school me on watches

[baxterday]

Don't forget the Deep Blue brand, I have two and love them. Quality watches at nice prices. Like these, Sea Ram 500's one with bracelet the other with a rubber band (very comfortable). I probably get more compliments on these two watches than any of the others I own, especially the all gold one.

 

[IMaDad]

Don't forget the Deep Blue brand, I have two and love them. Quality watches at nice prices. Like these, Sea Ram 500's one with bracelet the other with a rubber band (very comfortable). I probably get more compliments on these two watches than any of the others I own, especially the all gold one. View attachment 705390

Ohhh I have been oogling the ones they have with like 70-100 tritium tubes on the face. A gear whore's dream.

 

[DeltaHalo]

Rolex, no question...
Holds its value, great timepiece

 

[chucklenut]

C-Nut.

Watches basically come in two completely different types.

One type is powered by a spring. The other runs on electricity (battery, solar)

Before WWI all watches were wind up watches, and most men carried a pocket watch. In 1928 Rolex invented a counterweight that wound the mainspring of the watch, which was and to this day still is mechanical. These types of watches are usually referred to as having "swiss movements."

In 1957 Hamilton invented the first Electric watch, the Hamilton Ventura. Elvis wore one, so did a lot of celebs in the day. Hamilton was one of the longest running US companies and made watches for the railroad and US Govt for our service men. The Hamilton name was purchased by the Swatch Group, and they still make nice watches.

In 1963 Seiko invented the quartz watch. When you apply an electric current to quartz it vibrates in a very accurate way, and this "quartz movement" is what all battery (solar) powered watches are based on today.

You can buy a lower end "swiss movement" watch - Hamiltons are very nice, and I own a few of them. They have a nice swiss movement that Swatch produces in Europe for a long list of more expensive mechanical watches, so you are getting high end internals in an entry level watch. Most of the designer watches with swiss movements are most likely from Swatch, just rebranded. You can spend more money, you can buy a Rolex, or an Omega (also recommend Omegas), but they will all need to be either worn on a regular basis or left in a winder. If you leave your mechanical watch for too long the mainspring will lose energy and the watch will stop. So you will need to wind it up, which is a pain in the ass.

The good news about mechanical movement watches is that collectors only buy these types of watches. They completely disregard battery powered watches like Movado. If you resell your Movado, the jeweler will put it on the scale and give you what the gold is worth, not what the watch is worth. Stay away from high end quartz movement watches, they do not hold their value.

I like Hamiltons because of their US History. They make a replica of the Ventura in both quartz and swiss movements. The swiss version is in the $500 range and a really neat watch. Some versions have open backs so you can see their gears working.

If you want to step it up a notch, check out Omega's. They claim to have a better gearing, and a more accurate mainspring gear vs a Rolex. If you put it to your ear you can hear it, so it makes spotting a fake Omega easy if you know the sound. Spotting a fake Rolex is harder and you need to have a dealer open it up and confirm its real.

Most high end watches are Swiss and rare watches fetch 6 and 7 figures.

If I won the lottery, I would buy a Rolex Yatchmaster in Platnium ($40k)

And a ulysse-Nardin, most of their stuff is six figures.

http://www.ulysse-nardin.com/en/swi...leton_Tourbillon_Manufacture/1706-129_BQ.html

wow

appreciate it

swiss movement is purely mechanical and anything that says quartz or eco-drive or something like that is solar powered essentially?

hmmm, for a practical watch purpose i figure id get a citizen eco-drive but i like the idea of a watch that charges based on movement. i could keep it in a winder when im not wearing it

 

[IMaDad]

 

[chucklenut]

if i had 4 K

 

[fast306stang]

if i had 4 K

Buy once, cry once. Seriously.

 

[chucklenut]

View attachment 705726

Buy once, cry once. Seriously.

id be crying at least 4 times if it is 4 thousand lol

but ya, they are nice

what about tag heuers? i hear alot of folks like them

 

[baxterday]

id be crying at least 4 times if it is 4 thousand lol

but ya, they are nice

what about tag heuers? i hear alot of folks like them

Personally I don't think Tag holds any resale value like a Rolex, Omega or Breitling and some of the other high end brands too numerous to name.

 

[fast306stang]

Tag makes a great watch imo. The one I wanted was $5500 so it was out of the question. If you're able to go to a Tourneau, they carry a large selection of high end watches and the salespeople are great at answering questions that you'll have. They also carry pre-owned watches.