue suede or leather strap, might look okay. Pretty good condition and timekeeping.

Might still be a bit big and if I was that age, not sure I would fancy somebody else's old tat. I don't know if Vostok still do junior models. There used to be one with a dolphin on. Maybe look at the ladies range.

P.s. There are a few used Cadets on eBay

Swatch or Timex would be my choice. But both in battery models.

I had a similar ride with my daughters. Both fancied the idea of a manual wind watch. But the eldest soon got bored having to wind it everyday. She now has a simple quartz diver (or wears one of my cheaper sports watches if she wishes.)

My youngest is a bit more complicated. She hates watches. She has had difficulty in telling the time too. So we require her to wear an easy read, small children's Timex watch. It's quartz and comfortable on the wrist. From time to time, I will ask her the correct time, or I will ask her simple questions to do with time, so that she gets used to an analogue face readout, and working out the hours and minutes. She is developing confidence. We are lucky that she will coming up to the right age now, where she will be eligible to have a bit of pocket money every week. So we have decided to link this to her watch wearing, making it a condition, and pay her £2 a week to wear the watch. Over the last 5 months or so, she has only taken it off for bed. Amazing. :encouragement:

"Bribery" works every time. :congratulatory:

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Originally Posted by 2012

Swatch or Timex would be my choice. But both in battery models.

I had a similar ride with my daughters. Both fancied the idea of a manual wind watch. But the eldest soon got bored having to wind it everyday. She now has a simple quartz diver (or wears one of my cheaper sports watches if she wishes.)

My youngest is a bit more complicated. She hates watches. She has had difficulty in telling the time too. So we require her to wear an easy read, small children's Timex watch. It's quartz and comfortable on the wrist. From time to time, I will ask her the correct time, or I will ask her simple questions to do with time, so that she gets used to an analogue face readout, and working out the hours and minutes. She is developing confidence. We are lucky that she will coming up to the right age now, where she will be eligible to have a bit of pocket money every week. So we have decided to link this to her watch wearing, making it a condition, and pay her £2 a week to wear the watch. Over the last 5 months or so, she has only taken it off for bed. Amazing. :encouragement:

"Bribery" works every time. :congratulatory:

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It's true there is the possibility to get bored of the manual wound.

I did get myself a nice little seiko 5 (snk807) for my stepson, and he loves it, but with lockdown, he's not always moving as much as normal, and it's not always enough to keep the watch wound up, so it stops often.
Also sometimes they need to take it off and when they want to pick it back up, if it has stopped, they can't always be bothered to reset the time etc...
So more and more the watch just stays on the desk [emoji26]

In such case, as you mentioned, bribery can be your best ally [emoji6]

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Originally Posted by RAJEN

Yeah and she can always throw away the battery since she doesn’t want one:-)

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Welcome to the 21st century, where Swatch also make watches with automatic movements.

Any feedback or thoughts from the OP?

Wow!! What a great response! There are some very helpful and kind members on here!
I have a watch being being sent by a member of which I am certain she will love!

On another note. I took delivery of a cute watch I knew nothing about off eBay. Cost £10-15 but my daughter wasn’t keen but my youngest lad (4yr) loves it!

https://i.imgur.com/kPHmoqv.jpg

Just need to look at the crystal new one?

https://i.imgur.com/aFbjZm1.jpg

So he is now happy and my daughter is already on the pestering of has it arrived yet... ha.


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Originally Posted by woodacre1983

Wow!! What a great response! There are some very helpful and kind members on here!
I have a watch being being sent by a member of which I am certain she will love!

On another note. I took delivery of a cute watch I knew nothing about off eBay. Cost £10-15 but my daughter wasn’t keen but my youngest lad (4yr) loves it!


Just need to look at the crystal new one?


So he is now happy and my daughter is already on the pestering of has it arrived yet... ha.


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This site was posted by DMC102 last autumn

https://ostalgieruhla.wordpress.com/...n-waggle-eyes/


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OK I know it’s quartz but these watches are great for the money:

https://i.imgur.com/1m4PlUW.jpg

£7.99 from Amazon (my favourite bottle opener not included!)

