The Endangered Wrist Watch
- Thread starter BE Mike
- Start date
J. R. WEEMS
Member
Mike- Could be. I stopped wearing one when I retired. I don't like being reminded of how little time I have left.
Got a Patek Phillipe on 42nd St for 25 bucks. 
AZTim
US Veteran
Like many here, I appreciate and enjoy a fine wristwatch. Due to the very modest working class family I was fortunate enough to be raised in, having something nice wasn't in the picture. Shortly after I married my wife of now 33 years, my Father-In-Law died much too young at 57. Ed was a Senior VP at Movado in New York City and I inherited several of his watches. A couple of Movados, but his Omega DeVille is the watch I wore daily for the next 25 or so years. A few years ago when I had a good year at work on stock options, I splurged on myself (one and only time in life so far) and bought an Omega Planet Ocean, which I now wear daily. Sure quartz watches are more accurate, but in the world I live in it doesn't really matter if it's 6:13 or 6:14, so I'm certain I will always opt for a fine mechanical watch.
BuckeyeChuck
Member
What I was able to find was a little-known watch called Momentum SLK by the St. Moritz watch company in Vancouver, B.C. It was designed as a digital dive watch with a Sapphire crystal waterproof to 10 atmospheres, and it was available with a solid Titanium case and wrist band. Turns out it is "Buck-sweat" resistant - I've worn it for over three years with absolutely no corrosion of the metal surfaces at all. And it cost less than $200. It was a perfect match for my needs, and it only took me 60+ years to find it.
When I purchased my Skyhawk, the only question was "to titanium or not to titanium?" In the 1970's I had a poster from the recently-opened and nearby USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson. On that poster was the XB-70, one of the meanest-looking monsters every to grace any military prototyping program. (To this day, when I go to the museum I spend significant time just standing under the XB-70 and admiring it.) It was made of titanium, which at the time might as well have been called "unobtainium". Now I wear a watch made of the same metal, boosting my personal "coolness coefficient" much closer to a perfect 1.0.
I had a business interview with a potential client a couple years ago. The man with whom I was chatting noticed the Skyhawk and then removed his watch to show me an identical model. Well, it only looked identical until I picked it up. It was significantly heavier because his was made of stainless steel. I handed him mine and he was shocked at the weight difference.
Titanium is like a miracle metal. You can't possibly hurt it with sweat, that's for sure.
Frizzman
US Veteran
I have worn a wristwatch since my folks gave me a Timex around 50 years ago. I have never had a Rolex or Omega or other ultra expensive watch but I would like to have one if someone wanted to give me one...not bloody likely! Since I am retired from public service and have a daughter at university, its rather unlikely that I will ever have such a toy. My best watch is a Citizen Eco Drive Skyhawk that my wife gave me a few years ago. It has kept time perfectly. I don't really use the other features on it. MY wife picked it out because she thought I would like all the dials and etc on it. I have another Eco Drive and a Timex Expedition.
I don't feel fully dressed without a watch. I never think to look at my cell phone for the time. I rarely need to be anywhere at a specific time anymore. I guess I am a geezer now and set in my ways. I always wear a hat or cap when I go out. I don't have any tattoos or ear jewelry. I wouldn't get caught dead out wearing flipflops or old sweats in public. My father was career military and I learned that a man had a shave and a haircut and wore watch when he was properly attired...
I don't feel fully dressed without a watch. I never think to look at my cell phone for the time. I rarely need to be anywhere at a specific time anymore. I guess I am a geezer now and set in my ways. I always wear a hat or cap when I go out. I don't have any tattoos or ear jewelry. I wouldn't get caught dead out wearing flipflops or old sweats in public. My father was career military and I learned that a man had a shave and a haircut and wore watch when he was properly attired...
victorylarry
Member
I haven't seen anyone mention Suunto sport watches. I first heard of them a few years back after talking with a special forces major on his way back from the Afgan theater. He was wearing a Suunto Vector which has time, baromoter, altimiter, compass etc. Made in Finland, not cheap but not to expensive ($200 up). Great for working out, running, range, and excellent for hiking in altitude to calculate vertical distance. Fairly indestructible if you replace the battery AND gasket. Kind of large, so hope you better like a big display.
