Cajun's thread on Rolex got me thinking. I'd like to have a nice Swiss watch of some sort. I DO have a 42 year old Omega automatic that was my grandfather's retirement watch, but I only wear it occasionally. Most days, I wear one of two Citizen Eco Drives. I bought my girlfriend a Tissot for her birthday last year, and I was pretty impressed with their line. I really cannot afford a Rolex, as much as I'd like to have one. I like watches for their fine craftsmanship and function, not as a status symbol. I feel like most of the watch gurus on this board feel the same; it's much like a fine S&W revolver in that respect. Any recommendations for something that won't absolutely break the bank. I'd like something nice for daily wear, and I tend to like the automatics versus battery watches.

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MARK

I do have a Rolex, but the watch I had just prior to that was a Tag Heuer. It was under $1,000 bucks, keeps perfect time, and never leaks under water. It is a great looking watch, quite durable and is a very respectable timepiece. The Tag is now 26 years old and spends its time on my son's wrist now that I gave it to him. Other than a battery change once every so often and a cleaning, the watch has been 100% perfect. I would highly recommend a Tag.

Chief38

Don't know what your definition of "breaking the bank" is, but both of my suggestions are "lifetime" watches that you'll hand down to your grandkids, and at each of their pricepoints represent VERY good values for what you get. Note that if you buy used, I HIGHLY recommended getting it from a respectable dealer or private seller on one of the big watch forums (e.g. WatchUSeek) -- avoid eBay unless you really know your stuff, as fakes abound.

Under $600, and the best value in a quality watch at any price range:
Seiko SBDC001 (black) or -003 (blue) -- aka the "Sumo"
SBDC001 SBDC003 SBDC005 AUTOMATIC 200M DIVER


Under $3000 new, or ~$1800 used: Omega Seamaster 300m
2220.80 Omega Seamaster 300m Mens Watch

Certinas are very nice, I have three of them. Cannot fault Tissot either, have their PRC200 chronograph. I have an ancient, 1980s, Tag Heuer, too, but their current line-up does not impress me. Omega and Rolex are out of my price range, cannot justify paying thousands of dollars for a single watch.

In quartz watches the differences are in design and exterior finish. The mechanism itself is standard, usually worth $10-$50, for chronographs can be up to $100. Choose a quartz watch according to your taste, because there are practically no differences in reliability.

As to mechanical watches, there you are definitely buying a brand or image. They cannot even touch quartz watches when it comes to accuracy and reliability and ease of ownership.

What is interesting is that the Chinese are just about getting ahead of the Swiss in quality of mechanical watches. The Swiss will be having big trouble in the near future when most people start to realize that many Chinese watches have as good or better quality for a fraction of the cost.

The Japanese have their own universe of watches. Impeccable quality and very high tech. I like especially the Casio G-Shock line, Citizen and Casio atomic watches, Seiko automatic divers. When a wear a Japanese watch I feel like a have team of the brightest engineers with me.

Sasu-

Do Finnish stores stock most watch brands available in the USA and western Europe in general? (As far as you know.)

Sounds like you have pretty much what we do here, with Japanese brands challenging traditional Swiss marques. ( I see watch ads in UK and some Euro magazines, but none from Finland. Not many Finns settled in Texas, I guess.)

You may be ahead of us on the Chinese stuff. The rep they have here is just for cheap replicas, as far as I've heard.

I buy my watches online, the Finnish shops do not have anything interesting and if they have, the prices are exorbitant.

The best Chinese watches already rival the Swiss, but of course there is a lot of cheap Chinese replica watches, too.

I love my Omega Seamaster Automatic chronometer. Next is DEFINITELY a Tissot Seastar Auto for @ $600-$700 on E-Buyitnow or Amazon. Steel band and a black face with white and blue hands. There is a black rubber banded one with orange numbers on the face that is striking also. Can be had for @ $600 shipped. If you want a great watch for peanuts, look at the Invicta Autos. I have a 18k gold Pro Ocean Ghost (automatic) with a blue/purple face for @ $200. I may even sell it.............??

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Go big or stay home

I have owned 3 watch's since 1963. Omega Seamaster, Rolex Date-just, and Tag Heuer. The Omega lasted me about 7 years, seal went and got a lot of moisture inside, got it cleaned and sold it. The Rolex lasted about 35 years, and was still O.K. but needed in excess of $1000 work to bring it up to snuff, so I traded it off even up for a Tag Heuer diver with 18K bezel. I still wear the Tag.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Jframe, how about get a refurb on your grandfather's Omega? Probably cost as much as a nice new automatic, but would be more meaningful, I should think.

