Watches! What do y'all have on your wrists?

[im_gumby]

Wow, you really don't like that Seamaster, do you?

Love the Speedmaster. I coveted that one when I first started getting into Omegas. But at the time I could never see myself spending that much on a watch -- it was almost as much as a DAC from one of the 'reputable' hi-end manufacturers blessed by the audiophile magazines.

What?
No, the Seamaster is my go to watch.
But its one of my prized watches because it was my dad's watch he bought in 1960 while on a trip to the Virgin Islands.
His parents gave him a Doxa when he graduated under grad, but got trashed when he was in an auto accident while in med school.
I got it rebuilt back in the early 90's.

Yeah a boy and his toys. Where to put the money you hide from your wife. ;-)

 

[BlackTalon]

What?
No, the Seamaster is my go to watch.
But its one of my prized watches because it was my dad's watch he bought in 1960 while on a trip to the Virgin Islands.
His parents gave him a Doxa when he graduated under grad, but got trashed when he was in an auto accident while in med school.
I got it rebuilt back in the early 90's.

Yeah a boy and his toys. Where to put the money you hide from your wife. ;-)

Sorry -- I was highlighting you accidentally wrote DeVile instead of Deville.

 

[im_gumby]

Sorry -- I was highlighting you accidentally wrote DeVile instead of Deville.

LOL
Sorry. For that you're now to forever be known as a 'grammar nazi'

 

[Ilkless]

Very nice but as soon as I see OMEGA I want this baby.
View attachment 367803

It's limited edition but, there's still 1894 pieces to go around globally, so I see them appear now and then on eBay

 

[Frank Dernie]

The ancient Omega 321 as used in the hand-wind Speedmaster is a variation of the Lemania 27-CHRO, which is closely associated with the Lemania 1872, aka the Omega 861/1861. It's essentially a 321 with cam switching using basically the same switching parts as the 1340/1350 mentioned above. I have a 90's-era Heuer with that movement, and it's an excellent movement. Yes, the 1861 was cheaper to make than the 321, but not because they sacrificed quality.

This was my 21st birthday present from my parents.
I hadn't known the one with the red hands existed it had presumably been in stock for a while and Dad got a deal. Turns out it is very rare so lives in the safe now after about 20 years as my daily from 1971. The original bracelet was a bit flimsy and wore out completely and this one was fitted at a service at Omega. This has the 321 movement.

 

[rdenney]

This was my 21st birthday present from my parents.
I hadn't known the one with the red hands existed it had presumably been in stock for a while and Dad got a deal. Turns out it is very rare so lives in the safe now after about 20 years as my daily from 1971. The original bracelet was a bit flimsy and wore out completely and this one was fitted at a service at Omega. This has the 321 movement.View attachment 367880

If you're gonna own a Speedie, that's the way to do it--an original unicorn variation. That one would have looked right at home in the pits, as would a Heuer Carrera (from the 60's) and a Rolex Daytona.

You can tell it's a Lemania movement just from the angle spacing of the chronograph pushers. Valjoux movements of the day (which Rolex and Heuer both used at that time) were more widely spaced. My mid-90's Heuer Carrera Re-Edition is visually nearly identical to the original 1963 model, but has a Lemania 1872 instead of the Valjoux it would have originally used, and the pusher spacing is the only obvious difference.

Here's my mid-90's Carrera Re-Edition of the Deci-12 model from 1964:

And here is a vintage Carrera with the Valjoux movement, from the On The Dash website:

The tell (besides the obvious aging) is the pusher spacing. Well, except that for some strange reason Heuer didn't print "Carrera" on the dial when they reissued it. But at least they also didn't print the "TAG" part of the later logo.

