…. but one of the interesting aspects of this forum is that many of you are. I always read the watch threads with interest.

I wore beater Timexes for years, then no watch at all once I started carrying a cell phone. Recently I began to volunteer at the local animal shelter, walking dogs. I try to give each dog 20 minutes and I got tired of digging out my cell phone while Roscoe The Pit Bull pulled me around, so I got a 30 buck Timex. It works great and I still have it.

I found this Seiko at Goodwill for very short money. A new battery and it was good to go.

I fully realize showing off my Goodwill Seiko is like whipping out a Ruger Wrangler at a Colt Single Action party, but I like it. I kind of see what you watch guys are about.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Nice vintage Seiko! It was probably made in the 1970's, which speaks to the quality of their products.

A lot of higher end watch collectors have respect for and own Seiko's. I'm wearing one right now!

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"I also cook."

Seiko is too high falutin' for the likes of me. I am a Citizen man:

I AM a watch guy. I have several, and wear what I want depending on the circumstances.

For example, I have a diver's watch that I always wear on vacation, knowing that we will be in the hot tub or pool half of the time.

Years ago I bought a watch just to wear in the factory when I was working. Needed a cheap one and if it fell off in the machinery, no problem. What I have is a Timex with a 10 year battery and an expansion band. Not fancy, but it works. I have been retired for 8 years now and I only use it when working in the garden. The battery is still ticking, and to my amazement, it has not lost or gained a minute in the last 10 years.

I only have one , it was given to me by another member that I consider a very good friend . He sent me this along with some S&W belt buckles that I treasure greatly .

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I had that exact same watch and the battery gave out so I put it away in a drawer. There was a thread a few years back and I posted a picture of it, just to show I had some S&W merch. Another Forum member remarked something about his brother liked stuff like that and I gave it to him, sent it actually, and another pocket watch I got up at Lake Erie.
I had to do a double-take at your name! You're not him!

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There's a Monster on the loose

Whippin out my Ruger Wrangler made me spit my bourbon and ginger.

and i bet that phrase is commonly followed with

"yes its cute, now put it away dear and take out the trash"

I've started wearing watches after not doing so for some time after day, date, time, etc. became features on cellphones. I've got Seiko, Casio (including a Casio solar), Sportline heart rate, and a who knows what brand smart watch that cincs up to my phone and has more features than I want or can use.

My dad gave me a self-winding Seiko Chronograph for high school graduation in 1972. I still have it and it still looks and works great. I wore it for many, many years. Its only downside is that its HEAVY (you could hammer nails with the thing). This model currently trades for just north of $400 but I'll never sell mine!



These days I wear an Apple Watch.

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Alden
Guns N' Rosés

I love watches, and have two Seiko's, both automatics. I know most people reading this knows what that means, but I try to think of the wide variety of people in the audience on a forum. Automatic watches don't have batteries, they have a mechanism whereby the movement of your hand during the day keeps them wound. As long as you wear them constantly you never have to wind them.

My two Seiko's are an Alpinist, and my favorite, a Spring Drive Grand Seiko. I won't bore you with the details, but the Spring Drive combines the accuracy of quartz watches in a mechanical movement. Very interesting and innovative.

Since I retired, I don't wear a watch unless I'm leaving the cave, so the automatics have to be reset and wound before wearing them, it's easier to use a quartz Casio G Shock. The problem is replacing the battery here in the sticks. I've watched the videos on how to replace them yourself, but I reckon' not. I have one over 20 years old that's my shooting/kayaking watch. I may have to drive to the big city to get the battery replaced. Ugh.

I really like simple, hand wound watches with Arabic numerals the best. I know some people think it's not possible to get quality Chinese stuff, but I have two watches that fill that bill, one from the Beijing Watch Company, and the other from Seagull.

Sorry to prattle on, I don't get to talk watches very often.

