I've been wanting a luxury watch for a very long time. To me, a man's watch is right up there with his shoes and suit when it comes to making a visual impression. A nice watch is like bling, for adults. :)

This Christmas Lisa and my entire family are all pitching in to buy me my first luxury watch. It will mean even more to me knowing that everyone in my family helped purchase it.

I looked at Rolex, Omega, Tag Heuer, Breitling and Cartier (among others). I wanted something sporty, but something that also looks good with a suit. After many months of research, I've made my choice: The Omega Seamaster Professional Chronometer. I went with the full sized, COSC certified automatic (model #2531.80). I absolutely love this watch, and I can't wait to start wearing it! Anyone who's seen one in real life will tell you that pictures do not do it justice. It's an amazing looking watch.

Does anyone else here have an Omega or other fine watch? I'm far from an horologist, but I find the craftsmanship that goes into the mechanical Swiss watches absolutely amazing.

Here's the watch:

i know nothing about watches but that is a nice looking watch.

I know exactly what you mean about the watch being an important part of a visual impression. I am not too into watches, but I do have myself a pretty sweet RADO that I rock with my suit as well as any time I am just wearing a nice outfit.

I must say, the one you picked out is really nice. I'd definitely like to put that thing around my wrsit. Good taste! :tu:

That's the current "James Bond" watch I believe... never been into watches for $1,000-$3,000 plus... but hey, whatever jazzes you. :)

You are correct, Hort. In fact this is James Bond's exact watch of "choice". 007 switched from a Rolex Submariner to this model Omega starting in "Goldeneye" (although I think in "Goldeneye" he had the Quartz model, stepping up to the automatic in subsequent movies).

The James Bond tie-in didn't play any part in my choice, but hey if it's stylish enough for 007, it works for me! :)

Glad you guys like it!

My watch is pretty tight, I'll need to find a pic or take one. It's a titanium Elgin, really heavy too.

How about these? :)

http://www.tradeweb.net/chris/tiffanywatch1.jpg
http://www.tradeweb.net/chris/tiffanywatch2.jpg

Oh yeah. I LOVE watches. Very nice choice, John.

My daily watch is a nice Seiko Arctura Kinetic (http://www.woizen.de/assets/images/Seiko_Arctura_Kinetic__599_--_.gif). I have a Tag Heuer (http://www.tamatele.ne.jp/~t-namba/heuer/tag%20heuer%20gif/cn1111.ba0337.gif) that only comes out for special occasions. I have several watches by Fossil that are color coordinated to outfits and suits, and I'm thinking of looking into a Tissot sport as they have some nice ones that catch my eye.

The ultimate would be a Patek Philippe. But I wouldn't wanna pay more for my watch than I did for my car. ;)

Just today, one of my girlfriends told me she is considering to possibly buy her husband a Tag Heuer watch for Christmas. I asked her about why he wanted one, and we discussed it for a bit. Myself, I get bored of watches (and clothing) easily, so I'd rather have about half a dozen $15 watches, then buy half a dozen more in a couple of years. I might buy my husband a watch this year, but it'll be in the $150 dollar range. That's an expensive watch to me.

That's an expensive watch to me.

In reality, they're ridiculously expensive. It's just one of those things that I think every guy should get to do once in his life - have a really sweet watch.It's easy to see and feel the differences when you hold a watch (say, less than $200) against a more luxurious one. When I got my Arctura, and I held it against my Fossil watches (which was all I wore to that point) you could tell an obvious difference. My Fossils are about $100 watches, and are nice, but there's a lack of craftsmanship and quality materials that stands out.

Everything about an expensive watch feels good. They have some heft to them, the crystal is so clear it's like it's not even there, the band is very sturdy and has no "wobble" to it, the function buttons are very solid and precise when you touch them - there's no "slop" in them when you push a button. When you wear a nice watch with a suit, they seem to gleam and call attention to themselves; it is a classical finishing touch to the look.

It's by no means a necessity and is quite a luxury when you're talking about a nice watch that costs in the thousands. It's just a great feeling to put a quality timepiece on your arm. I don't know how to explain it other than the pride of owning and appreciating something truly beautiful like that.

-R

I am a fan of this one ...

http://www.movado.com/new/images/right_auto.jpg

Jeremy

No doubt it feels good and it's the little extra that makes a huge difference. Very sound of you to get one!

I had an armitron once.

I've got a thing for the ones you carry in your pocket with a chain... Dunno what you call them in english. The cool thing about them is that almost all grandparents have them. So if you get one, it has a history behind it as well...

Nicely articulated, Blue.

A fine watch is basically functional jewelry for men (and women, of course). Many of them are heirloom-quality and can last several lifetimes. A tremendous amount of work and craftsmanship goes into high-end watches: the automatic COSC-certified movement, the sapphire crystal, the quality of the metals, the clasp, the bracelet, the crown, the seals, the dial, the arms - it's really quite amazing how accurate and well made they are.