By the middle 90's, Valjoux was owned by ETA which was part of Swatch, and Lemania was owned by Investcorp which had Ebel and Breguet as sister companies. Ebel also owned 25% of Heuer in the mid-90's. In 1999, Ebel was sold to LVMH which by that time had the rest of Heuer (and Zenith, Hublot, and others); Breguet and Lemania were sold to Swatch. After that, Swatch devoted Lemania to making movements for Breguet, and the Lemania buildings now have a "Manufacture Breguet" sign out front. Omega is also part of Swatch, so Lemania and Omega had come full circle. Omega, Tissot and Lemania were sister companies in SSIH from 1930 until Omega and Tissot were merged into what became Swatch in 1983. Lemania survived with money from the Piaget family after that, until Investcorp acquired them. Piaget also owned Heuer by then, but when Piaget was bought by Cartier in 1986 or so, Cartier didn't want Heuer, so TAG bought a bare majority and Ebel bought 25% to keep them going.

Rick "supplier of yet another useless factoid or two" Denney

 

[Ilkless]

 

[BlackTalon]

This was my 21st birthday present from my parents.
I hadn't known the one with the red hands existed it had presumably been in stock for a while and Dad got a deal. Turns out it is very rare so lives in the safe now after about 20 years as my daily from 1971. The original bracelet was a bit flimsy and wore out completely and this one was fitted at a service at Omega. This has the 321 movement.View attachment 367880

Congratulations. What a surprise investment in one's kid's eventual retirement!

If you ever choose to part with it, it should fetch $$$ at an auction.

But while it does not seem to be a thing here on ASR.. Dibs!

 

[formdissolve]

Nothing fancy, but I have a few Casio F-91W with a custom Arm-Cortex board. You can load different firmware, including custom ones that have TOTP two-factor auth codes, temperature sensors, moon phase, etc. Pretty fun hack of a super cheap and easiy accesible watch!

"Sensor Watch is a bridge between eras. It takes an iconic 30-year-old design from a golden age of digital watches, and pairs it with a modern, powerful microcontroller. This small circuit board, less than an inch in diameter, replaces the original quartz movement in a Casio F-91W or A158W watch to put the capabilities of an ultra-low-power ARM Cortex M0+ microcontroller on your wrist."

 

[A Surfer]

Never got with digital watches myself, but I get what people see in them. You get it or you don't right?

 

[Doodski]

Never got with digital watches myself, but I get what people see in them. You get it or you don't right?

Having the complete detailed year, month and day displayed is a bonus.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Congratulations. What a surprise investment in one's kid's eventual retirement!

If you ever choose to part with it, it should fetch $$$ at an auction.

But while it does not seem to be a thing here on ASR.. Dibs!

I already retired. The watch goes to my son.

 

[bunnyfuzz]

Casio A1000MA-7EF's on Casio F-91W straps.

 

[A Surfer]

Having the complete detailed year, month and day displayed is a bonus.
View attachment 368322

I do understand that as a need for some people, perhaps many people, but for me while practical, wearing a watch is primarily aesthetic. I think you and are similar in age so perhaps you can relate, but for me I feel not fully dressed if I am not wearing a watch. Often anyway. Kicking about in grubbies for yard work or going to the gym, no.

But for work or anything social, I like a proper watch. I'm hoping that my new old watch arrives today or tomorrow. Canada Post reports it is now in Ottawa having made it through customs in Montreal. Super excited as I'll finally have a nice green dial, tasteful Swiss automatic.

 

[rdenney]

I do understand that as a need for some people, perhaps many people, but for me while practical, wearing a watch is primarily aesthetic. I think you and are similar in age so perhaps you can relate, but for me I feel not fully dressed if I am not wearing a watch. Often anyway. Kicking about in grubbies for yard work or going to the gym, no.

But for work or anything social, I like a proper watch. I'm hoping that my new old watch arrives today or tomorrow. Canada Post reports it is now in Ottawa having made it through customs in Montreal. Super excited as I'll finally have a nice green dial, tasteful Swiss automatic.