There some who adore watches for their mechanical complexity, some who buy watches as an investment, some who buy to show off, and some who just need to tell the time accurately I am in the latter camp and couldn't be happier than I am with my Swiss Army quartz even if I owned a drawer full of Rolexes. BTW, there are some very high end Seiko watches made for those who have the cash to indulge themselves.. The "Grand Seiko" can run well into five figures. 7 Most Expensive Seiko Watches for Your Exclusive Collection

– Gnomon Watches

I am wearing a Seiko that my wife (at the time fiancé) bought me for Christmas 1980. Along with a Buck pocket knife. Both inscribed. Change the watch battery once a year or so. All good. I never stopped wearing a watch when the phones came along. I have other watches prob about 10 total but this one is my everyday. It survived 20 years in a police car. The knife rides perfectly in a watch pocket.

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My two daily watches are Citizen. I've had a Garrison military style for 20-25 years. Wore it every day to work and it looks like it now. Went through two of the original leather/canvas bands and decided on a old school metal expansion band like Dad wore. My going out watch is new, a Promaster Land radio controlled. Now that I have everything set proper on it I should never need to touch it again. It was fun watching it auto change the hour at Daylight Savings Time.

Also have some family pocket watches from my grandfather and a pocket watch of my own I bought when I could not get Grandad's running proper. Pic is missing my new one but shows the military style with original band. Top pocket watch is mine. Bottom two are Grandad's. He drove a CAT grader for many years.

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High School graduation, circa 1984. Where did the years go ?

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I’m the odd guy out here. I bought a Seiko last year and it died in less than three months. Went back to my old Timexes for a while, then got a $65 Invicta that has been great so far. Don’t think I’ll be buying any more Seikos.

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Everybody could shoot

The Invictas don't get much respect, but they are actually pretty good and well-made watches for the money, and nothing to be ashamed of. I have one of the diver-style Invicta Rolex knockoffs which looks good and has a decent Seiko autowind mechanical movement. I seldom wear it mainly because it is too large and clunky on my wrist. I prefer a smaller and thinner watch, also a quartz movement. I once had a Seiko 5 autowind watch which I wore for about 15 trouble-free years.

That is an awesome line.

Here's my fancy watch, It's a Seiko Quarts Chronograph 7A28-7029 with a 7A28 movement, the RAF uses that movement in their issued watches. It's from 1984. It's actually my second, long story.
I wear a small quarts analog on an RAF band daily, but get out the Seiko for barbeques.

The first one cost me $279 in 1984.

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SWCA #2817

I've never owned a fancy watch. When I was younger, I carried a pocket watch. The kind you could get in a country store off a cardboard display for about a buck. The I went to a Timex wrist watch that didn't cost much more. Then various and sundray cheap digital watches over the years. Use them until the battery went dead, throw it away and buy a new one.

I used to laugh at the kids I worked my last security job with. They didn't wear watches, just used their cell phones for everything. Then my last watch died, and I joined their crowd. I've never replaced my last watch.

But my wife. She wouldn't be without one. She had a ruptured aneurysm in her brain about 15 years ago now, and she can never remember what day it is. Her cheap didital watch is her lifeline. The first thing she does in the morning is grab it and check the day/date. I don't even know what brand it is, and she doesn't care. As long as it tells her the day, the date and the time. Her cell phone does the same thing, but she's used to the watch.

You fellows have some beauties though. I admire them from afar.

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John 3:16 .

Got one in stainless that I gave to my oldest son a couple of years ago.
I've been wearing Seiko 007 dive watches since 1989.

My favorite Seiko
Sportura Retrograde Flyback 1\100 sec Chronograph

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

I was never one to wear a wrist watch, I had a cheap pocket watch I would take with me if I really needed to know what time it was.

My everyday watch is a Citizen Diver. Although digging through my watch drawer I did fine a few Seiko's and Hamilton's, including my old military Hamilton. I was charged $10.50 for "losing" this watch when I was turning in my gear for the last time. I still think it was worth it ;-D. I have one Vantage calendar watch, a brand I never heard of before.

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I used to be a watch guy and still have some nice mechanicals, but I haven't worn them since I got an Apple watch. Periodically if I'm in a mechanical frame of mind I use the GMT face.

An explanation of the Seiko spring drive movement previously mentioned. Essentially it's a hybrid of mechanical and quartz movements. Seiko Spring Drive: The Advanced Art of Watchmaking

Not cheap, new spring drive watches start at around $5K and go way up from there. Used ones are about half that. In the extremely unlikely event I got the urge to buy a high-end wristwatch, that is the one I would select.