You all have some very nice looking watches!

TAG makes some terrific looking watches. I was very close to going with this TAG Kirium (http://store1.yimg.com/I/jomashop_1821_15667242). I also like this Omega Constellation (http://img.timezone.com/img/articles/news631958725973593750/omega03.jpg) (the one in the foreground), but it was a bit too dressy for everyday use.


In reality, they're ridiculously expensive. It's just one of those things that I think every guy should get to do once in his life - have a really sweet watch.It's easy to see and feel the differences when you hold a watch (say, less than $200) against a more luxurious one. When I got my Arctura, and I held it against my Fossil watches (which was all I wore to that point) you could tell an obvious difference. My Fossils are about $100 watches, and are nice, but there's a lack of craftsmanship and quality materials that stands out.

Everything about an expensive watch feels good. They have some heft to them, the crystal is so clear it's like it's not even there, the band is very sturdy and has no "wobble" to it, the function buttons are very solid and precise when you touch them - there's no "slop" in them when you push a button. When you wear a nice watch with a suit, they seem to gleam and call attention to themselves; it is a classical finishing touch to the look.

It's by no means a necessity and is quite a luxury when you're talking about a nice watch that costs in the thousands. It's just a great feeling to put a quality timepiece on your arm. I don't know how to explain it other than the pride of owning and appreciating something truly beautiful like that.

-R

John: Does the omega come standard with the red-light laser for cutting through jail bars after the bad guy tells you the one and only thing that could possibly stop his plot for world-domination?

Or is that extra?

I'm embarrased to say that I stopped wearing watches when I was really skinny (looked like a clock on my wrist instead of a watch). Since then I have always used my cell phone as my watch.

I don't wear it on my wrist.
If I found a watch communicator--with the laser--then I'd wear a watch again.

The laser is so 1995 (we'll ignore "Die Another Day" for the moment). I opted for the retractable grappling hook (http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/q-branch/twine-gadgets.php?id=010). :D
John: Does the omega come standard with the red-light laser for cutting through jail bars after the bad guy tells you the one and only thing that could possibly stop his plot for world-domination?


Or is that extra?

I'm embarrased to say that I stopped wearing watches when I was really skinny (looked like a clock on my wrist instead of a watch). Since then I have always used my cell phone as my watch.

I don't wear it on my wrist.
If I found a watch communicator--with the laser--then I'd wear a watch again.

Ive been wanting a Tag Alter Ego for a long time. This watch just makes me drool :drool: And like John says, the picture just doesnt do it justice.

http://www.bacario.com/images/big/WAA1417-BA0760.jpg

I have a Tag Heuer that I adore. It's not only beautiful, but incredibly durable.
Unlike many women I know, I'm not really big into jewelry, but I love nice watches. I bought my husband a Tag as wedding gift and he also loves his.

I love watches. My current daily is my Citizen Skyhawk (Blue Angels edition). As a pilot you have to have a chrono(ok i just loved the look and the features!). The new tag F1 color watches are relatively cheap(Seen as low as 500 at the local dealer). I plan on purchasing that one for myself when I hit my goal weight. When I graduate from college though I really want to go all out and buy a nice breitling(I've been eyeing the emergency for quite some time now but its around 3,500 and thats well out of my range... someday though). As for your watch John.. its garbage.. i suggest sending it to me for proper disposal. Hah yeah right thats one hell of a watch there John I am sure it will be with you for quite some time. Enjoy it!

- Emilio

The laser is so 1995 (we'll ignore "Die Another Day" for the moment). I opted for the retractable grappling hook (http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/q-branch/twine-gadgets.php?id=010). :D

Bwahahaha!

My current daily is my Citizen Skyhawk (Blue Angels edition).

I love those. I've got a buyer for my Tag right now (I need the $$$ for some guitar equipment and I enjoy the Arctura more) so I think I'm going to let the Tag go, get the guitar gear I need, and get a Citizen. Possibly one of the perpetual calendar watches... this one:

Citizen Eco-Drive Calibre 8700 (http://www.zales.com/images/detail/16245425_X400.jpg)

I adore that watch, and I'd rather have a couple daily wear watches than one I wear only a few times a year. Awesome watch, Emilio!

Thanks. I really love the feel of this watch. Any and everyone who has picked it up has commented on how solid it feels and that is exactly what I love about it. Its also the reason I like tags and breitlings so much. My father has had a few rolex's and other than a submariner that he bought then sold cause it was too big for his wrist they have all felt a bit on the light side for me. By the way... to those who don't wear their nice watches every day (unless its quite gaudy or too dressy for daily use that is).. WHY NOT!? A well worn watch has character just like everything else in the world. I could have a patak phillipe and I'd wear that bad boy every day. Then again I am the type of guy who gawks at those who have nice cars but never drive them.

