The Watch Appreciation Thread (Reviews and Photos of Men's Timepieces by Rolex, Patek Philippe, Brei

[Cleav]

Thought I'd take some pics of the half hunter my late Father in Law gave me, along with the fave PS.

Sorry if this is wrong place or tedious

Spoiler: More, if you're interested

 

[Keith T]

Beautiful pics, Cleav.

Looks like they are in safe hands....you will undoubtedly take great care of them.

(Perhaps they will see some use as well?)

 

[HRoi]

Cleav, I am sorry for your loss my friend

 

[HRoi]

Mimo - omfg what is that

 

[Keith T]



The Visodate is rather nice, but I think it's amazing how hard it seems to find a succesfully designed, current production, simple dress watch at a reasonable price (say, less than $4k). For something that ough to be rather prevalent they sure seem few and far between.

As for Hamilton, I do like some of their offerings, like the 38mm Intra-matic, though I'm not a fan of the 6 o'clock date. Was there a particular Jazzmaster model you had in mind?

Was actually thinking of this one Kaplan, but I see that it also has the date @ 6...sorry I can't copy a pic from the Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-H38515555-Jazzmaster-Silver-Watch/dp/B004D8JLFU/ref=sr_1_53?ie=UTF8&qid=1390254677&sr=8-53&keywords=hamilton+jazzmaster+viewmatic

 

[Keith T]

Mimo! Hit him back with your Monster. That'll teach him.

 

[Dino944]

Dino

Its okay man, thanks

PS are you as learned dear friend with Pocket Watches?

Hi Cleav, that is a lovely pocket watch. I'm sure you will enjoy using it. I'm afraid I don't have much background with regard to pocket watches. Hopefully, you will be able to find some information about your pocket watch via the net.

Speaking of which: why are good looking square and tonneau cased watches so rare, at least for men? Are they harder to make?

Hi Hayward,

I they are a bit more complicated to make, and at least many years ago, they were tougher to make water resistant, as you had sort of irregular shapes and sharp edges involved with squares and rectangles, which don't can hinder the longevity of gaskets if pinched. In addition, you often do not have the same economy of scales with square, rectangular, or asymmetric cased watches. You are often limited by the shape of the watch, in terms of the movement. Round movements will fit in any case shape, but if you use a square, rectangular, or asymmetric case, you have to use a much smaller sized movement to avoid the constraints caused by corners...in this case putting a round peg in a square hole. Still cheaper to go that route than to make a square or rectangular movement as many companies focus on round watches, so its not cost effective to make square or rectangular movements for what might be a tiny bit of their annual production. The handful of companies that go through the trouble of making square/rectangular movements are AL&S, JLC, and Piaget. On occasion other companies do, but most times even Patek and AP just use smaller sized round movements and put them in rectangular pieces (Yes I know PP's 10 day Tourbillon was a rectangular movement, but that seems to be less common for them). I love non-round dress watches, as it really feels like dressing up going from one of my steel round sport watches to a RG square, rectangular, or asymmetric cased watch. I think also, most men find the fancier case shapes a bit too dressy for them...and not sporty enough. It can seem like a big transition for some to go from a round watch to a non-round watch.

Below is one of my favorite pieces from Cartier, specifically because it used a rectangular movement rather than a more cost constrained smaller round one.


Frills, yes I had noticed that in that image involving the stick figure with the AP...his crown appears to be a Rolex crown. I thought it was amusing.

 

[Cleav]



Beautiful pics, Cleav.

Looks like they are in safe hands....you will undoubtedly take great care of them.

(Perhaps they will see some use as well?)

Keith T the PS has been out there and no doubt sometimes when it shouldn't be but hey wtf

Re the half hunter I'd got to the point considering that, I'd be concerned about losing it. However, I'd also tipped myself over the edge and will be asking @upr_crust for advice. That okay Upr?

 

[Kaplan]



There are plenty of nice dress watches in that price - Seiko, Frederique Constant, a bunch of small indies (e.g.,Dornbluth), etc.

I guess I'm just too picky then, as I haven't seen any that I really like.

I'm sure there has to be a lot out there that I haven't seen, so if you or anybody else have any particualr favourites I'd love to see them.

 

[akatsuki]

Probably better to let people know what style you like and work from there. I like the Dornbluths quite a bit. There is always vintage as well.

 

[akatsuki]



I guess I'm just too picky then, as I haven't seen any that I really like.

I'm sure there has to be a lot out there that I haven't seen, so if you or anybody else have any particualr favourites I'd love to see them.

 

[RogerP]

Zenith is a great brand, they (still?) do movements in house, and has a great history. But the design in recent years leaves much to be desired. Even so it's better than it was a few years ago, when they were the Edina Monsoon of watch designs.

Before they went crazy they used to make some great looking watches. Maybe Zenith could herald a 70's revival in watch design, or they could develop a real contemporary aesthetic of their own.

Hayward, they haven't been doing much of the crazy designs for a good few years now - since Thierry Nataf got the boot. There are several of their current designs that I would happily own and one that I do own:

 

[Kaplan]



Probably better to let people know what style you like and work from there. I like the Dornbluths quite a bit. There is always vintage as well.

What I'm specifically looking for is a time only or at most a time + date watch. Not necessarily über dressy or vintage'y but with a focus on clean features. Hopefully in a case similar to the Zenith or IWC posted above, that is: no extra detailing on the lugs like on the Hamilton in the above link. Clean dial: not three different fonts like on a GS and preferably stick markers. Hands can be plain or dauphine or maybe leaf. Blued would be nice. Lume not required. Dial colour ideally white, but it seems very few does this so I guess silver (but the 'whiter' the better). Since this should have a thin bezel, I think it'll wear and look too big if 40mm+. I believe 36-38 is ideal.

A couple of discontinued examples of the simplicity I'm looking for:

Like you say, going vintage is an option. I'm just disappointed that no one (that I've seen) currently seem to be able to get this kind of simple watch just right (for me). And when they get close, they're too large.

 

[ridethecliche]

No love for this?



or this:




or:



or :




All hamilton Jazzmaster autos.

 

[Betelgeuse]