I also was a Timex guy, my last one I got when my father won a shopping spree when they opened the new BX on Malmstrom AFB. The timex died on duty when I was in the Border Patrol, I literally sweated so much it quit, probably salted the innards. I bought Seiko Sports battery quartz in about 1985 for the princely sum of about $125, the most I had ever spent on a watch. It's on my wrist right now, minus the original band, it now sports a spiedel twist o flex, and survived my 1st marriage and rough treatment in the Border Patrol. I have a Citizen eco drive, a couple of pocket watches, but this old Seiko is like the proverbial old Timex, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. I did find a ladies Seiko a few years ago in the Goodwill for like 3 bucks, but a battery in it and gave it to my niece when she finished college, she likes "retro" things, she was pretty happy. Nice watch btw...

with my sweat and body chemistry, i kill watches better then Ted Bundy killed waitresses and nurses.

Even so called "swimming watches" go belly up

I worked around machinery so jewelry, wrist watches and ties were taboo. I carried a $1.00 Bulldog pocket watch. It was accurate within two minutes. Now if I'm asked the time, I look up and it's either daytime or nighttime.

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Mike Maher #283

I do wear a Tag Heuer diver, but my dressier watch is a Citizen
Eco drive. That solar powered Citizen keeps identical accuracy to my Tag.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I bought a Railroad approved Seiko in 1980 & other than batteries it was in the shop twice for a repair. Both times it had been hit or dropped so hard that once, the second hand was bent enough to impede movement & the other was when the face was knocked loose.
It finally gave up for good after 35 years & was definitely replaced with another Seiko.

Oh! I almost forgot. I had a job once that required me to keep a pretty close eye on the correct time & I had the US atomic clock on speed dial. That doggone watch "might" be off about 3 seconds in 2 months.I thought that was pretty neat.

The most attractive thing about quartz movements is their phenomenal precision as timekeepers. With my oft-mentioned Swiss Army watch, it gains between one and two seconds per month. I never need to change it except when going from CST to DST and back or to replace the battery every few years.

Regarding Timex watches, I have never owned one, but my wife has owned several. Her current one is six years old. All have been very dependable. However, I do have a Timex expansion band on my Swiss Army. It dates back at least ten years, never had anything go wrong with it. Would recommend Timex expansion watchbands with no reservations.

For those interested, Timex does offer some expensive Swiss-made watches in their line going up to around $1000. Some unusual Timex watches on the used market can go well beyond that. Apparently there must be some Timex classic watch collectors who are willing to pay such prices.

I loved em when I was young but after ruining a few at work I lost interest. I have a few that were my dads including a pocket watch I gave him 50 yrs ago. FB has been feeding me watch ads ever since I looked at a Timex lol. I may just buy that one.
This thread brought back a long forgotten memory of a pocket watch given to me by an uncle for Christmas in my early teens. Ray was a great guy. Grew up in an orphanage in DC,Married my immigrant aunt in the early 40s,was drafted and then trained with the 10 mtn division in Colorado before shipping out to the South Pacific. A quiet and kind man who drank too much after all of that.

At 87 I've been thru a number of watches including my first, an OMEGA Seamaster, which I still own, but needs an overhaul. I have had battery, auto wind (SEIKOs), solar, and solar/auto everything (CASIO). Each a step up in accuracy and use. Then had triple bypass in 2018 and got a FITBIT Versa 2. A lot of inf on heart rate, sleep, walking, etc., and a lot I d'ont use. Downside is charging every few days and no second hand. Updates on time and time zones easy. Not as fancy as a SEIKO etc., but I am a happy camper with it.

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TOMBECK

Seikos are great. I own a couple, one is a really thin dress watch and the other a chronograph with moon phase dial. Both were purchased back in the mid-1980's.

As other have mentioned the Grand Seiko Spring Drive watches have an unique movement and can be found with some very attractive dials. I can't really justify the purchase of an expensive watch at this point as I hardly wear the ones I have, but if I ever do it will likely be one of these. It has a titanium case and bracelet which makes wearability quite nice.

