• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

TheFoo

THE FOO
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
26,704
Reaction score
9,841
Isn’t this MC? Where people regularly wear tweed jackets, pocket squares, and pleated trousers? And yet some of us are worried about a gold watch rubbing people the wrong way?

That is some powerful dissonance versus reality.

Walking through downtown Manhattan, a bespoke suit and full MC kit is 100x more likely to grab attention for looking out of place and pretentious than a gold Day-Date on your wrist. I wager this is true across most of America. You might as well don a top hat and monocle while you’re at it.
 

9thsymph

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
4,159
Reaction score
6,217
Isn’t this MC? Where people regularly wear tweed jackets, pocket squares, and pleated trousers? And yet some of us are worried about a gold watch rubbing people the wrong way?

That is some powerful dissonance versus reality.

Walking through downtown Manhattan, a bespoke suit and full MC kit is 100x more likely to grab attention for looking out of place than a gold Day-Date on your wrist. I wager this is true across most of America. You might as well don a top hat, monocle, and walking cane.

I agree. The contradiction has been noted (by me) multiple times.
 

9thsymph

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
4,159
Reaction score
6,217
Isn’t this MC? Where people regularly wear tweed jackets, pocket squares, and pleated trousers? And yet some of us are worried about a gold watch rubbing people the wrong way?

That is some powerful dissonance versus reality.

Walking through downtown Manhattan, a bespoke suit and full MC kit is 100x more likely to grab attention for looking out of place and pretentious than a gold Day-Date on your wrist. I wager this is true across most of America. You might as well don a top hat and monocle while you’re at it.

In fact, this was my hang up with the DD. I feel like I would most likely wear it “against” the stereotype - with jeans and Ts rather than suits...With bespoke suits, I mainly wear vintage Omega, DJ, swatch, etc...
 

Ambulance Chaser

Stylish Dinosaur
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2002
Messages
13,911
Reaction score
9,964
If you're worried about standing out, get a white-gold watch, which will look like stainless steel from a distance.
 

Loathing

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2011
Messages
1,350
Reaction score
669
This is definitely the contradiction I'm trying to work out. I guess, in my mind, the "pure" aesthetics might become apparent [to others...I feel I'm able to mute my relationships to brands rather flexibly] if the watch is decoupled from salient branding. Unfortunately, the brand-stigmatized watches just have the best designs by a long shot...I know this trip ends with a DD or a rose gold GMT, but I'm fighting that impulse for some reason...

I have the exact same cognitive dissonance about the Day-Date. I don’t care that it stands out, but it’s so iconic that it is a cliché. I don’t necessarily have a problem with clichés per se, but all things being equal I’d prefer something a little less obvious.

The other issue is the one you’ve raised about the message the watch projects. I do care about what other people think. I don’t think everyone that would have issues with such an ostentatious and hackneyed symbol of wealth and status is an arsehole not worth caring about. The watch has associations with all manner of heinous dictators, crooks, finance bros and sociopaths. Of course it also has associations with presidents — but that all hangs in the balance. I find the attitude of not caring about what others think or what message you are projecting to be totally alien. Humans are social animals and choice of clothing is fundamentally a social activity. A lot of my enjoyment of these sorts of things is derived from that social element.
 

TheFoo

THE FOO
Dubiously Honored
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
26,704
Reaction score
9,841
I have the exact same cognitive dissonance about the Day-Date. I don’t care that it stands out, but it’s so iconic that it is a cliché. I don’t necessarily have a problem with clichés per se, but all things being equal I’d prefer something a little less obvious.

The other issue is the one you’ve raised about the message the watch projects. I do care about what other people think. I don’t think everyone that would have issues with such an ostentatious and hackneyed symbol of wealth and status is an arsehole not worth caring about. The watch has associations with all manner of heinous dictators, crooks, finance bros and sociopaths. Of course it also has associations with presidents — but that all hangs in the balance. I find the attitude of not caring about what others think or what message you are projecting to be totally alien. Humans are social animals and choice of clothing is fundamentally a social activity. A lot of my enjoyment of these sorts of things is derived from that social element.

1. Dictators can have great taste.
2. Nothing wrong with finance bros.
 

Omega Male

Stylish Dinosaur
Joined
May 30, 2013
Messages
16,702
Reaction score
38,216
If you're worried about standing out, get a white-gold watch, which will look like stainless steel from a distance.
The white gold Speedy is actually kinda sick. Very stealth bling. (Who cares about legibility?)

1621358863138.png
 

9thsymph

Distinguished Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
4,159
Reaction score
6,217
Yep, the newest member of Zenith's Revival series is the A3817. I dearly love the A385 because I own the vintage version, but I think the A3817 is the one to get if you're interested in this line.

Santos in full gold is a pass. Love it in the steel, though...
 

dauster

Distinguished Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2019
Messages
1,439
Reaction score
831
What about the manual wind XL Santos Dumont model? I'm guessing the dressier Santos Dumonts have not been as popular.

Since the Cartier talk from a few weeks ago I've been looking at Tank Americaine's, Cintree's and Santos Dumont's online and instagram quite a bit lately.
a month ago I could still order them online at cartier.com, didn't want it but was curious about it because they started trading slightly over retail.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 45 40.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 44 39.6%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 5 4.5%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 18 16.2%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 25 22.5%

Forum statistics

Threads
504,421
Messages
10,573,896
Members
223,687
Latest member
corcelleglauru
Top