The Watch Discussion Thread

  • Thread starter Silverzone
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Alright, I think I'm in the market for another watch. I've been wearing a Casio G Shock G2900F-1V for the past 3 years and while I really like the watch and plan to wear it at work still (since blood and other fluids are very easy to clean off the watch) I want something else to wear while I'm not on duty.

This is what I've been looking at.

81JFv74pucL._UY679_.jpg


It is a Seiko 5 SNK805 and it is pretty much the exact aesthetic I'm looking for and from what I can tell it is a pretty decent watch. It retails for $185 but with Amazon Prime I can pick it up for right at $58 which doesn't seem bad at all. From what I've read there is no battery or anything (complete watch noob here) and it keeps time by the movement of your arm. How exactly does that work and how long will it keep time between wearing it? Also, while I like the strap it comes with, what is the best place to get a replacement? I think I might fancy a leather strap as well as I think a brown strap would go well with the green watch face.
 
It's an automatic movement and by moving your arm it winds it up with a weight in the back. My Seiko 5 keeps time for about two days if I don't wear it and it'll lose a couple of seconds over the course of the day, but that's fairly common with most automatic watches. Here's what the guts of the watch look like:

Seiko_7s26_Movement.jpg


That half circle thing is the weight that does the winding of the watch.

As for straps, you can pretty much get anything for it. Most people that I've seen swap straps, typically go with a NATO style one.
 
peobryant
Alright, I think I'm in the market for another watch. I've been wearing a Casio G Shock G2900F-1V for the past 3 years and while I really like the watch and plan to wear it at work still (since blood and other fluids are very easy to clean off the watch) I want something else to wear while I'm not on duty.

This is what I've been looking at.

81JFv74pucL._UY679_.jpg


It is a Seiko 5 SNK805 and it is pretty much the exact aesthetic I'm looking for and from what I can tell it is a pretty decent watch. It retails for $185 but with Amazon Prime I can pick it up for right at $58 which doesn't seem bad at all. From what I've read there is no battery or anything (complete watch noob here) and it keeps time by the movement of your arm. How exactly does that work and how long will it keep time between wearing it? Also, while I like the strap it comes with, what is the best place to get a replacement? I think I might fancy a leather strap as well as I think a brown strap would go well with the green watch face.
Click to expand...

I have bought all of my straps from Cheapest NATO Straps. Though, there are plenty of other sites that sell them also. The biggest thing you will need to know when buying straps is the watch's lug width. There are other things I can fill you in on if you would like, but lug width is more important than those. (Plus, if I am at home, I can take a bunch of pictures of what I have bought to show what I am talking about.)

With a quick glance at the picture, you will likely also need a spring bar tool because it looks like the straps is two pieces. And unless you are very careful, some replacement spring bars. The spring bars like to shoot across rooms if you are not careful and sometimes even when you are.
 
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peobryant
It is a Seiko 5 SNK805 and it is pretty much the exact aesthetic I'm looking for and from what I can tell it is a pretty decent watch. It retails for $185 but with Amazon Prime I can pick it up for right at $58 which doesn't seem bad at all. From what I've read there is no battery or anything (complete watch noob here) and it keeps time by the movement of your arm. How exactly does that work and how long will it keep time between wearing it? Also, while I like the strap it comes with, what is the best place to get a replacement? I think I might fancy a leather strap as well as I think a brown strap would go well with the green watch face.
Click to expand...

Those are good watches with very solid mechanicals. I've owned mine for the past few years and have been very happy with it, though I swapped the NATO straps out with black leather straps. Like Joey said, there's a small weight inside the watch that spins as you move your arm around, which winds the watch up like old manual winds did. With it fully wound up, mine will live for about 1.5 days without any wear/movement. The only "complaint" is that mine runs fast out of the box, though you can get it regulated, and supposedly that particular movement can be fairly easily regulated to be very precise.

I swapped the NATO straps out with black leather straps. They are 18mm straps. I didn't have a spring bar tool so I just very carefully used a tiny electronics flat head to push the bar. It worked but took a bit of time and I had to be careful with it.
 
Thanks for the comments gentlemen, I appreciate it. I went ahead and ordered it and it should be here within the next week or two. The seller I bought it from on Amazon (Discount Watch Seller) had the best warranty of 3 years for the same price as the other sellers (but they only had one or two year warranties) but it will take a bit longer to get here. I'll be looking at some leather straps in the meantime.

