Trouble Maker
Addicted to Fun and Learning
In Japan so I picked up a Japanese watch, in Ginza so might as well get one I can only get there.
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Just picked up an old Cartier Tank Vermeil for cheap and sent it for restoration. Out of curiosity after reading this article on custom-order Cartier watches (my first time hearing about the service), my dad and I made queries about it while at Cartier. Not that it is cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but we were pleasantly surprised at the price Cartier quoted on the lower end for getting a steel watch with a bespoke dial made to order, considering the stature of the house and the rarefied world their bespoke work typically occupies. Of course, not everyone can just walk in with cash and expect a commission to be placed, just like with other prominent, more mass-market luxury brands that still take on bespoke, craft-intensive work on the down low.
My dad and I are far from high-rollers, it's just that he used to do some handyman work for a very discreet private members' gambling club for old money types, and those guys would regularly throw in whatever watch they happened to be wearing as wagers when they ran out of cash on hand. My dad would get them from the club at low prices, sell it on and split the profit with the old club custodian/tea lady who was in on this whole thing. Hence the Cartier connection far out of proportion to our family's circumstances, due to the many pieces sent in for servicing and authentication before resale. I still remember how the watch my parents wore would be an indicator of how good the year was... Rolex 16613, even a Patek annual calendar for a brief period, right down to battered hand-me-down Seiko 5s when things weren't going well. We never could afford these watches. It was always at best a question of how long could we afford to hold on to these watches before reselling them.
Once, we passed on a Lange Saxonia for $1500 (you read that right) because the trust fund kid that owned it somehow cracked the movement mainplate. No way we were taking on a watch that had been through so much abuse that structural components of the movement was damaged.
My dad and I are far from high-rollers, it's just that he used to do some handyman work for a very discreet private members' gambling club for old money types, and those guys would regularly throw in whatever watch they happened to be wearing as wagers when they ran out of cash on hand. My dad would get them from the club at low prices, sell it on and split the profit with the old club custodian/tea lady who was in on this whole thing. Hence the Cartier connection far out of proportion to our family's circumstances, due to the many pieces sent in for servicing and authentication before resale. I still remember how the watch my parents wore would be an indicator of how good the year was... Rolex 16613, even a Patek annual calendar for a brief period, right down to battered hand-me-down Seiko 5s when things weren't going well. We never could afford these watches. It was always at best a question of how long could we afford to hold on to these watches before reselling them.
Once, we passed on a Lange Saxonia for $1500 (you read that right) because the trust fund kid that owned it somehow cracked the movement mainplate. No way we were taking on a watch that had been through so much abuse that structural components of the movement was damaged.
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I don't take the whole life seriously.. you mean, time shall be an exception?
For a while, I was interested in vintage Gruen watches. The picture isn't doing this one any justice -- it's complete with all stickers and boxes.
My nearly £800 Swiss smartwatch refuses to track my sleep automatically. I bought as an EarlyBird on KickStarter and paid less than £300 for it. Initially, it tracked sleep automatically (most of the time). Alpina have since removed the automatic sleep tracking option from their app (I assume because it was a little flaky and did not work 100% of the time). I now have to tell the watch when I start and stop sleeping. What's the point of that!
Currently rocking a £28 Chinese marvel that has no problem tracking my sleep, heart rate, stress levels, etc. I do miss wearing the AlpinerX, but there's not enough space on my wrist to wear both.
Currently rocking a £28 Chinese marvel that has no problem tracking my sleep, heart rate, stress levels, etc. I do miss wearing the AlpinerX, but there's not enough space on my wrist to wear both.
I eventually succumbed to an iWatch but it did way more than I need, had childish defaults (who needs to be congratulated by their watch ffs) and has a touch screen which more often than not selected something other than I wanted, or just selected something due to a slight brush on the face when I was taking my coat off in winter.
I gave it away.
Next i tried a beautifully elegant Garmin but the app is buggy then a Withings Steel HR which has an ace app and no touch screen - much, much better for a watch IMO. It was so good I updated to their new scanwatch which I can use to check blood oxygen and this is better again.
Despite having Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, IWC, and others I now find I am using the Withings pretty well all the time. The battery only needs charging about once a month too.
I bought my wife a Withings Activite Pop in 2015. I was nice because it looked like a normal watch and took a standard battery that lasted about 6 months. However, the activity tracking wasn't great and the app was quite flakey.
One of the reasons I got excited about, and bought, the AlpinerX was battery life. My AlpinerX lasted 18 months on it's first battery (a CR3032). It was also very easy and cheap to replace (£2.75 for another CR3032 + £3.79 for a pack of 10 Nitrile O-rings). I'm not aware of any other smartwatches with anything approaching this longevity apart from the other MMT based Swiss Horological Smartwatches from Frederique Constant, etc.
robertozappala
Member
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- Jun 20, 2020
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Apple Watch
Apple watch when google bought Fitbit. Spend too much time in the "reading room" and laxative ads popup 
I did not realize when I first bought it that is was a phone. I have been able to pick up the phone and text the kids when picking them up from school.
It is very convenient but requires more than 1 hour a day to charge.
I have a new Rado that my wife bought me eight years ago in a box in the dresser.
- Rich
I did not realize when I first bought it that is was a phone. I have been able to pick up the phone and text the kids when picking them up from school.
It is very convenient but requires more than 1 hour a day to charge.
I have a new Rado that my wife bought me eight years ago in a box in the dresser.
- Rich
Ken1951
Major Contributor
Breitling SuperOcean a17340. Bought it for my 50th birthday. It's pretty rugged and I still like it after almost 20 years.
I have far too many, mostly somewhat unusual or uncommon watches. One of my favorites is this manual-wind Strela column-wheel chronograph with tachymeter and telemeter (and now sapphire crystal, 100m water resistance and Superluminova hands/indices), a reissue of the watch worn on the first ever spacewalk in 1965 by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who sadly died last year. The original watch has since been nicknamed the 'Russian Speedmaster' due to this space-faring first, in comparison with Omega's 'first watch on the Moon' claim to fame four years later with their Speedmaster Professional.
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Thalis
Senior Member
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damn I had this one but with a chrome bezel instead..... got stolen when my apartment was broken into
socksrolleddown
Member
i have one of these
and one of these
and one of these
Umm , going on what I read online.., quite a lot of people ha ha
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"Part of the Seamaster family, the Seamaster Railmaster was designed in 1957 to meet the needs of railway staff and those who worked close to electrical fields, allowing them to enjoy consistently reliable performance thanks to its magnetic resistance up to 15,000 gauss.
Water resistant up to 150 metres, this impressive Railmaster timepiece is driven by the OMEGA Co-Axial master chronometer calibre 8806 and is resistant to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss."
https://www.watches-of-switzerland....7f1bpQzBeZi3q6iT-XLPpZLRQGb9468RoCsiEQAvD_BwE
Has anyone ever ruined their expensive Swiss timepiece by getting it too close to their speakers?
Water resistant up to 150 metres, this impressive Railmaster timepiece is driven by the OMEGA Co-Axial master chronometer calibre 8806 and is resistant to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss."
https://www.watches-of-switzerland....7f1bpQzBeZi3q6iT-XLPpZLRQGb9468RoCsiEQAvD_BwE
Has anyone ever ruined their expensive Swiss timepiece by getting it too close to their speakers?
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