Thread: What types of watches do you like?

If your connected to the NAWCC,Compitant watchmakers are easy to find and any watch can be repaired.
Parts abound,is no problem finding parts for any watch.
The great vintage watchs do not wear out,granted,you might break a balance staff,any compitant watchmaker can easily make a new one.
mainsprings for any watch ever made are standard as are jewels and winding stems,hands and crystals.
Just like in the early 80s when the price of gold spiked and today.Go to any major watch show and you will find thousands of watch movements because the melt wgt of a gold or platinum case is worth more than the complete watch in many cases.
Am not ETA bashing at all,some of the olds marks that take and modify an ETA ebauche do a fine job and make a reliable watch today.
Just Like rolex did with Valjoux 72s and Zenith mvmts back in the day.
What erks me is to see a great old maker in name only,sell a Chrono with a 7750 stock standard mvmt for thousands of dollors.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

If your connected to the NAWCC,Compitant watchmakers are easy to find and any watch can be repaired.
Parts abound,is no problem finding parts for any watch.
The great vintage watchs do not wear out,granted,you might break a balance staff,any compitant watchmaker can easily make a new one.
mainsprings for any watch ever made are standard as are jewels and winding stems,hands and crystals.
Just like in the early 80s when the price of gold spiked and today.Go to any major watch show and you will find thousands of watch movements because the melt wgt of a gold or platinum case is worth more than the complete watch in many cases.
Am not ETA bashing at all,some of the olds marks that take and modify an ETA ebauche do a fine job and make a reliable watch today.
Just Like rolex did with Valjoux 72s and Zenith mvmts back in the day.
What erks me is to see a great old maker in name only,sell a Chrono with a 7750 stock standard mvmt for thousands of dollors.

yes, technically any watch can be repaired-practically no.

I have a pocketwatch from the 18th century. It needs work, no one will repair it and if I could find someone to work on it the parts would have to be custom made and it would cost 10x what the watch is worth.

Ever try and contact some of those NAWCC repairers? Most are so backed up they will turn you down and if they accept you'll wait months to get the watch back. Most people who call themselves watch repairers don't have a clue. Send in a quality watch and you'll get back a watch that will never run the same again. They are watch repairers like the folks who call themselves barbers and give you a shave with a disposable razor and you walk out of the shop with a crummy shave. The recent history of watchmaking and barbering parallels very closely.

Even if you send a watch back to factory authorized service there is a 50-50 chance they will do garbage work. I've been collecting and buying and selling watches for years and I could tell you stories about service at some of the higher end watch outfits. You know Omega has such a bad reputation it's recommended you send the watch back to the factory in Switzerland for service.

If you have someone competent nearby you are very lucky. I used to have someone but he recently retired as most of the competent guys are getting up there in age. I like in a city of 400,000+ and I have one competent watch repairer in it.

Guess it boils down to who you know.My wrist guy is on the high side of 80,you never call him,he will call you when the watch is ready,I oft times worry that he will check out and I will never see the watch again.
My pocket and Chelsea/Howard ships clocks guy is 79 (I re-silver all his dials and do the case work) he is darn near blind.
Both do not work for the money,is done out of the love of the craft.

Servicing or repairing watches that costs in the thousands of Dollar range, should not be left to just any shop with a set of tools and a loupe.

For my watches, I will always use an authorized repair-center that knows my particular models and makes.
The last time I went in for a warranty claim on one of mine, they admitted to not having trained personell for that excact mvmt, so they offered to send it out to the factory in Switzerland.
At their cost.

Anything less than this kind of service is simply not acceptable for watches in the price range we are discussing here.
It took about 5 weeks before it was returned to me, but at least I know the mvmt was replaced at the factory.
And sure enough, it has been showing proper time since then.