Thanks again and I'll post some pictures when it shows up.
 
So I'm looking for a suitable watch for my graduation party in about two months, but I'm really on a budget. Like, really, I'm saving for a holiday trip in July. I've went to Amazon then, and found this watch right here (two designs):
Screenshot_20160411-215847.png

Screenshot_20160411-220822.png

Just wanted to ask what you guys think about it. The customer reviews are only positivr, the build quality of the watch seems pretty high for that kind of price range.
 
I'd prefer something cleaner and less in-your-face design wise. I'd say just get a Timex Weekender for the price range, but there's probably a lot of other options. It's just my personal style preference, though.
 
It's a knockoff, or homage if you will, of the Oakley Gearbox, which I don't really like. It's also from a company that I can find nothing out about which makes me think they're nothing more than mass produced Chinese watches, which typically don't fair all the well in the long run.

I'd second the Timex suggestion, they make several nice watches for a good price point and they are some of the more durable and longest lasting watches I've owned. If you want something bigger, there are several Casio watches that would be in your price range too.
 
Thanks for your advice, I've been looking around on the net the last hour for Timex watches and I have to say, the Unisex model in all black is quite nice. While searching, I stumbled across a brand called Gigandet. Found some nice designed watches, the prices are around 60-90€. On eBay Classifieds though, I have found a Gigandet Competitor Chronograph for 35€ (only worn twice, so it's basically new).

DSC05723.jpg


Thoughts?

* picture shown is just a reference pic, because the picutes on the eBay Classifieds app are in pretty low resolution.
 
From what I little I know about Gigandet watches, they were apparently a mish-mash of Charles Gigandet and Breitling watches and was done so due to import laws at the time. They are very loosely connected with Breitling, so don't think you're getting a $4,000 watch for $60. At least that's what the more "vintage" Gigandet's were.

Looking on Amazon, it does look like someone along the way bought the naming rights and are producing new watches, which I'm guessing that one you're looking at is. They have Citizen movements in them so I wouldn't be too worried about reliability. Looking at some of the watch forums too, people seem not to have many, if any, complaints about them. I'd say go for it if you like it.

Weirdly enough, we can't buy Gigandet watches in the US.
 
Alright, I'll think everything through in terms of money stuff (I know, young dude who's trying to sort out his money situation, hah :lol:) and then I'll let you know if I'm going to buy it or not.
 
It depends on what you're after, really. I've bought several watches in the last few months but the one that really did it for me was an old but well kept Seiko 5 I got off of ebay for about £15. It's simple, yes, but it looks good and feels like a quality product. It's not terribly flashy, though. I must say, I quite like the look of that Gigandet, so if that's what takes your fancy and it's not too expensive then I would probably go for it.
 
My watch showed up yesterday and I quite like the thing, it is exactly what I was looking for. I'm not a real big buy, right at 5' 6" so most men's watches that I tried on in department stores and such looked massive on my wrist, this is the perfect size for me. With a brown leather strap I think it will be perfect.

 
So, as you can probably see, I haven't bought that Gigandet watch for 35€. But, it seems that I now have more money to spend on a watch, because the trip to Norway probably won't happen. Also, I have taken out my old, four year old 43mm Ice Watch to look how an evenly sized watch would look on my big wrist. I can confirm that it looks weird, it looks like a kids watch on my wrist. I prefer rather big watches anyway, my Ice Watch Chrono has a 48mm case and I think that size fits my quite big wrist the best. So, I've looked through the web and found this Nixon watch:
nxn-corporal03_3.jpg

I really like the clean look of it, and with 89,95€ on eBay at the moment it's quite the deal. It's normal price is between 120 and 180€, depending on the model. The case is 48mm in diameter. So, would you recommend it? If not, which brand or watch specifically would you recommend? My own limit of money to spend on is about 100€, since I don't want to spend too much money on a new watch. Prefered case size is at least 46-48mm.
 
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Just ordered a Chinese leather watch band. Not much to lose! :lol:

$_1.JPG


I had no idea leather bands on my style of watch was a thing, but apparently so:

$_12.JPG


Hopefully brown wont clash with the watch. All my shoes and belts are brown :confused:
 
Currently wearing a classic Mickey... I'm not really a Mickey Mouse collector/fan, but I really like this watch. I blindly decided on the multicolored flex band and I think it came out well.