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I bought a Seiko in the PX, not long after graduation from Basic Training. Reason was because when my Dad came home from Vietnam he was wearing a new Seiko, and I thought, at the time, that it was the neatest watch I had ever seen.

Today I normally wear an Omega Speedy Pro, but also have Hamilton and Tag watches, along with a couple of Citizen Eco-Drives. I even have one of those Invicta divers with teh Seiko auto movement that DWalt spoke of.

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Only a cold warrior

Have “ several” old worn out old watches from over the years. Just found an excellent watch repairman. Old EU gentleman here in Fl. He just rebuilt/ repaired one WWII US watch and my Dads watch he wore in Italy in WWII. Have had this watch to several other so called watch repair shops over the years and all told me, its an expensive watch, can not get parts ECT blah blah. This gentleman made a part or 2 and charged $299. He is working on my WWII US Aviation watch and expect a call in a week . Got tired of looking at cell phone so bought a new self winding Seiko about month ago and very happy.

Have never owned a mechanical watch that was worth the cost of getting it serviced when it started to give problems. As I am not into high end watches, it makes more sense, at least to me, to replace with a new lower end watch that catches my eye.

I’m a Luminox man myself. I recently retired my 2005 chrono after the tritium lamps had faded and picked up this orange faced one on the fleabay for about $250, IIRC. To me, it’s reminiscent of a Doxa diver, which I couldn’t justify the cost of…but would love to have. Another unaffordable one I really like is a Ball Engineer.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

I miss my old swatch watch. Swiss. Black plastic quartz. About $30 in the early 80s. Very light. Very thin. Very accurate. Analog. Used to wear it swimming. No issues at all. Battery powered.

It eventually broke; stopped running. After 15 years or so. Maybe 20. So far as I know, it is not repairable. Solid plastic, other than the battery compartment.

I liked that watch.

$25 on eBay with $5 shipping. Not too often one can pay the same price for the same item 40 years on:

I have a few watches, nothing fancy. An early 60s Bulova radium dial, an old Timex, one of the Pulsars like was previously shown, and a Rolex that was clearly made in China. It keeps time though.

I wear a Samsung watch nowadays. I feel like Dick Tracey when I make a phone call or text on it......

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Even older, even crankier....

"I miss my old swatch watch"

The Swatch Group is the world's largest watch manufacturer, owning complete brands, as well as supplying parts to many companies.

My Glycine watch has a Swatch ETA movement.

The Swatch Group - Wikipedia

Those old Chinese made Rorex's are getting valuable.....

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Forum consigliere

Been wearing Seiko automatic Dive watches since 1989.

Also have one of their Solar powered dive watches.

The Timex factory in Little Rock was within walking distance from my hangar. In fact, we used to go to the factory cafeteria (for the factory workers) about once a week. Pretty good food. I wore a Seiko for years but bought a Fortis as a retirement gift to myself.

Found this while walking a mall today

In the nearby mall, the Macy's store has an Armani boutique with all of the Armani men's sportswear and accessories, including those watches.They look nice and are fairly low priced. I guess you could call them fashion watches. I know nothing about them, but I think they all have quartz movements.

I have a couple Plain-Jane Gruen automatics - one was my Dad’s. Had both checked out, tuned up by a watchsmith and wear one or the other pretty constantly. Will look for an auto-watch-winder when the urge hits. Also am known to carry one of several pocket watches that grace my watch-and-stuff-drawer.

I have a few. My favorite everyday is a 2023-vintage Citizen Eco-Drive Divers 200 with a NATO Edge heavy nylon strap.

Citizen Diver.jpg

Here's is the rest of the collection. None are worth over $300; I don't buy Rolex or premium stuff. From left to right top row are an Air Force Marathon aviator (milspec), a Marathon Marine Aviator (milspec), and a first generation Citizen Eco-Drive Diver 200 (2001 vintage). On the bottom row left to right, a Timex Expedition, a Seiko Divers Automatic, and a Vostok (Russian) Komandirskie (commander). All these watches are functional and keep good time. The Marathons are the most accurate, although the Citizen Eco-Drive watches come close.

Collection.jpg