How about a watch thread?

[Richard Simmons]

One of our members posted about a new watch he bought the other day and I thought it might be neat to start a thread for folks to post pics of and discuss their favorite or not so favorite watches. I've perused these types of threads on other boards and learned quite a bit and even discovered a few watches that I ended up buying.

My personal watch collection started out a lot like I'm sure most of yours did. Growing up I always had a pretty inexpensive Timex. They held up pretty well to the daily activities of a young boy in rural America but I do recall going through several watches and bands up through High School. For graduation I received a Seiko automatic. That was my first "expensive" watch and it served me well through my years in the Navy and afterwards. After nearly 35 years I recently gifted it to my SIL.

Sometime after leaving the service I purchased another Seiko or two and received a few more as anniversary or birthday gifts. Along the way I acquired a Bulova and a Citizens but Seiko represents the lions share of my watch purchases.

Here is a photo of my Bulova. I'll post some model info later.



I'll get some photos taken this weekend of my other watches. Look forward to seeing and reading about what you all use to keep track of time.

[silentkilla]

NICE WATCH THERE FRIEND! sadly everytime i buy a nice watch the darn thing gets broke because of the type of work i do.

[Schuetzenman]

Nice watch indeed. I gave up getting nice watches and for a long time now I just get cheap Timex watches. I've never had a good watch last more than 3 years if that long. The cheap ones seem to last 5 to 6.

[recon]

I have had my Seiko divers watch since 1983. Gains about 5 minute a week. no biggie. Other than that just straps get replaced ever so often

[weevil]

A watch?


People still wear watches???


I just check my cell if I wanna know what time it is.

[Richard Simmons]

A watch?


People still wear watches???


I just check my cell if I wanna know what time it is.

That'll work fine until you run out of battery. I know quite a few younger folks that don't wear a watch but I grew up wearing a watch have no desire to stop.

[weevil]

That'll work fine until you run out of battery. I know quite a few younger folks that don't wear a watch but I grew up wearing a watch have no desire to stop.

Yeah could be but it hasn't ever happened to me yet.


Yeah they are kinda quaint sorta like a walking stick or wearing a fedora.

[ltorlo64]

I won't bore you all with a picture, but I have worn a Timex Expedition with both a digital and an analog display for about the last 10 years. The only bother is I have to change out the band about every year.

[N/A]

I don't wear a watch, and like Weevil my pocket watch is my cell phone.
I do own my Grandfathers Elgin pocketwatch made in 1908. It looks almost exactly like this.

[AKM]

My first nice watch was a Seiko Divers watch that I bought when I got out of Basic Training. That was actually by far the best of the three Seiko Divers Watches that I have owned. The first and second SDW had the red&blue bezels and I think they were quartz or something like that. The third SDW that I owned was an automatic. I know that people wear them forever and they are reliable by mine was a piece of shit. It wouldn't keep time at all and I even sent it to COSERV for warranty work and it was still a piece of shit. I ended up selling it on eBay.

Nowadays that only jewelry that I wear is my wedding ring and I rely on my iPhone for the time of day.

To be honest, I miss that big ass Seiko on my wrist and I may buy another automatic and give them one more try.


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[silentkilla]

My first nice watch was a Seiko Divers watch that I bought when I got out of Basic Training. That was actually by far the best of the three Seiko Divers Watches that I have owned. The first and second SDW had the red&blue bezels and I think they were quartz or something like that. The third SDW that I owned was an automatic. I know that people wear them forever and they are reliable by mine was a piece of shit. It wouldn't keep time at all and I even sent it to COSERV for warranty work and it was still a piece of shit. I ended up selling it on eBay.

Nowadays that only jewelry that I wear is my wedding ring and I rely on my iPhone for the time of day.

To be honest, I miss that big ass Seiko on my wrist and I may buy another automatic and give them one more try.


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maybe you will find one in a parking lot still in the case like you do all that money!! lol

[ltorlo64]

My goof-ball junior LDOs gave me this a few years ago when the ship I was on visited Hong Kong. I was going to post it with N/As watch, but decided it would be sacrilegious.





Mao's arm is the second hand. When it is wound up he waves at you.

[AKM]

maybe you will find one in a parking lot still in the case like you do all that money!! lol

Haven't found one in over 22 years but you never know! I did find a nice ass gold bracelet that my wife sold for $700.00.

Back to the topic at hand.....................That Automatic Seiko that I bought for around $300.00 is now $450.00. Screw dat!

[dfariswheel]

Haven't found one in over 22 years but you never know! I did find a nice ass gold bracelet that my wife sold for $700.00.

Back to the topic at hand.....................That Automatic Seiko that I bought for around $300.00 is now $450.00. Screw dat!

Buy them on Ebay Stores or Amazon for far less than that.
When buying, buy the more expensive models, those are actually built in Japan, the same watch at a cheaper price are assembled else where in Asia from Japanese parts. Still, even they are pretty good watches.