20161223_102408.jpg 20161223_102418.jpg
 
I finally decided to pull the trigger on a smart watch. Most of the ones I'd look at I didn't like and the one I tried before ended up being terrible because it was on AndroidWear 1.0 which was garbage. Now we're on AndroidWear 2.0 and it's no longer terrible so I figure now was as good as time as any to pick one up again. It's an Asus ZenWatch 3, which just came to the US in November/December. Tracking one down was a little difficult but Newegg ended up having one in stock.

9g2hv91.jpg


I do rather like it, it's not super thick at slightly less than 10mm and the case isn't massive either at 45mm. There are about 70 watch faces you can choose from, although I just used the stock one because I thought it looked to best but it's good to know when I get tired of it, switching to a new one is easy. Notifications are nice, especially when I'm in meeting and don't want to be rude checking my phone. You can also respond to text messages through the phone too using one of the preset phrases or by talking to it.

I think I can also control my TV with the watch too, which makes me feel like James Bond and really that's all anyone ever wants to be anyways.

My biggest gripe with it is that the bands are proprietary and there aren't any replacements out for the watch yet. I really want a metal band since leather always seems to get funky during everyday wear. The battery also needs optimizing which is a process in itself since it involves deactivating all sorts of stuff, but apparently once you do that it can last up to 48 hours on a charge.
 
It's not nearly as nice a photo as yours, @MarcoM, but I'm loving my new Monster:
Black Monster wrist shot.jpg


It's a wonderfully unique design that is really well executed. I could honestly see myself wearing this in rotation with something like a Tudor Black Bay, simply because the Monster is such an original design. Not that that'll be a choice I'll be making anytime soon, mind...
 
Sometimes I like to think my Monster resembles the millennium falcon. \nerdmode

Wear it in good health. Looks good on the wrist. Timeless unique design
 
Got this today:
whtJ4F7.jpg


It's a Tangramatic 39a California, which I bought off of reddit's watchexchange. I saw this and fell in love, and I'm still in love. Tangramatic are an Australian microbrand, and the 39a features a Miyota 9015 automatic movement, so not only is it pretty but it's got some [affordable] substance. It's a surprisingly subtle design, and I think it looks very cool. In some ways it reminds me of a posh Timex Weekender.
 
Here's my "40th birthday gift" for myself - bought it couple of months ago: Steinhart Ocean One Chronograph with Panda dial - it is obvious and shameless Daytona homage, yes, but I think it's also a fine, classic looking watch. And only Swiss mechanical chrono in my current collection, altough the movement is paired with Dubois-Dépraz module. As I write this the watch has a Hirsch Paul leather strap on it, but it looks good on Nato too:

DSCF1757.JPG


Some people say that this is too big watch and even unwearable, it's certainly a "tall" timepiece - height being 18mm, but the overall presence isn't too big in my opinion and I'm a guy with quite small wrists. Nowadays I even don't notice the case thickness. There are cheaper alternatives for this available from brands like Alpha, Gigandet (which I have in my collection) and even Invicta, but all these have something I don't like - for example date window on quartz models and Alpha "Newman" dial saying that the watch is "mechanical chronometer".
 
So this goes back a year, as it turns out to the day.
I gave up smoking and thought if I last a year I'm going to reward myself and this is it.

After a phone call and around 4873 texts to @Mike Rotch (sorry about that mate) I settled on this watch. The initial discussion was centered around Hamilton watches and what Mike's opinion of them were. After deciding on one I liked I sent a link to him and he suggested checking out Flieger watches in general due to the Hamilton I picked.

That Flieger search lead me to this.

Fortis Flieger Professional Chronograph.
I found a decent priced one online and how it worked was I could either buy or have up to three watches sent to a jewelers where you can inspect them and buy if you wish.
Today was that day and from the three I picked to view this was my favourite although both the other two were nice also. My initial concern going by pictures on the net was that it was going to be too big for me, as it turns out this was one of the things that attracted it to me.

Comically big cardboard box next to my turntable for scale.

DSC_0439.jpg


Still comically big but a leather box in the box.

DSC_0440.jpg


Watch in the box.

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Couple from the front.

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The back and on the wrist.

DSC_0438.jpg


DSC_0416.jpg


Thanks again @Mike Rotch for answering the many questions.
 

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