Thread: Starting to take an interest in mechanical watches. Anyone info?

So I have to much time and money on my hands and my wife says I should become interested in another hobby.............. Well not really.


However, I really like the old mechanical watches and have started doing a little preliminary research. Does anyone have a website, forum, or book(s) that they would recommend? I'm not looking to get into maintenance and repair, just trying to get a little smarter in the subject.

Any information is appreciated!

Matt

This site has some interesting information, it's a Watch Forum...they even have a shaving section! LOL

Watch you seek is Watch you get! - Watchuseek

Big difference I found with this site is little to no interaction, it's OK to find information that you may be looking for, but I find response's are very lacking. They have sections for Tag, Rolex, Seiko all the various type of time pieces etc....hope this help.

I like mechanical watch's as well....

I used to, but now I prefer the low maintenance of the automatic watches. I used to have a small collection of Hamilton 992 Railroad watches. Carried one as my primary timepiece for a number of years. Great watches those, along with the 950s and the Illinois Bunn Special, Ball, and others. Can be a big hole to throw money in if it becomes an AD.

Timezone.com is the main watch site on the web. If you want to get into vintage mechanical you really need to know about watches. You could really be taken big time otherwise. Keep in mind the price of mechanical watches (Swiss) have pretty much doubled in the last 5 years or so making them beyond the reach of most folks. A new Swiss mechanical from a well known brand can cost 3-4 grand for the simple ones. Razors are dirt cheap compared to watches.

Complete price guide to watches is the bible when it comes to wrist and pocketwatches. It has a good primer in the beginning and is required reading if you want to get into watches.

If you don't mind German - have a look at some of their offerings. Not as dear as Swiss. I wear a Laco. It's not so expensive that you'll hate yourself for destroying it, and its not so cheap that you have to worry about damaging it doing daily activities. They start at about $500.00USD.

Good luck and good hunting - quality watches are works of art.

Thank you all for the quality responses. Lots of good places to start looking stuff up. I was including the automatics in my mechanical statement, but I guess I need to try and be more specific in my terminology. As far as pricing goes..... wow! I can buy a lot of razors with that much scratch! Just shows I need to know what in the heck im looking at.

Certainly there are bang for the buck brands. it's all a matter of what you want in a watch.

To be honest unless something really grabs my interest will probably start with something in the <1K range. Anything further will depend on how I enjoy the experience, research, and opportunity.

Originally Posted by MattCB

To be honest unless something really grabs my interest will probably start with something in the <1K range. Anything further will depend on how I enjoy the experience, research, and opportunity.

lol - if you budget 1K, you'll spend 15 hundred .

All joking aside, 1k is a great starting point. I would probably think of getting a Sinn (staying with my German theme). At least if I didn't keep moving forward with watches, I would know the Sinn would last a lifetime.

I have a Fossil and like it. Great return policy and good price.