With rare exception, I have not worn a watch in the 4 years since I retired. l "lived by the clock" for almost 40 years and was tired of it. I have a good Seiko that I got in Long Binh back in 69, but it seems heavy. I now have a Timex that I wear when I fly so I know "how much longer till we get there?"
I wear a Seiko Chronograph 7t32-7f09 that my wife purchased for me almost 13 years ago. Battery, seals and crystal replaced by Golden Isles in Ga. and she runs just like the day I acquired it.I have a Timex Indiglo as a back up. I feel naked without a watch and because of my job I need one with a second hand
DeathGrip
US Veteran
Some here might remember the genius of Frank Zappa.Some how he used a wrist watch as a measuring device.
Erich
Member
Within a couple of days of starting to carry a cell phone with me, I chucked the wrist watch and never looked back. I wonder how many pounds of carry, dollars of gear replacement, and pointless "Look at mine" contests I've spared myself. Anyhow, only time you'll catch me with one of the things is when I'm on an airplane, which is an event of decreasing frequency.
Anyhow, only time you'll catch me with one of the things is when I'm on an airplane, which is an event of decreasing frequency.Rolex Seadweller here. I like my bling
Hmmm. That reminds me. There is a Seadweller somewhere in the sand on the bottom of the ocean by that sunken Russian destroyer off the west coast of Cayman Brac. I remember helping the owner look for it. (No luck.) He might have gone back later with an UW metal detector, but at that time there were none on the island.
This fellow was from NY, diving with his son. Kind of loud and overbearing on the way out. After the "Rollei" was lost, he was a lot quieter on the boat ride back. I always enjoy telling owners like that guy, "That's a nice Rollei!" - just to act interested.
(I know a Rolex is a watch and Rollei was a camera.)I am taking the alternative approach compared to you folks who use cellphones in place of your watch. Someday I hope to ditch the cellphone, rather than the wristwatch - or maybe both.
All my metal watches have long since been retired, since no one knows how to work on them at less than new replacement cost. I have been getting along nicely with the $30-a-copy all plastic Timex Ironman Triathlon series. Compared to a steel watch, they're so light you hardly know you have one on.
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"Within a couple of days of starting to carry a cell phone with me"
There's my problem, I can go for months without even turning my cell phone on. I have friends who are constantly on them, or have them in their hand. I can see why they wouldn't need a watch.
There's my problem, I can go for months without even turning my cell phone on. I have friends who are constantly on them, or have them in their hand. I can see why they wouldn't need a watch.
The Highlander
Member
I wore a watch daily for many years, depending on my job at the time. When I worked with chemicals and machinery, they were a poor idea at best, and a dangerous one at worst. When I wore a suit to the office in my years as a Financial Advisor, the watch was a status symbol. I still have a 30 year old Seiko my parents gave me, but it is no longer stylish, and I haven't worn it in years. I have an old and apparently fairly valuable (no idea how much, jewelry told me to be careful with it...may mean $50 for all I know) that looked "old-school" and kept excellent time when I remembered to wind it.
My problem now is that running restaurants for a living, I'm constantly in water, blood, oil, you name it. No reason to carry one either, got clocks on every wall of the kitchen I think!
I appreciate the beauty of a nice watch, just like a nice handgun.
Nowadays, I do some hiking, and I am thinking about a Suunto. Certainly no thing of beauty, but dang functional.
I'd rather have a few handguns than a Rolex now, used to think I'd like one though.
The Highlander
My problem now is that running restaurants for a living, I'm constantly in water, blood, oil, you name it. No reason to carry one either, got clocks on every wall of the kitchen I think!
I appreciate the beauty of a nice watch, just like a nice handgun.
Nowadays, I do some hiking, and I am thinking about a Suunto. Certainly no thing of beauty, but dang functional.
I'd rather have a few handguns than a Rolex now, used to think I'd like one though.
The Highlander
beemerphile
Member
I have no Rolex. I have an Omega and a TAG. But I like my Accutrons best. A Railroad Approved 214 and Spaceview 214.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Got a nice gold plated wrist watch when I retired from Ma Bell in 1988. Never have worn it except to attend class reunions & funerals. Battery is dead & can stay that way. Punched the time clock too many times. Besides the only time I need a watch is half hour before sunrise, that's when the shooting starts.