Seiko 5 on a pink NATO maybe cheap enough to wear everywhere

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Originally Posted by BillyCasper

This site was posted by DMC102 last autumn

https://ostalgieruhla.wordpress.com/...n-waggle-eyes/


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I was browsing this thread for ideas for what to buy my kid next year (hes 2 now) and that ruhla looks amazing!

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Was this one resolved in the end?
After twice forgetting (sorry!), I dug these two out when I was in the shop yesterday.

Seiko mechanical (very plain dial, no hour batons). Immaculate condition, gold plated mesh strap, dates to 1975.
Its literally is unworn, the only wear is from kicking about in my spares drawer.
The only downside, the mesh bracelet isn't an adjustable one, you actually need to snap/cut sections off to make it small enough. Obviously once it's been sized down, there is no sizing it back up. Currently full length at over 7 inches and it almost seems a shame to chop off half the bracelet.


Second is a 1950's or 60's Oris. Well worn but keeping time and the chrome plated case is good. Currently on a steel fix-o-flex.






https://i.postimg.cc/WbzS47g3/DSC08375.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/7PmmDRCd/DSC08374.jpg




If any tick a box just say, I don't want anything for them.

Cheers.

Bumping this thread because my daughter will be turning 9 next month and wants a 'real' watch for her birthday.

She first mentioned this a couple of months ago whilst we were looking at my small collection, the fact that she still wants one now makes me more confident that she will actually wear one.

If she's going to wear it to school etc. then it will need to be practical but she is adamant that she wants a real watch i.e. one that doesn't have a battery!

For practical reasons I suppose vintage is out. It needs to be robust and probably automatic as she would probably forget to wind it.

The 34mm Marlin posted earlier in the thread seemed like a good option but it is out of stock.

I'm thinking 26-34mm, arabic numerals, automatic, NATO style strap for adjustability.

Any ideas?

Have a look at Swatch. Hundreds of variations and think they go down to 26mm diameter.

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Originally Posted by smalleyboy1

Have a look at Swatch. Hundreds of variations and think they go down to 26mm diameter.

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Thanks but they are mostly quartz and she really wants a mechanical.

Mind you she does like a display case back and Swatch do have some quartz with transparent cases that are quite cool.

Maybe I could get her a Swatch and a vintage mechanical?

Watching this thread with interest, started my daughter off on Swatch. She's getting a Timex field type watch for her birthday soon, she now prefers analogue woo hoo! I've sent her pictures of a few Seiko 5's and she seems to like them. 🤞

Vostok or Seiko


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Swatch Body & Soul:

https://static.swatch.com/images/pro...a000_er003.png

Slightly bigger than the classic battery ones (37.4mm), but auto and a skeleton to boot.

I have one that I really like!

It’s a difficult brief:

Automatic
Tough
Small
(I presume also not too expensive).

I would suggest the Luch 30mm.

But...

It’s a hand winder
It only has one hand.

See below, the steel case is sold out but there’s a gold plated one for less than £100.

https://www.chronopolis.co.uk/collec...luch-011211757

Seiko have some nice watches. Look at there presage collection 33.8mm automatic, 41 hour power reserve, 50m water resistant, sapphire glass, metal bracelet (put on a nato) and date function. Various colours for the dial. Pink, red, black, white and blue. Priced around £350-£360 from there boutique website. Or depending on the budget a black bay 32 blue or black dial comes on a nato. Attachment 18390


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There are tons of Seiko 5 ladies watches out there that fit the brief, all around £60-100 so cheap enough that if she decides she's no longer interested in a week (as children do) then you haven't wasted a lot of money.

If she's still wearing it in a year then you can look at an upgrade.

Creation have a few ladies Orient watches in stock, including a ladies Bambino, but that’s 36mm.

How about this at 31mm?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b31ee9f044.jpg
Japanese automatic, 50m WR, £76

https://www.creationwatches.com/prod...atch-4290.html

Update: have decided on a 34mm Swatch quartz with a display caseback for daily wear. However I still want to find her a 34mm mechanical watch, most likely vintage that she can wear on special occasions. Will start a WTB now.

Thanks for all the replies so far!