The top version is the SKX007K2, at around $300. That one has a stainless band and a black bezel ring.

The SKX009K2 is the same with the "Pepsi" red and blue bezel ring.

The Asian assembled version is the SKX175 with Pepsi bezel.

The SKX009K has a rubber band and the "Pepsi" bezel ring at about $190.

The Japanese built version is the SKX009J1 at $240 or so.

The classic Seiko Diver's watch has the large diameter screw-down crown at the 4:00 O'clock position and are water resistant to 660 feet-200 meters and are real diver's models.

We watchmakers tend to fall into two camps: The largest are the quality people who love expensive mechanical watches like the Rolex, Breitling, Patek Philippe, and other top makes.
There's a fairly small group of us who are accuracy freaks. What counts to us is accuracy. We usually own electronic watches.
NO mechanical watch can ever be even remotely as accurate as an electronic.

Here's my old "gray market" Seiko Kenetic. It's often listed as a diver's model, and is water resistant to 660-200 but isn't a true diver's model.
I bought it from an Ebay Store in the early 2000's for $235, with a jewelery store list price of $500.
However it IS accurate. These older watches were warranted to be accurate to 18 seconds per month.
Newer, higher end quartz watches are accurate to within 1/10 a second per day.
My Seiko is accurate to 1/2 SECOND PER MONTH. It's the most accurate watch I've ever owned, and possibly the most accurate I've ever seen.
I usually check it the first of every month and reset it at Daylight Saving Time, so it gets reset twice a year whether it needs it or not.
It's due for a Seiko service and a new band, but I hesitate to send it in for fear that it may not be as accurate.
However, it will go in shortly because any good machine needs service from time to time.

I didn't need to adjust it to get that accuracy, it was just luck of the draw.

[AK-J]

I've had a Luminox 8400 for almost 2 years now. It keeps excellent time, and I like the ability to read the thing in absolute darkness. I recently needed to replace the band (came with a rubber one). I found a factory metal one to replace it.

[rci2950]

a few in my general rotation.

Top bigger box is seiko and Citizen and ESQ with one Nixon top right

Bottom box is seiko Chrono, Tag Heuer 2000 model, Early Omega Seamaster fully restored, mid 1980's Gucci and a restored 1960's swiss auto. Rodana movement

[AKM]

Buy them on Ebay Stores or Amazon for far less than that.
When buying, buy the more expensive models, those are actually built in Japan, the same watch at a cheaper price are assembled else where in Asia from Japanese parts. Still, even they are pretty good watches.
]

Is there a Japanese part# for this one. The one that I had looked like this. IIRC, it was made in Malaysia. If I bought another, it would be this one.





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[dfariswheel]

That's the SKX173.
That's a true Seiko Diver's model.

One source on Amazon has it for $190.00 and you can usually beat that on Ebay or Amazon. Note that is is assembled in Malaysia from parts made in Japan. Quality won't be up to full Japanese made standards.

http://www.amazon.com/Seiko-SKX173-S...atches+for+men

Here's a cheaper version the SKX007K at $186. I'm not sure where it's assembled, not Japan.

http://www.amazon.com/Seiko-SKX007K-...atches+for+men

Remember, if you have two Seiko watches that look exactly alike and one is much cheaper, one is built in Japan and the other will be assembled of Japanese parts somewhere in Asia.

[AKM]

That's the SKX173.
That's a true Seiko Diver's model.

One source on Amazon has it for $190.00 and you can usually beat that on Ebay or Amazon. Note that is is assembled in Malaysia from parts made in Japan. Quality won't be up to full Japanese made standards.

http://www.amazon.com/Seiko-SKX173-S...atches+for+men

I sure do appreciate the link but if I can't get a 100% Japanese version, I would rather do without. The last one that I had, the one that I posted the pic of, was a terrible watch. I would set it and then go to bed, then wake up and it would be hours off the real time. Like I said, I even sent it to COSERV and even they couldn't get it right.




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[AKM]

This is a customer review from Amazon. This guy had the same problems that I had.

Disappointed, February 18, 2007
By Frank E. Cannizzaro
This review is from: Seiko Men's SKX173 Stainless Steel and Black Polyurethane Automatic Dive Watch (Watch)
I have had an early version of this watch for 17 years, and when it malfunctioned, I decided it was time to get a new one. The previous watch had been repaired 2 times earlier, and unfortunately every time I got it back from COSERV, it would be less and less accurate, thus I decide to get a new one. The new one was made in Maylasia vs Japan (I have read on this site that one needs to be concerned about that), and was lighter in weight, but kept time well for about one week. I bumped the watch on a table (nothing severe, the previous watch endured much more) and it immediately started gaining more than 10 minutes per hour. I had high hopes that this watch would at least meet, and hopely exceed the durability of the previous watch, but it did not make it passed one week of casual wear. I returned it in disappointment.

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