The wrist watch.

[Trenchfriend]

I did a bicycle-round, today and looked into the shopwindows of my watchmaker in the neighboring town. She offers a nice classic automatic-watch. I didn't looked exactly, so, when I came home, I researched and it seems to be one of the actual Seiko "Presage" automatic. Very nice! Now, I'm thoughtful...

 

[handymike]

I'm pretty happy with my (new to me) 1960s diver:

 

[Trenchfriend]

@handymike
Very nice! Not the usual, average diver-stuff.

 

[handymike]

Yeah, I think these are referred to as "skindiver" watches. I like their simplicity, arrow hands, and thinner bezel.

 

[Trenchfriend]

First, I found the new Festina diver watches with the coloured silikon-straps interesting and their weight is still ok (109 grams). But yesterday, I finally saw them for real in department store and I was astonished and disappointed, because the look appears not less, but rather totally different than online! And although they are diver-watches, they are not easy to read! Nah, I prefer my old Festina F16170/4.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Nope, I was wrong. The nice automatic watch in the shopwindow of my watchmaker in the neighboring town is not the Seiko Presage, but a german Dugena Festa Klassik automatic.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I'm pretty happy with my (new to me) 1960s diver:
View attachment 130656

Nice one, Mike - that's a classic mid 60's style diver - most of them looked very similar to yours until Seiko came up with their cushion case.

Seiko's first diver looked like yours.




They ended up like this - I have always had a strong attraction to this one.

 

[Edward]

I'm wearing my current everyday watch (actually, the only watch I've worn for the past year or so) - an Invicta branded 'homage' to the Rolex Submariner. I replaced the metal bracelet with a nylon strap - I have several, and it's been fun switching them out for a different look every so often. It seems to run a fraction slow, being an automatic - I tend to find it loses two minutes every week to ten days, as against the clock on my phone, but that's the price I pay for feeling more comfortable with an automatic than a battery quartz. Not sure if it's my sedentary lifestyle is partly to do with it as well - or, conversely, the fact I never take a watch off in bed.

 

[Trenchfriend]

And that's the curious thing, that I didn't know about "regulating" an automatic watch until some days ago! I never heared the term over all the years.

 

[viclip]

I'm wearing my current everyday watch (actually, the only watch I've worn for the past year or so) - an Invicta branded 'homage' to the Rolex Submariner. I replaced the metal bracelet with a nylon strap - I have several, and it's been fun switching them out for a different look every so often. It seems to run a fraction slow, being an automatic - I tend to find it loses two minutes every week to ten days, as against the clock on my phone, but that's the price I pay for feeling more comfortable with an automatic than a battery quartz. Not sure if it's my sedentary lifestyle is partly to do with it as well - or, conversely, the fact I never take a watch off in bed.

In general, a watch that's running on the low end of the mainspring i.e. one that's less than optimally wound up, will tend to run fast. This is contrary to what you're observing. A watch maker can time your watch by adjusting its regulator to speed it up. Of course if the watch has begun losing time after being in service for a while, then it likely needs a clean & lube job.

Also it can't hurt to have the watch de-magnetized, most jewellers keep the equipment handy due to the great number of daily devices in use which can magnetize hairsprings, including cellphones & computer speakers. Normally a magnetized watch will tend to run fast however that's not always the case.

 

[ronbo]

Ok, what is the watch most here prefer? For the die hard purests of the 30's and 40's do you wear vintage time pieces? Or do you go with a battery powered modern look-alike?

I have seen a very strong 30's and 40's style revival in men's watches. However they are quite a bit larger in size then the originals. Today I guess men must feel that they have to strap on a school wall clock to their wrists to feel masculine.

I have a few nice wrist watches in my collection. I have to be careful to just have a few of these lovely guys seeing there is another whole world of collecting I could be consumed in!

I have one 1940 Bulova 15 jewel, a 1936 Bulova 14 Jewel and a 1933 Elgin 7 jewel. They keep very good time and if wound up right, could last almost two days long.

If you are one who wants to dress 100% vintage, a classic wrist or pocket watch is a must! Or, if you're just some one who loves good looking watches, they make great conversation pieces.

I'll post some photos of my watches soon, in the mean time, lets see some or hear about some of them.

Cheers,

Root.

I have a choice ...

 

[Trenchfriend]

@ronbo
The left is very cute!

 

[RIOT]

Casual Friday

 

[MarkStar]

Seiko "Orange Monster"

 

[Hats Matter]

I just came across this thread and it got me thinking about vintage watches. I may have to look into this. As for me, I have a Rolex Air King that I have had for about 30 years. It is reliable and I just had it serviced for the first time. I don't wear it often and I use it mostly when I am traveling on vacation. My everyday watch is a Rolex Date Just that I have had for about 10 years.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I surrounded a watch, some days ago, but didn't buy it. And after that, I realized, that it got no minute-index, additionally.
So now, I always watch first, if there's a minute-index!

 

[HanauMan]

Went thru some boxes in the attic and found my old British army G10 Swiss made watch. It is a quartz and I bought it back in the late 1980s and wore it for a long time afterwards (as its banged up condition so clearly shows!). The oval CWC logo was introduced in 1982, so it was made between then and 1987 / 88 when I bought it. It still has the original NATO wrist strap (much copied by premium watch makers).

 

[Trenchfriend]

@HanauMan
New ones are really nice, but yours with the "patina" is just great!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Just small anecdote:

At school, 7. grade , I wore a basic darkgrey Casio "Baby G" for a while, which I found on a bench, as far as I remember.
Not the worst, lightweight, nice display, but nothing, I would test again. Too bulky and typical low end plastic. The softener went out and the quartz movement seemed to be a cheaper one. I remember 20 seconds drift forward, after two weeks.

But don't know, if it was Casio or a fake, but the second isn't that implausible, when you think about the youth-circle and the 90s.
It was the mid-90s version of the today's "Baby G" BG-169R-8ER.

But nothing, I would prefer to Casio flagship "F91" black.

 

[HanauMan]

@HanauMan
New ones are really nice, but yours with the "patina" is just great!

Yes, all my watches end up like this as I'm not overprotective when wearing them. Even my Omega Speedmaster has scratches on the face and the bezel and the metal housing is marked thru wear. I don't treat my watches as investments or heirlooms and, in fact, I don't keep the paperwork or cases when I buy new ones. Even with my Omega, I didn't keep the paperwork and the leather box that it came in I removed the inners and use it as a trinket box.

I found my old watches while hunting around in my attic the other day, a collection of cheap watches spanning the mid 1970s - late 1990s. The only two watches I haven't kept, unfortunately, were my first childhood Timex windup kids watch and a Timex LED. They are all quartz with the exception of the black Timex (which was my second watch ever). That Seiko LCD is from 1982.