My FIL brought over some goodies the other night.......He is a dumpster diver and always has cool stuff to bring over...Ammo, fishing gear, gun stuff, old books etc. Well he came in the door the other night and had a box in his hand with a watch on top of it. The box was a Magpul box for the 870 modular buttstock and the watch was a Traser H3 branded Smith & Wesson. He said I tried to pry the back off (lightly I might add) and couldn't get it off to change the battery. The strap was broken too. Well I promptly went to the Walgreen's and got a 371 for it and put it in, after unscrewing the back. Slipped a NATO band through the springbars and BOOM! Gotta new watch. The lume in the Tritium is quite weak, but the battery life of the 371 is 45 months so I will have a decent kickin' around watch for shooting/hunting/fishing/woods bumming. Snugged the back up nicely when I put her all back together. I think the O ring is still good, won't be swimming in ol girl till I get it checked though. Overall the watch is in excellent shape. I would rate it at 90%. After all the watch goodness I went to look at the Magpul stock and much to my surprise it was the factory Remington stock in there.......No bother. I promptly went and got my old Wingmaster (Frankenstein because it is a mixmaster of parts) and un bolted the old wooden Express buttstock off of it and put on the black Factory Remington part. Now I have a black buttstock and black Speedfeed pump handle on a parkerized oooollllddddd Wingmaster that keeps right on going and going and going......

I like single-use, and strongly dislike the "Swiss Army Knife"-style.

• Corkscrew? Yes! Corkscrew-bottle/can_opener? No!
• "Church key"? Yes! Yes! Yes!
• Case folding pocket-knife? Yes! Swiss Army Knife? No!

With that in mind, I like analog/analog-style (hour/minute/second hands), and will.not.wear any digital wrist-watch. No built-in calculator or calendar, no annoying alarms or user-configurable sounds, no lighted dial. As Bill Clinton once said...

My current wrist-watch, which I'm wearing since 2005, is a Victorinox Swiss Army Cavalry (model #24529):

Originally Posted by JBHoren

I like single-use, and strongly dislike the "Swiss Army Knife"-style.

• Corkscrew? Yes! Corkscrew-bottle/can_opener? No!
• "Church key"? Yes! Yes! Yes!
• Case folding pocket-knife? Yes! Swiss Army Knife? No!

With that in mind, I like analog/analog-style (hour/minute/second hands), and will.not.wear any digital wrist-watch. No built-in calculator or calendar, no annoying alarms or user-configurable sounds, no lighted dial. As Bill Clinton once said...

My current wrist-watch, which I'm wearing since 2005, is a Victorinox Swiss Army Cavalry (model #24529):

Then you would love the Hamilton khaki series which is modeled after the WWll watches worn by the troops. It comes in various sizes. I have the 34mm. It looks very much like yours above just a dark green face. I suspect the same mvmt an ETA 2801 or 03 as I recall.

Let us get back on track and share our passion for "What kind of watches do you like?"

A couple of my oldish watches.

The Waltham pocket watch was presented to my Grandfather on the 16th September 1919 and inscribed on the back is:- "As a token of esteem by his Morwell Friends", in recognition for his work as the local doctor. I have just had it serviced which included replacing the spring and now keeps perfect time.

The Tudor Ball Watch was given to my wife by my mother two weeks before she passed away on this day last year. I was with my parents in Geneva Switzerland in 1958 when Dad bought it for her. Naturally, today was a good day to remember it. Also serviced and runs like a charm. On the same day my Dad bought himself a Rolex Oyster which he lost overboard whilst reeling in a large fish about 20 years ago. I saw it go overboard!

The last watch is my dress watch, a Longines La Grande Classique which is only about 15 years old and hardly ever worn.



Have a pleasant day thinking about watches you like!

Sunbird

Well... I just bought one today!! A new watch that is. Woot! My first German watch.

Seemingly like all things in my life, my purchase didn't turn out as I thought it would. I really wanted to get the 36mm Laco Navy seen below with full face lum... I love the look of that thing!!





But I got such a great deal on the Vintage Pilot seen below, I just had to get it. I really like Laco's if for no other reason than their history. They are literally one of three company's that were tasked with providing watches to the German Army in WWII, and I believe have been making watches since 1925.

Here is a link to the co. if the watches peak your interest: https://shop.laco.de/en/index.html?x...8etaa3r7trmtf5

These are my "Tool" watches . Sinn a great german brand.
Top is my UTC bottom is my Diver.