Funny about watches.....I have a Brietling($300 to get batt.& cleaned)...new Brietling rubber dive band $125...watch sits in a dresser.I wear a Casio now,split time ,alarms,world times etc.If my batt.goes $5 gets me a new one.Regardless of having all the extras....a watch is supposed to tell time...that all!Only pluses I see with a ROLEX,showing it off & if you need $$$ a jeweler will always buy it!Don't even talk to me about it being able to take a beating,Casio G shock is in a class by itself! Years ago SEALS were issued ROLEXS now they are issued Casio Gshocks!
Jim

I still haven't fixed my Concord. Still wearing a Casio G shock myself. It tells me what time it is. If you have to have a Swiss watch, I remember Ebel not costing too much.

I wear a Tag Heuer stainless aquaracer. The MSRP a couple of years ago was $1400, so I assume they may have gone up. At the time most jewelers offered a 20% discount. I would buy another one.

Recommending a fine Swiss watch is a lot like recommending a good firearm without knowing your likes and needs it's going to be downright impossible to get it right.

What style do you like?? Do you want a diver with 200 meter water resistance that looks like a Rolex such as a Debeufre O1? A infantry style like a Marathon SAR or Sinn U2 or more traditional Hamilton Khaki Field. A Pilot watch like the IWC Big Pilot or Tutima Classic Flieger. Something big and flashy like an Invicta Sub-AquaNoma. Something elegant like a Breuget or RGM?

I recommend you go to one of the watch forums and brose through a few of the "Watch your wearing" threads to get a feel for the vast array of choices. Us watch guys love to take pictures of our watches.

All the following watches are Swiss Automatics and were purchases for less than $200 from either Ebay or folks on watch forums.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

Rorex??????

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Forum consigliere

I'm drawn to watches like the Steve McQueen Monaco Tag with the square body, and to diver's watches with the luminous dials that I can read in the dark. I'm not really a water person, but I hate taking off that Omega when I wash my hands, just because I don't want it to get wet. Great suggestions, all! Keep 'em coming, and I love the pictures!

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MARK

The Panerai Luminor Marina is sort of square, they call it a cushion case and is a very cool one of a kind watch. Watch guys will know what it is from across the room.

Officine Panerai - Laboratorio di Idee

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

All this watch talk piqued my curiosity about the watch I've held kept, even in nonworking order, out of sentimental value.

While it's not a Rolex, I'm pretty surprised. My stepdad gave it to me when I was about 15. Shortly before I married, the band broke so I put it in a catch all box and it ran down.

I thought I had lost it forever, and imagine my surprise when it showed up here at the house (20+ years and 7 moves later) shortly after my stepdad died. Weird!

So, I looked it up. I never thought that it was worth having the band replaced. It is, but not by much, but still worth more than just a girl's memories

It's a black and gold Swiss made Gucci 3001L.

I am happy to find it because all the ladies watches I can find now either rival a man's watch in size or look like something someone named Peony would wear.

I think I should go back to wearing a watch. I haven't in over 20 years. I've tried, but they all tended to go wonky within about 24 hours of wear. Cheap ones, digital, analog, expensive...so I am not sure. DOes anyone else watches act crazy when they try to wear them? My car radio clocks have never kept time reliably either.

Sorry for the thread drift. Let us know what you choose.

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Soli Deo Gloria

As I mentioned in another thread, I have a Breitling Chronomat. It's worn almost daily, and keeps great time. The Breitlings are a bit less costly than Rolexes, but they're equal in quality (IMHO).

For pure utility, a Seiko diver's watch is tough to beat. I'm still mulling over a few of their models.

I own several Seiko quartz watches, and they're a lot of watch for the money. I still have an old SQ4004 (1976). It needs to go in for a CLA, but it runs great. I like the older Seiko 7T34 Pilot chronographs, and I just picked one up for the princely sum of $110. The watch has hardly been worn. The 7T62's are also good timepieces; a bit heavier than the 7T34, but still as durable.

I'm a bit anachronistic, I guess. Wristwatches are going the way of the pocket watch, but they do float my boat.

One of the interesting, to me anyway, things I learned when I was lightly researching American railroad watches is that in the late 19th and early 20th century American railroad watches were pretty much the best production time pieces in the world. The Swiss were making the inferior copies in those days....

The requirement for a railroad watches was +- 30 secs a week, with many doing better. The need for accuracy was driven by the need to avoid having trains run into each other head on, as happened if watches were inaccurate, on the single line tracks then prevelant. (Trains would pull off onto a spur at the proper time to let the other train pass through.)