I have watches reserved for yard work and going to the gym (and working on cars, etc.). That's the advantage to an, ah, extensive collection. My preferred workout watch is a Swatch Sistem 51 that I bought at least ten years ago while in Switzerland. And my preferred mechanic/yard-work watch is a Seiko quartz solar-charging quartz watch.

For me, it's fun to optimize my watch for where I'm going. Going to New York where I'll be window shopping at watch stores? Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer, my highest-end watch, thought both the Zenith Captain Chronograph and the Cartier Santos will also serve to attract the staff and provide me the privilege of trying on watches I'm not willing to pay for. Going to Pierre, South Dakota to facilitate a workshop with state employees? I'll wear my U.S. Government Marathon GSAR on a rubber strap. Or, if it needs to be dressier, a Seiko Presage automatic with the midnight blue enamel dial. Or really any of my vintage watches from the 50's through the 70's. Going to DC to meet with the bosses? I'll wear an Ebel--sufficiently obscure to avoid the appearance of pretense while still being obviously nice and respectful. Going to a meetup with other watch collectors? How about an enormous, blingy Concord C1 in black nitrided titanium and rose gold? What about an NAWCC regional? For that, a ca. 1946 Jaeger-LeCoultre ref. 2953 in 18k gold--nobody else there will have one of those and everyone will be interested.

Usually, of course, nobody notices or cares, but hey it's my hobby, not theirs.

Rick "who can wear a different watch every day for two months without repeats" Denney

 

[p.trianon]

Panda

 

[Ilkless]

And in more diffuse natural light.

 

[A Surfer]

I have watches reserved for yard work and going to the gym (and working on cars, etc.). That's the advantage to an, ah, extensive collection. My preferred workout watch is a Swatch Sistem 51 that I bought at least ten years ago while in Switzerland. And my preferred mechanic/yard-work watch is a Seiko quartz solar-charging quartz watch.

For me, it's fun to optimize my watch for where I'm going. Going to New York where I'll be window shopping at watch stores? Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer, my highest-end watch, thought both the Zenith Captain Chronograph and the Cartier Santos will also serve to attract the staff and provide me the privilege of trying on watches I'm not willing to pay for. Going to Pierre, South Dakota to facilitate a workshop with state employees? I'll wear my U.S. Government Marathon GSAR on a rubber strap. Or, if it needs to be dressier, a Seiko Presage automatic with the midnight blue enamel dial. Or really any of my vintage watches from the 50's through the 70's. Going to DC to meet with the bosses? I'll wear an Ebel--sufficiently obscure to avoid the appearance of pretense while still being obviously nice and respectful. Going to a meetup with other watch collectors? How about an enormous, blingy Concord C1 in black nitrided titanium and rose gold? What about an NAWCC regional? For that, a ca. 1946 Jaeger-LeCoultre ref. 2953 in 18k gold--nobody else there will have one of those and everyone will be interested.

Usually, of course, nobody notices or cares, but hey it's my hobby, not theirs.

Rick "who can wear a different watch every day for two months without repeats" Denney

Totally appreciate how you roll with your hobby. My collection is considerably more modest in terms of watches, I do have several nice (affordable nice) models. One being, like yourself, a Seiko Presage, Cocktail Time with a lovely, rich multiple tones of brown dial (really quite striking). I have three Seiko 5 autos from the 70s including a beautiful blue dial TV style model (with the original metal bracelet - how lucky is that). I don't think I do the "psychological matching" that you do, mostly because I just can't, but I think it is really interesting how you conceptualize a watch as a social signal device, which I absolutely agree with.

 

[Doodski]

but I think it is really interesting how you conceptualize a watch as a social signal device, which I absolutely agree with.

As a very cheap simple digital watch user I agree 100% too. There's nothing sexy about a Timex Ironman for most women. I see where a nice OMEGA would fit in very well with my clothing.

 

[pablolie]

Today's fun "little" watch, an Italian U-Boat. Mechanical movement of course.