The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[9thsymph]

Foo does a few rounds of reasonable, benevolent posting, but then always returns to uber-douche defcon 1. Always. He can’t resist. It’s painful to watch, but also fascinating and impossible to look away - like seeing a train wreck, or clips of dudes ******* themselves up skateboarding, or doing parkour, or whatever...oof!

 

[9thsymph]

(and soon we might expect the typical foo-rehabilitation-tour posts, which will include a flurry of photos and innocuous observations/questions about watches unrelated to the recent dust up - a barrage meant to change the subject until the cycle resumes...and repeat. And repeat. And repeat...)

 

[Drek Galloche]

perhaps both? I’ve always felt odd rendering opinions on matters with which I don’t have personal experience with, but speaking from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I think both.

Marketing shtick of using Breguet numerals? Where is PP authenticity and heritage in that? Why use Arial along with Breguet fonts, why for god's sake not use PP historic fonts instead? Someone mentioned lazy, yes, it looks like that.

P.S. Foo is a disrupter, I like his posts. Makes this forum wake the f up a little from snoozy : ''Enjoy in good health'' echo chamber.

 

[Thrift Vader]

perhaps both? I’ve always felt odd rendering opinions on matters with which I don’t have personal experience with, but speaking from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, I think both.

the same design house that gives us this:

View attachment 1645116
Also gives us this:

Gimme the gold one. The other one looks like a vampire would wear it.

 

[Loathing]

Patek has a history making both highly ornate / baroque designs and very simple, Bauhaus-inspired designs. The latter have tended to most strongly characterize the company to most people, but intricately decorated, bejeweled timepieces are just as much part of Patek DNA. In fact, they make a big point of preserving and showing off traditional handicrafts (marquetry, enameling, guilloche, engraving, jewel setting, etc.).

The problem with the watches on their website homepage is not that they are ornate or baroque, it's that they are stupendously ugly, vulgar and tasteless, and that no one with an interest in aesthetics, art or design could ever recognise them as objects of beauty. Comparing them to the kinds of ornately embellished pieces that Patek made for Queen Victoria and other elites in the past is like comparing Trump's apartment to Versailles.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Marketing shtick of using Breguet numerals? Where is PP authenticity and heritage in that? Why use Arial along with Breguet fonts, why for god's sake not use PP historic fonts instead? Someone mentioned lazy, yes, it looks like that.

P.S. Foo is a disrupter, I like his posts. Makes this forum wake the f up a little from snoozy : ''Enjoy in good health'' echo chamber.

I guess I just don’t get as worked up about little details. Then again, I’m not shelling out mid 5 figure for a watch. Were I too, perhaps my opinion would change.

I posted those two examples as one is hideous and the other more sublime.

As for the term Baroque, that’s a very generous description of that diamond encrusted watch.

I’m attracted to the VC Cabinotiers. With regards to ornamentation and expression, more interesting than sticking diamonds on every visible surface.

 

[usctrojans31]

I can sum up the last few pages of virtue signaling:

 

[Thrift Vader]

I guess I just don’t get as worked up about little details. Then again, I’m not shelling out mid 5 figure for a watch. Were I too, perhaps my opinion would change.

I posted those two examples as one is hideous and the other more sublime.

As for the term Baroque, that’s a very generous description of that diamond encrusted watch.

I’m attracted to the VC Cabinotiers. With regards to ornamentation and expression, more interesting than sticking diamonds on every visible surface.

Bro, that looks even more vampire swag than the last one.
What is wrong with jewels on everything???

Personally i feel that all watches should be on the table for discussion. From a Swatch to a jewel encrusted Patek. after all, watches each have a face value.

@TheFoo sometimes i like his posts. but other times he goes on a elitist tangent and places himself at the top of said tangent. posting other pictures of watches and ranting, etc.
Then again, seeing the same 10 watches everyday in different settings gets boring AF. "Wow, A Rolex" . Yay! . "Surprise! it's a reverso!"

I'm all for a general conversation about watches. while keeping the "live long and prosper" vibe.