I think the pleasure of owning a good mechanical watch is not that it keeps perfect time, like an inexpensive quartz watch or a cell phone, but in that they are intricate, little, mechanical wonders of craftsmanship. Somehow, there is an appeal in that that for some people, like me, goes way beyond simple accurate time keeping.

If you have a tendency to abuse your watch I would suggest a Sinn U1 or U2, bboth sell for under 2G. Tough as nails good swiss auto movement, made in Germany and only watch I ever saw that survived being run over by a car.....They are serviced by RGM in Lancaster Pa. but must be bought on Sinn web site unless you can find one used...Tougher than a Marine DI....Need I say more......Been a watch nut my whole life, tried them all even Rolex when prices were with in reason..........Sadley any more, a good repeat good Quartz can keep better time than any auto I have ever had including Rolex...

Some Sinn models use diamond bearing surfaces, or whatever they are called in a watch. Rubies are the most common. The diamond models require no maintainance or oiling, so consider a savings of a 3-600 dollar cost of an oil change every few years.

I love my Swiss mechanical watches too, including a Tissot with the 7750 Valjoux chrono. If I ever need to time boiled eggs, I'm ready. Last year I picked up a Citizen Skyhawk Titanium and put on a Luminox NATO band to drop the weight further. Charges and sets itself. I liked the concept so much I got a Casio that does the same thing for work.

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9tenz

I own a Hamilton 992, made in 1911. It was cared for by my grandfather, who was the second owner, and now me. I've had it CLA'd twice, and I'm marveled at how accurate a timepiece it is.

Had a Rolex for almost 40 years. Bought in europe paid $412 now the dang thing is worth $4,000 + on the used market and I'm a little reluctant to wear it. My son has dibbs on this one. Bought an Omega Seamaster several years ago great watch. This is my most days wearer. If I'm outside working on stuff or on the farm, wear a Seiko 5 sports. Good movement for about 150. All are mechanical...love a little ticker on the wrist that never needs a battery.

Lots of good watches to choose from, like a good gun..find one that YOU like and go for it. Good watch and a good gun should make you smile ...fine craftsmanship that you own.

the only watch i ever owned tha BROKE was a gold Rolex. I wore an Omega Seamaster GMT for years and it was a great watch--until i got mt Ball Engineer Hydrcarbon GMT--game over! Rugged to thosands of g-forces, waterproof, and uses Tritium vials for bright reading at night. what good is a watch you can only read in daylight, or until the phosphor dims?

that's my vote, and if i lose it ill buy another.

Tim

When I was spending insurance money the only Seiko I could find in stock was a 7T94. Ok for a lower end model.

A woman who can stop a clock, I've only heard of such things we need a larger avatar!

A good Hamilton, Ball, Illinois or American Waltham is my ticket.

If a watch doesn't have a chain on it, I have no need of it.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

Practically all mechanical watches have jewels for bearings, otherwise they would not last long. The watch mechanism has to be cleaned periodically and thickened, dirty oil has to be replaced with fresh one. Even quartz watches need maintenance, i.e. cleaning and oiling, every 5-10 years.

If someone bought one of those automatic Seiko dive watches, who services them in the USA, and what does cleaning and other basic maint. cost? It would seem that the degree of work would parallel what has to be done to a Rolex.

I have a couple of Seiko quartz watches, one since about 1983. It has had no work done, but I did get the battery-change place to check the seals, which were okay. It is a Sport 150 model, good to 150 meters underwater.

It is a good watch, but the quality is clearly not on par with the case and screw thingy that you use to change and set the time on my TAG-Heuer 2000. What is that part called? The crown? The TAG is simply better made, as one would expect from the respective prices . I probably paid about $200 for the Seiko circa 1983. It was one of their better watches. The TAG cost $895 in about 1999-2000. Equivalent TAGs are now much more. Watch prices have advanced as much or more than gun prices.

If you have the time, (no pun intended) look at this site
BALL Watch Mechanical Timepieces: Swiss Made, American Owned

The large version of that picture is on my Facebook. Along with many others from the not so flattering to the absurd.

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Soli Deo Gloria

The Sinn Diapal models have greatly increased intervals between services, due to the use of alternative materials and the ability to avoid oil altogether in some components.

Sinn Uhren: DIAPAL

I had my Seiko service by Golden Isle watch repair in Brunswick Ga,this came about after reading the Seiko Forum. Service was fast. You can do a search for him or look for a repair shop a little closer