Bling bling for adults :lol:

My very well off aunt whom i've only met three times bought me a Rolex Submariner for my 21st birthday, it's been placed in my safety deposit box and not removed for the last couple of years, they happen to live in Europe and don't realize that if I walked out the door with that watch on here in Nyc, i'd get mugged in a second :nod:

But I did pick up a Tag 2000 exclusive last year and I normally wear that on those special nights out, it's not nearly as nice or expensive as an Omega, nor does it have that nice swiss auto movement, but hey, it's still a nice watch!

Oh, as long as you're not footing the bill, tell them to pick you up the 18k Speedmaster Prof, it's only around $16,000 and that's as bling bling as you can get without being a hollywood celebrity :tu:

I want a Breitling, I drool whenever I walk past the shop and they're in the window, then the people in the shop invite me in and put it on my wrist and try to tempt me! Evil people!!

I have decided I will get one when I get paid my bonus in March......I've convinced myself its an investment!

On the subject of watches, my old boss had his Rolex pulled off his wrist by a man on a moped in Madrid, then 3 days later he came across a man trying to sell it back to him! Needless to say he never got it back.

I had a beautiful Chopard watch that my parents bought me for my graduation present (97). Sadly, my house was burgled 2 years ago, and the watch was one of the few things to go.
It was a simple mechanical dress watch. Black leather strap, 9ct gold case, plain white dial and gold hands (no second hand). There were no numbers, just dashes to show the hours. I'd love to show a picture, but the Chopard website has only their current range. It looks very similar to my current watch (Rotary) bought by them for my 19th birthday. That was one of the appealing things about it. It was a proper quality timepiece and only would be noticed as such on close inspection. Most things I like are that way. Understated quality and expense is so much more appealing than crass bling.
I tried on a Patek Phillipe watch once, when I was choosing the Chopard. It cost 30,000 sterling ($50,000), and was nowhere near the top of the range. Stupid price for a watch. And that was with no gems in it!

Andrew.

I love watches.. but I break all mine :(

two have been broken on airline seats (they catch the armrest when I stand up)... the one I couldnt find after the band exploded into a hundred pieces and the face flew across the plane. bye bye $1200... The other one fell out of my pocket while I was sleeping in amsterdam on a 6 hour stopover... and of course I didnt realise it till I was in germany. That watch was a present, I have no idea what it cost.

Since those two nicer watches, I have gone thru a number of knock offs and other lesser watches (nothing over $300). If I dont smash the crystal, I scratch it to death, CHIP IT, break the band repeatedly...

And can you believe I work on a computer for a living? And my hobbies dont involve large weapons of mass destruction? I mean, my biggest hobby is keeping a marine fish/coral tank running....

Bah :|

I have a Raymond Weil Flamenco that my wife bought for me about 5 years ago. It's definitely not the kind of thing I would have bought for myself, and I felt really silly wearing it at first... it just wasn't me. I really fell in love with it quickly though, and now it feels strange when I don't have it on.

http://hacketts.20megsfree.com/jsf/raymond_weil.jpg

It's funny, my wife loves jewelry and it used to be really uncomfortable going into the stores knowing nothing. The really cool part about having a watch like this is walking into the stores, and when they see the watch, you suddenly fall into a new class of customer, more valued just by virtue of wearing a classy watch. Those guys/girls size you up from head to toe before they even say hello.

I'm embarrased to say that I stopped wearing watches when I was really skinny (looked like a clock on my wrist instead of a watch). Since then I have always used my cell phone as my watch.

I too use my cell phone as my timepiece. The last watch I actually consistantly wore was my Casio G-shock... heh. Though the high-end watches aren't for me, I still can appreciate just how cool a nice watch is.

On a side note... My dad's old boss is a high paid scientist who lives alone in a small apartment and drives a late-80's Honda. His vices were high-end watches and calculators. One day he walked up to my dad's cube and said, "Hey, I just bought this watch not too long ago and it's too heavy for my wrist, do you want it?" My dad said sure and his boss handed it over. On closer inspection, my dad noticed it was a very nice looking ROLEX watch. My dad said, "Whoa, this is a nice watch, I can't take this." To which his boss at the time replied, "It's ok, I've got a few others that are lighter on my write." To make a long story short, my dad kept the watch and had it appraised at around $3,200... In comparison, my old boss gave me an Xbox at one point... :)

i like nixon watches :cool:

the GTO
http://www.nixonnow.com/prod_images/3341-wwhitefacehero.jpg

I really like the style of the second one. I tried one of those on a while back but they just look funny on my wrist. Oh well..

i know it sounds silly people, but could you tell me which one you would go for out of these two:

http://www.picturehost.co.uk/free.one/watch_tagheuer_kirium_CL111A.FT6000.jpg

or

http://www.picturehost.co.uk/free.one/watch_tagheuer_kirium_CL111C.FT6000.jpg

I'd go for the second one. The digital display might be functional, but detracts from the sleek look.