 

[NakedYoga]

It's exhausting and impossible for me to keep up with this. Either the subjective aesthetic preferences are somehow "wrong", or you just don't get it, maaan. Or if you would just learn more, you'd totally agree with me and not have such a worthless opinion! I mentioned something about this weird gatekeeping weeks or months ago and was met with the expected response.

 

[Drek Galloche]

Dont you know?

Arguing with Foo builds character.

 

[Neville Southall]

Bro, that looks even more vampire swag than the last one.
What is wrong with jewels on everything???

Personally i feel that all watches should be on the table for discussion. From a Swatch to a jewel encrusted Patek. after all, watches each have a face value.

@TheFoo sometimes i like his posts. but other times he goes on a elitist tangent and places himself at the top of said tangent. posting other pictures of watches and ranting, etc.
Then again, seeing the same 10 watches everyday in different settings gets boring AF. "Wow, A Rolex" . Yay! . "Surprise! it's a reverso!"

I'm all for a general conversation about watches. while keeping the "live long and prosper" vibe.

I honestly don’t think we see enough watches here. It’s always the same dudes that squabble over whatever the ****.

 

[NakedYoga]

I honestly don’t think we see enough watches here. It’s always the same dudes that squabble over whatever the ****.

Agreed. On that note, for whatever reason I've been taken with the idea of a big chunky dove watch. This wouldn't masquerade as anything other than what it is. I want it to be robust and not something you'd ever consider wearing under the sleeve of a dress shirt. Something that would look out of place pretty much anwywhere except at the beach or in the water. I'd say a real tool watch, but that term is overused and I'm afraid of being labeled a tool.

Anyway, the one I keep coming back to is the orange dial Doxa Sub 300T. I think @Dino944 has mentioned in the past he has friends who like theirs. Anyone else?

I also still like Seiko's more classic dive watch styling, so I've thought about the King Turtle (SRPE03 or 05). Two different price points, but those are the two that I keep coming back to.

 

[Thrift Vader]

I honestly don’t think we see enough watches here. It’s always the same dudes that squabble over whatever the ****.

Yet, it could be awesome But? same dudes same watches.
Then a long foo fight.

 

[patrick_b]

I've been taken with the idea of a big chunky dove watch

That's exactly what I was thinking when I purchased the Pelagos. I checked it out during the workday wearing an OCBD. The SA immediately commented that it likely won't fit well under a shirt cuff if that's what I was looking for.

Not quite the same look you are after but a pic anyway.

 

[am55]

Picking this back up because I think it’s an interesting topic and I think some of the other responses didn’t trace the connection to watches.

There’s no mystery what I think about this urban development project. And I suspect many others here would agree that a fake town with fake buildings and fake history is not tasteful. However, I rarely see folks apply the same judgment to watches. Why the difference? I don’t really see one.

The difference between our opinions is that you dismiss it for idealistic reasons - the style is anachronistic - whereas I do because I think they did a poor job of it. Especially with architecture, and especially in Britain, it is common to live in towns that are still in good part hundreds of years old, and even if time filtered, many of the builders and architects were distinctly average. So you absolutely can be happy blending styles decades or centuries apart (as you do when you park your GT3 in front of your building, but I digress). And what about the neo-Palladian estates in favour where you are? Those civilisations haven't been around for millenia!

Still, best to do this with good quality ingredients. Poundbury reminds me of when I had some sushi around 2006 in a satellite town of Shanghai - the fish's flesh telegraphed its probable life in one of these symbiotic multi-crop farms, in this case of the porcine variety, if the smell was any indication. Maybe this explains the popularity of shui zhu yu?

A watch parallel might be Solvil and Titus, whose adverts I recommend you not to watch, at the worst end of the spectrum, but even in the stratosphere, Smith may have followed Daniels systematically but the result is aesthetically very different.

@Loathing perhaps we understand "aristocracy" differently, as our respective origins might imply. To me they are simply people who have taken power by force and then set up a system to maintain their genes at the top for centuries, usually through developing sophisticated propaganda in particular involving being at the head of the local religious organisations. The Western aristocracies are in their dying throes, at least the noblesse d'epee (the only one that counts, if you are to believe ANF members, across the Channel from you) but in the rest of the world, they are very much alive and well. And customers of exactly that kind of thing.

Spoiler