I myself like watches, but have never been able to afford the ones I drool over. Maybe someday...

There is also my terrible affliction for demolishing watches unintentionally.
My current fossil watch is scratched and damaged because I jumped from my second floor uni window, as a drunken stunt. And similar incidents happen to all of my watches :/

What I need is a gorgeous watch, and then one for wearing normally. Something indestructible.

This post has been dangerous, it's convinced me to buy a really nice watch! I've always liked the look of em, and i figure its better to spend what money i've been given for xmas on a watch than buying crud. It's an investment :)

I just love TAG Heuer stuff, a lot of watch snobs look down on em, but the truth is they are beautiful watches that are perhaps a little too marketed.

The_Jackel: i reckon the one without the display looks better, that digital stuff is outta place on that watch imo.

My personal choice is the 2000 aquaracer in indigo:

http://www.blitzwatches.co.uk/images/WAB1112.jpg

Soon as i get a day off, i'm off to buy that bad boy! :D

I have this Tag. I used to work in town and ALWAYS wanted one. I always wanted one with a blue face and picked this one out from the start. I didn't even see the price at the time I first saw it so it was a bonus it turned out to be one of the cheaper ones they do.

Their site is down at the minute, so I'll have to link you to this picture with this site posted in front of it. Also, the the green glow-in-the-dark hands / time increments are a lot less visible in real life, though I'd still prefer not to have them there at all.

http://www.watchesplanet.com/Product/TAGHEUER/WK1113.BA0311.jpg

My dream watch would be this complete masterpiece

http://www.europastar.com/europastar/photos/2004/q3/tagheuer2_1.jpg

Read this (http://www.europastar.com/europastar/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000573393) to fully appreciate this genius.

Just bought this one from Japan - crazy!

http://snipurl.com/bmqp

Not as fancy as the rest of them but my g/f got me this for Christmas, its a Kenneth Cole. I dig it, although i would like a ridculously expensive watch one day just to have one.



http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000YWSJC.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I just sold my Tag last week to get my new recording console. It was worth the trade. The Tag just sat there in a box most of the time... the recording studio will get used and abused for years to come and make tons of music. And I still have my Arctura (Seiko) I wear daily... it's as nice a watch as I'd wear daily (at roughly a $600 watch) and I can't see having a watch like the Tag I had without wearing it. I get dressed up only a few times a year, and it didn't seem like the thing to keep locked up. It was nice to have, I can say I had one, but I have better things to do with $1500.

-R

Here I thought my $110 Seiko was nice. I purchased it just before I went to college about five years ago. Other than the battery crapping the bed about two months ago, it's been a fine watch. Perhaps I'll get a chance to upload a pic soon.

I think I'll put off getting a more expensive watch until this one dies or goes out of style.

Now that I take another look at my watch, it looks almost looks like I purchased it at Wal-mart after seeing all the pics you people have thrown up. :)

http://www.teamslm.com/forum/uploads/post-5-1104429050.jpg

If I had the excess $$ to spend this would be my next watch....a Ulysse Nardin Marine Chronometer 1846.

http://www.picciones.com/Ulysse-nardin/Slide%20shows/1846enamel/images/DSCN1747%20(4).jpg

I just love the Tag Heuer Monaco "Steve McQueen", it will be the first luxury watch I'm buying. As for now I collect Swatch watches.

So, I meant to go buy that Tag the other day, but the sales assistant was pretty rude and kinda talked down to me- big mistake; I ended up elsewhere looking at an Omega :D

After negotiating the price down a bit I couldn't resist :

http://www.rolexreferencepage.com/seamaster/smp.html

Thats right baby! I went for the black one same as that, and I cheated and got it quartz too, which suits me better for wearing everyday. It's one sweet watch, looks and feels great.

I declare it to be the official timepiece of JSF! :p

Thats right baby! I went for the black one same as that, and I cheated and got it quartz too, which suits me better for wearing everyday. It's one sweet watch, looks and feels great.

Thats a beautiful watch, congratulations!

Just bought this one from Japan - crazy!

http://snipurl.com/bmqp

" Although being unique, instantaneously grasping time
It is the clock which it is possible."

Heh heh. I love the English translation at this link. Classic. :jumping:
EDIT: just realized that that's the automatic Google translation, still funny :)

Interesting watch.

You all have very nice taste in watches.

I don't know jack about watches, and I wouldn't buy one, but I went to Amazon.com to peruse, and I liked these: TAG, Gucci, and Piaget. I like the Gucci one the best.